How Publishing Your Book Can Be Like Flying Through a Blizzard

Today’s publishing advice comes to you from the shores of Puget Sound, where my team and I gathered for our annual retreat. We were talking about travel mishaps when my executive assistant Daneka spoke up.

“Back in the day, my dad was one of the gate agents that had to deal with delayed flights and irritated passengers. One day, there was a big snowstorm so none of the planes could take off. Most people knew it was a weather delay and that they’d get an update when it stopped snowing. But this one customer in my dad’s gate area would get up — every half-hour or so — and ask for an ‘update.’

“My dad couldn’t really do anything, but this customer was getting more and more pissed.

“What do you know now?

“Have there been any changes?

“Finally after a few hours, the customer lost his cool. He asked my dad, ‘When is it going to stop snowing?’”

My team all laughed at this punchline because, obviously, Daneka’s dad didn’t know.

He wasn’t a meteorologist. He didn’t have an up-to-the-minute forecast.

Instead, Daneka’s dad suggested that the customer call Mother Nature for an update — which made everyone else in the gate area laugh and clap. Because the weather? Completely…