The book is in stores

When you write a book, you discover that there is a never-ending series of milestones.

First you conceive of it. Then you talk to people about it. Then you re-cast the idea. Then you put together a proposal. You get an agent. The agent pitches it. The agent sells it. Then the work begins.

You start writing. You finish a chapter. Then another. Then another. And so on. The editing starts, and then more. And you finish more chapters. And there's more editing. Suddenly, one day, the manuscript is done and your part in the production of your own book is done.

One day, someone tells you that the "pre-order" choice is gone on Amazon, and instead it's "in-stock." Then a box arrives on your doorstep and it's your copies, direct from the publisher. Friends and family start reporting that they're getting their pre-ordered copies. Everyone is excited.

But all that may pale to the final step: When you see it in a book store for the first time.

For me, seeing my book, The Entrepreneur's Guide to Second Life, on a book shelf in public for the initial time was quite the emotional roller-coaster. We went to our local Barnes and Noble, asked at information where we might find it and were led on a long, unsure tour of the computer books section by a very nice woman. Finally, I spotted it: One lonely copy, jammed in between two other books, barely noticeable. I kind of had hoped for more.

But hey, there it was, and I was happy. Even if they just had the one copy.

So, I started to leave when, wait... I was directed to look at the outward-facing shelves on the aisles at the end of the computer books section. And, no way, they had my book on two different shelves, one on each side of the aisle. As they did with Wiley's other Second Life book that just came out, Creating Your World.

Now, this was more like it. This was placement where someone walking by could actually see the book and might even just stumble on it. That's how books get sold.

And I thought about it. There's a heck of a lot of Barnes and Nobles. And I'm betting the book is on a similar shelf in a lot of them. That makes me happy.

I just had to share.