Getting a book on the shelves

So yesterday had some interesting elements. My book, The Essential Companion to the Old Testament (see essentialot.blogspot.com), was supposed to be on the shelves of the BYU Bookstore on Monday for the thousands of extra visitors that come there as part of BYU's Education week. Since Monday was the last day before school starts for my kids, and because it was my son Kaleb's birthday, we decided to go to Seven Peak's water slides for one last summer fling. I made everyone stop on the way as I went in to the Bookstore to put some fliers for my other book Return Unto Me (returnuntome.blogspot.com) in these books. But the books weren't out yet. I politely asked both the BYU bookstore and the publisher to look into this, and went on to the waterslides (lots of fun).

On Tuesday, before my lecture on God's love in the Old Testament, I went to see if the books were out. They were not out yet. Happily my cd's with my lectures on the Book of Abraham were there! (see http://bookofabrahamresearch.blogspot.com)

 I spoke with some more people. They told me that they didn't think it had arrived, others that it had arrived but was not scheduled to be put on the shelves for a few more weeks, and others told me that they needed to know when it had come in to find it. I emailed the publisher (Covenant Communications) and went and did my lecture.



I felt great about my lecture. Then I went to the bookstore and found the buyer who was in charge of getting these books. Together we went to work. We talked to the person from the publisher who had dropped the books off on Friday, after having them air freighted in the night before. We talked to the person who had received them. We checked all around in the receiving area. I looked and looked. We had a person in receiving who had left for the day come back in. We sleuthed and worked and searched and looked for an hour and a half. Finally we found them tucked away in the receiving area without their invoice in a different box than we were looking for. I helped unpack them and helped create the price stickers for them and put them on and took them up on a hand truck and put them on the selves myself. I am not sure they would have made it there this week if it had not been for Maureen (the BYU buyer) and myself sticking on it for so long. But they are definitely there now. I am so happy to finally see them out. I can hardly wait until the other one comes out!