I actually wrote a book eight years ago based on my Road Scholars updates from 1999 through 2003. For a bunch of reasons--many of them silly--I never did anything with it. All these years though, in the back of my head, I heard your voices. Since the very first updates you have told me I "missed my calling." You told me to "write a book." You have asked me "is it ready yet?" Yes it is. Here's how it happened.
Four months ago, my brother's friend (and now my writing buddy), Crystal, sent me a manuscript for a children's book she wrote. It reignited my own book project. I started searching through my hard drive and found my book, Not Quite There. I started reading it and it was good (or at least I thought so). Like the entertainment industry, being good isn't always enough. The business of publishing is one that requires breaking into. Professional writers typically pitch their books before they write them. That insures they aren't wasting time writing something nobody will buy. My situation is a little different, as writing is not a primary source of income for me--yet.
I've done things a bit backwards, but the process is still the same. Once you have an idea, you write it up into a proposal that you can send to publishers. But before you can send a pitch, you have to get a publisher interested in your idea. This is usually done by submitting a query letter to a bunch of different literary agents. Like showbiz or music, there are plenty of cautionary tales about what an uphill battle it is to get noticed by an agent. This has been one of my silly reasons for not pursuing publication in the past. Thankfully, technology has advanced and today we have something that didn't exist in 2004 when I finished writing Not Quite There. eReaders and electronic publishing are doing for writers what the MP3 audio format did for musicians.
I got a Nook for Christmas and started experimenting with Barnes and Noble's pubIt. It was a thrill being able to load my own book into my Nook and see what it would look like "published". After some informal surveying, here is what I decided to do.
- Not Quite There is broken up into three parts: my Y2K testing experience, the Year 2000 Road Trip Extravaganza!, and my post-graduation trip to Switzerland as a summer camp counselor.
- Part 1 is available now from Barnes and Noble via the ePub format and from Amazon via the Kindle format at a very affordable $1. The intent is to generate interest in my writing among people that aren't necessarily familiar with it. After all, it's only a buck!
- The full book, including all three parts, will be available in the Fall in both electronic and paper formats. While it will cost more than a dollar, I think you'll still find it quite affordable.
It's been thirteen years since I started writing to you about my travel experiences. In that time you have flattered me with your readership, encouraged me with your comments, and occassionally subsidized my travel costs. It is your encouragement (and from some of you flat out pestering) that made this happen. Please keep it coming, and from the bottom of my heart, thank you.
Click here for a description of the book.
Click here to find out where to buy it!