Since writing, cooking/baking, and theater are art; Peter Schumann's Bread and Puppet Theater deserves a view. An amazing man and his art...
Thursday, December 26, 2013
Thursday, December 19, 2013
Greetings and Salutations on the Eve of The Winter Solstice
The winter solstice is tomorrow (it's the 20th here now), December 21, 2013 @ 11:17 GMT.
May the coming year find you and yours well.
May the coming year find you and yours well.
Editing...
Argh! The editing, it never ends. And the rewrites! My editor is an absolute gem; a taskmaster, but a gem. Meticulous to a fault, which makes her gold.
After this experience, I'll likely go back and re-write my first book. Heaven only knows, I would like a bit less colloquialisms in it and some of the narrative could use a new look and edit (and that's an understatement).
I hope you budding authors out there appreciate my candor and frank-speak regarding my processes.
Writing, editing, printing, publishing, and marketing are the hallmarks of a self publishing author. Know your strengths and, more importantly, your weaknesses, before charging off into the bookosphere.
Knowing one's weakness becomes a strength and can carry you far.
I would conclude with this; get yourself an editor (even if you have to pay for one). If they're truly knowledgeable, he/she will be worth every dollar/baht.
Cheers.
After this experience, I'll likely go back and re-write my first book. Heaven only knows, I would like a bit less colloquialisms in it and some of the narrative could use a new look and edit (and that's an understatement).
I hope you budding authors out there appreciate my candor and frank-speak regarding my processes.
Writing, editing, printing, publishing, and marketing are the hallmarks of a self publishing author. Know your strengths and, more importantly, your weaknesses, before charging off into the bookosphere.
Knowing one's weakness becomes a strength and can carry you far.
I would conclude with this; get yourself an editor (even if you have to pay for one). If they're truly knowledgeable, he/she will be worth every dollar/baht.
Cheers.
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Phra Jan Will be an A4, Hardcover, Coffee Table Book...
Almost there; many edits by three different people and many revisions. I'm being especially diligent and detail oriented; far more than with When Elephants Walked Backwards.
It cannot be over emphasized how important editing is, and choosing carefully who is to be that editor. I am very fortunate that my wife is an English language scholar, whose knowledge of grammar is vast.
Publishing/marketing is my personal weak point (I couldn't sell air in a vacuum), so that's the next challenge. My wife was able to market 99% of my first book's printing, some of which were bought by tourists at museums.
I will have Phra Jan printed in A4, hardback, for the 1st edition. There are 18 A4 size, full color illustrations and cover in the Himmapan Forest style by the artist, Rewat Yutto (nick name Aek). As most know, coffee table quality is expensive, even here. While half the cost of having it done stateside, it's still an expensive investment.
Since everything is in place, it appears I'll print the first 500 copies in 2014, possibly January. Five hundred is not an arbitrary number. I wanted fewer, but the costs go up steeply with any less. The net difference would only amount to a few hundred dollars (about 15%). Which translates to 300 more copies.
It cannot be over emphasized how important editing is, and choosing carefully who is to be that editor. I am very fortunate that my wife is an English language scholar, whose knowledge of grammar is vast.
Publishing/marketing is my personal weak point (I couldn't sell air in a vacuum), so that's the next challenge. My wife was able to market 99% of my first book's printing, some of which were bought by tourists at museums.
I will have Phra Jan printed in A4, hardback, for the 1st edition. There are 18 A4 size, full color illustrations and cover in the Himmapan Forest style by the artist, Rewat Yutto (nick name Aek). As most know, coffee table quality is expensive, even here. While half the cost of having it done stateside, it's still an expensive investment.
Since everything is in place, it appears I'll print the first 500 copies in 2014, possibly January. Five hundred is not an arbitrary number. I wanted fewer, but the costs go up steeply with any less. The net difference would only amount to a few hundred dollars (about 15%). Which translates to 300 more copies.
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Democracy Now on Yip Harburg; A man You Should Know
I'll let the show speak for itself; food for thought...
Friday, March 29, 2013
Amazon Buys Goodreads; very bad news...
I've not been active there in a while, but this cuts it! I'm out of there.
Screw Amazon and the horse (cash) it rode in on...
Both here and on my website, I've stated my case against, a long time ago.
Screw Amazon and the horse (cash) it rode in on...
Both here and on my website, I've stated my case against, a long time ago.
Monday, January 14, 2013
Shock! The Illustrations are Back on Track...
Friday last, my illustrator Aek, contacted my wife to make an appointment to bring the remaining 12 paintings to our home. After recovering from my shock I said yes; he came at 4 the following Sunday.
Glory be! They were everything I had hoped for (and given up on) and more.
Just as his quitting was out of the blue; so was this phone call of his renewed efforts to finish his job.
Now, they're not 100% finished; however they are about 80% (all) and I gave the final approval for the finishing details as we had discussed. Aek indicated everything would be done by the end of this month.
I have considered deleting my previous post, but have thought the better of that; this blog is about writing, editing, printing, and publishing from beginning to end with all its joys, disappointments, failures, and mistakes; the entire process unvarnished; exposed for all to see.
So it will stay.
There are some lessons here and not wanting to push the river; I'll let those gems of life soak in over the next few months.
May your coming new year be as positive as mine. Cheers.
Glory be! They were everything I had hoped for (and given up on) and more.
Just as his quitting was out of the blue; so was this phone call of his renewed efforts to finish his job.
Now, they're not 100% finished; however they are about 80% (all) and I gave the final approval for the finishing details as we had discussed. Aek indicated everything would be done by the end of this month.
I have considered deleting my previous post, but have thought the better of that; this blog is about writing, editing, printing, and publishing from beginning to end with all its joys, disappointments, failures, and mistakes; the entire process unvarnished; exposed for all to see.
So it will stay.
There are some lessons here and not wanting to push the river; I'll let those gems of life soak in over the next few months.
May your coming new year be as positive as mine. Cheers.
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