Price Wars! Bad juju for independent booksellers

In all of my years in the states, I only purchased books from independent booksellers. The big three (Walmart, Amazon and Target) are selling new, best selling author's books, for 50% or more off of the list price. This is of course below cost. I did go into the Barnes and Noble in Portland, Or (Lloyd Center) once; and the sterile atmosphere drove me out of there within minutes. Of course Powells, and Catbird Seat were my favorites.

I would implore all readers to boycott the large book store chains and support the independent shops in your local areas. When considering presents, think books, regardless of the age of the recipient.

The other side of this coin is the large publishing houses. Just getting a book to market is a marathon in itself. Here in Thailand if one gets a large book store to take a self published book they want full control for 2 years. I'm resisting that because I did all the work and I'm not about to give control of my labors to a third party. I wrote, edited (my wife actually), printed/published and now marketed my book.

I would like to see some kind of co-operative for self published authors to collaborate and help each other to get their books to market.

I've received very little feedback unfortunately, so I don't know what to think; but I'll keep plugging away and see what happens.

This latest kerfuffle with Amazon over...

...pulling Orwell's book 1984 off of their Kindle redoubles my feeling that I did the right thing in unpublishing my book from Kindle. The issue of control over content is yet another reason we haven't yet improved on the printed book; I'll not soon publish on an e-book site again. Apple also has the ability to take back anything one has downloaded to their iPod or iTouch. This should be a rallying point for the authors and readers of real books.

Sales here are surprisingly good and...

...given I had not expected to sell here, it's all the more surprising. With sales just short of 100 copies I've nearly recovered the cost of printing. I have an agent in the states; so we'll see what happens there. Until I can get a PayPal account set up my online sales are basically stalled. Things tend to move slowly here, so patience is very important.

PayPal here in Thailand is...

...proving to be very difficult to set up. I'm not in Bangkok and the banks here where I live have no idea how to do it. I've made 2 attempts and both accounts were denied approval by the two respective banks. Very frustrating to say the least. I haven't given up; it's likely I'll have to go to Bangkok to get this done. More later...

There is no place to rest...

Kindle Warning...

...There are NO provisions with Amazon Kindle for removing/unpublishing your book! I only found this out when, for personal reasons, I decided to remove my book from Kindle. I queried their site for the way to remove my book and was promptly told there are no provisions for this operation. WTF??? This is BS of the highest order; my book is my property and having signed no contract for longevity I have the right to remove my book with no notice. This is a scary scenario and leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I, being of large imagination quickly came up with a way to remove my book, which is no longer available on Amazon's site. I will think long and hard before I post a book there again. They need to come up with a way to rectify what I consider to be a very big problem. That said, I'm enjoying unexpectedly brisk sales here in Thailand.

I would add this; there were more than a few requests to "unpublish" author's books. I found this disturbing as previously stated.

There is no place to rest...

Quality

Having had some time to go through a number of books it appears the quality of the printing and binding is excellent. I have found no printing errors (ink smudges, spots, or bleed throughs). So far I'm very happy with the quality; it is as it should be.

There is no place to rest...

Strange day today (Monday the 25th);

I picked up 560 books from my printer and the ones I checked were fine. I/we then tore the covers off of 540 books from the first printing (disaster) and I took them with me (the covers). How very weird to do that to my books. As we tore away we would check random copies and yes; they all had the same problems. The printer will get 4 baht (about $.12 USD) per kilogram at the recycle center for the naked books.

While I'm satisfied with the final result; I won't use this printer again. There are two reasons for this; 1st, he expressed doubts about wanting to do a job for a farang (western white person) again because; 2nd, we want too high a quality of work. That just completely defies my sense of logic or reason. It's a matter of attitude; one which I don't like. Can you imagine Toyota/Honda/Ford telling a customer that 8 out of every 100 vehicles you buy from them will be defective and that's just the way it is? Mind boggling. The printer didn't even approach his own standard of 92%: his was a 100% failure to deliver quality. Okay, I'll stop beating a dead horse and move on. My real purpose here is information for you; the readers of this blog who dream of having your own book printed.

Now I have 560 books and no idea how to sell them (LOL). Well, now I'll have to learn marketing; let the adventure begin...

There is no place to rest...

Today is Saturday the 23rd (here) and...

...my wife called the printer...he said Monday the 25th at 9 am I can come and get my books. I ordered 500; he printed 560. On the first order he went over by 45. If I do a second printing it won't be with him. This has been an excruciating process that falls entirely on the printer; he mis-spoke/mis-represented his ability and quality and generally got in, way over his head. Live and learn. My wife is an author also and I'll use her publisher's printer for the next book and or, second printing of my first book.

So, we keep going; for there is no place to rest...

Kindle; some comments...

...After a book is uploaded to Kindle, you can do a preview to see how it will look on the device. The text in my book was fine, but the beautiful color illustrations were in black and white. Frankly, they didn't look good at all (picture quality was bad). Amazon needs to include color or what's the point? Think of all of the childrens books and the illustrations that generally go with them. That's a huge market. Think of the possibilities missed; long rides in the car on a family vacation and having a library for the kids to read while on the road; or, in the air; or on the train; or on a long boring bus ride. This will limit their device to text only literature. It does seem an oversight which I fervently hope they correct and soon. At this point the market is wide open and who knows? Competition usually separates the wheat from the chafe.

There is no place to rest...

My book is now on Kindle

Today, I completed the process of uploading my elephant book to Kindle. It is active and available now. Amazon has a 20% discount (very good deal); so it's only $7.99 USD. Amazon did this on their own; I had nothing to do with the decision. It will download to Kindle, iPhone and iPod touch as well.

You can read chapter I by using the link to my web site. I have all of chapter I, including two illustrations posted there.

No place to rest...

Having your book printed; how to avoid mistakes...

Okay, your book is written, copyright in place, layout/design is finished, cover art is done, ISBN number and bar code secured, format decided (book size; A4, A5, etc.) and you're editor says you can take it to the printers. Your editor is your boss and a good one is most valuable. This completes steps #1 – #7. The next step, #8, properly done will ensure you have a sellable book; if it's improperly done, you may end up with a printing disaster. I'll discuss that at the end of this post.

I'd like to expand on the subject of ones editor. After your book is finished the single most important person is the editor. I had gone through my first book 4 - 5 times and declared it ready for printing. My wife offered to edit my book. When she was finished with her first edit I was shocked at the number of mistakes I had missed; never edit your own book. My book went to the presses after 4 more edits including 2 hand made copies (by the printer) of my book. This is why I say your editor is your boss; editors are VIP's.

First rule; assume nothing and question everything. Since my experience is limited to Thailand there may be some differences in the number of smaller, independent printers and book binders available. This is to say that there are probably fewer choices in the U.S. for instance; however the process will be the same, the questions will be the same and the potential problems will be the same as those fundamental to printing with offset presses.

That said, find a printer. Unless you know of one by reputation you will need to see many examples of their work. Especially important are samples that are the same as your book. If you have a coffee table book you need to look at samples of coffee table books. Like for like; my book is a fable, sized at A5, and with 8 full color illustrations. The printer I chose had many samples because they have been in business for many years. My illustrator's family has used them for brochures and catalogs for their business. I have seen these, and they were very good quality. As I want only #1 quality I was also pleased to see a couple of coffee table books on Buddhist Temples of Thailand and tourist places on the Andaman Sea; they were gorgeous and flawless. It appeared this printer was capable of doing the job. But to be sure, check the front pages to make sure they actually printed the book.

Once you've found a printer you'll need to have:

Cover; art/design and weight of paper. Bring a book to the printer that represents the qualities you want in your book. They will know the paper weights.

Pages; choose the weight of paper for the body of the book(mine is 120gm). It should be heavy enough to avoid seeing print on the other side of the page.

Illustrations; glossy paper for color plates (if any), again, heavy enough to avoid “bleed through” on the opposite side.

Quality of printing; this is where one must be very clear on what is expected. This and all of the previous decisions, coupled with the quantity of books printed, will determine the price you will pay per book.

The quality issue is where a printing meltdown can occur. Even though you specifically say you need to have #1 quality, it is important to go through a list of potential problems that will be unacceptable. Examples; ink smears, spots, bleed throughs (both text and illustrations), soiled pages, spots on color plates, fuzzy/blurry illustrations and text and anything else that would hurt the potential marketing/sales of your book. Number one quality is number 1, not 2, 3, or 4. I cannot over emphasize the importance of communicating quality concerns and their importance. This may not be that much of a problem in the west, but here in emerging markets it can be a stretch; but it can be gotten.

In summary; these problems are not entirely unique to Thailand, but some are. Life and business here are far more relaxed than in the west and it can be difficult to impart a sense of urgency when trying to get things done. This can be very frustrating at times. I had to reject the 1st printing of 500 books because I failed to detail to the printer just what #1 quality was for me. Unknown to me, because he didn't say, his idea of #1 quality was 92% (he is the one who said this after the fact). Fortunately (as it turns out) he didn't even achieve that. Every copy had many errors of QC (not editing). The pressman didn't maintain clean presses. Western standards of quality are possible and attainable but may take more effort to achieve. This chapter isn't over yet, so I'll be updating as things progress. As it now stands; the reprinting is scheduled to be completed about May 25th.

There is no place to rest...

It's Monday morning and I got a call...

...from my illustrator Pui. She had a meeting with the owner of the printing business and he has agreed to reprint all of the books and destroy the previous printing. I'm the first foreigner he has worked with and was a bit surprised by how serious I was regarding QC and the destruction of the rejects. He now understands how important quality is for my book. He is apparently a good businessman and takes full responsibility for his workers carelessness. All is well for Now. It will take 15 days for this next printing.

Again; I will do a critique of my own mistakes so there will not be a misunderstanding again. I will post it soon.

Addendum...(edited)

...it gets worse. I talked to my illustrator (Pui) after we left the printers and she gave me more details about her discussion with the owner. His "solution" to the disaster would be to reprint the defective pages (at least 30 per book) and "un-bind" the books and replace the defective pages and then re-bind the books. That process horrified me, no way that's going to happen. Unless he/they reprint all of my books in their entirety; I will cancel my order. This may be headed for a total meltdown. Further, Pui said the owner said (for the first time) that for the price I'm paying he can only assure 93% of the books will be error free. This absolutely floored me. Unacceptable. Further yet, the problem with "his" solution is that after rebinding they will have to trim the book again thereby reducing the size of the book, plus; will they look like new books?, or books that have been grossly mishandled. This is not an option, period! The cover is already somewhat screwed up but you wouldn't know that unless you had seen the original version. I had thought to offer an additional 5 baht per copy for a total reprint, which is an additional $.14 USD per copy. That's about a 10% increase in my cost. I've decided I will not offer an additional 5 baht per copy. At this point I don't see how I can work with this printer but Monday will be the showdown. I'm at a distinct disadvantage because I'm not fluent in Thai so I have to rely on either Pui or my wife for translation (my wife wasn't available yesterday). Monday my wife will go to the printer and (hopefully) straighten this out. My wife agrees with me 100% on everything, which makes her a very strong advocate for getting the right thing. Fortunately I had only put 2,500 baht ($72 USD) down, not the usual 50%...so, I can walk away, which I may well have to do. I do hope the owner is honestly interested in making this right.

I will follow this up with an additional post on the lessons learned and what I'll do differently next time. I definitely made some assumptions (never good in business) I had no business making, so I did make many mistakes because of my inexperience.
Keep tuned for further developments...

Disaster today at the printers...

...and I'm very, very disappointed. QC was asleep at the wheel; as every book has ink smudges, spots, multi-colored dots on the color plates, random ink blots and bleed through into the next page. A truly horrible, unacceptable product. Remarkable given I'd seen examples of their work and it was 1st rate.

They showed me the first book and it looked pretty good and then I found an ink smear on page 23. I looked at a second book and there were 2 spots but no smear on the same page. Having worked in production, I decided to randomly check three more wrapped packages. It got worse not better. I told them I couldn't accept the order. The owner was called and he came to the office. At first he said I'd have to pay extra if I wanted another printing. I reminded him this wasn't my mistake. I also explained (through my illustrator) my business depended on #1 quality and these couldn't/wouldn't be sold in the U.S. looking like this. My reputation would be worthless. He checked many copies and soon saw that his pressmen were sloppy and didn't clean the presses adequately. He agreed to reprint the entire order at no additional cost to me. As I've said, I'm deeply disappointed but also figure this is probably not too far from the normal problems encountered in the printing business; at least here. I've had friends in the high end, coffee table book printing business in the states; and I think this disaster wouldn't have happened because QC would have caught it and stopped the presses and corrected the problem. This has been a series of huge learning curves up to this point and I'm looking at marketing as the next one, waiting for me just around the next bend.

No place to rest...

I have to laugh...

...I got a call at 5 o'clock (PM) today (Thursday) that my book was ready. Except tomorrow (May 1st) is Mayday and a holiday; so it's a no-go. So, Saturday May 2nd apparently, I'll go and get the 500 copies of my book. Now don't get me wrong, I'm excited, but there is a wee bit of anxiety about whether or not it's right. Can you dig it? More coming soon...

There's no place to rest...

Update; it is now Wednesday afternoon (here)...

...and Pui (my illustrator) has gotten an answer for the delays. It seems the printer is not doing the binding, so; the binder is the one holding up the works, hmm. Now I'm being told 2 more days...we'll see. I wonder, is it common for printers not to do the binding? Anybody out there know?

The worm is now writhing after...

...a call to the printer today, Wednesday. They have not finished printing my book...again. The interesting (?) thing is; I can't get a reason, only excuses. I'm pursuing the reason through my illustrator, who is also a customer via her family business. I'm less concerned about excuses than the facts of the delays. The reason this is so confounding to me is they do excellent quality printing and binding. Go figure, I can't.

No place to rest...

That worm just continues to turn;

I got a call this morning from the printer and they won't be finished printing until Wednesday. In the beginning the delays were long and frustrating; but as time goes on they are of shorter duration but no less frequent and no less frustrating. Talk again on Wednesday...

It appears that...

...outlook express is my default mail host! The set-up is incomprehensible and I only recently became aware it was the default e-mail host. So, if you want to contact me; e-mail me at: verne.arnold@yahoo.com and I'll be happy to answer your questions or comments.

"Book 'im Dano"...print it!

Finally; my editor said I could print my book. So, today after the last edit, at 12:50 I told the printer to print my book. It will be done by the 26th which is a Sunday, so I'll get it on Monday. Traffic is abysmal on Sunday (it's the main road to BKK), so we'll go in on Monday morning after rush hour. So many delays, so many edits, and so glad I waited for my editors okay.

I've already edited my second book Phra Jan twice; it should go much smoother than Elephants. My editor will of course be the final word once again. May the Gods bless editors (good ones that is).

No place to rest...

Not quite stalled, but...

...not going forward on the elephant book. My wife's Ajarn 3 (teacher-3) project is due the 31st; so 100% is going towards that. I help where I can. So, the book fair in BKK is history. I'm hoping to tell the printer to print on Saturday the 4th (Feb), but that may be too optimistic, LOL.

In the meantime I've started another book (my first non-fiction) and did one complete edit of Phra Jan. I hope to have Phra Jan printed in June. But, until my wife gives it the final okay, no deal, the same as with my elephant book. This has been a much longer process than I expected; partially my inexperience coupled with doing everything myself for the first time. The next book will go much smoother because I'll know what to expect.

Keep on truckin; there is no place to rest...

We've gotten the 2nd handmade version of my book...

...as scheduled and I've only found 1 mistake so far; but my wife/editor has yet to proof it because she's deeply involved with her own project for her job grade rating. I'll miss the BKK Book Fair, which I'd rather not have, but...oh well. Truly, it's not the end of the world. It's held twice a year and, just maybe, I'll have my second book as well for that second shot.

I must say; my printer is most excellent, as they have acquiesced to every request and gone out of their way to please. Given I've not had any experience with printers in the U.S.; I can't even imagine they would service us like this and not charge extra...a lot! But, I could be wrong, maybe.
One can only strive, because there is no place to rest...

Open Office.org is wonderful...

...I have used it to straighten out the screwed up formatting on my website. The two chapters from my two books are now looking proper. Centered and justified; they now look as they should for the first time. They are also edited and updated and should be error free...you are welcome to point out any errors you find.

Thanks to Open Office; I saved the files to HTML and then cut and pasted those files into the text editor on my web hosts page editor. Finally, I may be figuring this out.

No place to rest...

Seemingly, it never ends...

...the editing, that is; it just never seems to end. Editing a book is like peeling away the layers of an onion and in a way, it is similar. Fortunately, my printer (and editor) are possessed of infinite patience (more than me at times). Today, I/we finished the fourth edit of the manuscript at the office of the printer. A finished copy will be mailed to us and we will comb it for any missed errors. There should be few to none. We've distilled it down to the final liquor so to speak. This is my fault; being a newbie, I was indulgent of sophomoric colloquialisms and punctuations that soon became glaring amateurisms that offended even me. LOL. Live and learn. Fortunately my wife is a fierce editor who will take no prisoners. Perfection isn't even a consideration; but a readable book with no glaring mistakes is an attainable goal. That is all I expect. That is what I strive for. So, no more statements of future deadlines; only an announcement of a finished, published, copy in my hand: Coming soon. EOM.

There is no place to rest...

Riddles

I was just sitting there looking at the screen when I felt something wrapping itself around my right arm. Startled, I looked down and there was a cobra staring at me; not threatening, just looking.
With thoughts it said, “What will you do?”
With thoughts I said, “I don’t know.”
“You summoned me,” said the cobra.
“Are you sure?” said I.
“Oh, yes, otherwise I would not have come,” said the cobra.
“Then please tell me; what did I summon?” said I.
“You summoned me,” said the cobra.
“Did I summon life, or death?” said I.
“You only summoned me and I hold both, the choice is yours,” said the cobra.
“How is it we ponder the choices of life and death and we understand neither?” said I.
“I don’t know, because for me there is no choice; it’s one or the other, neither a choice, ever,” said the cobra.
“We humans spend a life time trying to answer the riddle of life and death,” said I.
“We non-humans live until we die; we don’t commit suicide, and there is no riddle regarding life and death,” said the cobra.
“Please, bite me,” said I.
As the cobra glided its undulating body away, across the floor, dead was I; free of the life not lived.

Here is the front and back cover for my book

Close, very, very close to printing. The bar code includes the Thai price in baht and the U.S. retail price in dollars. I was going to get two sets of stickers, but that didn't seem very professional; so I added both prices and had it printed to be integral with the book.

She who must be obeyed...

...my wife is merciless; no, fierce, when it comes to editing. She insisted that we have the last corrected copy (today) printed out as a book (by the printer) to make sure. They will mail the copy to her on Monday (including the cover art/back cover w/bar code). I couldn't believe how many mistakes she found after two previous edits. Incredible! It never ends...alas, but it must. So the only question is; how many mistakes are acceptable? My answer is; damn few. Thank god for my editor! I know she's right; but I want my book for the Bangkok Book Fair on March 26th. The looming question is; will I have it? I don't know for sure; for she who must be obeyed will have the final word, as it must be.

There is no place to rest, no more, forever (forgive me Chief Joseph).

Bar codes; mystery solved...

...My printer told me they didn't do bar codes, they said the Thai National Library supplied bar codes. I emailed the TNL and they don't supply bar codes, only ISBN's; the printer supplies the bar code. So, back to the printer; oh, yes they do, they misunderstood; no problem. So, I'll get a bar code. The learning curve is starting to actually begin to curve, finally breaking its vertical ascent. The view (so to speak) from up here is grand. Hopefully it just gets better...

My true love, Phra Jan, will follow soon. Let the editing begin.

No place to rest...

The last edit...Not!

...Today I spent 4 hours at the printers correcting the errors discovered by my wife (my editor), so the book will be error free. My illustrator (whose English is excellent) is the one who corrected the Adobe files at the printers. Now, their (the printers) files are the same as my edited files; theoretically error free. Are they really error free; probably 99%: I can live with 1%; can you? I would simply add that I'm astounded by the subtle and not so subtle errors discovered after 10 readings by me (the author) and discovered by my wife. It's a real lesson in humility and trusting somebody else to proof your writings. That's the real lesson here; let somebody else (you trust) edit your story. LOL, there's no other choice.

There is no place to rest...

As the worm turns...

...my book cover isn't ready yet. As you may recall; it wasn't quite long enough because the spine width wasn't correctly compensated for; thus a new drawing. My illustrator couldn't correct it because all of the colors are custom and at the moment: She couldn't match the colors. This is not criticism of her abilities; it's just a running, continuing commentary on the vagaries of self-publishing the first book. The learning "curve" is presently vertical with no sign of a radius anywhere to be seen. LOL. Oh, and did I mention the editing? After 10 reads and subsequent rewrites; my wife and editor found scads of errors, LOL again. Then I found a slew of wrongly capitalized words. Thank god I have hair too short to pull. LOL, yet again. And so it goes. I'll have no problem with a very few minor mistakes; that won't affect style or substance and for the few perfectionists out there; lighten up, as life's too short.
There is no place to rest...

This process is so interesting...

...because it's not linear as I had expected. Partly it's a language thing and partly it's (probably) normal, getting a book printed thing. So, what do I know? I'm a newbie at this. Submitted the final layout/draft today (Saturday) and it will be ready Tuesday or Wednesday next week. I'll take home the copy and read every page for mistakes and if everything is okay; I'll pull the trigger and get 500 copies printed, which will take about a week. It is getting very close, I can feel it.

Kindle, hmm, interesting...

...and I'm checking it out. It looks promising as a way to sell my book. More about this after I learn about it.

Nothing new under the sun; no place to rest...

eBook version coming by...

...the end of this week. The paperback version should be in my hand by the end of next week, barring any further delays. The reason for the delays are basically problems of language and communicating about the layout and placement of drawings. The solution is quite simple; my illustrator and I are doing the layout and will give the printer a ready to print file.
The ebook will be in at least 2 formats .doc and .pdf. I'm not knowledgeable about "Kindle" and will investigate for information.

Curiouser and curiouser...

...the long and zig zagging path to getting a book printed. Of course it's always that way with the proof copy. And I really didn't expect anything different; it's the difference between reading about something and then actually doing said thing.
There is a huge book fair in Bangkok in the middle of March and I want to be there then; so that's my deadline.
There really is, no place to rest...

Jinkjos, Frogs and Cobras, Oh My!

I have been living in Thailand for 6 years now; I originally wrote this in 2005 shortly after the incident. My wife (Thai) and I (American) bought a house “up-country” in 2004. Up-country means out side of any town or city and is not considered desirable to most “city Thais”. We do live in a small village of about 30 houses and we are about 1 kilometer from the major highway to Bangkok. I find this “up-country” description amusing. Truly living in the country (not living in a village) is considered dangerous if not foolhardy, especially for a “Farang” (western white foreigner).
We have been in the house for almost 5 year’s now and I have seen various lizards, water Monitors (2+ meters long), Jinkjoks (Ginkgos), frogs, toads, crabs (land version), and snakes in our yard. The snakes have been the non-poisonous variety and only about 50 cm. long.
Late Saturday night on May 14th, 2005 my wife was working in her office (our second bedroom) preparing an article for a publisher until the wee hours of the night. The next morning she told me she had heard some rustling in the corner, behind some boxes. We both thought it was one of larger lizards (maybe 30-cm. long), which are harmless, so we didn’t give it a lot of thought.
We left the house early Sunday morning and went into Banpong, which is about 8 kilometers from our house. Banpong is 86 kilometers due west of Bangkok. We did our shopping and I went to the Internet shop. Upon our return home we discovered that “things” on my wife’s dressing table (in our bedroom) were knocked over and spilled on the floor. Further, the waste paper basket had moved itself across the floor. In her office, which also is where we keep the dishes and cooking pots, a heavy pan had been knocked off the shelf as well as some dishes. At this point I knew we were not looking for a 30-cm. long lizard.
My wife went about her household chores. I was concerned and went looking for the culprit. I decided to concentrate on the office area that is also filled with boxes and is basically the area we put the things that we don’t have a “place” for yet (our house is not huge). I worked my way to the far corner. After moving the clothes rack (Thai houses do not have closets) and various boxes, I could see into the corner. My heart skipped a beat. There curled up in the corner was a snake; a rather large snake. It just lay there. I retreated to the doorway. I went back and took a good look. The snake still didn’t move. Its neck area had some wrinkles and was not like any snake I had seen before. At this point, I should say that in my youth I liked snakes, and had many for pets (including a 4 foot Bull snake I caught in eastern Oregon) and at one time I considered becoming a Herpetologist. This snake’s neck was unusual and because we have Cobras in this area I thought it might be a Cobra. I think there are Cobras in all of Thailand. I told my wife I had discovered a snake in the corner of the bedroom/office and she was not happy. She quickly took one look and asked me if it moved fast or slow. I said it hadn’t really moved much at all even when I poked it with a long stick; it just laid there. My wife then told me fast snakes were not poisonous, but slow ones were.
I pondered the logic of that for a few minutes and decided I didn’t understand the logic of that statement; but, since I thought it was in fact a Cobra and it didn’t move at all, this was not the time to question Thai folklore and I would go along with the program. Okay, it’s been many years and I no longer fancy myself as an amateur snake handler, especially with a Cobra. It was time to call for help. I was advised to get help from the local experts, which we did.
After our neighbor contacted the local “expert”, I went back into the bedroom and very carefully cleared the area so the “expert” could get to the corner and if a hasty retreat was needed the way would not be blocked. In clearing this area I discovered that only part of the snake was visible and it was bigger than I first thought. The snake still did not move which made me very happy. My wife was not happy with my being in the room and said so many times. I never took my eye off of the snake while I was in the room.
The local expert showed up after about 30 minutes. He went in a took a look, yup, “Ngu How” (Thai for Cobra) was the pronouncement. Ooookaaaayyy...gulp! Having my suspicions confirmed was more of a shock than I expected.
Our neighbor and the Cobra Guy went into the field next to our house and cut some sticks from one of the trees. One was straight and the other stick was forked. Forked sticks are commonly used to pin the snake’s head so it can be grabbed and carried. Okay, I think they know what they are doing. This eased my mind somewhat. I did not want a pissed off Cobra chasing us out of our house.
They went into the bedroom and pinned the Cobra with the forked stick, which is what I expected. The other guy then started to beat the snake with the straight stick. This I didn’t expect, but should have guessed would happen. I certainly can’t blame them for not wanting to handle a Cobra. I had visions of hauling the Cobra Guy to the hospital at 160 kph to treat him for a Cobra bite, which fortunately didn’t happen.
As it turns out the Cobra was almost 2 meters long (187 cm.). I measured it.
We figured out how it got into the house and we have taken counter measures so this doesn’t happen again. The rear screen door is also a security door (heavy bars) and has a rubber flap that covers a 5-cm. gap between the bottom of the door and the floor. We are fairly sure it was in the house for two days before we found it. We sleep with the bedroom doors open so air can circulate through the house at night, so it had free run of the house. I shudder when I think about sleeping with a Cobra roaming our house at night. My wife is slowly recovering her confidence our house is Cobra free. She is still checking the office every time before starting her work. I will admit to looking around the house as well. All of the possible hiding places are now gone.
My wife is Buddhist and Buddhists do not like killing or being responsible for the death of anything. My wife (and I) made “merit” for the death of that Cobra. This involved apologizing for its death and burning Ja sticks (incense) and saying a prayer for the Cobra and its ancestors. This small ceremony is to ensure that its relatives know we are sorry for its death and they don’t return to do us harm. This is also acknowledgment that we know we are responsible for its death.
We have now made sure no more stray animals can enter our house uninvited. Life goes on and the learning never stops.

The Assault

 It was May 21^st, 2005.  They attacked at night, just after the first heavy rain of the monsoon season.  They came at us from all sides without warning.  Because we were taken by complete surprise there was chaos as we tried to repel the attack.  We marshaled our forces as best we could to fight off the advancing army.  The low level strafing was murderous.  We had no defense against this type of attack.  You could hear screams, “The lights, the lights, turn off the damn lights.”  One by one the lights went off but it was too late, the enemy was everywhere.  Our best defenses, meticulously prepared and no expense spared, had failed.

            In the real scope of things, we knew there would be an attack, but there were varying opinions as to when it would come.  Almost one year before we had repelled a similar surprise attack.  Our forces had overwhelmingly defeated the invaders.  The enemy had been so badly defeated we really didn’t think they could rebuild their forces so quickly.

We retreated a short distance to regroup; there was nothing else we could do.  The number of enemy casualties was beyond comprehension.  They had mounted an all out, Kamikaze style, assault.  The effect on us was, to say the least, demoralizing.  Much to the credit of our forces, they fought like hell.  That’s the only reason the enemy lost so many and we didn’t suffer any killed: only wounded.  

We were out numbered by at least 1000 to 1.  Some of us wanted to cut and run; but to where?  The fact was there was nowhere to go; we were surrounded.  So we fought.  

It took all of our courage to mount a counter attack at the time when we thought all was lost.  In this fight there is no surrender; neither side takes prisoners.  With the lights finally off we launched our counter-attack.  We blasted them out of the air and we smashed them on the ground.  The battle lasted for almost three hours and in the end, it was only our spirit that drove us on against their massive army and air force.  In spite of overwhelming odds we came through victorious; the enemy was again defeated.

There was one negative aspect to this victory; my wife and I had to clean up floors that were covered with thousands of these damn flying ants.

 Epilogue

            Thailand is rich in many things including insects.  The rainy season starts in mid April to early May.  The first rains of the Monsoon season bring many hatchings.  The first ones are usually the largest.  The number of insects is truly overwhelming.  Unless your house is hermetically sealed, the insects will get into your house.  Having any lights on is like an invitation.  They come at dusk and will come by the thousands.  We have screens on the windows and doors but the smallest gap is a way in and the insects have an uncanny way of finding every one.  Before this incident we had some rain, but not a major down pour.  This day we had a major down pour.  Our street flooded and the sewer overflowed.  The hatching was huge and we were inundated with flying insects of more than one variety.  My wife, who is Thai was not particularly bothered, but I, an American from Oregon was scrambling to contain the infestation.  I had never seen anything like this before.  I would like to think I will not see this again............BUT..........I know It will happen every year. 

  

Obama is President; the world has changed

And I've added a preface to the Elephant book to better explain some aspects of Thai culture.

Addendum; a word (or 50) about my illustrator...

...who is a Thai artist. The wonderful thing about her is that she was able to read my book in English and understand the flavor of my book. IMO, this has given her the insight to be able to make relevant  art for my books. The illustrations are all done in water color. My usual request to her is; give me your ideas for the next illustration. So, the illustrations in my book are a true collaboration between artists (if I may lay claim to being an artist). I'm thankful to have her as my illustrator. 

"Keep on truckin"...there is no place to rest.

Today, I took my manuscript to the printer...

...and we did the preliminary layout for the book. The book will be slightly less than 100 pages with a full color plate per chapter; illustrating a given scene from each respective chapter. I am going through a huge learning curve here and don't expect everything to go perfectly because of what I don't know. It's pretty exciting and almost more work than writing the book.

As a sage said: "The long journey starts with one step."

There is no place to rest...

I designed a logo and today...

...my illustrator put it together for me. What do you think about logos? Is there any benefit to having a logo. What do you think of my logo? If it's the right one, I like logos. 

My logo is based on a Thai fable about The Rabbit in the Moon. When the moon is full here in Thailand, the shadow (dark areas) on the left side of the moon look like a rabbit. It's a curious thing here; the moon is rotated about 90 degrees clockwise at this latitude (14 deg. N.). I came from just north of 45 deg. N. latitude. It's a whole different view; but then, isn't that what it's all about? 

My logo of the rabbit jumping over the moon is a metaphor for the difficulties of self publishing; who's to say it can't be done? Copyright protected, please respect my property, thank you.

"Miles to go before I sleep": There's no place to rest...

Today I joined Technorati

I'm hoping this will start to drive some traffic to my blog. Time will tell. 

On another note; I've decided on a logo for my self publishing efforts. I'll post it either here or on my website or both. Posting pictures doesn't always work for me, thus the uncertainty.

More later.....

Today I recieved my ISBN Number

The National Library of Thailand issues the ISBN numbers. There is no charge. It's really amazing how quickly I was issued a number; less than 2 hrs. I screwed up and put the year I wrote the book, instead of the year of publication. Of course the form is mostly in Thai, LOL. Even with questions and answers and corrections; the process was less than 2 hrs. All via e-mail, I might add. Anyway, now I know. My book is now catalogued in the NLT. 

On Saturday the 17th, I'll take the manuscript for my book into the printer, so they can do the layout. 

My illustrator is redoing two illustrations (we both agreed on the need) and she will also finish the illustration for the last chapter.

I've also added chapter I of my other book "Phra Jan" to my website. I'll post a video on YouTube of me reading chapter I. Phra Jan will be the next book I'll be publishing. More about that later; for now my focus is on "When Elephants Walked Backwards".

And so it continues; there is no place to rest.

Today I went to see the printer...

...to check the quality of their printing and bookbinding. It's absolutely first rate. We finalized the cover paper weight (310gr) if I remember correctly, illustration pages (glossy) weight (130gr), and the text page weight. The printer recommended an 80 gram for the text pages but the sample he showed me was too thin. I could see the text on the backside of the page so I went the next weight up; 110 gram. My main concern besides the quality of the printing was the binding. My books will be a "NO STAPLE ZONE"; I want first rate glued binding. I'm not doing a hard cover on my first publication. I sized my book to half an A size paper. If I can sell a few books then maybe I'll do a hardcover for "Phra Jan". I'd really like that, we'll see.  

I should have my ISBN number on Monday.

This whole process is pretty cool and I'm starting to get excited as I get closer to having a copy of my book in my hands.

There is a huge book fair in Bangkok in March; I'll be there seeing if I can get some bookstores interested. 

"The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep."

Robert Frost

And so it goes, there is no place to rest.

  

I'm expanding into publishing

As a writer, it seems a logical progression. Trying to get a publisher interested is a grueling process and since I'm self publishing, why not offer it to other authors willing to invest in themselves. I'm going to offer electronic, audio, and hard copy versions of my book. 

If you are interested in self publishing hard copies, I can offer very competitive rates, starting with as few as 300 copies. I can also supply an ISBN number/s; but only if you print your book in Thailand. I'm still checking about bar codes. Contact me for details. 

There is no place to rest...

...which means always moving forward and only taking a few moments for reflection. For me personally, 2008 was a pretty good year which paved the way for a whole new direction for me in 2009. I created my first website, made my first YouTube videos, and started my first Blog in the last month of 2008. The central theme for all of this is about writing, creativity and publishing/marketing books. 

I am hoping that little by little my site/s will be discovered by a very diverse band of individuals and will become a community of similarly oriented people. I'm hoping that never having done this before gives me a totally new way of doing/viewing this process. Communities have advantages over individuals; but the value of individuals is never to be diminished. 

What do you think?