I know it’s been a while since I’ve given an update about our efforts to get “One Hundred Fifty Years of Marriage” published. Just so you know, we have not just been sitting around watching the grass grow. However, the grass has been growing very well. I think it’s the combination of abundant rain and sun shine. But that is beside the point! The point is the publishing industry is just nuts. You need an agent to talk to a publisher on your behalf. The agents are very limited. The traditional methods of publishing are changing as I write this. There is no good guide book for how to deal with the changing publishing world. Fortunately, I have Crystal. She reads articles, listens to webinars, and talks to people at her writer’s club. She tells me that, while a lot of other options exist, with E Books, self publishing, etc., we need to first build a platform. In the good old days the writer would just write the book. If you ask me that’s enough in itself. The agents and publisher would read an excerpt and decide whether to proceed with the publication. Today, apparently, you not only need to write the book, but provide a platform, or as I believe it to be, marketing plan. Finally you need to fine an agent willing to read and accept that plan. To me, on so many levels, this is just frustrating. It feels like I just invented sliced bread, and no one will stop cutting open their roll long enough to consider an easier approach. After all, who would want pre-sliced bread, when everyone has a knife?
All I have is a book about family, history, war, peace, love, marriage, and life in general. Who would want to read about that? Everyone! But that is not for me to decide. We will continue to build our platform. If you haven’t noticed, the web site is slowly evolving. We now have someone to help with our computer based media issues. I am also working on getting articles published in some periodicals, not to mention a second book. It’s all part of this platform building.
I guess the bottom line is that, Crystal and I believe in this project. We won’t give up. I believe this book will have a huge market, with best seller potential. The only question is, is anyone in the business smart enough to see it?
This is the full picture of the background picture on our site. It is from our Colorado trip a few years ago.
In case you haven’t noticed, there have been a few changes to the site lately. We are using a more professional theme, and check out the videos!