| Biographical Non-Fiction posted June 4, 2023 |
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From idea to published book
Anatomy of Publishing
by Terry Broxson
It all started with a dream. I'd woken up at about five in the morning. Terry, write a new story about A Christmas Carol. Instead of having Scrooge as the character, have the man who will become Santa Claus as the main character.
Umm, I thought. Now that is an interesting idea.
As I lay in bed that morning, the story began to develop in my mind. How would someone convince a fellow to build enough toys for all the kids in the world? Add in the fact the fellow would have to live at the North Pole, work with elves (what the...elves?), and deliver all the toys on the night of Christmas Eve every year.
Oh yeah, and this guy, now called Santa, had to make all the deliveries in a sleigh pulled by flying reindeer.
I got to thinking. This could turn into the sales job of the century. Right up there with Jack buying some magic beans, except maybe one would think magic beans are a good idea. Flying around the globe in a sleigh, not so much.
After some coffee, organic cereal with yogurt and soy milk. I got on my computer and hammered out the story. Called it Santa's Christmas Carol. Posted it. Promoted it. Five minutes after posting it, I thought. Wait a minute. You just spent money to post a story about Santa in the middle of March. What are you thinking?
Okay, it sounded like a good idea at the time.
Danged if it didn't turn into a pretty good idea. The story quickly went all-time best despite its length of over 3,500 words. Who takes time to review 3,500-word stories? As it turned out, there were forty-two reviewers.
The story had the highest rating of any work I ever posted. Santa finished the number one-rated story for the month. I certainly never achieved that before.
See the smirk on the guy's face in the picture I'm using? That's me. Except he has hair, and he's missing a bunch of wrinkles.
I quickly decided I would apply for the feather of quality thing. Let that secret committee read my story. It couldn't miss.
At this point, you may want to go over to my profile and look for the yellow feather. Don't bother. It ain't there. I'm thinking of putting up a white flag.
I don't remember all the words the committee members used, but the gist of the reviews concluded the writing to be amateurish. Certainly not ready for prime time or professional publishing. The reviewers for this process were anonymous. I thought that may have contributed to a certain amount of put-down glee.
One member said something to the effect that I let all the sixes go to my head. The suggestion had been the six-star ratings came from amateurs, not professionals like the committee. There were lots of other stuff like punctuation, grammar, tense changes, and too many "was"...at some point, I just quit reading.
So any smirk on my face, like my hair, had gone with the wind. (I know plagiarism).
I don't think of myself as a writer. I'm a storyteller. Stories need to be compelling and creative. To stand out, the story should have something like humor, pathos, or some other element—be different.
I do recognize the need for writing education. I'd never dispute my lack thereof. Being a member of FanStory has taught me a lot. Clearly not enough to impress the professionals.
Yeah, I sulked around for a day or two.
But I had a nagging thing. I liked the story.
I had sent the original to an old friend. She emailed me, "I read the story to my grandson. We both enjoyed it very much."
Umm.
(Now, don't be a committee member and tell me I overused the Umm, I already know that.)
I quit sulking and turned the 3,500-word story into 5,000 words, and I liked it better. But I wasn't about to send it to no committee.
The more I thought about it, it became clear that this could be a little book some parents and grandparents might enjoy reading to youngsters at Christmas. The grown-ups might even have more fun.
I wrestled with the big question. How do I do it?
About this time, I read of Jay Squires' trials and tribulations of putting some of his books up on Amazon. I like Jay's work. I have bought and enjoyed some of his books on my Kindle. I consulted privately with Jay about the pluses and minus of Amazon, self-publishing, or sending out manuscripts, hoping a publisher might buy it.
I concluded I didn't have Jay's patience to go the Amazon route. I don't have the time to send manuscripts to publishing giants. Dang, I'm old. I may not make it to next Tuesday.
So I decided to hire a hybrid publisher. It's like a smorgasbord for publishing. They provide an executive editor to manage the project. A content editor will review the writing. They provide proofreading, layout and design, front and back book cover design, and optional services like an illustrator or marketing if you wish.
At this moment, the book is working through the publisher's system. I won't give them a "plug" just yet, but I like what I see.
Despite opinions to the contrary, I'm not completely stupid. Remember, I said I recognized the value of the educated writer. I made a deal with Rama Devi, a FanStory member, to help me with editing. She also became a teacher. Even a 77- year-old coot can learn new tricks. (Okay, learn is too strong a word).
I turned the 5,000-word story into 10,000 words, added some illustrations, and changed the title.
I asked some FanStory members to be "first readers," Annmuma (Ann Mullen) and Debi Marquette. They are both grandmothers (Ann is a GG) both provided valuable insights and suggestions.
Do I have visions of a multimillion best seller? Did you ever buy a lottery ticket for one of those BIG jackpot drawings and think the ticket price was worth the two minutes of fantasy?
I quit buying lottery tickets many years ago.
I am confident some people will buy and enjoy the book during Christmas. I've had a lot of fun bringing the story to life.
It tells the tale of two young boys who become toy makers. One of them will be recruited to be Santa Claus. The readers will learn about how all of it happened. Special elves, reindeer, angels, and a beautiful young lady will play essential roles. The story tells about Santa's first trip around the world.
The story has a few surprises, including the winner of the first official "Reindeer Games," the details of Santa's wedding, who gave the bride away, and who attended.
Look at the picture with this story again. The guy is not smirking. He's smiling and carrying his book. I hope the guy is me in a few months. I think it will feel good.
I will update you all later in the year on how everything progresses. Oh, and if you know anyone on the committee, they gonna have to buy the book, but why would they want to?
Oh, really? You think they might have grandkids. Umm.
It all started with a dream. I'd woken up at about five in the morning. Terry, write a new story about A Christmas Carol. Instead of having Scrooge as the character, have the man who will become Santa Claus as the main character.
Umm, I thought. Now that is an interesting idea.
As I lay in bed that morning, the story began to develop in my mind. How would someone convince a fellow to build enough toys for all the kids in the world? Add in the fact the fellow would have to live at the North Pole, work with elves (what the...elves?), and deliver all the toys on the night of Christmas Eve every year.
Oh yeah, and this guy, now called Santa, had to make all the deliveries in a sleigh pulled by flying reindeer.
I got to thinking. This could turn into the sales job of the century. Right up there with Jack buying some magic beans, except maybe one would think magic beans are a good idea. Flying around the globe in a sleigh, not so much.
After some coffee, organic cereal with yogurt and soy milk. I got on my computer and hammered out the story. Called it Santa's Christmas Carol. Posted it. Promoted it. Five minutes after posting it, I thought. Wait a minute. You just spent money to post a story about Santa in the middle of March. What are you thinking?
Okay, it sounded like a good idea at the time.
Danged if it didn't turn into a pretty good idea. The story quickly went all-time best despite its length of over 3,500 words. Who takes time to review 3,500-word stories? As it turned out, there were forty-two reviewers.
The story had the highest rating of any work I ever posted. Santa finished the number one-rated story for the month. I certainly never achieved that before.
See the smirk on the guy's face in the picture I'm using? That's me. Except he has hair, and he's missing a bunch of wrinkles.
I quickly decided I would apply for the feather of quality thing. Let that secret committee read my story. It couldn't miss.
At this point, you may want to go over to my profile and look for the yellow feather. Don't bother. It ain't there. I'm thinking of putting up a white flag.
I don't remember all the words the committee members used, but the gist of the reviews concluded the writing to be amateurish. Certainly not ready for prime time or professional publishing. The reviewers for this process were anonymous. I thought that may have contributed to a certain amount of put-down glee.
One member said something to the effect that I let all the sixes go to my head. The suggestion had been the six-star ratings came from amateurs, not professionals like the committee. There were lots of other stuff like punctuation, grammar, tense changes, and too many "was"...at some point, I just quit reading.
So any smirk on my face, like my hair, had gone with the wind. (I know plagiarism).
I don't think of myself as a writer. I'm a storyteller. Stories need to be compelling and creative. To stand out, the story should have something like humor, pathos, or some other element—be different.
I do recognize the need for writing education. I'd never dispute my lack thereof. Being a member of FanStory has taught me a lot. Clearly not enough to impress the professionals.
Yeah, I sulked around for a day or two.
But I had a nagging thing. I liked the story.
I had sent the original to an old friend. She emailed me, "I read the story to my grandson. We both enjoyed it very much."
Umm.
(Now, don't be a committee member and tell me I overused the Umm, I already know that.)
I quit sulking and turned the 3,500-word story into 5,000 words, and I liked it better. But I wasn't about to send it to no committee.
The more I thought about it, it became clear that this could be a little book some parents and grandparents might enjoy reading to youngsters at Christmas. The grown-ups might even have more fun.
I wrestled with the big question. How do I do it?
About this time, I read of Jay Squires' trials and tribulations of putting some of his books up on Amazon. I like Jay's work. I have bought and enjoyed some of his books on my Kindle. I consulted privately with Jay about the pluses and minus of Amazon, self-publishing, or sending out manuscripts, hoping a publisher might buy it.
I concluded I didn't have Jay's patience to go the Amazon route. I don't have the time to send manuscripts to publishing giants. Dang, I'm old. I may not make it to next Tuesday.
So I decided to hire a hybrid publisher. It's like a smorgasbord for publishing. They provide an executive editor to manage the project. A content editor will review the writing. They provide proofreading, layout and design, front and back book cover design, and optional services like an illustrator or marketing if you wish.
At this moment, the book is working through the publisher's system. I won't give them a "plug" just yet, but I like what I see.
Despite opinions to the contrary, I'm not completely stupid. Remember, I said I recognized the value of the educated writer. I made a deal with Rama Devi, a FanStory member, to help me with editing. She also became a teacher. Even a 77- year-old coot can learn new tricks. (Okay, learn is too strong a word).
I turned the 5,000-word story into 10,000 words, added some illustrations, and changed the title.
I asked some FanStory members to be "first readers," Annmuma (Ann Mullen) and Debi Marquette. They are both grandmothers (Ann is a GG) both provided valuable insights and suggestions.
Do I have visions of a multimillion best seller? Did you ever buy a lottery ticket for one of those BIG jackpot drawings and think the ticket price was worth the two minutes of fantasy?
I quit buying lottery tickets many years ago.
I am confident some people will buy and enjoy the book during Christmas. I've had a lot of fun bringing the story to life.
It tells the tale of two young boys who become toy makers. One of them will be recruited to be Santa Claus. The readers will learn about how all of it happened. Special elves, reindeer, angels, and a beautiful young lady will play essential roles. The story tells about Santa's first trip around the world.
The story has a few surprises, including the winner of the first official "Reindeer Games," the details of Santa's wedding, who gave the bride away, and who attended.
Look at the picture with this story again. The guy is not smirking. He's smiling and carrying his book. I hope the guy is me in a few months. I think it will feel good.
I will update you all later in the year on how everything progresses. Oh, and if you know anyone on the committee, they gonna have to buy the book, but why would they want to?
Oh, really? You think they might have grandkids. Umm.
 Recognized |
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For some reason unknown to me, the picture I originally used for the story did not post when I went from preview mode to the live posted mode. I realize this is not an ideal picture, but I think the concept comes through.
Pays
one point
and 2 member cents. Artwork by VMarguarite at FanArtReview.com
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© Copyright 2024. Terry Broxson All rights reserved.
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