Bottle
]The book ‘Almost There’ did go through its final reading and corrections. Many commas have gone or re-appeared, and images and photos centred. The syntax is still chaotic and a bit odd (according to my daughter), but so be it! After two more letters from the publisher, I pressed the magic button. It is now resting somewhere in London on the Canary Wharf. Who would have thought? A ‘board’ of editors might well be sitting around the oblong shaped mahogany table and pore over its lines and word order right now. Did I hear the popping of the champagne?
I am now half way through compiling another one. With over close to a million words embedded in WordPress, surely there has to be another seventy thousand words or so that can be picked up for another bite at the cherry and give a modest contribution to faithful readers in the form of a tangible book? It is so re-assuring that if all publishing efforts fail I can simply go through the CreateSpace and Amazon kindle process and pay up the lolly for doing an ‘Indie.’ I was totally mystified about this Indie word till I learned recently that it stands for independent self funded publishing.
Things are tough for publishing and when one thinks that only about one manuscript in a hundred gets published one understands that publishers get very choosy on what to publish. They must get so frustrated in trying to pick a winner. I can imagine most editors would just give most manuscripts a glance for a second or so before dumping it. I think a loud yawn is probably more likely than the popping of champagne.
However, Two Roads of the UK, whose Chief Editor is Lisa Highton, helped publish a winner. It is ‘Ruby’ by Cynthia Bond.
http://www.tworoadsbooks.com/fiction/ruby-cynthia-bond/Of course, the guarantee to a best seller is an interview by Oprah Winfrey which happened. She gave Cynthia and her book a rave review, comparing her with Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Can it get any better?http://www.oprah.com/oprahsbookclub/Oprah-Talks-to-Ruby-Author-Cynthia-Bond
Oosterman Treats Blog 
April 3, 2016 at 11:53 pm |
I would think it’s far less than one book in a hundred that gets picked up by a traditional publisher. But as you say, there are independent routes now, so it’s a new world for authors.
You’re just buzzing right along with this. Congrats!
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April 4, 2016 at 7:01 am |
You are right, Carrie. Probably one book in a thousand gets published. Everyone is an author now. They are stooped over their Kindles to check if they sold another one and meet at authors clubs and compare notes.
Psychologists are scrambling to keep up with author’s addictions. It used to be so simple. We go to the library, borrow a book, and cuddle up and read it.
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April 4, 2016 at 4:48 am |
Keeping fingers crossed that you’ll have a publisher.If not then publish it your self. I think it well might be a winner.
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April 4, 2016 at 7:03 am |
Thank you. I am hoping things will turn up. If not, no worries, I’ll keep on writing. We are all orphans in this world.
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April 4, 2016 at 7:53 am |
Who can keep up with mainstream publishing? Even very literally minded people cannot possibly read all the books that have ever been published.
I like to read a few books “intimately” the way I aim in getting to know a few people as well as possible. Some books just become my friends, the way some people become my friends.
On the other hand some books that in years past used to be good friends of mine, so to speak, maybe are not so familiar to me any more. It is the same with some people who may have been good friends for a while but at this stage do not play such a great part in my life any more.
You are right, Gerard, it is no wonder that publishers have to be very choosy in deciding what to publish when they receive all the time hundreds and hundreds of manuscripts to choose from.
You say: The syntax is still chaotic and a bit odd (according to my daughter).
That reminds about a piece I wrote. I was supposed to hand it in for publication in a magazine, and they actually printed it! My university educated daughter had a look at it only after it had been published. Well, I cannot tell you, how many corrections she would have liked to make. I pointed out to her, that it was not supposed to be an academic essay. So I wrote more or less the way I speak.(Well, perhaps a little bit better than ordinary speech!) I am only too aware that my speech is quite often out of “syntax” and I find it sometimes difficult to say exactly what I want to say because I am not fluent enough in English.
Recently I came across a very interesting article about Goethe. A long time ago I did read only a few pieces of his writing. However, whatever I can remember about it, left a deep impression on me. I do find, he did lead a very interesting life. To think how much he wrote over the course of his life! And he had to write it all by hand. (Or maybe at times he had a secretary!) We have it so much easier these days with computers to help us along!
So what is great about Goethe? Would you like to look it up? You can find it here:
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April 4, 2016 at 8:15 pm |
Yes, it is all so amazing and some seem to have been born to produce art to such great heights and beauty it seems impossible to accept it was just a single person that created all. The same with Mozart.
My own hero remains Rembrandt Van Rijn. I still see the ‘Man with the Golden Helmet’ of which my parents had a framed print hanging in our lounge room in The Hague and after migration to Australia, in our Sydney home.
Uta. Do you think that all creativity is somehow also an expression of an auto-biographical nature? I mean, I seem to be forever drawn back to the person who created it. What were they all about?
After reading a writer such as Garcia Marquez I conjure up the man himself and no matter how fiction arises out of his imagination, I seem to get the picture of the man the more I read his books.
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April 5, 2016 at 4:14 am
I feel the same way about Tolstoy, Gerard. I think in his novels he brings a message across about his views of society and his morals.
It is said that in most novels you can find in some characters the character of the writer reflected. An expression of an auto-biographical nature? Yes, I am sure of it.
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April 5, 2016 at 9:25 am
Yes, Uta. I am sure you are right. I had another go at trying to read ‘War and Peace,’ but after a couple of hundred pages, caved in. It seemed so laborious with all those horses entering St Petersburg and ladies in billowing skirts waiting for love to float by.
Perhaps age has much to do with the wilting of romantic tales, maintaining and holding this reader captive.
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April 4, 2016 at 7:55 am |
Correction: I think “literally” should really be literate?
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April 4, 2016 at 10:15 pm |
Both are good. We get the message.
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April 4, 2016 at 5:49 pm |
Auntyuta is absolutely correct. We cannot keep up with all the books being published, some better than others. I have several waiting in the wings now which sound compelling. But knowing at least some of your story Gerard, I am saving my money to buy “Almost There’ as well as the next book you are working on.
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April 4, 2016 at 8:29 pm |
A book will be kept separate for you, dear Kayti. Thank you so much.
A response came yesterday that the book will be submitted to the board of editors. It could take up to six weeks to get an answer.
It is a nice thing to get a reply and I am happy.
Most publishers warn in their submission guidelines, that ‘if nothing is heard within six weeks’ it means they are not interested. No discussion and no reply. You would think, with the simple push of a button, they could at least say ‘Thank you for your manuscripts, but we can’t use your submission.’
I mean, those publishers earn money from books with words, they should not be too stingy with using a few in reply to those that have sweated over a book.
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April 4, 2016 at 9:55 pm |
You may recall that at one time I had a box of rejection notices which I was saving to paper a wall in my study! In those far off days they were either more polite or had fewer manuscripts to pore over. This sounds good though. Someone is interested.
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April 4, 2016 at 10:10 pm |
A rejection notice would be much appreciated by many. One publisher had the audacity to warn writers that if guidelines were not followed, hard copies of their work would be shredded.
When I read that, I had to lie down for a while. Milo came and nuzzled me.
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April 4, 2016 at 11:40 pm |
If all else fails you could find another way to make yourself famous and THEN ask for your book to be published. After all, if Kim Kardashian can get a book published, I’m pretty sure publishing isn’t always about quality. Well, it is for the plebs like you and me but for anyone who has managed to get themselves into the public eye in any other way, the same rules obviously don’t apply. Good luck with the submission!
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April 5, 2016 at 12:02 am |
Master, I think Gerard will struggle to generate such a fat bum!
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April 5, 2016 at 12:16 am |
I could always hijack a shopping trolley, race it around the shopping mall and shout boo… to old ladies, get arrested and charged with being a public nuisance.
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April 5, 2016 at 9:14 am
Yes, Gerard, I can see you being charged with affray, or public menace. “He always seemed like such a quiet, kind gent, until….”
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April 5, 2016 at 9:18 am
Yes, sometimes doing the outrageous is the only way forward. I mean the normal ones are always on the right of the political spectrum. Always wrong, of course.
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April 5, 2016 at 9:30 am |
We will all miss Bob Ellis;
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-04/bob-ellis:-1942-2016/7296212
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April 5, 2016 at 1:02 pm |
I’m glad to hear things are moving along, Gerard. I think the days of the big mahogany table may be over, but a few computer stations and a cubicle will do just as well for the decision-making process. Maybe better — any writing that can liven up a space like that surely is worthy of publication. Let’s hope you lively those folks up!
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April 5, 2016 at 10:20 pm |
We are levelling out a bit of the front garden and paving it. The garden is really keeping us busy and am taking a break from obsessive self indulgent book thoughts and worry, Linda.
I mean, how much can we keep up with this world. The Panama papers, swirling around. Hundreds of the Australian rich have Panama taxation-avoidance schemes in place, yet no money for refuges for abused women or re-habs for ice addicted mothers.
Last night I heard people pleading on a TV program for relaxing gun controls. Can you believe this, after watching those black hollowed eyed children’s looks in bombed out Syria?
No, we’ll stick to the garden and soil improvement instead.
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April 6, 2016 at 8:39 am |
Two Roads looks a good bet to me. their non-fiction list is excellent. I hope you succeed there.
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April 6, 2016 at 2:20 pm |
Looking forward to seeing your book in print.
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April 7, 2016 at 5:29 am |
Those sat round that mahogany table in Canary Wharf with their fat cigars better vote Yay or there shall be big trouble, B-I-G trouble…
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