Ed On Writing

Hello from Edward J. Coburn

Okay, finally, here is my second post. I have decided that I will try to post every day (at least a little) and I will post anytime I put anything on the tabbed pages so with a quick look at the front page you can always see what new was added. First, I will always copy the explanation of the name of the post, shortened a bit:

You may be wondering why my blog is called Ram's Ramblings on Writing. But why Ram's Ramblings when my name is Ed. Well, it all started with a blog by Robert Adam Madigan (or RAM), a blog that doesn't actually exist because Robert Adam Madigan is a character in a new book I am writing and, in the book, he is the author of the blog call Ram's Rambings although his name is not really Robert Adam Madigan. He is hiding from his real name which is Frederick Martin Scope. You will have to read the book (when it's finished) to find out why.

So today, Sunday, 10/23/2011, I have posted changes in the following tabs:

• On YouTube videos
• On Strokes and Other Problems
• On Ed's books
• On Interesting Quotes
• On Ed's Poems
• On Gambling

 

Ed's ramble for the day is:

You may have wondered why I posted my latest book (Last Killer Standing) as a Kindle (ebook) book rather that getting it traditionally published. Well, the answer to that is simple.

It is next to impossible, if not downright impoossible, to get to a publisher without having an agent and getting an agent is next to impossible as well. And what's worse, when you send a submission in to an agent:

• some will answer you with NO so soon after submission you have to wonder if they read you proposal at all (probably not)
• And the others you will probably never hear from at all.

When I sent in Last Killer Standing I sent it to 22 agents:

• Heard from two so soon I seriously doubt that they could have read the proposal,
• Heard from about 10 of the other ones after a lot of weeks with no more explanation than a blanket refusal 
• The others I never heard from at all after waiting  five months.

Thus, since I didn't want my book to just sit on my hard drive never being read by anyone at all, I felt there was no other recourse but to self-publish it as a Kindle book.

The problem with that is that with so many books being self-published through Kindle, yours and mine, no matter how good, they are hard to locate and can easily fall through the cracks without hardly any readership. Which, of course, translates into no money for all your (and my) hard work. And, anyone who thinks that writing a book and self-editing it many times isn't work, has never done it. And, of course, it is very frustrating work when nobody get the opportunity to read your brilliant prose.

But, a note about doing a book as a POD book. What is POD you may ask? POD stands for Print On Demand. In theory, it is a good idea. The pulisher warehouses only a few books and prints in sets of 25 when the demand dictates that they need more copies. The problems with this concept are many:

• The publisher I used, (AuthorHouse) acording to many things I have read on-line, isn't paying me, or most of the other authors that used them the royalties which their books have earned through sales.
• Self-publishing is expensive (though POD publishing is less expensive than traditional vanity publishing).
• Some of POD publishers do a lousy job with the publishing process and you end up with a book that looks horrid (according to what I have read). AuthorHouse did do a good job of the publishing process, fortunately. (too bad they don't pay the authors the way they should)

Given all this pain and frustration with the publish industry as a whole will I stop writing? Of course not. Like most authors, I can't. I can't  just leave my ideas along to wither away. (To use a rather trite phrase, I Can't Not write (and, yes, I know that's a double negative, but I plead author's license). My mind is simply too fertile for that. Besides, I really don't want to be a greeter at Walmart (I'm of that age) and I have to do somthing with my spare time. When I finally retire, a few years yet, I will have oodles of spare time (like most retired people) and I have never been very good at just sitting around doing nothing (just ask my mother who really knows).

My new book (about Ram) is just going to be the first of 26 (at least) and I have ideas for about 15 or so "Standing" books in that series, and I have ida for several "Order of the White Feather" books (series).

To make matters worse, I have started to write rhyming children's books which my daughter Shannon, will illustrate for me (she's a good artist and the inital drawing she has sent me are wonderful) while my other daughter Heather, as she has done in the past, is helping me edit, acts as a reader and critic (though, sometimes, I think she is not aa critical as she should be, not mean (I hope), just critical when my wtiting is not up to what I can really do). I have at least 7 ideas for other chidrens books in that series (I guess I will keep Heather and especially Shannon quite busy).

Well, I will call a halt to this posting for now. More postings will follow, I promise.