NEW BOOK SOON

Washington Island, Wisconsin -     

BRIDGES ARE STILL NEWS  [Order Form At Foot Of Blog]

This posting announces my new book with an order form enclosed (below) that you can print.   Publication and delivery is anticipated to be the end of this coming week (by Dec. 17th) and order requests will be filled first, prior to distribution to area retail outlets.

In 2009, I was very fortunate to have Words On Water published by Norbert Blei's Cross+Roads Press.  Based on my ferryman's journal of 2007, it was well-received by the public, with reviews that were also very supportive.   During the three years years since writing Words On Water, I've worked on other projects and polished pieces written prior to 2007.  Many of these appeared on this blog, along with other poems and essays.  It is a selection of these pieces, then, with further editing and the inclusion of many photos, that makes up my newest book, Bridges Are Still News.


Putting this book together was more difficult than I had anticipated because of so many different pieces, but it would have been impossible without the help of Amy Jorgenson who composed the pages, had great graphic sense, and made this, in my opinion, a most appealing and readable book.   In one sense, it is literary, both poems and prose.  On the other hand, if you like history, essays or photos, you should not be disappointed.  The inclusion of so many color and B&W photos, over 100, would have been unthinkable 15 or 20 years ago due to production difficulties and cost.

Publishing


Norbert Blei was kind to publish my last book. By his own policy it is something he does only once per aspiring writer in order to give them exposure, and encourage their continuation and success.   His accepting my book for publication was of immense value to me.  But now, if what I write is to see the light of day (beyond these blogs), in what is primarily a limited, local / regional market, the establishment of Island Bayou Press for self-publication seemed to be the only probable course.

While e-books are the coming trend, and many small-run books can be purchased on-line, I think local history and regional literature will continue to be with real books, read and placed on shelves alongside like books from the past.

Here is something I copied from an on-line site which throws a huge element of concern into anyone who considers going this route.  It reads:

 Before traditional self publishing, you may want to make your work available in electronic form, carefully monitoring the response, and then building on it.  If that appears unreasonable, keep in mind the following statistics:


  1.  around 1 million manuscripts are apparently looking for a US publisher
  2.  only 1% of manuscripts will probably be published
  3.  33 percent of high school graduates will never read another book for the rest of their lives
  4.  42 percent of college graduates will never read another book after college
  5.  70 books published do not earn back their advance
  6.  70 percent of books published do not make a profit
  7.  art, literature and poetry together account for only 3.3% of the  US book market


Daunting.  So, to the readers of these blogs and of all regional literature, to the readers of local authors and poets...thanks for your support.

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