[bksvol-discuss] Re: Chris's books

  • From: "Chris Hofstader" <cdh@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2008 17:46:02 -0400

Nan,
 
Thank you so very much for the encouragement.  Of my three main projects,
one already has a trad publisher but that's due to my co-author's reputation
and her fame in the Boston area where she's written for the Globe, Phoenix,
Boston Magazine and a number of other publications, some national.  Having
Susanne's "foot in the door" helps a lot but, alas, the project struggles
from too much or too little or just plain yuk.
 
I will seek and apply your advice on the other projects though.
 
Thanks again,
cdh
 
 
Chris Hofstader
CUNY, BSO, ATG, Odds and Ends
email: cdh@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Blog: http://www.blindconfidential.blogspot.com
<http://www.blindconfidential.blogspot.com/> 
Skype: BlindChristian
phone: 727-896-6393
 
 

  _____  

From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Nan Hawthorne
Sent: Thursday, June 26, 2008 2:55 PM
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Chris's books


Chris and all,

Regarding your vignettes book, I have long thought about writing a book, or
a web site or blog, called "Vitreous Humor"  that would be a combination of
jokes.. nice ones.. and other observations about the blind world and sighted
world.  E.g.,  "How many blind people does it take to change a light bulb?"
"What light bulb?"  I have a feeling this would be hugely popular.  I don't
intend to pursue this, so I give the idea to you.

I do really encourage looking into the Independent Authors Guild
www.independentauthorsguild.org to learn about indie publishing.   The group
does not charge for membership yet... and is essentially a Yahoogroup
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IAG-members/ .  The world of publishing these
days is entirely commercial and profit motivated, which is just how it goes,
but I feel a lot of books don't get published as a result that really should
see the light of day.

A couple companies don't charge up front for publishing.. Lulu.com for
instance.  They take a chunk of the purchase price when someone orders the
book on their site.  And one of my favorite aspects of Lulu is that many of
their books are available as e-books and accessible.  If you want a book to
show up in e- book and/or print on Amazon, let's say, you will need an ISBN
number but that is only $100 which is doable compared to the chunk of change
some/most of the PODs charge to publish.

When I think of the market/audience for books by and about blind people that
could be published if the authors knew about indie publishing.. the mind
boggles.  

The role of the Independent Authors Guild is to help people navigate the POD
and small press industry but also to encourage standards of writing.   Too
many people think "self-published" means lousy books.. but it just isn't
true.  Yes, there is lots of junk, but there is some quality out there that
just doesn't not qualify as profitable to the literary industrial complex.
I have made a point of encouraging indie authors to offer their books to
Bookshare which they are pleased to do.  One remarkable first novel on
Bookshare is Brandy Purdy's "The Confession of Piers Gaveston" - a novel
with such exquisite use of the first person narrative that I challenge any
of you to read it and say whether it is not high quality.   And I trust my
own novel will rank up there somewhere.

So I encourage you, Chris, and others not to look down on indie publishing
but to join IAG and learn what the recording industry, filmmakers and
software developers already know..do it yourself does not necessarily mean
trash.

Nan Hawthorne
www.medieval-novels.com


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