Seventeen years ago I began writing this column, starting with a mass shooting in Arkansas. If I remember correctly, a young teenager took his grandparents’ guns and blew some people away. I was emotionally torn by the incident, which kicked off a newspaper column in Columbus, Nebraska, where the editor was kind enough to give me a forum.
Back then the Internet was barely functional. I don’t remember whether I brought an electronic file to the editor on a weekly basis or emailed one to her. Regardless, the readership was hand-held in the sense of picking up a newspaper and turning the pages. I met editors face-to-face, talked to them and they decided whether to carry my column. The modern miracle known as the Internet has changed that. You can go from zero to seventy in a week.
My older brother, for example, has had an idea for a children’s book for more than twenty years. He tried and failed in all the conventional publishing channels at the time, but now, just in time for the holiday, “Dingle’s Christmas Adventure” has landed online. Back in 1992 that couldn’t have happened. Today, because the Internet crushes publishing barriers, he’s able to offer his book to readers around the world – kinda like Santa Claus delivering gifts to kids.
I’m not sure what generated my brother’s idea for “Dingle’s Christmas Adventure” (http://amzn.com/B017JOLO3Q for Kindle or paperback, or https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/dingles-christmas-adventure/id1059017831?mt=11 for iBooks). Probably some odd creative juice or adult beverages were involved in the birth of Dingle. What’s more interesting is anyone who wants to can now self-publish and get their novel, children’s story, poetry, or essays out to the masses. The material may sell or might not. The beauty is if you have the drive, concept and follow-through, you can get a book to market.
Then success is up to you.
In some ways, it’s incredible that I am still published after seventeen years. How many things could go wrong?
At the start of my column, I got multiple editors throughout Nebraska to pick up what I wrote and carry the piece on a weekly basis. I added a newspaper in Kankakee, IL, where I went to high school. From there, we moved to Kennett Square, PA, and two papers there agreed to carry my writing. We then headed to Texas, and our local paper picked up the column on a semi-regular basis. Sure, connections were made at each step through discussions, but the Internet made things happen.
Dingle Claus could not have happened 20 years ago without acceptance by an agent or publisher, dozens of whom rejected my brother’s story in the early 90’s. Certainly the story could have been written, but the ability to bring the book to a wider audience didn’t exist without the aid of the publishing industry. Do-it-yourself only really became practical in the past five years or so as self-publishing costs declined.
Publishing your own stories may not turn you into a hit. The market place is still skewed in favor of established authors who create franchises for the publishing houses. That will work against my bro.
But it you have a child or a grandchild who wants a unique Christmas message about teamwork and individual strengths, then remember, “Dingle’s Christmas Adventure.” Check it out, see what you think. Write a review.
What the heck, maybe it’s all about the South Pole and this North Pole thing as been the wrong way to look at the Santa Claus myth. Wait, don’t let your kids read this column if they still believe in old Mr. Claus.
Note to my bother. Dude, there’s a grammatical error in your book. Fix it!
Back then the Internet was barely functional. I don’t remember whether I brought an electronic file to the editor on a weekly basis or emailed one to her. Regardless, the readership was hand-held in the sense of picking up a newspaper and turning the pages. I met editors face-to-face, talked to them and they decided whether to carry my column. The modern miracle known as the Internet has changed that. You can go from zero to seventy in a week.
My older brother, for example, has had an idea for a children’s book for more than twenty years. He tried and failed in all the conventional publishing channels at the time, but now, just in time for the holiday, “Dingle’s Christmas Adventure” has landed online. Back in 1992 that couldn’t have happened. Today, because the Internet crushes publishing barriers, he’s able to offer his book to readers around the world – kinda like Santa Claus delivering gifts to kids.
I’m not sure what generated my brother’s idea for “Dingle’s Christmas Adventure” (http://amzn.com/B017JOLO3Q for Kindle or paperback, or https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/dingles-christmas-adventure/id1059017831?mt=11 for iBooks). Probably some odd creative juice or adult beverages were involved in the birth of Dingle. What’s more interesting is anyone who wants to can now self-publish and get their novel, children’s story, poetry, or essays out to the masses. The material may sell or might not. The beauty is if you have the drive, concept and follow-through, you can get a book to market.
Then success is up to you.
In some ways, it’s incredible that I am still published after seventeen years. How many things could go wrong?
At the start of my column, I got multiple editors throughout Nebraska to pick up what I wrote and carry the piece on a weekly basis. I added a newspaper in Kankakee, IL, where I went to high school. From there, we moved to Kennett Square, PA, and two papers there agreed to carry my writing. We then headed to Texas, and our local paper picked up the column on a semi-regular basis. Sure, connections were made at each step through discussions, but the Internet made things happen.
Dingle Claus could not have happened 20 years ago without acceptance by an agent or publisher, dozens of whom rejected my brother’s story in the early 90’s. Certainly the story could have been written, but the ability to bring the book to a wider audience didn’t exist without the aid of the publishing industry. Do-it-yourself only really became practical in the past five years or so as self-publishing costs declined.
Publishing your own stories may not turn you into a hit. The market place is still skewed in favor of established authors who create franchises for the publishing houses. That will work against my bro.
But it you have a child or a grandchild who wants a unique Christmas message about teamwork and individual strengths, then remember, “Dingle’s Christmas Adventure.” Check it out, see what you think. Write a review.
What the heck, maybe it’s all about the South Pole and this North Pole thing as been the wrong way to look at the Santa Claus myth. Wait, don’t let your kids read this column if they still believe in old Mr. Claus.
Note to my bother. Dude, there’s a grammatical error in your book. Fix it!
