What went right? What went wrong? And why?

Literateparakeet · Feb 7, 2013

The other thread "what is your book about" was a fun read and since it started in 2004, I wondered how many of these books are possibly in print now? And if they aren't why?

So I thought I would start a thread. Here is my pityful contribution.

My first book idea: Everything I Needed to Know About Parenting, I Learned in Prison

It was a semi-serious recounting of my experiences as a Correctional Officer (prison guard) and how they affected my parenting later.

STATUS: In the trunk

What went wrong: Two things actually...one I tend to write in a very concise manner so it was too short, but I didn't have anything else I wanted to say.

A couple friends gave me ideas to expand it...and some day I may go back and do that, but the other "problem" was that someone suggested that I needed a platform, i.e. I should start a blog. I did and I loved the immediate gratification it gave me and sort of lost interest in my book.

Now, ironically, I have come full circle. I have a new book idea, which is an outgrowth of my blog, and I am much more interested in working on my book (about recovering from abuse and spirituality) than my blog. But I ~~force~~ discipline myself to do both...cause you know: PLATFORM. I am working on increasing my guest blogging for the same reason...but my main focus is definately my book.

How about you? Please share your book idea, status and what went right or wrong.

P.S. I also have a fiction book temporarily trunked because I am ~~obsessed~~ focused on my current non-fiction.

Gatita · Mar 3, 2013

Two fiction books are in the drawer because, well, that's where they should be. I like to say I was just warming up. My narrative nonfiction book has morphed during the past five years from a collection of vignettes/short stories into a full-blown epic because that's what my three (count 'em three!) agents over the years told me to do.

No I didn't have three agents at the same time, I'm serially monogamous

What went "wrong" is that the book concept needed refining, problems need fixing, and it has become a much better book after I got feedback from editors who rejected it.

It's out on sub again now, looking good, but I don't want to jinx anything...

ps. As a reporter who spends a LOT of time in prisons, your shelved idea sounds grand!

veinglory · Mar 4, 2013

My non-fiction book is out in the world, but sales have not been impressive.

Literateparakeet · Mar 5, 2013

Gatita, thanks for the comment about my shelved prison book. I think I will come back to that one day.

Oh man, three agents? That is a good reminder for the rest of us that just getting an agent is not "happily ever after". It sounds like you are still working on it though and will make this work. Good plan! Keep us posted. I love sucess stories.

Veinglory...ahhh, that is my other fear--that one day I will get my "baby" out into the world and then crickets. Sigh... By the way, I was going to ask what your book was, then realized your name is right there in your avatar so I looked you up on amazon. Wow! I didn't realize you were such a prolific writer. That's terrific. I didn't see the non-fiction though. Did you write that one under a different name?

Chris P · Mar 5, 2013

The project: My wondiferous nonfic idea was to write a book called A Lifetime of Achievement about technological progress from 1870 to 1950, or one human lifetime. Think about how much changed: black powder warfare to the atom bomb, leeches and powders and supportive care to vaccines and antibiotics, covered wagons to jet airplanes, and all the things someone born in 1870 would have thought of as daily life by her death in 1950.

What went wrong: Time and circumstance. Something like this requires researching about 3000 cubic miles of source material (I'm a scientist after all, and I won't allow myself to half-ass it!). In addition, of course you might think Louis Pasteur discovered the germ theory of disease in the 1870s, until you find out that Pasteur's work was prefigured in the 1860s by others and the crude sterilization techniques (very, very crude) during the US Civil War, which of course were based on earlier anecdotes of midwives about handwashing, etc. So where does it really begin? And do you talk about the atom bomb without talking about the hydrogen bomb, which wasn't a reality until after 1950? Where does it end?

I was putting together a proposal and a couple sample chapters when the woman I was married to decided being married wasn't such a good idea anymore. I knew I wasn't going to be staying put geographically, so I didn't want to get stuff started with a publisher and trying to meet a deadline while all that was going on and wanted to do.

Status: At least things from 1870 to 1950 are over and done, so those 80 years will still be there when I'm ready for them. Also, as more publications put their past issues online, source material will be easier to find (I won't need to live near a large university library). Now I just need to stop globetrotting and commit to the time. I really, really want to do this project. I love writing fiction, but it's not my greatest strength.

Siri Kirpal · Mar 5, 2013

Sat Nam! (literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)

Well, two of my non-fiction books are out. Sales are slower than I'd like, but steady and bring in enough royalties that I can claim to be a writer and not feel like I'm lying. I shelved another yoga book because I decided to cannibalize it for use in yet another yoga book. Then I decided to write the Sikhism book instead.

I also tried writing a novel and had my life turn into a variation on a theme of the novel I was writing. So all writing stopped while all hell broke loose. I may write a memoir about it.

I'll keep my mouth shut about my wip.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal

Literateparakeet · Mar 5, 2013

Chris, I think your book sounds fascinating to read, daunting to write!

. If you get back to it, be sure and tell us, I would love to read it.

Siri Kirpal, congratulations, a paid writer! Victory! Yoga is a wonderful topic, very popular right now as I understand. Wow, sorry about Hell breaking loose on you...sounds awful.

Kylabelle · Mar 5, 2013

I'd like to join in the conversation here, even though I'm not at a stage to say what went right, wrong, or why. I am about 7000 words into a non fiction book (intended to be a short one of no more than about 1400 words total) and coming up to the time when I'll be wanting to share some of it for comments and critique.

Chris, your idea sounds fascinating to me also. As I read your post I could understand your dilemma about "where did it start" because I have run into just that question in so many arenas! Yet is seems to me that for purposes of your book as described, the actual story would best start with the experience of that one lifespan. So someone being born at a certain point, well, some discoveries are made and some not but the experience does start right there. Maybe using an individual life as a frame would help. (If I am making sense.) For what it's worth! Anyway, good luck with it!

Siri, congratulations to you, and I hear you about how writing and RL tend to sort of infect one another, it seems.

LP, beginning to read your blog. I'm a new blogger and working with voice, looking for the best mix of personal and neutral. You seem to do that balance very well!

I hope to participate more here. Right now I am facing a big life change, may be moving cross country soon, and that is going to seriously slow down the writing for a little while! But I will be back.

veinglory · Mar 5, 2013

Literateparakeet said:
I didn't see the non-fiction though. Did you write that one under a different name?

Yeah, that is under my serious scientist name. If you are curious just shoot me a PM.

Siri Kirpal · Mar 5, 2013

Sat Nam! (literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)

Thanks, Kylabelle and Literateparakeet.

Chris, I think Kylabelle's example would be great. Either a real person who lived that time span or a fictitious one as the frame for the info.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal

Literateparakeet · Mar 6, 2013

Thanks Kylabella for your kind words. Best of luck with your book and your move.

Veinglory, I am curious. Sending you a PM!

Autodidact · Mar 13, 2013

ChrisP: That sounds like an excellent idea and very saleable. I think the cutoff date problem is solvable and can be integrated into the theme. I also wonder if that might be how Bill Bryson ended up with A Short History of Nearly Everything. Do you like Bill Bryson? Have you read Simon Singh's Big Bang? Anyway, well written popular science can be a best seller. Get back to work.

mccardey · Mar 13, 2013

Literateparakeet said:
My first book idea: Everything I Needed to Know About Parenting, I Learned in Prison

It was a semi-serious recounting of my experiences as a Correctional Officer (prison guard) and how they affected my parenting later.

STATUS: In the trunk.

Damn - I would have bought that book!

Literateparakeet · Mar 13, 2013

Autodidact, I love your user name. I am autodidactic also. I was joking with a friend that we should have our own sweatshirts created that say: AU: Autodidact University.

McCardey, thanks you made me smile! I may try and revive that one later, when I get my current idea out of my head.

tombookpub · Mar 18, 2013

I lost a lot of time (read 200 hours) courting agents, book publishers, etc. with query letters, proposal writing, etc. In retrospect, I could have better used this time (i.e., getting my book out earlier) in my self-publishing efforts. Since its release at the start of the Beijing Olympics on 8/8/08, I have sold about 500 copies.

Gatita · Mar 19, 2013

UPDATE on what went right: my third agent!

I now have two offers, one a fairly decent one by my modest standards, and I should have a contract by week's end.

For those here who are self-publishing, I'd love to hear more about how it works out because that was my plan until Agent # 3 came along.

Siri Kirpal · Mar 19, 2013

Sat Nam! (literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)

Congrats, Gatita!

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal

Ruth2 · Mar 19, 2013

Gatita-- congratulations!!!!!

sunandshadow · Mar 19, 2013

I'm not sure whether I posted in the old thread, or if so what I was working on at the time. I've had two major non-fiction projects over the past several years - a How To Design Games book, and a Fiction Theory book. Those are both shelved with intention to get back to them and overhaul what I've done so far when I'm feeling particularly motivated. I also have project where I'm designing an oracle deck on a backburner; I think that qualifies as non-fiction?

But I've had success completing some shorter projects related to game design and also art design. I taught a free online class about designing the appearance of a cast of characters (for a comic, game, or other visual storytelling project) and that got me writing a chunk of curriculum, theory followed by an assignment, each week for 5 weeks. More recently I completed a 32k word guide to how to design pet-related computer games. I really did not get as much feedback as I hoped for or wanted on that, but what little I did get was positive, and I'm personally satisfied with it, anyway. Had to rest after that long haul, but now I'm ready to build on it by going into more detail about specific genres.

As far as fiction goes, I've grumpily been forced to the conclusion that as much as I love designing the synopsis for a story, I just don't want to actually write them. I used to find the actual writing part enjoyable, but I just don't any more, especially since I cannot find a partner to work with to make it a less solitary activity. So unless I ever get to the point where I can hire staff writers to develop my concepts - vastly unlikely - my fiction ideas seem likely to stay undeveloped.

Literateparakeet · Mar 19, 2013

tombookpub said:
Since its release at the start of the Beijing Olympics on 8/8/08, I have sold about 500 copies.

Congrats on your sales. So what is your book called?

Relic37 said:
So I went the POD route.

Good luck. I understand it has been a good route for many. What is your book called?

Gatita said:
UPDATE on what went right: my third agent!

I now have two offers, one a fairly decent one by my modest standards, and I should have a contract by week's end.

Third time's a charm, huh? Awesome, congratulations!!!

tombookpub · Mar 20, 2013

@literateparakeet - See my avatar and signature line for my first (self-published) book ==> Order On The Court
@Gatita - Mega-congrats to you! And I am pursuing self-publishing for my second book - via my own established "publishing house" - unless I find a better option.

Literateparakeet · Mar 20, 2013

Oops, sorry Tom. I wrote that write before going to bed on my "24-hour day"...I work graveyard/overnight shift, and I switch back to a regular sleep schedule on my days off...so every week I have one day that I am awake for 24 hrs. I was tired!

Your website looks good. I can see why you released it around the Olympics.

Relic, Jay...thanks...your book sounds really interesting to me. I was an EMT for 2 yrs...short time, yes, that was all it took for me to find out I was not cut out for that kind of work. But I am still fascinated with it.

Sunandshadow, I'm glad to hear someone else has several irons in the fire, and things on hold...it's a sign of our creative minds, right? Or at least I like to think so...

What went right? What went wrong? And why?

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