I’ve been using online services to publish my own books and also books for other people. There is something magical about seeing “your book” come to life.

Our society reveres The Book. It is a symbol of achievement, an intellectual victory over things in our head. We read about authors “working on The Book” for years, hoping to finish and publish The Book.

To “get published” we knock on the doors of gatekeepers—agents and publishers, and beg to be deemed worthy. “Is it any good?” people will ask when they share their draft with you.

There are websites that report how many rejections famous authors got for a Book That Made It Big. Here are some: https://www.onlinecollege.org/2010/05/17/50-iconic-writers-who-were-repeatedly-rejected/  or http://www.litrejections.com/best-sellers-initially-rejected/  or https://www.writerswrite.co.za/50-iconic-writers-who-were-repeatedly-rejected/  (These are a fun distraction from writing Your Book.)

In fact, there is a myth that if you drop everything and write A Book, you can hit pay dirt. The long, lonely years at a pathetic desk somewhere (because you are not rich and it isn’t nice) will pay off. “My book bought the house,” you’ll hear. You’ll go on Book Tours all over the country. Readers will adore you. The spouse or parent who supported you for years will exhale.

Meanwhile, agents and publishers are/were having fancy lunches in New York, hustling each other, to discover The Big Book or The Big Author. You feel your face pressed against the window of the restaurant.

The thing is, agents and publishers need to make money. So yes, they are looking for a “Good Book” but they are also looking for book SALES. I think that means thousands of copies. They will invest in editing, formatting, cover design, and marketing. They need a return on investment.

Meanwhile, the internet came along, and print-on-demand technology came along. Nobody has to print 5,000 copies and then store them, ship them, take back returns, remainder them. Now, a reader buys a book, and it is printed and shipped. Even better, the print-on-demand services became something AUTHORS can do, or delegate to a technical helper. Making a book became Cheap and Easy. Thus, You and I can put a book “out there.”

We can bypass the agents, the publishers, even the bookstores. We have to handle our own publicity and marketing. People in the industry will tell you Those Are Professional Skills. As are the skills of editing, layout design, cover design, and marketing strategy.

What if your book is really Precious and Magical to only about 50 people? What if it’s pretty good, but you can’t get a “yes” from 30-50 agents? Beatrix Potter (The Tale of Peter Rabbit) and Zane Grey resorted to “self-publishing” their first books. Many, many writers, philosophers, teachers—throughout history—have “made a book” and put it “out there.”

(Look up Samuel Pepys Diary, written for a decade from 1660, when he was a 26-year-old civil servant in London.)

Until recently, there was a stigma against self-publishing. It is labelled “vanity publishing.” You are deemed a loser who cannot succeed with publishing people who have “standards.” (As you can tell from the lists of notable “losers,” it’s not a bad group.) And remember, “standards” are warped with “sales.”

Part of my motivation to self-publish is rebellion. Rebellion against an establishment and an industry that locked out and even trashed new writers. Just say “no” to arbitrary, fickle, derisive, biased gatekeepers! Also, practically, I don’t want to spend years piling up rejections. Some of my friends are not up to the technical task of finding agents, pitching to agents, submitting to agents. These are barriers that come after what feels like the major task, which was writing The Book.
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So, do you want a few people to know “your stuff?” Is it lying in a pile of loose papers? We Can Have Our Book. And share it. Reveal your deepest thoughts, imaginings, stories, secrets, observations in a Book. Maybe get a “wow” from “out there.”

​Let us pause the madness on earth right now and think about extraterrestrials a.k.a. aliens. They have a very bad reputation. Lots of scary stereotypes of monsters who want to invade the earth and make us all slaves, or harvest our organs. Anybody seen the movies called ALIEN?

At the same time, we have the HISTORY Channel showing a series on Ancient Aliens, see https://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens . How aliens helped seed the human race, introduced technologies, helped build giant civilizations (some of which disappeared into the ocean), and left behind marks and symbols all over the earth.

Also, the phenomenon of UFO sightings. How the U.S. government suppresses all information about sightings. How sometimes, a pilot or a researcher who knows too much disappears or experiences a totally unexpected fatal accident.

There is a rebellious effort to go around official suppression, in the form of MUFON (Mutual UFO Network)—an all-volunteer, non-profit group that is the world’s oldest and largest civilian UFO investigation and research organization. See https://www.mufon.com/ .

Meanwhile, every year, there is an annual meeting on all things alien. It is like ComicCon only it is AlienCon. See https://www.thealiencon.com/  I’ll share my experience in Baltimore in another posting. There are people from the History Channel on panels, and people telling you what happened when they were abducted. And people dress up!

In short: IT IS CRAZY FASCINATING AND LOTS OF US ARE THINKING ABOUT IT
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That’s why you should get your hands on the novel: https://www.amazon.com/Pip-Sedro-Woolley-Ruta-Sevo/dp/0999118757/

QUOTE from interview with John McCain:

What books do you think best capture your own political principles?
 
Ernest Hemingway’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls.” It’s my favorite novel of all time. It instructed me to see the world as it is, with all its corruption and cruelty, and believe it’s worth fighting for anyway, even dying for. No just cause is futile, even if it’s lost, if it helps make the future better than the past.
                                                                                                                                                -John McCain, May 6, 2018


This interview gives me a positive view of him. Also, he is telling us about the power of fiction.​

Even if I don’t make serious money by writing and publishing, the satisfactions of this hobby/activity are GREAT. I highly recommend it, if you can afford it.

For example, a big challenge after you have published a book is getting POSITIVE reviews. You ask your friends to post reviews. You ask your friends to VOTE DOWN bad reviews (on Amazon). People count reviews. People discount the power of reviews.

Basically, a review enhances the summary of the book that comes with its “For Sale” posting. Readers might relate the story to themselves, and they might recommend it.

If you think writing the book was hard, and getting it published was hard, welcome to the world of “getting reviews.”

Because we have the Internet, we have thousands of opinions about what is “good” and “bad.”

Yes, people knock on your door and offer a review for some compensation.

I have an offer from people who will display my physical book in a national book fair and “give it some attention” for $600-$1500. (I pointed out that since the book we were discussing is sold for 99 cents, with no royalty, I would be INVESTING in GIVING AWAY MORE COPIES.) Will it make me rich or famous?

I just commissioned Aimee Ann of Red Headed Book Lover Blog to write a review of My Boat Is So Small. It is a positive review. Her blog is a big library of beautifully displayed books that she has reviewed. I was concerned about her scope, and taste. She includes spiritual non-fiction, Zen Buddhism, erotica, and dystopian fantasy, along with romance. (That’s been a problem: it seems to me that most volunteer reviewers want to review romances, and they might hate your book—on the Internet—for not being a romance, especially not a “clean romance.”)

I read a discussion panning Aimee Ann’s reviews: “she didn’t read the book,” “wanted money,” etc.

But what if I thought of her work as PROMOTION, and MARKETING? She emphasizes interaction with readers. She puts your book up beautifully, with the dozen related links, especially the “buy” links. What if her review isn’t a “highly credentialed” comment on your book and your writing, but an enhanced summary, in language that many other people might even prefer to your own language?

What’s wrong with a BIG LIKE?

As a former librarian, I like having my book in her library. I don’t mind a few glowing words in its favor. She is reaching people I will not reach.

She describes herself as “a redheaded wife of a perfect Marine and a mother of four beautiful red-haired children.” That suggests to me that she’s found a way to be part of the literary scene and work from home. She’s created her own job. She’s an entrepreneur. She’s resourceful. And talented. And passionate about books. Like a self-appointed librarian. Who likes finding good things to say about a wide variety of books.

See here: https://redheadedbookloverblog.com/2018/03/17/my-boat-is-so-small-ruta-sevo/
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I’ve asked her to do another book, which is the novel written by my great-grandmother. It might find a few more readers. I think Sofia Zubov will smile in heaven.

It hurts to get a bad review of your book because it is a rejection. It says “I don’t like this thing” but feels like “I don’t like you/your taste.”

It is worse if you think the review is unfair. What is “unfair?” “Unfair” means “unkind, inconsiderate, or unreasonable.”

I think the following are unreasonable and unkind: “I hate this beach [but I hate all beaches].” “I wish you hadn’t served peaches because they make me sick [but I ate them].”

In matters of art, of course, your experience of a product depends on your taste, your preferences, your experience, and your sophistication with the medium, perhaps. “That play was long and boring. [Because you like short comic sit-coms on TV.]” “I would never buy an abstract painting –they are all bad. [Because you like representational art, especially puppies and kittens, on your walls.]”

There is no objective measure, except maybe regarding technique. “That photograph of a kitten would be better if the photographer would have used special lighting, framed it to be more interesting, etc.” That is, the photographer did not employ what you think are “good” techniques. Although, to be fair, the photographer may have tried to break with convention and notions of “good” technique.

Or, YOU JUST DIDN’T LIKE THIS PHOTO, although you normally like photos of kittens.

The very first review of my novel MY BOAT IS SO SMALL to be posted said: “This is the most depressing book I’ve read.” I looked up the reviewer and her favorite genre is light romance. My book is in the category of dark, psychological drama. Like Ingmar Bergman. Whom I never recall apologizing for being depressing.

Was it easy to ignore her? No. I want to please everybody. I want everyone to “get” me, and find my themes and characters to be rich and interesting. I want them to find insights about people and find that they relate emotionally to some dark scenes. I want them to be fans of Bergman movies.

One of my first impulses was to convince myself that the book is not as depressing as other best sellers. For example, THE HANDMAID’S TALE, whose concept is so depressing I will not read it. Then I found that a new book called THE INCEST DIARY is ranked #642 overall among millions of ebooks. In the preview of this book, nearly every page is a gruesome “scene” (in my opinion.) One of the reviewers thought that the author was a man who wanted to write child porn and found a way to do it. (The publisher is mainstream. The book is not classified as erotica.)

My book is not that “challenging.”

To further soothe myself, I looked up some of my fellow authors. For example, an experienced writer of romances who got some bad reviews. One reviewer gave her a one-star rating because she used the F word, the reader stating that the story was probably going to include sex, so she didn’t finish the book. (And apparently that was not true. No sex in the story. Just an F word.)

Then I found an author who has sold one book very well, but had a few challenging books. One was a memoir about her marriage and divorce, which is right up the alley of MY BOAT IS SO SMALL. There were only few reviews and they range from one to five stars. She was in my category in having a book of “contemporary fiction” coming out on August 8th, and her ebook was also offered on preorder. The preorder had NO reviews yet.

Do you know the word “schadenfreude?” It means deriving pleasure from another person's misfortune.  I was NOT GLAD that she got a bad review before, and that she had no reviews on the new book. I feel BAD for her. Mostly, I feel RELIEF THAT I AM NOT ALONE in a certain combination of topics (in our novels) and experimental styles.

Has that cured my depression? No.

These days, social media invites everyone to opine, but our level of civility has taken a dive. Hostility has taken on a pleasure in itself. Hostility has become a hobby. The haters gotta hate because it is fun. They hope for “likes”—i.e., affirmation.

In fact, writers, and reviewers, like to opine too. We are all indulging in self-expression.

Another of my peers was horrified to receive a one-star review and begged her friends to “vote it down” it on amazon. That means we called up the review and where the question is posed: “Did you find this review helpful?” we chose NO. You are VOTING ON THE REVIEW, not the book. You do not need to read the book to have this opinion. There is some satisfaction in having your gang “vote down” what feels like an unfair review. The review will “sink” on the list of reviews, hopefully a few page-scrolls out of sight.

Back to the meaning of “unfair.” If I say “I hate beaches,” then I should not rate your favorite beach. It isn’t even helpful to tell the world, “beaches are not my thing.” Why do you feel the need to join the conversation about anybody’s favorite beach?

One reason, my group has speculated, is that some reviewers are in a program that REWARDS MANY REVIEWS. They will submit reviews of books they don’t really like and didn’t really finish, because they get points and they want more points.

I am just glad I didn’t produce a $25-million movie only to read an early review that gives it one star.
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My other sanity exercise is: “Imagine this book is not yours, it is not you, and maybe it doesn’t exist.” Writing the book was an optional undertaking. Art is optional entertainment. Note to self: Opt OUT of taking it too seriously and wishing the world was one big LIKE.

My writing life just took a BIG turn: Kindle Press selected MY BOAT IS SO SMALL to be published as an ebook.

Marketing started immediately with a Facebook group called Kindle Scout Winners. It seems we are coached into tweeting, and, most impressive, being a supportive peer. I suddenly have dozens of new friends. 

I feel a new persona landing.​ Planet "Kindle Scout Winner." Actually, winner anything is FINE.

In weeding my files, I came across my father’s short memoir. Since it was written in quite readable English and actually edited into a book (by my mother?), it was easy to turn it into a publication.

I put it on amazon because the other “family memoirs” have found a readership beyond family.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0990586286/   A RELUCTANT CITIZEN

There was a big surprise in the memoir. The man I grew up with was silent and reticent. He was bothered by the noise of children. He barely said “Hello” in the morning and wanted to be alone, in the woods, if he could.

The man in the memoir is a completely different version of my father. He is outgoing, ambitious, assertive, engaged in the community and in politics. He is an eager and idealistic teacher, at all levels including the first grades. He is caring of others, adaptable, even goodnatured and resilient. He sings, he dances with exuberance, he hikes, swims before work in the morning.

Much of his charm was invisible to me (although my mother assured me she knew a different person). Now I appreciate even more the toll of the war on both of us. And, I appreciate how well he recalled those early years, writing in his sixth language.

If you are retired, drop a little picture of yourself on paper for the future family who may never get to hang out with you long enough to get to know the inner person. If you’re young, keep a diary to share later.
 
Recently, Sheryl Sandberg wrote about her family’s recovery from the early death of her husband. They made videos recalling good memories that they could revisit when it felt like his presence was fading. See her book, Option B.  These "recordings" helped them mourn him and kept him alive in their hearts.

MY BOAT IS SO SMALL is up for nomination to get published by Kindle Press.

The window is April 21 through May 21, 2017.

If you nominate, and they end up publishing the novel, you will get a free copy of the ebook.

HELP!! Give me a boost! Tell your children you supported a writer, and they can be one, but it is hard to get published. Take part in a new trend in publishing (crowd-sourced review).

Here's the place to NOMINATE:
https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/10GJ9H8B1HRC7

This is simplistic: in the olde days, a patron decided an artist was “worthy,” and supported him/her financially. “Keep up the good work.”

In the last century, social marketing found that surveys of consumers would be a way to reduce the risks around a new product. They SURVEYED, and had FOCUS GROUPS, looking for a winner. It was costly.

In publishing, a VERY SMART EDITOR was the filter: he or she “bet the farm” on an author. Some were great at predicting success in the marketplace.

Now, we have CROWD-SOURCING. I am a big fan of the TV show THE VOICE. After their judges (“editors”) screen singers, they turn the competition over to THE PUBLIC. We get to vote for our favorites, and they are advanced to the finals. At a certain point, the judges’ picks are filtered by THE MASSES, in picking a winner. It is feasible to test the goods with the ultimate consumer, en masse.

Literary agents are telling us that they are bombarded by thousands of manuscripts a year and “they have to fall in love” to pick a winner which is still a speculation that they can sell the mss to a publisher, using their contacts. Everybody needs to make money. This means a HUGE “slush pile” – the mss that are queued up to be rejected. No love, sorry.

The Kindle Scout program is about crowd-sourcing the review of new novels. If someone is a winner, the cost of publishing a book is low, because they mainly do ebooks (=no inventory, dirt cheap reproduction).

My new novel – MY BOAT IS SO SMALL – is up for a Kindle Scout Campaign. YOU – YOU -- YOU can vote for this book to make the finals and get a publishing contract with Kindle Press.

JOIN ME IN THIS FUN! NOMINATE my book! If they publish it, you’ll get a free copy!! You are part of the team, making decisions about “winners.”

Please make my book a winner, at least here…   Thanks!
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Link for nominating my book: https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/10GJ9H8B1HRC7
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Among memoirs and novels is a genre I call “rotten childhood” stories. The ones I’ve read seem to fall in these groups:

1. My parents were crazy
2. My parents were mean
3. My parents were wildly interesting and maybe not too interested in me

I don’t know anybody with a childhood that was all puppies and ice cream. Maybe you do, and you won’t identify here. Reading these “Oh my GOSH” tales is therapeutic. They might make your own childhood and its disappointments feel downright boring and trivial. (“Nobody taught me how to cook an egg!”) Or, you can think, “That’s nothing, wait until you hear what happened to me.”

A childhood happens to us before we have any wits about us. We don’t get a “do-over” on our childhood. (We do get “do-overs” in romance, jobs, etc.)  By the time you figure out just how it was faulty, you are old, your parents are old, and you need to get over it, get strong and healthy, and redirect your life from a path of hardship and trauma to one of blissful happiness or satisfaction.
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Here’s some do-it-yourself therapy. We might has well enjoy unraveling the mysteries of our misery, as these authors do.

THE CRAZY
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Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls.  Charismatic, artistic hippy parents keep moving the kids from one hovel to another, totally uninterested in the conveniences of daily life like food and heat. The kids have to scrounge for food, clothing, dignity. The only way out is to grow up and go away.
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Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs. The author’s mother gives him to a psychiatrist to raise. There are no rules. The house is neglected. A guy living in a backyard shed is a pedophile. The bizarre family prides itself on being anarchists.
 
What I Had Before I Had You by Sarah Cornwell. A portrayal of what life is like as a bipolar mother, and then bipolar son. Lies told to cover up rejection by family. Lack of supervision, crazy adventures.

​THE MEAN
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Falling Leaves: The True Story of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter by Adeline Yen Mah. Her mother dies when she is young and the stepmother is a witch, with no protection from her father. The kids are kept in a back room, starved, tormented, abused. The author struggles to be loved, far into adulthood, demonstrating the powerful grip of even abusive parents. Hair-raising story of surviving cruelty and misfortune as a Chinese girl in 1940s Hong Kong.
 
Stitches by David Small. A boy is the son of a radiologist who subjects him to x-rays and gives him cancer. He loses his voice. A graphic novel that captures the silent scream of this child, who finally gets away.

​Help Yourself For Teens by Dave Pelzer. This is not a memoir or a novel; it’s an advice book. Inside, however, the author tells us about his early life with an unbelievably abusive mother. Basically, she tortured him. She put him in a bathroom with ammonia and bleach, which could have killed him. She didn’t feed him for fourteen days. She stabbed him and wouldn’t take him to the emergency room. He was taken away and put into foster care. The wisdom he shares is phenomenal: a testament to the potential for recovery of a healthy sense of self. This is like reading the wisdom gained by a survivor of the holocaust, only it was personal.

THE REMOTE

A House in the St. John’s Wood by Matthew Spender. The author compulsively reconstructs his parents’ lives, separate and together. They are English elites with a fabulous bohemian social life. Stephen Spender is a famous poet, his wife Natasha well known. The father has frequent openly gay relationships, Natasha is loyal to her gay husband. There are crazy family feuds. A glamorous literary life fueled by sex, and the kids are on the side, trying to figure it out.

This Boy’s Life by Tobias Wolff. A boy’s mother takes him away from his father and brother on a crazy life on the move that is all about her and her flight from reality. There’s a hostile stepfather. He runs away to Alaska, steals cars, and finally makes a life for himself out of the chaos.
 
(Pending, April 2016) The Rainbow Comes and Goes: a Mother and Son On Life, Love, and Loss by Anderson Cooper and Gloria Vanderbilt. The famous mother who is a designer and tycoon, who had relationships with Howard Hughes and Frank Sinatra, lives a very full whirlwind life. One son commits suicide in his twenties. At ninety-one, she connects with her son Anderson Cooper, a busy and famous journalist, in a new closer relationship. The book is an email correspondence.