Self Publishing

After making the decision to self-publish I had to select one from numerous self-publishing companies. I looked at reviews, the type and cost of packages each one offered, as well as their marketing avenues, and the one thing that everyone loves, but can't get enough of.....ROYALTIES.

I decided to go with Create Space because I though that they provided the cost effective services I wanted, and they were associated with Amazon. Perhaps not the best reasons for selecting them, but I'm pleased with their service thus far.

They had several different packages and I selected the all inclusive one. The top drawer, top model, blue ribbon program that included: two edits, cover design, interior page design, press release, book trailer. If I signed up today, I would receive 50 free copies of my book. A deal that I couldn't resist.

For the first edit of my manuscript I had to upload to my Create Space account. I was informed that they had received the upload and it would take three weeks for an editor to review it. Immediately upon reading the three week blurb I thought to myself, "Lordy, they must be a slow reader, my book is less than 200 pages, and that includes pictures and maps. I was as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.

The edit was completed right on time and I downloaded that sucker immediately! I immediately opened it and read the editor's evaluation first. The comments were rather positive! She made a few changes so that the story flowed better, and corrected spelling as well as punctuation errors. But overall it was cool and I didn't have the heart attack I was expecting.

After accepting or rejecting the editor's changes, I uploaded the revised edition for the second edit. Again it would take three-weeks before I would receive it.

The second edit was performed by a different editor and she made a few additional changes, which gave me pause because she was editing another editor's edit. I found the second edit interesting since it corrected what the first editor changed on the original; at least when it came to the proper way of writing World War I or should it be World War One.

It was a copy of the second edit that I gave to Judy to read, and she only took a week to edit it. Writing this got me thinking, Judy edited the second editor's edit, which was an edit of the first editor's edit.

Judy really made war on commas, and slicing and dicing sentences. If this wasn't enough, she suggested that I move the chapter on the promise to the front of the book. This didn't surprise me because those that read earlier versions suggested the same. So the old adage of be careful or what you ask for came to mind when I realized I was in for a complete rewrite.

Prior to the rewrite I researched on how to market a book. It was suggested that the author find an expert on the subject they wrote about in order to give the book credibility. From some of the forums I had joined I knew a couple of experts, not on a personal basis, but by name. So I came up with a couple of names and sent out my requests. One answered within a day or two the one I really wanted took several weeks to reply.

My problem was the timing. Both agreed to taking a look, but I couldn't send either one a copy. When I finally had the manuscript ready, it was over a month later so I had to ask each if they still willing. One answered within a couple of days, the other never responded.

My hopes were dashed because the one that didn't respond was the WWI expert. I had hopes that he might eventually come around since he lives in the UK, which would have been perfect because my grandfather server in the British Royal Field Artillery. But life moves on and I couldn't wait forever to submit my manuscript.

Final Edit - Rewrite

After making necessary changes to the first edit I uploaded the file and waited for round two, which would take three weeks.

Upon receiving the second edit I reviewed the changes and agreed with most. However, before I uploaded the changes, I submitted a copy of the manuscript to a friend of my wife's who taught advance writing.

I waited for her analysis of my work, which was like waiting for your English teacher to grade and return your research paper. This conjured up nightmares from papers past that looked as though they bled to death with all the red ink flowing from every sentence.

Actually the results was better than expected. She went a little crazy removing commas and consolidating sentences. The most important comment was to position the chapter describing the promise closer to the beginning of the book. Since two other readers made the same suggestion, I took it to hart.

So I had a book that had gone through two edits, thus should be ready for the next step towards publishing, and in this final hour needed to be rewritten!! I WAS NOT A HAPPY CAMPER.

Deep down inside I knew it had to be done, but I was so close to the finish line after three years, I had to have a frank discussion with myself about the importance of doing what needed to be done.

My concern was that I had used up the two edits that were part of my package, so who could I get to edit the rewrite? My wife! Thank God she is an excellent writer and well read. Together we moved sections of the book around and after a couple of months we both agreed that the story flowed better.

In order to improve my confidence level regarding the changes, I searched for a couple of new readers. One was my previous supervisor from the company I worked for. From past experience I knew she would give me an honest evaluation of my work. I arranged a lunch meeting with her and asked that she read my manuscript and give me her reaction.

After giving her the manuscript, the next day I received her email stating that she thought that the book was compelling and that she couldn't put it down until she finished reading it.

The second selected reader was my art mentor. Frank was well read and bluntly honest. I gave him the manuscript and left town for a few days - there isn't a connection between giving him the manuscript and leaving town!

When I returned, I stopped by his art studio only to find he wasn't there but he would return shortly. I paced the floor waiting for his judgement. Frank walked into the studio looking somewhat remorseful while shaking his head slowly from side to side.

I could have kicked my heart across the floor. The smile on my face when he walked in had melted into a pool of despair. Then he started his first sentence that emphasized that it wasn't what he expected. After a long pause he added that it far exceeded his expectations and that he was disappointed that it ended!

The book changes were two for two! NEXT

Starting To Write

Even-though I had an excellent story and all the necessary support material, I didn't have the confidence or experience of writing a book. For the past fifteen years I was a technical writer but writing operational procedures is much different than producing a fictional novel.

In technical writing you deal with only the step-by-step procedure and limit your vocabulary to a fifth grade level. The use of descriptive words is very limited, which is the complete opposite when writing a book.

So I considered hiring a ghost-writer. One contacted me after I was on The Story, with Dick Gordon. I contacted him and we talked and arranged a time to meet. He had been a sports writer and decided to offer his writing expertise to those who want to write their family history (sort of like an autobiography but written by someone else) He had written a couple of books, included one about the plane that landed on the Hudson River.

We was impressed with the amount of writing I had already done and lowered his fee for writing a book proposal to submit to a literary agent. Another option he tabled was writing the story and I would self-publish it. However, he thought it would be wise to try and get a publisher interested and if that failed we could fall back on the other option.

I gave him a down payment for writing the proposal and he suggested that I try to make myself known by speaking to groups about WWI and establishing a website to attract an audience. Since I was an unknown writer, the only way an agent would be interested would be if I could proved to him that I already had potential customers.

Public speaking is not something I have experience in and I know that I don't think well on my feet therefore a question / answer format wouldn't work. I knew from my research that there were several WWI websites and many very good ones. I created my own site to promote the one-hundred year anniversary of WWI and it wasn't half bad. It drew some interest, but not the numbers the writer had in mind.

From all the WWI forums that I had joined to help me find information, especially the ones I posted some of the journal excerpts, I had a good number of people interested.

The writer and I differed on the theme of the book. He thought that it should be based my story of trying to keep my grandfather's promise with the journal secondary. I knew from my postings, that everyone who read the excerpts thanked me for posting them. They wanted more! So I was certain that the strength of the novel would be the journal and my involvement would be secondary.

Long story short, I decided to self publish. My wife is an excellent writer, even though she hasn't written a book, and she would help me with the flow and grammar.

Using the Internet I researched different self-publishing sites and decided on Create Space. They had the best program and they were connected to Amazon.com.

There were concerns of sending out my manuscript without protection, so I submitted one of my earlier drafts to have the story copy written.

With everything in place I developed a basic outline of the chapters and then got down the work of writing. It was March of 2010 that I put pen to paper, or finger-tips to keyboard.

I underestimated the amount of work and rework writing required. Since I had a great deal already written, I thought that it would be the matter of weaving what I had together with new material. It wouldn't be until January of 2011 that I had a first draft.

Before I took the next step I wanted some of my family members to read the manuscript to obtain feed back and assurances that I was producing something worth while. From this experience I can highly recommend to those future writers not to depend on family members, or friends to proof read your material.  They said they would and I waited, and waited. It would have been more advantageous to pay someone.

The problem I faced was placing my three years of work out there to be critiqued. I didn't have confidence in my writing ability to have some stranger read it. I didn't want be be embarrassed. God, I couldn't even get my wife to read what I had written.

Undaunted I read and reread my manuscript and each time I would improve on it. By the end of the summer I felt ready to get my wife involved. She read it and while doing so she made changes and improved on my grammar.

In the fall I purchased one of the self-publishing packages from Create Space and when they asked when I thought I wanted to publish the book I said by the beginning of 2012. They believed that it wouldn't be a problem.

After creating an account on Create Space I uploaded my manuscript for the first stage of editing. They said that it would take up to three weeks. They were true to their word and before I went completely nuts they uploaded the edit for my approval or changes.

The editor provided many positive statements about the book along with some suggestions for improvement.
I went through each item that she changed and made the necessary alterations.

Satisfied with the changes, I unloaded it for the second edit, which again took three weeks. When I received the second edit I began to realize that like most experts in any field, they each have a viewpoint on a subject and even though their view differ, each expert can prove that their's is right. Case in point, the first editor believed that World War I should be spelled out, World War One. When I made the changes, the second editor said it should be World War I.

The Search

My task was daunting! The three chums I had to find were George Bramwell, Bobby Glue, and Pudgie Taylor. It didn't take me long to determine that "Pudgie" must have been a nickname and the name "Bobby Glue" was questionable.

The Internet is a marvelous instrument for researching. One site I found that really helped me get started was "The Long, Long Trail". This site gave me the background I needed and suggestions for sites that are useful for researching British soldiers.

I spent hours at different sites trying to find any information on the three chums. On the British National Archives website I found several soldiers with the last name Bramwell, but George was missing.

Someone suggested I go the Commonwealth Burial website since their database contains the names of fallen British soldiers from WWI. I uncovered several hundred soldiers with the last name Taylor, turned up zero for anyone with the last name of Glue and several Bramwells. Fruitless using the first name George, I decided to focus on all Bramwells that died within the dates of George's death.

Narrowing down the field, I reviewed the personal information on each until I found one that served in the 40th battery and died within a day of George's death. The problem was the soldier's first name was Percy not George. However, the odds of two soldiers with the same last name, serving in the 40th battery and killed within a day of each other was so small I decided that I found one chum.

Bobby, Robert or any other derivation thereof with the last name Glue didn't exist. I tried the same trick I used with Bramwell trying to locate those with the last name Taylor. Nothing!

Through another website's forum I was recommended to use the "Great War Forum". I highly recommend this site for anyone trying to find information about any subject dealing with WWI. As excellent of a resource  as they are, they couldn't help.

After two years I ended up locating on chum and it took another six months of researching to locate a living relative of Percy (George) Bramwell.

The Letter

My grandfather's letter was well written and it told the story of a dream that he had and in his dream he was visited by three of his old war buddies. He elaborated on a promise that they all made before their first battle. They each agreed that who or whomever survived the war would look up the families of those that didn't and tell them how and where they died.

My grandfather confessed that out of the four, only he survived and he failed to keep his promise. Will that did it!! All of a sudden my grandfather's journal catapulted from a family history book to a book I was going to write.

I had the story-line,  a promise made by a soldier to his three chums was not kept until his grandson discovers his war journal. Contained in the journal are the stories of the death of two of his chums.

With the power and compelling journal entries, readers, like myself, will be drawn into the war.

Wait, I had a better idea, I would try to find a living relative of each chum and tell them the story of how their grandfather, great grandfather, uncle, great uncle .....distant relative died. WOW! What a great story! After almost one-hundred years, a grandson makes good on a promise his grandfather made to three friends at the beginning of World War I. GOD! Even Hollywood would love this story.

Thus started my three year journey.

The Journal

Although the book I wrote is close to being published, I believe it would be worth while for me to reflect on my experiences for those thinking of writing a book.

Remembering to jot down daily activities that take place while working on a project is difficult. This is especially true for a person like me who is work oriented. I tend to jump into a project and work on it until its time for bed. I don't leave time for reflecting or cleaning up. Now I have the time so I'll retrace my steps for those that still dream of one day publishing a book.

My story started almost four years ago when I was given my grandfather's World War I journal. I was given a box containing several of my grandparent's documents and journal was among them. When I retrieved it from its tomb and held it in my hands, I was spill bound. For a time I just stared at the nine by six inch ledger I held in my hands.

I remember thinking to myself, "I'm holding a historical document written almost one-hundred ago. Then it struck me that it wasn't just a piece of history, it was history written in my grandfather's own hand.

Tenderly I opened the book and gently turned the first page of entries. The first thing I noticed was that the entries were written in pencil in my grandfather's cursive hand. Beneath the yellowing pages appeared to be blue 1/4 inch square grid lines, similar to those found on graph paper. Like a good soldier he kept his writing confined within the horizontal lines, which forced his handwriting to be small and difficult to read.

Written on the top of the first page was, "My Diary, from notes and well remembered incidences". Below this heading was his first entry dated, "August 4th 1914".

I started to read the entry but I found it very difficult to identify some of the words. The combination of letter size and cursive handwriting made next to impossible to decipher some of the words. After a few pages I decided to try to scan the contents of the journal so that the image could be enlarged, making it easier to read. Scanning would also offer me the added benefit sharing the digital images with other family members.

Since the book was almost one-hundred years old, I was concerned about damaging the journal's binding. Extra care was taken to protect its integrity during the scanning process.

With the digital pages in place, I once again tried to read the entries using the enlarged images. It remained  difficult to identify some of the words. I decided if I was going to spend the time to decode the passages, I would transcribe the journal.

The transcription process took weeks to accomplish but it didn't seem like a long time because the entries were so compelling that each night I found it difficult stop. My grandfather's writing was so descriptive that I couldn't wait to read what was going to happen next.

Completing the transcription, I went through and edited my work and in the process I realized how much I had learned about World War I. Pondering this revelation caused me to wonder if others would have the background necessary to understand the correlation between the journal entries and the battle they describe. So I decided to write a family history book.

Researching each battle I would write a short introduction describing the battle followed by the journal entries. While writing the battle descriptions I returned to the box of documents to gather additional information. I found a letter that my grandfather wrote around 1945, it was titled, "I Had a Dream the Other Night." I didn't know that this letter would consume the next three years and alter the direction of my life.