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Writing and Publishing, Part 54:
Becoming your own publisher:
My publishing Effort:
The Gaffer's Shorts:
The Gaffer's Shorts was my second publishing effort. In a way,
it has been my most interesting experience. Several things occurred
during the creation, production, and marketing effort of this
book. Some were good and some were awful.
The first good thing is that this book was a catharses for me. It let me express a great deal of the pain and anger which I held bottled up. It also helped me to recover my sense of humor which had suffered greatly during my term of employment with Ford Motor Company. It was not lost completely, but it was damaged. This is not the fault of FoMoCo. It was simply a result of my own inability to deal with institutionalized stupidity. That management attribute is not unique to FoMoCo.
Whether I sell this book or not it has paid it's freight. It is the only book like this that I will ever need to write, but I did need to write it. Writing it involved the releasing of a very important part of my personality which had been suppressed. It had the effect of unblocking my creative energy which is still growing and opening. This was the juncture where I really started believing in myself. It also marked the beginning of an investigation into my various personality fragments. This was my own study of my personal psychology. That process is, to some extent, being chronicled by my ego fragment, Evie.
Suppressed personalities have emerged from me that I did not even know were present. They ranged from the very shallow and flippant Crazy Louie to the very thoughtful and spiritual Evie. It gave me the opportunity to get to know my ego fragments and to begin the process of reintegration. Reintegration of the total ego is an ongoing process. All of this is good.
Now, about the bad. Sitting at my computer, I can see a reminder of one of the awful things which occurred. I have a postcard pinned to my wall. It was sent to me by Small Press Magazine in response to a review copy of "The Gaffer' Shorts" which I sent to them. The postcard has only one line. It reads, "The Gaffer's Shorts has been selected for review in a future issue of Small Press Magazine."
The Traverse City postmark on that postcard is October 18, 1997. I am still waiting for that review to occur. I even paid for a two year subscription to Small Press Magazine to be sure I would not miss the great review. I suppose they changed their mind. I suppose they did not feel they had an obligation to tell me that. I also suppose that Jenkins of Small Press Magazine is a **************************. So what?
At the same time that Jenkins was screwing me over, I had an interesting experience with Partners Book Distributing Inc. Partners is based in Holt, Michigan near Traverse City. One of the things which impressed me about them was a statement published in the Flint Journal. The article was about Partners, Small Press Magazine, and struggling writers. An officer of Partners said, and I paraphrase here, ‘These writers have a much better chance if they work through us. We can get their books into book stores.'
The strong implication was that Jenkins and Partners were the allies of small struggling writers and publishers. So, I sent my book to Partners for consideration. A while later, I received a contract in the mail. There was no cover letter, no phone call or any follow up. There was just a contract with no explanation. When I called Partners I was told in effect, take it or leave it. I could sign and return the contract or not. It was all very arrogant and the terms were hardly in my favor. I still have a copy of the contract on file.
I thought, ‘Well hey! I'm a new guy on the block. I've got to take what I get.' So, I signed the contract and sent it back to them. A while later they ordered a carton of books and I thought I was on my way. What a fool I was!
This Jenkins and Partners duplicity led me to make the biggest most costly blunder of my publishing career. Because I believed Jenkins and Partners, I courageously ordered 6000 copies of The Gaffer's Shorts from the manufacturer. After all, I did not want to run out and miss the market opportunity. I still get a tightness in my gut when I walk into my garage and see those cartons of books sitting there.
I later found out that Partners had made no effort whatsoever to get my books into book stores. After a year I canceled my contract with them according to the terms of the agreement. That did not cause them to return my books. I had to send a registered letter to a Partners VP in order to get my books back. I finally got the books and discovered that they were in mint condition. They had not been handled at all. Not one! No copy of The Gaffer's Shorts had been show by Partners to any bookseller anywhere.
I do not know what happened with Small Press magazine. I have no idea why they set me up, but I know they did. I can guess what happened with Partners. I suspect that they just try to get as many publishers under contract as they can. Then, if a publisher gets lucky, they are on the wagon ready for a free ride. They need make no effort at all. If a book gets popular, the booksellers will beg for it.
If Jenkins and Partners had conspired to destroy me, they could not have caused more damage. I invested all of my available money (about $10,000.00) into The Gaffer's Shorts based on their promises. For my following book, I had to borrow money from my investments which I had not intended to do. My wife was very good about that, which kept me in business. I am gradually paying that money back.
Of course, I do not think that Partners and Jenkins conspired against me. Conspiracy requires effort and intelligence. They simply did not act in good faith. They set me up and left me twisting in the breeze. This hurt me a great deal, but it did not destroy me. I have recovered and I have learned. One thing I have learned is that Jenkins is not my ally. He is an opportunist and he is my adversary. Ditto for Partners.
The Gaffer's Shorts is also where I made a very intense effort to work with book distributors. I made many phone calls and sent several proof copies of the book out. I spent a considerable amount on postage. Except for Partners, already noted, I got no responses. New guys are not welcome. One thing I learned, while telephoning the Independent Publishers Group in Chicago is that it really is possible to sneer over the phone. I would not have thought that possible, but this guy did it. He also told me to join the PMA, which I did.
What happened with the Gaffer's Shorts has so embittered me toward Partners, all other distributors, all of the trade journals, and the publishing industry in general, that I have turned my back on them almost completely. That probably is much of why I'm not selling books. I simply cannot play the games of people whom I consider to be grossly dishonest. That's a personal thing with me. Please do not take it as advice.
Now, as to my other errors with this book, there were many. One thing I did was send out a great number of proof copies. That was not a good decision. It happened before I learned that review copies from unknown writers and publishers are not read they are put in a slush pile for whoever wants them and eventually they go to the Dumpster.
One of the things which made my proof copies expensive was that I had them manufactured by a local company called Best Images. That cost over $600.00 for 50 copies. That is not the worst of it. I got the really bad news when a night shift sportswriter called me. He had taken my book from the slush heap and was trying to read it. He had a problem because the pages were out of order. Out of kindness he had called to tell me abut the problem. He even mailed the offending book to me at his own expense.
I was shocked. The pages really were out of order. The book made no sense at all. I had, of course, checked several of the proof copies as I sent them out. I did not check all of them. That turned out to be an error on my part. I will never know how many amateur made copies of my book I sent out or how much damage it did to my reputation.
Here is the worst part. I could have bought the binding machine and all of the paper and toner to make the books myself. It would have cost me some labor, but considerably less money. I subsequently did buy the plastic comb binding machine. Although I send out very few proof copies now, the binding machine was a good investment. It has paid for itself. Furthermore, the proof copy process is in my control. In addition, I am able to make a yearly customized family calendar for all of my relatives; about 50 copies.
Another mistake I made was with the cover of the book. Although I still like the cover, I have found that the professional buyers do not. I am of the opinion that the cover of the book is a promise to the reader, so I considered the message I was sending to the reader. Since a great deal of the book is humor, I used a cartoon of a pair of shorts on the cover. The professionals did not see it as a cartoon. They saw it as an amateur design effort.
Finally, this was the first time I had used the Wesoomi logo on a book and I did not render it well. It is a small thing, but added to the cover problem, it created an impression of amateur work for the bookseller purchasing agents.
As to the book itself, I still like it. It is a collection of stories, humor, and critiques of various aspects of our culture. It has something for everyone. In this kind of book, the best feature is that you can put it down. The pieces are mostly short. It's the kind of book that is handy when you are traveling or just waiting in the dentist's office.
Next time, I'll get into some of the things I learned about
publishing with my book, The Siege of Acheron.
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