My experience of Books

by Bob Furlin
(Goldsboro, NC, USA)

Fiction and Non-Fiction

I started writing at the age of sixty-nine after retiring from a Telecommunications Company. A year after retirement my wife was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and I became a full-time caregiver which lasted for six years until her death.

I kept my wife at home during her complete time of our dealing with her disease; she passed in my arms at home. To relieve the stress during that time I started outlining two stores with no idea on the mechanics of writing for publication. I had some stories to tell so I started putting my thoughts down on paper.

My first published work was triggered by a visit from my brother and his family after the death of his wife. I love to tell stories about happenings in my past which I did the week they visited. On their return home he called and said the kids enjoyed my stories. He asked why not put the stories down in print for them to enjoy after our passing.

I immediately started writing 'Ice Creme, Squirrels, and Atomic Bombs'. It did not take me long to put in print the stories I told verbally over the years. The exercise did relieve the stress and I found that writing was fun but not prepared for the trials of publishing.

I had no idea where to start so I asked a search engine and came up with a list of self-publishing places. I randomly selected Author House with little or no research on the pros and cons of the industry. They immediately said the title was interesting and for a fee of course would put the work in print. I sent the manuscript and the fee; they published.

My main interest for this work was for my immediate family and friends. If I would have known of Lulu that is where I would have gone as it is much cheaper.

I have a web site and decided that would be the first place to present the book to the public. My time was taken by the full-time job of caregiver with little time for marketing. I continued to write and finished a second work "The Smell of Honey' and turned again to Author House. What marketing I did was on the internet with my web site.

My wife passed and I wrote about the experience in "For the Lack of a Penny' and published this with Lulu.

I also contacted Writers Literary Agency and for a small fee they did review my work and give suggestions. They said they would look for a "buyer' for the work and have not heard from them since. I realize the work has to sell itself and it competes with many better written or well-known Authors. One lesson I have learned that this is a tough business to crack and know why one sees Authors on all the Talk Shows pushing their work.

My next work was "the love flower' and this time I went with Publish America. The dollar contract was better than paying them but one wonders of their criteria and motive for accepting works with little scrutiny.

I just finished my latest called "Frank Justice Rules the Patch - a Coal and Iron Policeman's story' and am trying to se if I can break through with a traditional Publishing Company. This time I am in no hurry to publish and I also sent it to Virtualbookworm and have found them to give sound advice. They are not that eager to publish any work that comes their way. There is a publishing fee but they do critique the work.

My experience so far tells me that this old dog needs to learn many new tricks in all phases of being an Author; writing, publishing, and especially marketing.

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