Cornucopia: My Publishing Trek

2024May

My initiation into the world of book publishing was traumatic and unpleasant, to say the least. The writer’s group held a convention, inviting Kent Brown, an editor/publisher. He was enthusiastic about my manuscript for a children’s book, asked a lot of questions, and asked to take it with him. I was thrilled. After 6 weeks, my colleagues urged me to write to ask the status of my manuscript. He replied, he’d sent it to another department for review. After another few weeks, my colleague heard from a friend in the Buffalo writer’s group that he’d given it to a woman in his stable of writers. She changed my story to have the young blind girl walking with a guide dog in harness. I wrote that it had been brought to my attention that the change to my story was a dis-service to the blind, as trained guide dogs are not issued to very young children. Although I received no response, the woman changed the ending to have the young child playing in the meadow with the dog sans harness. The experience made me very wary of submitting my intellectual properties.

My next foray into publishing was to submit an article from the dog’s point of view to a dog magazine. Ross Becker, the editor, promptly replied that he really wanted my article, but that he was the only one who would write from the dog’s point of view and would I change it to a person’s point of view. Of course, I agreed and a long-term relationship was formed. I wrote two or three articles each year for several years until he and Judy’s untimely death in a car crash.

After my children went to school, I established a daily writing schedule to write from 9:00AM to Noon and beyond if I was in hot pursuit of a story. Many times I found the pieces I wrote through my tears or as I laughed turned out to be the most emotionally grabbing and popular pieces.

I edited my manuscript as best I could with the screen reader and the word processor’s attributes, then, discuss any edits with the publisher. With “Charles and David” the editor and I went toe to toe about an issue until we realized that she was coming at the diabetes from a hypo glycimic point, while I was coming at it from the hyper glycimic side. Bottom line, to get the book published, I caved and agreed with her. She carried “The Night Search” and “Charles and David” for 26 of her 27 years of being in business.

Self-publishing “Green Trillium” was not an experience I’d like to do again. I had a manuscript started and was introduced to illustrator from Finland who was here with her husband, a nano-physisist. They were here for the one year of his research grant. We got along well and I liked the descriptions I heard about the sample pictures she drew. I wantedto get the book published as a gift to her before they left the states. The publishers didn’t follow my directions about color, making the illustrations very cartoonish. They refused to put page numbers on a children’s book and a variety of other issues. A year after Mia and her husband went on to Genoa, Italy, I paid $75 to mail her one copy. Not long after that, I bing-ed her name and found that she’d translated it into Finish, without my copyright permission, but it was done and I didn’t see much sense of suing for royalties.

While I have two book manuscripts on my dream list of things to have published, I find magazine and newspaper articles are most rewarding. They have a built-In market and I can concentrate more on writing.

I’ll be happy to answer any questions when Alice opens the discussion phase of our meeting. Thank you.

### format for talk

My initiation

into the world of

book publishing

was traumatic

and unpleasant,

to say the least.

The writer’s group held

a convention,

inviting Kent Brown,

an editor/publisher.

He was enthusiastic

about my manuscript

for a children’s book,

asked a lot of questions,

and asked to take it with him.

I was thrilled.

After 6 weeks,

my colleagues urged me

to write to

ask the status

of my manuscript.

He replied,

he’d sent it to

another department for review.

After another few weeks,

my colleague heard from

a friend in the

Buffalo writer’s group

that he’d given it

to a woman in his stable

of writers.

She changed my story

to have the young blind girl

walking with a guide dog in harness.

I wrote that

it had been brought to my attention

that the change to my story

was a dis-service to

the blind,

as trained guide dogs

are not issued

to very young children.

Although I received no response

the woman changed

the ending to

have the young child

playing in the meadow

with the dog sans harness.

The experience made me

very wary of submitting

my intellectual properties.

My next foray

into publishing was to

submit an article

from the dog’s point of view

to a dog magazine.

Ross Becker, the editor,

 promptly replied

that he really wanted my article,

but that he was the only

one who would write from

the dog’s point of view

and would I change

it to a person’s point of view.

Of course, I agreed

and a long-term relationship

was formed.

I wrote two or three

articles each year

for several years

until he and Judy’s untimely death

in a car crash.

After my children went to school,

I established a daily writing schedule

to write from 9 aM to Noon

and beyond

if I was in hot pursuit

of a story.

Many times I found

the pieces I wrote

through my tears

or as I laughed

turned out to be

the most emotionally grabbing

and popular pieces.

I edited my manuscript

as best I could

with the screen reader

and the word

processor’s attributes,

then, discuss any edits

with the publisher.

With “Charles and David”

the editor and I

went toe to toe

about an issue

until we realized

that she was coming at the diabetes

from a hypo glycimic point,

while I was coming at it

from the hyper glycimic side.

Bottom line,

to get the book published,

I caved and

agreed with her.

She carried “The Night Search”

and “Charles and David”

for 26 of her 27 years

of being in business.

Self-publishing

“Green Trillium”

was not an experience

I’d like to do again.

I had a manuscript started

and was introduced to an

illustrator from Finland

who was here with her husband

 a nano-physisist.

They were here

for the one year of his research grant.

We got along well

and I liked the descriptions

I heard about the

sample pictures she drew.

I wanted to

get the book published

as a gift to her

before they left the states.

The publishers didn’t follow

my directions about color,

they made the illustrations very cartoonish.

They refused to put page numbers

on a children’s book

and a variety of

other issues.

A year after Mia

and her husband went on

to Genoa, Italy,

I paid $75 to mail

her one free copy.

Not long after that,

I bing-ed her name

and found that she’d

translated it into Finish,

without my copyright permission,

but it was done

 and I didn’t see

much sense of

suing for royalties.

While I have two

book manuscripts

on my dream list

of things to have published,

I find magazine

and newspaper articles

are most rewarding.

They have a built-In

market

and I can concentrate more

on writing.

I may have

Only 3 books

But I have

Over fifteen hundred by-lines to my credit.