I remember the first work I had published on a dare, nonetheless, from my eldest son Dan, who was a Freshman in High School. It was something he saw, I believe, in the comic section of our local newspaper, on submitting a poem, if accepted, would be published by the Library of Congress of Poetry. The year was the Fall of 1991, a few short months after we moved into our new home. We both submitted a poem, that were accepted, and of course, we learned part of it was to sell you the various book(s) of the poems submitted that year…at a cost, of course. I didn’t want to let him down, but it did inspire me to try my hand at other ventures, e.g. a board game I had patented, which went nowhere, mostly due to my desire to create, but without the ambition in sales and marketing.
Skip 15 years and three grandchildren later, and learning, we had two more grandchildren coming later in the year, which inspired me to write a family Christmas Story. Admittedly, I am no Clement Moore or Charles Dickens, but I thought it would be a pleasant surprise and a nice tribute. I used our eldest three grandchildren, Sommer (13), Charlie (7), and Kevin (5), as my guinea pigs. Once finished turning to them, I asked them what they thought. In unison, they said, Pop-Pop, you need to share this and get it published. Well, my forte has never been great at the proper use of punctuation as it applies to grammar. Much to my wife’s chagrin, this was a skill she had excelled at in both school and office skills. Lucky me! I said you’re the yin to my yang, as I can tell stories and you can edit them. She didn’t sound as convinced, but to our credit, it is still available in Print, e-read, and Audio at most online bookstores or on Audible. In 2013… A Glimpse from Christmas Past
The Crux was learning the ins and outs of publishing/publishers, advertising, book pricing, marketing, reviews, sales, Cost vs. wholesale, social media, and the list goes on in creating an audience. You learn quickly that the cost far exceeds the sales, and gaining reviews, audience, and a following, even among family and friends at times, can be taxing to one’s ego. What your family, friends, and potential audience don’t understand is that each endeavor is like a child being sent out into the world, trying to gain acceptance among the 2.2 to 4 million other children born in the literary world every year. Amazingly, no more than a handful make an impact on their viewership. So, I am pretty much in awe of those who found, liked, reviewed, and shared two of my literary children, especially knowing my third literary child is expected to show its beautiful face any week now!
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