eBooks...

It has been two years now since we lost our sweet Molly. Some of you know that I have been working on a book about her travel adventures. Well, the book only took me a month to write... up to the last couple chapters. Then, it took another year to come back to it. Then, the long arduous process of trying to find a publisher or literary agent. The publishing world is in much of the same financial situation as many other industries; I found that most publishers and agents weren't receptive to a new (unproven) author. And, Molly's story is, as many of them described, "a small story." I considered rewriting it, where she would have an affair with a high-ranking public official or perhaps getting her caught in some other flashy scandal. While it may sell books, it's not was Molly was all about.

Even with all the electronic media, it seems that many agents and publishers prefer to get a paper manuscript. Sending that back and forth takes time, and you just know it sits in a pile somewhere. After getting many "thank you, but it doesn't fit our current needs" letters, and a few very nice encouraging "thanks, but no thanks" responses, I let this project sit on the back burner. Well, completely off the stove. I considered the self-publishing route, but one has to really get out there an promote, as in: going to every little bookstore with books under your arm to try to get it on the shelf... and then guarantee that you'll take back any that don't sell. While I enjoy driving a boat for fun and profit, I don't see myself going store to store to peddle books. Not that there's anything wrong with that, it's just not my style.

My lovely wife suggested that I should add some photos to the book, to really show what Molly was like. I spent quite a bit of time going through the (literally) thousands of images. And about the time I was wrapping that up, I got an e-mail from one of the big book sellers, announcing their e-Publishing division. Self-publishing, but without the self-marketing. When I started to upload the manuscript to them, I discovered the one BIG glaring fault with all the e-Readers except the iPad/iPhone: no provision for photos. Yeah, just when I had put lots more hours into adding photos.

Formatting is different for eReaders - page numbers are irrelevant, text flows according to the font and size the reader selects. All the work I've done to this point is formatted for the printed page. So, as time permits, I think I will delve into the world of ePublishing and learn about formatting for that media.

I don't buy many paper books or magazines anymore (thus, part of the problem in the publishing business), but I do read them on my iPad. I have this feeling that by the time I learn formatting and restructure my manuscript, there will be a new technology that just "beams" the publication right into your brain.