I find writing an excellent outlet to occupy my mind since I am limited in what my body can do while I heal from spine surgery. Lately I decided to work on publishing a children’s book I wrote many years ago. I have more research to do to find companies that accept ‘unsolicited’ manuscripts or to find other, less frustrating methods to get the book in print. But I’ve started in earnest.
Today, being the untrusting cad I am, I submitted my manuscript to the US Copywrite Office electronically. I fear there are too many ways to be cheated of one’s labors, so a little preparation (and thirty-five dollar fee) may help avoid troubles from dishonorable companies. Frankly, I am doubtful any well-known publishing house would print the book at this time without an agent peddling my wares to them. The written page is endangered!
Increasing electronic communications are stripping away the profitability of hardcopy anything now. Today’s young readers need two things: a place to sit and a screen big enough to see. Public libraries are now Wi-Fi hot-spots with ever-shrinking material inventory. Book stores are either sadly dying or bolstering their bottom line with gift shops, cafés, Wi-Fi, workshops, readings, and even live entertainment.
If ink were cheap I’d do the publishing myself, but no. The price of ink or toner for printers has been proven harmful to sensible consumers. Often the ink magically disappears just when a ‘new model’ printer becomes available: hocus poke-us. For the price of one toner cartridge I can get a book printed, put together, bound and shipped to me from a local Staples store.
I am of a generation that grew up with printed material and to this day I find it easier to read from a sheet rather than a screen. There are many who prefer printed stuff—I wonder if it is a certain type of personality, perhaps even hard-wired in people like me that makes us more favorable to paper versus monitor. The odd thing: I create writing on computer much easier than on paper. Conveniences such as fully creatable styling, immediate erasability, self word correction, password protection, and global mailing without envelope or postage are just too sensible to ignore. But I must print my important stuff to edit and revise to satisfaction. I hate chopping trees for such things as paper when we can do without, but there are many more dangerous things humans make which destroy our delicate planet.
Anyhow, I am very happy to be moving on this project. I’ve revised this short book many times and edited well over thirty times to express the story in language as clear as could be. The book is a fantasy; with fairies, giants, valiant knights, and magic—of course! It sounds all too typical but it is not–if I thought it was the same old stuff I’d have recycled every page long ago.
I got the idea for my book while thinking of a time in my childhood when I would catch bugs and other critters, jar ‘em and study or simply amuse myself at their expense. That may seem completely unrelated to a kid’s fantasy book but the story clearly answers the reason why. Inspiration is oft unpredictable—but always welcomed. I have waited too long so I hereby swear: I will be published in something other than the boring pages of the Journal of Analytical Biochemistry.
©2011 Stumpar Scribbles
