June 14, 2010

Self Publishing

Putting together a self published book is truly a joy. First, writing a book is a journey. That's no original sentiment, I know. You have to dive deep inside yourself to say say something about the human condition. Now that the book is roughed out, the fun starts. I have the benefit of an incredible artist and friend, Mark Dixon, who is designing the cover. We talked about a traditional cover, then I pushed a cosmic theme and found after showing it to a couple friends that the cosmic theme didn't work. Now we're going to do a dragonfly theme on the cover. And I'm pretty excited about it. I dig the symbolism of the dragonfly, mucho. I'd love to have the book published before I start a full time journalism gig this summer. I'll have to see. Right now, I'm going through my 60 or so posts and looking to cut the weak ones, add some I never put in the blog. Killing babies is an important part of any serious editing process. Still haven't decided on a title. That's fun too, waiting for the title to arrive.

The ancient Persian poet Rumi has a poem in which a man jumps into a river after a bearskin floating downstream. Then it turns out the bearskin is a live bear. Rumi calls from the shoreline to let go of the bearskin, and the man yells back that the bearskin isn't letting go of him. I wondered if by doing a love poetry project that the project would be doing me instead. Well, I definitely learned some things about myself. And I'm looking forward to seeing the cool cover Mark comes up with. Like I said, I'm blessed. 

17 comments:

Brian Miller said...

very cool man. i dig dragonflies...i like the story about the bearskin as well...i have been grabbed by a few...

Anjuli said...

How very exciting! I also love the dragonfly image- and just what it symbolizes. The deciding what gets to stay and what has to go must be a very difficult process.

Anne Gallagher said...

I wondered if by doing a love poetry project that the project would be doing me instead.

Nice double entendre there Ed.

A friend of mine is also doing self-publishing and she's having just as much fun.

Here's something funny -- the word verification for this post was --
megastr. Go You!

Su-sieee! Mac said...

Wonderful! Totally understand the fun of the book editing process, including the letting go of words and sentences. The husband and I just finished deleting 46 pages from galley.

Bernie said...

Enjoy the process.....soooooo much fun......:-) Hugs

Anonymous said...

I'm going to follow this with interest, Ed. I have always backed off from self-publishing because of my past-life experience in marketing. Just knew that I did not want to be saddled with selling the book once I held the precious baby in my hands.

Consequently, I've gone through lots of agony and a smattering of ecstasy via traditional publishing -- and often wonder about other options (especially those that haven't been invented yet).

And, of course, my best creative projects always "do me" really, really good. (Not well, mind you, goooooddd...)

Wanderlust said...

How exciting to be so close to the finish line. Congratulations! I'm barely past the starting post myself. Can't wait to see the finished project.

LadyFi said...

Hurray for your love poetry! How exciting to be in the final stages...

Ed Pilolla said...

brian miller, as soon as i settled on the dragonfly, i got more excited than ever. knew it was the symbol for the book.

anjuli, deciding what goes is tough, until i see the final product as stronger, then, hopefully, i'm cool with it. that's the plan!:)

piedmont writer, i can't slip much past you:)

su-sieee! mac, must kill the babies. if i can't do it or see 'em, i get help. must be done.

bernie, so far so good. the first two were definite learning experiences.

rachelsynder, you know, i'm not much of a marketer, and that's my problem. i self publish to see my product for myself and anyone in a small circle that wants to support it. yeah, if one is inclined toward marketing, the sky is limit, according to some self published authors i have met as well as according to some news stories i have read.

wanderlust, it's great to be here, where the heavy lifting has been done. yeah:)

ladyfi, i'm pumped about seeing how my artist friend designs the interior of the book. lots of fun, for sure.

Lisa said...

Get a dog and name him Marley. It would be perfect :)

I am happy for you.

Wine and Words said...

Mmmm yes, and what did you learn Mr. Ed? Did your project change you? Shouldn't it? Was labor, was birth afterall. Tell....

Unspoken said...

I am with Annie. What did you learn? Give us hint, Ed. We wanna know :).

Ed Pilolla said...

ocean girl, getting a dog is on the list. i have a soft spot for dobes and pits, tho:)

wine and words, well, i'm still learning. seriously. one thing i learned so far was that diving into this level of refection on love was not as silly or scary as i feared. it was pretty fun, pretty liberating, actually.

she writes, see above:)

barbara, thanks for visiting:)

Phoenix said...

Very interesting story about the bear... the man thought he would wear it and instead it ended up wearing him, so to speak. I wonder what other things have got such hold of us and we try to convince ourselves every day that we have hold of them? Innnnnteresting.... ;)

Anonymous said...

I vaguely remember that Rumi poem and now need to find it and re-read. I'm going off to explore 'love poetry.' And look forward to coming back especially to find out how your new cool cover goes!

Maude Lynn said...

That is so exciting!

Ed Pilolla said...

phoenix, yeah, it's a little scary to find out we're not in control of so much we so confidently grab hold of. and then there's all the stuff i know i'm not in control of. so i guess i'm not in control of much at all.

lynn, i need to have like 400 years experience in a lifetime here to get rumi on all his levels. so i'll take getting him once in a while.

mama zen, it certainly is. thanks:)