8 replies to this topic

[MrBump]

Hi,

The story of when, where and the resulting journey of my accident is something to be written up as a book..............so I hear from everyone who has heard my story, and its a lot of people as it was well publisised around here at home.

I've always liked the idea of having my story told, mostly for my daughter who will never remember me as someone who stood with her, I would love her to know my journey with her being the central figure on why I fought so hard to survive.

Anyway, I couldn't write this myself, i'm not a great story teller, too simple for that. But has anyone have any suggestions on where to start throwing out my story to see if anyone would be interested in writing it down ?

[Hapahowlee]

Hi Mr. Bump,

Are you wanting to have the book published and sold or are you just thinking of having something just for your daughter and/or other family to read?

Many years ago my husband would often wake up and say, "I just had an awesome dream that could be a good part of a story."

Since I don't have time to type everything anytime he has these dreams or thoughts, I bought a mini recorder for him to shout out whatever he wants when he gets the urge. I told him, whenever he wants to see something in print, I'll type from the recorder and we could arrange it in whatever order he'd like it to be.

At least it's a start. If you are wanting to get your book published, maybe you should PM Quad65 who just finished his book.

Sounds like a great project and a very sweet reason to do it. Good luck!

[Tatiana]

Hi, i started to write a book a not so long ago about supporting complex learning difficulties in mainstream education (autism).

The first thing to do is to get together a book proposal. This is what you present to potential publishers.
Have a look at publishers who publish books in a simlar vein as they are more likely to be interested.

The book proposal is a 'taster' of your book. You will need to present your chapters within this and maybe 2/3 paragraphs on each paragraph. Its like a mini book with incomplete chapters.

Info about yourself and your 'journey'.

Hope this helps a little

[Snakeye]

Since you are admittitly not a great storyteller or writer you would first have to find a ghostwriter and make some sort of financial arrangment with him or her to write the thing. Then find a publisher who would publish and market it who thinks they can make money from it...The reality is: in this current depressed book market it's unlikely a legit publisher would invest a bunch of dough in such a project unless your story has already been sensationalized in the press and garnered significant publicity with a fairly wide audience...Of course you could finance it yourself by self-publishing (vanity press)....If your audience is mainly your family and friends I would do that or like it was previously mentioned...get a tape recorder and tell your story...Everyone has a story to tell and many have a book in them but getting published is a tough racket. Publishers just look at the bottom line..But, if you a willing to foot the bill they will be happy to accomodate you...Good luck..

[nomis]

Record your story on audio. That way you've done your bit as only you can, you have it on record, if you want then to go further with the book you can then hawk your story to potential writers. Best place to start...at the beginning. It doesn't matter where you start cos the start is nearly always rewritten at the last minute.

[guido]

I had the same issue with my personal website: how did I put it all down and what did I actually want to say. The only thing to do is make a start, and let your mind get to work on it. These things evolve and find their own path if you let them. You will think that you are just writing down stuff that already happened, but more likely, you'll discover that the telling is also part of your journey, and you will learn stuff from it that will serve you later, also.


Good luck & enjoy the process.


When in doubt, "just do!"

[Snakeye]

As for the nuts and bolts of writing a book..First: I get an idea...research it (I've written ten nonfiction books, all published)...write an outline.. fill in the blanks with a rough draft...spend a year or so fleshing out the narrative...then proof-read it to death and keep fleshing it out...re-read for clarity, structure and grammer over and over...when you are getting happy with it find a graduate student majoring in English or literature and hire them to proof read it as well...then re-edit the thing yourself again before either sending it to the publisher or finding one, which can be a miserable exsperience unless one goes to self-publish, publish-on-demand, e-books, kindle, or vanity press (*It seems anyone can get a book "published" nowadays following those methods)...send the proofs or galleys back and forth with your and the editors corrections.. then when you and the publisher are satisfied it goes to the printers...you wait and bite your nails for several months before the book hits the stores...Get out there and sell it...Learn to speak in public...*Being too self-critical I never read a book again after it is published and in my hands and I'm never happy with the way the cover looks..

Edited by Snakeye, 14 June 2011 - 01:53 PM.

[MrBump]

cheers for the replies.
my story was pretty well publicised through all the local media, tv, radio, newspaper, magazines etc and pretty widespread thru the surfing community in Australia (our family is pretty well known) so i do have some sort of profile.

what $$ are we talking about to self fund ? This could be an option if I could make my money back, but got no idea on anything in thisfield.
if i am to find a writer, what do they charge in ballpark figures, by the book, hourly etc ?
i don't need to make money from it, would be great if I could make my money back but got no idea on costings.

where do you find publishers ?

sorry for all the questions, i just have no idea, I've never even read many books.

[goose]

As for telling your story to your daughter, I think your words and your story would be best. Everyone has their own unique way of expressing their self. Your daughter will be able to recogonize your words, your expressions and the way you would speak them. Don't worry about being too simple. Just speak from your heart. She will cherish it more as she can tell it's your words and not someone elses. Use phrases that she hears you saying.Then as she reads it, your voice will be reading it to her. This private version would be just hers.

If you'd like to make it public, then your ghost writer could use your private notes or recordings to create another version.

For your daughter, keep it simple and from the heart.