The photo is from 1978. My son, his truck. Behind him, my truck.

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Progress Report July 23 2013

The book is nearly written.  I've winnowed the jobs down to about 113, so I still need to winnow some more.  99 Jobs is a good title; 113 Jobs is not.  I'm rewriting and adding material—some of those original posts were badly written, or omitted details, or simply missed the point. 

After extended agonizing I'm getting comfortable with the title 99 Jobs: Blood Sweat and Houses.  Then immediately in the jacket copy I hope people will read this:
I repair homes. With each job I enter somebody’s life. Here are 99 "tool belt tales” about good hard work and the people I’ve met.
Many people are telling me they prefer printed books to ebooks.  I do, too, but they cost money to set up.  I'll be launching a Kickstarter campaign in August.  The campaign will end on Labor Day, which seems an appropriate date.  It's basically a way to ask people to pre-order the book.  They'll receive advance copies, and I'll have some advance funding. 

My goals are modest.  At a minimum, I hope to fund the cost of hiring a professional editor and a good book designer.  If I can raise more than the minimum, it can pay for a tiny publicity campaign and maybe even a low-budget book tour.

I'll keep you updated.


2 comments:

  1. Love the title. You really nailed it so now we know the rest of the book is going to be tight. So fun to get these updates. I am imagining reading this book in a hammock at my grandpa's farm next summer. Summer and books, sigh.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ooo — a hammock on grandpa's farm sounds like a great place to read a book. Any grandpa. Any book. With lemonade.

    ReplyDelete