Jeffrey Miller's Blog: Jeffrey Miller Writes, page 31

Article on Self-Publishing

Came across this article on self-publishing via the Huffington Post which fits in nicely with what I am talking about here: whether I should try and solicit my manuscript for Ice Cream Headache or self-publish. This article really makes you think about the publishing industry these days and why it might be better to self-publish.

To self-publish or not to self-publish, that is the question — Part 1

It’s been almost two years since I self-published my first novel War Remains, first as an e-Book through Smashwords and Amazon, and then as a paperback and hardcover with Lulu. At first there were some people who persuaded me not to self-publish, because in the words of one former colleague of mine, “the only people who will buy the book will be your family and friends.” Others told me that self-publishing was a death knell if you ever wanted to be taken seriously as a writer.

It wasn’t all bad news. Some of my writer friends told me that it was worth the risks because once people started buying your book word of mouth would generate more sales. And thanks to social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and now Pinterest, it would be easy to market your book.

Yes, and no. I’ve found that a lot of people will “like” that you wrote a book but how many of those “likes” actually become sales?

To self-publish or not to self-publish is just part of the equation. What it really comes down to is one word: marketing.

Book Cover for Ice Cream Headache?

As the editing of my novella enters its second round, I have started to look for an appropriate cover idea for the book. Originally I wanted to have a photo of a milkshake or a malt in a glass, in the foreground with the background out of focus (I have a photographer back in the Illinois Valley working on that concept now) but then, while searching the Internet the other day, I came across this photo.

Although Oglesby’s City Clerk gave me permission to use this photo, I am worried about the resolution. But Damn! This is where everything happens in the book. You can see Balconie’s on the right as well as the Supreme Dairy. And right across the street, though not clear in this photo, the Supreme Dairy Bar. What a find!

What I’m thinking is that this could be back cover of the book. That would really work for it I think. I would of course crop the bottom.

While looking at this photo I was overcome with this immense wave of nostalgia. This is where it all happened. This was my life.

If anyone out there knows who might have the original or a photo similar to this one, please contact me.

A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall/Blowin’ in the Wind

Almost.

Typhoon Bolaven is bearing down on the Korean peninsula but so far, at least here in Daejeon, there’s been more wind than rain.

In what some people are calling the worst typhoon in a half-century and the most dangerous one since 2002, it didn’t hit when it was supposed at three in the morning. Now, almost noon, it looks as though we’re going to get some rain and wind.

I remember that typhoon in 2002. Pusan got hit really bad; a year later one could still see the damage.

South Korea in the 1960s

A former American soldier has shared some amazing photographs of Korea back in the early 1960s.

What’s really amazing, is when you think at how far South Korea has come since then. We’re talking just eleven years after the Korean War Armistice had been signed, but the South was as close to a Third World Country as it could get until Park Chung-hee (for better or worse) turned things around and got the South on the road to the ecomomic powerhouse that the country is today.

It makes it all worthwhile

Sometimes you connect with a reader which makes all the difference in the world:

Dear Mr. Miller,

Last year, while looking for information about the Hoengsong Valley Massacre, I came across your website, went from one end of it to the other and then bought your book, War Remains.

My father, Sgt. Luther Rominger was killed there on 13 February 1951.  He was a member of the 2nd Infantry Division, 15th Field Artillery Battalion.  I have a subscription to Ancestry.com and would like to add your pictures and a link to your website to his page.

I thank you for posting those pictures.  Some how it makes everything more real to me.  I was about 18 months old when he died and all I have are pictures and other people’s memories of him.

Again, Thank you and my God’s blessings be on you and your family.

Margaret Rominger Black

A tweak here and a tweak there….

That’s about all the information you’re going to get regarding my novella which I completed last week and now having my editor take a scalpel to the manuscript. In the meantime, I am making a few minor adjustments here and there and a few edits.

I will tell you this, I feel so good about this manuscript that I am going to go the traditional route and peddle it to a few small presses which publish novellas.

This is what I can tell you about the story:

100 pages

30,200 words

Takes place in Oglesby, Illinois in May 1968

Anyone from the Illinois Valley will immediately recognize all the references to stores, shops, schools, and maybe a few individuals (though names have been changed).

I like this story a lot.

Field of Dreams

I love this movie.

Every summer around this time I watch this movie. I like the story, the acting, the directing not to mention all the corn which makes me think about home. Maybe that’s one of the reasons why I have come to enjoy this movie so much in all the years that I have been away from the States.

There are some interesting back stories to this film.

In the summer of 1988 when this film was being shot, I was taking a summer class at Carl Sandburg College, which offered extension courses from Western Illinois University where I was attending as a graduate student. That summer, I took two classes, “The Literature of Venice” and “Utopian Literature.” The one on “Utopian Literature” was the one offered at Carl Sandburg and twice a week I rode up to the college with the professor, Dr. Loren Logsdon who was also one of my thesis advisors.

The summer of 1988 was one of the hottest summers on record. I was living in this second floor apartment just off the Macomb Square and it was so hot, I slept in the kitchen because that was where the air conditioner was.

On the way up and back to Carl Sandburg, Dr. Logsdon and I talked about books and baseball. You can learn a lot outside of the classroom and I really enjoyed the talks I had with Dr. Logsdon.

One of the students in the class, was a friend of Dr. Logsdon’s who was taking the course to complete her Masters in teaching. She was from Galena, Illinois and drove down for the class.

Talk about a small world. Turns out her husband was an electrician and that summer had done some electrical work for Kevin Costner who rented a house in Galena while he was doing the film.

That summer was also the last time I went to a baseball game when I saw the Cubs in June.

A year later, when the movie came out, it was the last movie I saw before I went to Japan to teach English.

That’s why there’s a special place in my heart for this movie. It will always remind me of that summer and my last year in graduate school when I was filled with so many dreams but still didn’t know what path I was going to take.

Now it reminds me of growing up in the Midwest and like the character Terrance Mann (James Earl Jones) says,  

This field, this game: it’s a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again.

That’s why I love this movie.

Battle of Taejon — July 14, 1950

On this day in 1950, the Battle of Taejon (Daejeon) began.

After U.S. forces, (Task Force Smith) were overrun north of Osan on July 5 and Chonan fell three days later on July 8th, the North Korean juggernaut rolled into Tajeon. One week later, Taejon would fall, but not before the U.S. 24th Infantry Division managed to buy other U.S. forces time as they quickly dug in at what would soon be called The Pusan Perimeter.

During the Battle of Taejon, General William Dean was captured and would spend the rest of the war in a POW camp. Dean, whose jeep driver took a wrong turn in the city, which resulted in him being captured, managed to escape his North Korean captors and elude them in the mountains for 35 days as he tried to get back to the American line. Some say that South Koreans sympathetic to the North Koreans who saw Dean alerted North Korean soldiers to his whereabouts.

I briefly describe this battle in War Remains to give readers some background information about the war and the arrival of the U.S. Second Infantry Division and Bobby at the end of the month.

In this photo you can see Taejon Train Station. I live about 15 minutes behind it. About three quarters of a mile to the left of the train station is where the SolBridge International School of Business is located.

This is what Taejon looked like after it was liberated in September following the breakout from the Pusan Perimeter:

This is a monument on Battle Mountain for the 24th Infantry Division:

The General Dean monument.

Some people say the nicest things

Bumped into a colleague today who had just finished reading War Remains.

He bought two copies of it from me last week, one for himself and one for his father in Australia.

Anyway, he told me how much he liked it and asked me if it was based on a true story. I told him that it wasn’t but that I had met a lot of veterans and imagined what it would be like for a family still waiting for their loved one to come home from the war.

“It was very moving,” he said. “You really captured the home front well. I could really identify with the family. I know my father is going to love this book when he gets it.”

I’m sure he will.