Marc Liebman's Blog, page 43

New Opportunity

As I write this, I am sitting outside my RV literally on the beach at Galveston State Park. We have another week down here and then its back to the grind. I missed posting last week but didn’t want miss two weeks in a row.

Last month, I mentioned that I was asked for a book proposal by an agent for a non-fiction book called Gold & Silver Wings – Tales from Three Generations of Military Pilots. The good news is that she liked it!

Sometime next week, I’ll see the list of potential publishers. How fast we will be under contract is unknown, but I have to believe that she wouldn’t have taken me on as a client if she didn’t think she could sell my work.

My job is to finish the first draft of Gold & Silver Wings by the middle of July so I can update the book proposal with the latest version of the table of contents. This will also allow me to “sit on it” for awhile before I start working on the next pass.

The better news came from our lunch last week. In September, she’ll start trying to place Flight of the Pawnee with a major publisher. It’s the first of a four book series starring a new character, Derek Almer. She wants a synopsis of the series as well as one to two page synopses of the next two books – Manpads and The Ass’m Draggin’. When I get back from vacation after the Fourth of July, I’ll write those.

In addition, she’d like a list with one or two sentences on each book of what I have in work. Oh wow! I have one by only title, it’s something else to write.

The best news is that she has contacts with firms looking for material for TV series and movies and thinks that the Josh Haman series has potential for either a series or a movie. Color me speechless. I have some work to do in I need to get the books in a format she can send to them, i.e. PDFs with the covers as well as the text. Who knows where it will lead.

Do you think I’m excited?

Marc Liebman

July 2018

Ode to Rowley

Anyone who knows me quickly finds out that I am a dog lover. Until Monday, we had three poodles, two standards – Rowley and Rudy – and one miniature – Rickey. Large dogs age faster than smaller ones and Rowley was hanging in there a little over three weeks shy of his fifteenth birthday. In human years, Rowley was in his mid-eighties and as a senior citizen, his behavior told us humans that we need to pay more attention to his needs.

We spoil our dogs and treat them like our children. One reason we like standard poodles is because they are second smartest breed (after Border Collies). They are like a fifteen month-old child with four legs and fur. They understand what you say and communicate through behavior and sounds.

I can spend hours telling funny stories about Rowley who’s attitude toward life was, “O.K. human, just tell me what me to do and I’ll do it.” He could be stubborn and independent and he had a jaunty, poodle prance.

When he was about six months old, I started taking him with me on my daily runs. We began with shorter distances until he could go the full 10K I would run five to six days a week. I would huff and puff in a jog and he would canter easily along.

Even at fourteen plus, when I’d get ready to take Rudy, our three year-old standard for his daily walk, Rowley would look as if to say, “I’m still here and I want to go too.” So, the three of us would go out for short walk to satisfy him.

Rowley was a hunter and would bring back rabbits, squirrels, possums and skunks. Rowley would proudly drop his latest victim at your feet and look at you waiting to be praised.

Around two o’clock on Saturday morning, June 8th, Rudy woke me by making a growling sound. As soon as I stirred, he led to Rowley whose legs were flailing and he was groaning in pain. When it was over, I tried to get Rowley to stand up and while he could, when he tried to walk, it was if he had way too much to drink. And, he carried his head at an odd angle. I was convinced he’d had a major stroke.

In the morning, Rowley was no better. He stopped drinking and wouldn’t eat his favorite treats and couldn’t walk without falling down or staggering. We made an appointment for Monday after talking to the vet who confirmed Rowley probably had a stroke and at his age, probably wouldn’t recover.

It was time and I think Rowley knew it too. And, it was hard, very hard. Rowley was the fourth dog we’ve had to put down and it doesn’t get any easier. In fact, it gets harder each time because as you get older, you realize more and more how precious life is.

Tears streamed down my cheek as I held Rowley’s head in my lap as they put him to sleep telling him I loved him and I was sorry because I knew I was killing him. Writing this blog makes me cry.

Rowley, I miss you. You were a very special animal and anyone who knew him, liked him. I will always love you and cherish your time with us.

Marc Liebman

June 2018

Writing Out of My Comfort Zone

A few days ago, I signed a contract with a literary agent who wants to represent a book called Gold and Silver Wings – Stories from Three Generations of Military Pilots. In an earlier blog, I called it a “memiography” because it is one part biography, one part autobiography and one part memoir.

Gold and Silver Wings is a collection of stories from my fathers, my son’s and my aviation careers. That’s the three generations.

We’re all combat veterans, but with the exception of two stories from World War II that I believe need to be told, the focus is on the non-combat aspect of a military aviator. Not all the stories are about moving a stick and rudder. Many of them are related to being in a squadron along with some from my son’s childhood and mine. They provide insight what it was like to grow up with an Air Force pilot as a father and in my son’s case, a Naval Aviator as a dad.

Many stories could start with “You wouldn’t believe this, but….” Or, “There I was….” But they don’t. However, there’s context at the front to give the reader some appreciation of what is coming.

Anyway, the book is non-fiction and I think of myself as novelist that means I write fiction. In this book, I have to stick to the facts!  Egads!!!

To find a publisher, the agent asked me to create a formal book proposal that has all kinds of information as well as excerpts from the book. It is, for the record, sixty-one pages long. In it, I committed to having finishing the manuscript within four months of signing the contract with a publisher. Yikes!!!

Rather than wait, I’ve started writing and am about a quarter of the way through the first draft. So far so good, but it is a challenge because I am using my dad’s log book and service record as a reference. Unfortunately, he passed away in 1991 and all I have are my memories of the stories he told me about his experiences in World War II and afterwards. And, I’m seventy-two and my memory ain’t what it used to be.

Admittedly, some creative license will be taken with the stories to make them read better and in some cases, make a point. From a writing standpoint, it is easier than creating a novel because I don’t have to come up with twists and turns in the timeline of a plot nor develop new characters. There are only three – my dad, my son and me.

Other people’s names? They’re few and far between and not needed. This book is about the three of us. And, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Marc Liebman

June 2018

Spam Sweat Shops

The history books are full of pictures of rows of men, women and children in the early Twentieth Century sewing clothes together or making something. Well, the Twenty-First Century version may be the Spam Sweat Shop.

Imagine rows and rows of individuals sitting in a big room churning out emails that whomever is paying them believes that the recipient is dumb enough to first open and then two, respond. The reason I think this is that the spam emails just keep coming. It can’t just be individuals sitting in a room in an apartment thinking all this stuff up.

At least once a week, an email arrives in my junk folder and in the subject line, it says – “Business proposal.” Really!!!

Did I ask for a proposal? No. Does this individual know anything about my business? No. Can this firm offer something to me as a writer? Don’t know because the emails are never read?

Another type has something like “be number one the internet” in the subject line. These are more sophisticated because somehow they’ve gotten my email address from some source, usually public or those who sell lists of people’s emails. These have a short blurb on their firm and are signed by someone with an American sounding name even though the syntax strongly suggests it wasn’t written by someone educated in the U.S. or Canada.

Or, it says “reduce website development costs.” Do they know I have a website? None ever give a reason why I should contact them.

Then there are ones promising low cost drugs from Canada from Viagra to Cialis to “any prescription.” As if I would put pills in my body from an online firm purchasing drugs with potentially unknown efficacy or side effects because they were manufactured in a country with little regard for patent laws.

The ones I hate the most are those who hack/steal people’s contact lists and send out emails with attachments with the person’s name. The email address is often right and the sender copies several people from the contact list in the hopes it will be opened and expose the host computer to some type of malware.

I laugh when in the subject line it says, “you are qualified for a $250,000 business loan. What reasonable financial institution send out emails to people telling them they will make a loan proper due diligence?

Another are those that tell you a sob story about some poor soul in some far away. As a writer, I have to admire their creativity, but give me a break.

Do you wonder why people do this? The easy answer is money because the senders think that scamming people is easier than working. If the senders put as much effort into legitimate work, they might even make a living. There has to be a different reason and I think it is really simple. It is because they can and there is little or no risk. Do they care if they piss off the recipient, no! There’s always hope that someone else will be fooled.

The answer is “block sender and delete.” One can only hope that they’ll get the message, but I am not betting on it.

Marc Liebman

June 2018

Footnote on Self-Publishing

As a reviewer for several organization publications, I get to see books that come to the light of day from a variety of processes. They range from self-published to those who come from one of the major houses.

Is there a difference in the finished work? The answer is yes.

Most, if not all the self-published books – novels and history/biographies /autobiographies – don’t have the same production values of traditionally published books. No, it is not because they are produced by print-on-demand or in soft cover. It is because they don’t go through the same vetting and editing processes that those published by an independent press or major publisher use.

The production process from Word document to published book has an impact on every aspect of the manuscript. Publishing house editors help the author polish, improve the plot (if it is a novel or the story line) and proof the final work. I’ve had proofreading problems in the past and with the self-published books I’ve seen, its editing and proofreading that are the first giveaways.

There many reasons why the quality of most self-published books don’t have the quality of one that comes from traditional process and are well beyond the scope of this blog, but it boils down to motivation. A press is known by the quality of its work, i.e. the books that it publishes. Produce good books and with decent distribution, they will sell.

Self-publishing houses are factories geared to taking the manuscript from the hands of the author to the market in the least amount of time, at the least cost to the author with the least amount of effort on their part.

Are there good or even great books self-published? Yes. However, in the small sample of ones that have crossed my desk, I have yet to see one.

Why this soliloquy? Recently, I was sent a self-published book to review and it was, to be polite, unreadable. The plot was hard to follow, the writing was awful and it needed a good proofing. A third of the way through it, I put it down.

As an author, I don’t want a bad review out there, so what does one do? I called the editor and he said it was my call. Thanks!!!

For weeks, I stewed on what to do. I’ve been down a similar path when I told Fireship Press to pull Cherubs 2 off the market because it had too many typos.

With this book, the debate in my mind was do I call or send an email with the bad news or just sit on the book. The choice was made because the author sent me an email saying he published new version.

Instinct said call him and during the conversation, he told me that he’d rewritten the work and I agreed to have a look. If it is better, a review is written. If it is still terrible, he gets a call or an email saying the book still isn’t up to snuff.

Is this a knock on self-publishing, no. It just is what it is.

Marc Liebman

May 2018

Words on a Hat

If you read my blog, in several posts, I’ve talked about what goes on during book signings. So far, I’ve set up tables or booths at association events, national meetings, libraries, air shows, book fairs, at Rotary and Kiwanis Club meetings and Kroger Supermarkets.

Yes, Kroger Supermarkets. Here in Texas, they have a program in which authors are invited to set up a table on Saturdays and Sundays and sell their books. You sign the book and the buyer pays for it when they check out. Kroger takes a chunk of the margin.

Earlier this year, I was invited to try and went through the application and acceptance/vetting process.

Once accepted, the next task was to pick six local Krogers. The data on which to make a decision is sparse, essentially all you are told is the number of times authors have appeared at the store and the number of adult and children’s books that were sold that weekend. So far, I’ve been to two and the results have been good, but not great.

Since there’s no picture on this block, here’s what the table looks like. On it has the all six books, two table top posters and my helo helmet that was issued to me in the summer of 1969 and is now approaching 49 years old. I wear a shirt with Naval Aviator wings and a hat that has the words “Vietnam and Desert Storm Veteran.”

What is really gratifying is that people – both kids and adults – stop by my table, not wanting to buy a book, but to simply say “thank you for your service.” I’d say thank you and find out that some have family members on active duty or in the Guard or Reserve, but most don’t but it leads to a pleasant conversation. On a few occasions, it even leads to a sale.

I never thought about it, until one Saturday, I forgot the hat. While the Kroger was crowded, booth visits were way off. The next day, as soon as I got dressed, I put the hat on so I wouldn’t forget it. Booth visits and book sales that day went way up.   Hmmmm.

I’m not saying it’s the hat, but my gut tells me that it works both in booth visits and sales. So a few little words on a hat mean a lot.

Marc Liebman

May 2019

A New Kind of Query

With the last of the seven books in the Josh Haman series under contract to published this fall, I’ve started on a new four book series with Derek Almer as the main character. The first novel is called Flight of the Pawnee and is ready to go to a publisher.

I’d like to get on with a larger publisher who has distribution muscle and would, at least the theory goes, generate more sales (and royalties). The larger publishers and some middle size ones “only accept represented work,” i.e. brought to them by an agent.

Finding agents interested in the Flight of the Pawnee’s genre – espionage thriller – takes research and each query has to be tailored to the agent’s requirements. All ask for roughly the same information but with a different format, sequence and emphasis. Some even have a form one fills out.

Some agents will respond to all queries, the majority note on their website that they will respond only if they are interested. Sending out queries is akin to sending emails into a black hole.

Much to my surprise, I get a terse email from an agent wanting to set up a phone call. It was one that asked me to fill out a form in which there was a question – What other manuscripts are you working on?” There were five blanks.

Rather than list the three other books in the Derek Almer series, I included the second book in the series, three stand alone novels and a non-fiction work called Gold and Silver Wings – Tales from Three Generations of Military Aviators. It’s a compilation of stories from my dad’s, my son’s and my aviation careers that began in the 1930s and continues to this day.

In the call, she wants to read Flight of the Pawnee but is more interested in Gold and Silver Wings. “How much of it is written?”

“About 25% but I have a detailed outline and a table of contents.”

“Great, I’d like a book proposal.”

Color me speechless and stunned. I didn’t know what to say other than sure. She sent me a book proposal she used to sell a book on the end of the World War II in the Pacific to use as a template.

Having never written a non-fiction book proposal, I was excited to read one that worked. It was sixty pages long! And, she wanted mine in two weeks. Challenge accepted. To be honest, I thought mine would be about twenty or thirty pages long.

It looked to be pretty straightforward and started writing. I wrote and wrote and wrote. Rather than just include the first two chapters, I decided that excerpts from several chapters would present the material better. Lo and behold, the finished document is 59 pages!

Here’s hoping that she’ll like it.

Marc Liebman

May 2018

Queries Take You to Strange Places

One of the drudgeries of being an author without an agent is writing queries. That is, of course, you want to find an agent to help get one of your manuscripts with a “big” publisher who has clout or owns one of the major distribution companies. This leads to books appearing in more places which theoretically equals more sales.

Agents have contacts with reviewers and other sources of publicity that leads to more recognition and more sales. At least that’s the theory.

With the last book in the Josh Haman series – The Simushir Island Incident – under contract to come out late this year, I have more books I’d like to bring to market, four of which are in a series based on a new character by the name of Derek Almer. The first – Flight of the Pawnee – is ready to go to a publisher. Hence the need for query.

Queries are the way an author asks an agent if he or she is interested in representing his or her work to a publisher. Each agent has his or her own requirements an author should provide in the query.

Almost all say they will respond if they are interested. A very small percentage say they will respond to every query.  It’s a tedious process to pore over the agent’s interests to figure what will catch their attention. Gimmicks are not well received.

What is taken seriously is a well-written document based on their desires and a specified number of pages from the manuscript. Agent query preferences require the same information but the emphasis is always different.

One of three things can happen. One, the query goes into a black hole that means the query didn’t appeal to the targeted agent. Why doesn’t matter and your query is in the trash.

Two, the agent replies with an email that says thanks, but no thanks.

Three, you get a response that says they’re interested.

Last week, I got a response that I didn’t expect. In the requirements for the query, the agent asked what other books I was working on as well as what had been published. I listed four in the latter category, one of which is called Gold And Silver Wings. It is a series of vignettes from three generations of military aviators – my father, me and my son.

This led to a call with the agent who is very interested in this book and asked me its status. Then she said, I’d like a book proposal and if I think I can sell it, I’ll send a representation agreement. And, oh by the way, send Flight of the Pawnee.

Net net, as they say in the biz world, I have a book proposal to write as well as a two sample chapters. The agent sent me a proposal she used successfully as a template. Now I have two projects, one is the proposal and the other is the book. I’d better get busy and for an author, this is really exciting!!!

Marc Liebman

May 2018

Writing History Is Hard

Last month, I started writing my first attempt at non-fiction. It is called Gold and Silver Wings and is what I call a “memiography.”  Memiography is a word I created so it is not in Webster’s yet and it is a book that is one part autobiography, one part memoir and one part biography.

So what’s Gold and Silver Wings about? The title comes from the metal (color) of the wings U.S. military aviators wear. U.S. Naval Aviators wear gold wings and Air Force Pilots wear silver wings, hence the title.

When finished, the book will be a collection of stories from three military aviation careers – my dad’s (the biography), my son’s (more biography because I am writing it, not him) and mine (autobiography and memoir). My intent is not to focus on flying in combat, but to tell other flying and family stories that will make you think or maybe cry or laugh.  I’ve already written several of the stories and it is harder than I thought.  Unlike writing a novel where I can change the facts to fit the plot, here I have to stay close to the truth.

Unfortunately, my dad passed away almost twenty-six years ago so I can’t ask him to verify the facts. All I have left is my memory, his logbooks and photos. At age 72 and a half, it is not as good as it use to be!

In many ways, Gold and Silver Wings will be a tribute to my dad’s memory that inspired both my son and me.

To organize the book, the table of contents looks more like an outline. Each chapter covers a decade and in each chapter has sub-heads that are the stories that will be told. I keep adding more, e.g. while’ writing this blog, I thought of two more to add. My instinct tells me as I write the book, the table of contents will continue to evolve.

When its done, I hope it will be a fun read with more smiling, chuckling and laughing than crying. Right now, I am editing a novel called Retribution and hope to finish this version by mid-May. At which point, work on Gold and Silver Wings will begin in earnest. The goal is to finish it by the end of the year.

Interesting a publisher in a non-fiction work is different than a novel. Normally, one doesn’t have to have the book finished. All the author needs is a table of contents and the first few chapters to use as the basis of a query letter. Even the publisher’s are different. I’m almost to that point, but I want to have the first draft at least halfway done before I start the query process. My goal is to have it with a publisher sometime in 2019! Gosh, that seems like it is a long way away, but its only eight months from now so I’d better get started.

Marc Liebman

April 2018

Guest Lecturing Is Fun

To use marketing speak, to help build my “brand,” I’ve been giving speeches/talks to all sorts of groups ranging from Rotary and Kiwanis clubs to associations of veterans and even at senior living centers.  At one, a history professor asked me after my talk titled “North Korea – the Threat, The Truth and our Options,” if I would speak to her classes.

So there I was, in front of about twenty students, mostly freshmen and sophomores and being recorded when the thought hit me, they’re young enough to be my grand children. Or, maybe I’m old enough to be their grandfather.

The question in my mind is how do you relate to people whose lives revolve around video games, texting, Facebook, Instagram and the next cool, if that is a word they would use, app that comes along.  To many of them, what’s trending in social media is more important than the world’s biggest state sponsor of terrorism is Iran and North Korea would like to threaten the U.S. with nuclear tipped missiles.

Part of the disconnect comes from the difference in our ages and where we are in life.  They don’t have the stress that comes from competing in the workplace or looking at their children wondering if they will be able to provide for them, or what they will be like when they grow up.

I also wondered how much these kids knew about the world around them.  Given what I have seen in the high school history books used by my grandkids, history is so watered down that it is pablum.  But that is another topic for another time.

Thinking I was well prepared, I started speaking.  The class was an hour and I planned to yak for about forty minutes and then take questions.  However, I did tell them that if they had a question or didn’t understand something I said, please raise your hand.

Looking out into the group, one student was struggling to stay awake.  The professor did not permit cell phone use during class so there was no texting or surfing going on.  I was pleasantly surprised when twenty minutes into my “lecture,” a student raised his hand.  It broke the dam and the questions started and I still finished the material, but I was still answering questions when we had to stop.

Granted, many of the questions came from the same individuals, but nonetheless, the majority were good ones  even though some came from way out in left (I don’t mean that politically) field.  All in all it was fun.  And, this small sample of young people had an interest in the world around them that was more encompassing than when the next iPhone or video game is about to be released. That means we old folks should have confidence that one day, they will grow up, have children and may take an interest in the world around them.

Marc Liebman

April 2018