Surprise! Nerves of Steel Book launch Behind the Scenes Extravaganza
My second book has hit the marketplace. Here is a special behind-the-scenes look.
OMG look:
Yep, it’s book launch time, so this is my Nerves of steel Behind the Scenes Book Launch Extravaganza!!
We are still working out the kinks on the paperback. If you buy the hardcover and have any issues, please let me know. I’m using Amazon’s print on demand service.
Please leave a review. You can say you know me.
About the book
This is my personal journey through the battleground of ALS. I’m just going to say this – this book is heavy. It’s emotional. It’s my soul inside of a binding. I didn’t hold much back. But it’s not a beat down. If you know me, I like to tell a joke. Plus, you guys know the ending already ;-)
The Price
This is the part where I complain little bit. Being a self-published author is truly a labor of love.
I make this much on each book:
Hardback – $1.64
Paperback – $3.63
Kindle – I set the royalty at 70%, so I may make $4 per book. If you do the Kindle unlimited, I get paid for every page you read.
What it cost me:
Besides time, I paid a total of $1600 for editing, design, layout etc. My first book, Stringer, was a little more expensive. I have not made back that money either.
I’m only illustrating to you that this is a passion project and your support drives me. In fact, I’m debating on publishing my next book here in weekly installments for paid subscriptions. I can then take that money and print the book. Let’s take a little poll of subscribers:
Book length
“Hey, I’m paying 25 bucks for 100 pages?” Not that any of you would say that, but the book is about half the length of my previous one.
But as I mentioned before, this book is compact. As a journalist you are trained to write economically. Words cost money. Additionally, this book was incredibly difficult to write, so there was only so much emotion I could squeeze out sometimes.
I would liken reading this as to hacking through a dense jungle with a machete.
My process
Here’s a little peek at how I work.
Funnily enough, I don’t outline. Well, I don’t write down the outline. I have an idea in my head of where I am going. With this book it was a little bit different as I knew where I wanted to start, but as I was going, things started to change and open up. That’s why I don’t outline because during the process I always get these out of the blue inspirations that and up making the book so much better.
I write on weekends, storing up the idea in my head, letting it percolate. I will yell at my phone to take notes and I may email myself reminders. I run the text over and over in my head to refine it and if there is a good line I will yell at my phone to take a note.
My mind has become a virtual safe.
I was inspired by a true story. Before I got sick, I watched this phenomenal movie called, “The Diving Bell & The Butterfly.” A fashion magazine editor has a debilitating stroke at the age of 43. He has no way to communicate except for blinking one eye. He goes on to write a book. I think about him often.
On writing day, I put on my amazing Apple headphones which really block out the world and I turn on the music. As I’ve said before, I write with music and I try to pull up songs that will drive my emotions.
Then I start talking and the text appears on the screen. Try it sometime, it’s awkward to speak out your deepest secrets and emotions. It also doesn’t sound the same as in my head sometimes. It’s always better in my head.
My goal on the first pass is to get the idea down. Sometimes it comes out great, sometimes it’s garbage. But the idea is on the page, so I can work with it. Like a lump of clay.
The most difficult part, especially in this book, were the emotions. It’s hard to dictate when you are choking up. That’s when I moved to my eye keyboard. I move my eyes to each letter and pause for a second to type it. It gives me suggestions, like your iPhone does, but they are often not the right ones. I try to use my “voice” which includes a lot of slang and colloquialisms. The dictation software doesn’t pick those up, so I have to manually type them.
But then that breaks down. It’s hard for the eye gaze to track your eyes are brimming with tears. And then my stupid long eyelashes stain my glasses.
After I get those initial thoughts down, I think about them, where I want to make changes, where I want to add more color. Again, I yell at my phone to take notes.
I start the next writing day by going through the previous copy, making corrections here and there, and then moving onto the next. I’m also trying to get into that emotional space – that is the key component of my writing.
I pull up a Word document, type in “Chapter 1,” and start going. I watch the word count, trying to do at least 1000 words per session. My journalism training kicks in and I can really write a couple thousand words in no time.
If I don’t feel inspiration that day I will go back and work on previous copy. I’ll end up reading the book several times. After editing, I read it again. After the design proofs come out, I read it again. At this point I don’t make any substantial changes because I would never get done.
You have to live with some things you may not like in the book but that’s part of the process when you write tens of thousands of words.
Easter eggs and fun stuff!
Cover: This book is dedicated to my wife, Erin, so there are a lot of personal items I worked into the design. We spent a lot of time in the Caribbean on cruises etc., so it’s a special place for us. The footprints illustrate her undying support for me. You can see were mine turn into wheelchair tracks. I wanted to play off of the nerves theme, so that’s why you see the clouds looking a little sci-fi. The picture on the back is one of Erin’s favorites of me and it’s from my 40th birthday trip to San Francisco. We were on the super touristy bus tour. It’s a good picture of me, because I’m smiling at her. My former colleague, Dana Caldwell, helped me punch up the back text. That guy can write. Get on that book, Dana.
Numerology: There is a specific chapter dedicated to Erin and I coordinated it so the chapter number was the same as our wedding date. 3/2.
Illustrations: The section parts are illustrated by Michael. Again, they were designed with Erin in mind. She loves sunflowers and watercolor.
On the U-turn section, you will notice a Beeline Expressway sign, which is no longer around. This is an homage to my hometown
I wrote the ending halfway through the book. During part two the end of the book popped into my head. It was such a strong idea that I did not want to wait.
I have probably read that chapter more than anything in the book to make sure it is right.
Friends: I tried my best to mention everyone that has been important to me, but that’s an impossible task. If you felt left out, I am very sorry. Contact me and I will let you know how much I appreciate you.
So there you have it, everything behind Nerves of Steel.
Any questions – please post them below. Happy reading!