Decisions, decisions - a blogger writes?
By Charlie • January 18, 2010 • 14 commentsI need some help. While my online persona is of a single-minded, determined and confident young fellow (stop sniggering at the back, please), I’m actually - of course - none of those things - especially the ‘young’ bit: all those years gone, hard to imagine. I’m single-minded in that I have just the one mind, but it wanders and not always in the direction I was aiming to go (as this post is demonstrating). Determined? Confident? Hardly. You get the picture.
Anyway, I could go on knocking myself for many more paragraphs, but I have life to do that for me (boom, boom). So let’s cut to the chase. I’d like to write a book, but I’m not sure how to go about it, whether I should devote months of work to something that may never get read, and whether there’s a genuine alternative to ‘dead tree’ publishing. I’m not (genuinely not) asking anyone reading this to decide now whether they’d buy a book I might write, just asking for advice and opinions, because writing thousands and thousands of words on 10,000 Birds while challenging and immensely enjoyable doesn’t somehow seem quite the same as committing myself to something so nerve-jangling as - er, committing myself to something so nerve-jangling as a real book.
The situation is this. I have a job I no longer want to do, really no longer want to do, but it pays the bills. I don’t think for one minute that writing a book is the answer to saving myself, Jo, and Evie from financial self-destruction, but it may be one way of creating one of the many income-streams I need to find instead. And I do love writing. I actually think sometimes that I’m quite good at it (the odd sentence works well anyway). I’m certainly opinionated which I’m sure helps. I’ve led a reasonably interesting life and my life is certainly at an interesting stage. But I have absolutely no experience when it comes to contacting potential editors or publishers - and I can’t even be sure that having given away my thoughts for free for so long anyone would actually want to pay for them instead.
As I said earlier, I’m really not asking anyone to say - or state - right now that they’d be up for bailing me out with a few dollars for a couple of hundred pages of thoughts, but do blog readers also read books? I really don’t know, because to be honest apart from books on birds I’ve barely read a book for years. Who has time? No, seriously, who has time…?
You do? Really…wow. Okay, given that some people do actually have the time to read a book, I obviously need a subject to write about - and I do. So what am I thinking of spending the next few months on?
Well, I’ve been flying around the world for twenty years now (since October 1989 to be exact). I joined the airline to watch birds, which I’ve done, repeatedly, in countries all over the world. All great fun, and a hedonistic birder’s dream come true. I have some amazing memories, some pretty good photographs, a life-list over 3000, but in the last five or six years especially I’ve become more and more focussed on conservation issues that seem to demand a somewhat more concentrated approach to life. To put the binoculars down and look at more than just the narrow view in other words.
Examples? I’d been flying to Kenya for fifteen years before I almost overnight became involved with Kinangop and Sharpe’s Longclaw: how could I not notice either of them before (and how did I get to notice them at all)? It took me years to understand what a remarkable person my brother Nial is. Why did it take me thirty years of birding to give any thoughts at all to the effect of the wild bird trade on the very birds I was looking at? Why after swallowing roast chickens virtually whole since I was a child did I - almost overnight - come to sympathise with a pile of skinny bones at the bottom of a curry in Bombay and fly home the next day a vegetarian.
And how life-changing is it to move house and find yourself in a cottage in the country and suddenly understand that after so many years of looking for ’something’ you’d found it by accident - and it had been close by all along? A cliche perhaps, but true nonetheless (which is almost the definition of a cliche of course).
I’m thinking of calling this collection of possibly connected thoughts and feelings - as I mentioned jokingly in a post months ago - “A Long Distance Migrant”, with some remarkably witty sub-title I haven’t finalised yet but that will be something like. “…a birder finds his way home”.
Now if you’re thinking that all I want to do is lecture and harass and shout at readers for several hundred pages before collapsing inwards like a burnt-out star you’d be wrong (mostly wrong, anyway). Actually, the thing that I really find interesting about all of this stuff is why it’s taken me so long to realise what I actually want to do, the repercussions of people seeing more in me than I ever saw in myself, and that if someone like me who’s not very confident or single-minded (and I sure most people are like me) can find ‘their way home’ then perhaps with this book I might be able to inspire or help a few others to do the same. Anyone out there agree, disagree, still reading this post?
Of course, maybe no-one wants to hear what I have to say (tell me, someone, is this just what writers feel like, or do ‘real’ writers either have this innate inner-confidence or simply don’t care whether anyone reads their book or not?). There is one way to find out of course and that’s just to sit down and write, but your input would be very valuable before I start (or abandon the idea). Even more valuable of course would be an advance fee from a publisher, but one step at a time. Actually, does anyone who reads 10,000 Birds regularly know a publisher I could talk to…
So, folks, please help. I’m - again - not asking anyone to tell me that their dollars are mine (or to say that they’re sure that a spot on the NY Times bestseller list is ready-and-waiting), but is a book (a paper and print ink and photographs sort of book) the way to go; should I get my head out of the clouds and be grateful I have a job at all; or has anyone experimented with using online publishing and found it a genuine alternative?
I’ll be ever so grateful (and I’ll even mention you at the acceptance speech when Robert Downey Jr calls me to the podium after winning an Oscar for his sensitive portrayal of a under-confident birder who really, really wanted to do something useful with his birding before he got too old to remember the details…).
Thankyou (and now I’ll get back to worrying about the bills).
Have you seen the cool 10,000 Birds t-shirts? Get yours today!
Paper and ink!
And not only will I buy a copy but I might even ask you to sign it.
And, of course, Brad Pitt will have to put in a cameo as me in the movie version…
I’m partial to pen and ink myself, and I think the book would be a good idea. I think the thing to do is start writing, if a good book is in there you’ll eventually find it. If its not you’ll have a pretty good idea. I think though that there are many challenges before you beyond the writing itself, but through the publishing and other stages.
I’ve said on many occasions that I think you’re a very good writer, and I stand by that. I look forward to the book, and I think your idea is a good direction for you. An epiphany in a bowl of curry.
I’d buy it Charlie. Having sold my business seven months back I’ve embarked on a challenge to see if I can make birding pay from a myriad of different sources and I’m trying with a lot less talent than you.
I like your writing but I’m no critic, will it sell? Who knows? What I am confident of is that we get one shot, one life and when I look back at the end of mine I want to know I was brave enough to dare to try and accept the consequences if it doesnt work. With three school age kids it means we are more restricted about what we do and where we go, we ‘consume’ less. Good luckj whatever you decide.
One of the great things about writing non-fiction is that if you’re an expert with a marketing platform in a particular field, you don’t write the book until you have a contract to do so. With fiction, the whole dang thing must be written and edited several times before considering submitting it to an agent or publisher. But with non-fiction, while you certainly must have the book in mind and outlined, all you need actually to have written before submitting the proposal to a publisher or agent is a sample chapter. Well, that, and a good query letter with a general description of your marketing platform in your area of expertise.
I definitely vote for your exploring this, Charlie.
I am a freelance writer. Here are some generic tips and questions that routinely get offered to anybody thinking about writing a book.
You don’t have to quit your day job to write a book. Many famous and non-famous authors started writing their first books at night or in the morning, before the kids were up or after work. Many scientists and journalists will take leaves of absence or go on half-time to write.
Nobody’s going to give you a huge advance to write your first book. And don’t count on royalties paying your bills for the rest of your life. A gainfully employed spouse can be very important.
After the book, what next?
Why this book, and why should you write it? This means, we’ve all read “The Big Year” and others. Do we need another? Why is yours different and new?
Try selling a few magazine articles first. Many book ideas are often better as magazine articles. A magazine article is 300-3000 words. A book is 50,000+.
This might sound very discouraging, but it’s the unfortunate reality.
Good luck!
I think your idea is definitely marketable to a traditional publisher as a paper-and-ink book. Nontraditional publishing routes make a lot of sense for specialized and local books with small but passionate markets (like if you wanted to write a bird guide to Kinangop). But memoir is still a big, big slice of nonfiction, and within that finding yourself is big, and the environment is an increasingly popular topic. Also, thanks to this blog, you can offer a traditional publisher a big “platform” and they love that.
There’s a lot of advice out there on how to write a proposal, get an agent etc. online. This is a pretty standard example. It looks intimidating at first, but it’s really not if you break it down into simple steps. I could rattle on about this stuff for hours so if you want any other information just ask!
Charlie— Go for it, if you don’t 10 or 15 years from now you will regret not doing it. Questions which have been discussed in various shades
1. Financially can you and family survive a while with a reduced income
2. Does your family support you 199% in this?
3. Are you ready to reduce your global travels, thus reducing your birding opportunities?
I think it is prime time for books with a slant toward conservation.
Someone suggested writing magazine articles as a starting point. That makes sense. Travel articles with conservation in mind??
Perhaps a totally different direction may be working directly in conservation projects for governments/private concerns???
But I digress
Would I buy and read a book by you —Absolutely..
Whatever you decide with your enthusiasm and communicating skills you will do ok.
DO NOT, repeat, DO NOT slide past the base without touching home plate. Writing for you, as I see it, IS HOME.
I have read you faithfully for years and hope to continue for years. Often been moved, sometimes to tears, as with your blog about your…grandmother, was it? Often laughed. Often a little sad when you weren’t in the mix that day.
Would I buy your book, whatever it’s about? Hell yes! Might even fly over to pick up a hand-delivered copy or two (one also for Jack), get a guided tour around your estate, and touch for myself the fabled jammy finger.
Thank you for asking. I do a much better job of running other people’s lives than I do my own.
So, here’s the thing: if you’re a writer, you’ll have to write. A blog, a book, an article, a diary - it doesn’t matter. I don’t know a single writer that doesn’t say writing is hard work, and that they have no choice - they can no more stop writing than they can stop breathing. If that’s you, start writing. Articles, books, whatever. You need to find out if writing or the idea of writing is what you’re interested in. Write, don’t give up your day job just yet, and figure out if this is really your home. if it’s not, there are other alternative careers to explore.
And yes, I’d buy your book. I prefer electronic, but I’d buy a copy even in print.
[...] Decisions, decisions - a blogger writes? 10000birds.com/decisions-decisions-a-blogger-writes.htm – view page – cached I need some help. While my online persona is of a single-minded, determined and confident young fellow (stop sniggering at the back, please), I’m actually - of course - none of those things - especially the ‘young’ bit: all those years gone, hard to imagine. I’m single-minded in that I have just the one mind, but it wanders and not always in the direction I was aiming to go (as this post… Read moreI need some help. While my online persona is of a single-minded, determined and confident young fellow (stop sniggering at the back, please), I’m actually - of course - none of those things - especially the ‘young’ bit: all those years gone, hard to imagine. I’m single-minded in that I have just the one mind, but it wanders and not always in the direction I was aiming to go (as this post is demonstrating). Determined? Confident? Hardly. You get the picture. View page [...]
Dear All:
Many, many thanks to everyone who has commented (and emailed me separately too). Much food for thought from a knowledgeable and friendly community - I’m genuinely very grateful for your input and advice.
I’m going to respond to each of you individually to say thanks as this feels too impersonal after you’ve been so kind, so thanks again and I’ll mail later today.
All the best
Charlie
Oh, Corey, Brad Pitt? What with you being so tall and with that beard of yours you more remind me of the guy who played Grizzly Adams (Dan Haggerty). Maybe he has a son who could take the cameo role…
I wrote a book (two now actually) just because I had to do it. I’ll never get a bean for any of it but I couldn’t have died without it.