I’m anxious to see the cover art for my book The Frog’s Song. They say the proofs will be available for my review at the end of August—one good reason to say ,“Hi August.”
And I’m excited for my publisher. Jaynie Royal of Regal Publishing, ( the house that Jaynie built) is a force to be reckoned with. Regal has recently signed with IPG (Independent Publishing Group) a trade distributor for on the ground sales.
(Imagine getting into Costco—don’t know if that will happen for me, but I can imagine it) plus, Regal has attracted the attention of Forward Reviews, a Purple Cow, Blue Ocean company.
(If you see a Purple cow standing in a field, wouldn’t you want to tell somebody? (Purple Cow is the name of Seth Godin’s book.) And regarding a blue ocean, if your water is running blood-red with competition, wouldn’t you want to move to blue waters?)
Long ago when I was into horse training I learned from #Pat Parelli, a horse gentler, that whatever everyone else is doing, do the opposite. And I learned from my horse that she will go where I place my focus, no reins required.
Amazing.
I wonder how I can apply that to my business.
Focus—that’s good. Maybe I will go where I place my focus.
I’m scared though.
Seth Godin
wrote that “The growth of audiobooks is outpacing reading.”
“Even readers are
pointing out that they’ve forgotten how to read. But of course, that’s not
true–we can still read a word, or even a
sentence, it’s pushing ourselves through a chapter that’s difficult.”
And here I am writing words.
I’m from the old school.
I like to read. I like to
hold a book. I like to smell books. I like to feel their paper—have you
noticed some of the covers these days? They feel like silk.
Don’t you sometimes wonder
what happened to books, and when did
bread disappear from our table?
I don’t know if thinking back is romancing the
time or wanting to preserve it. Can it and put it in the pantry I guess. It might
be opened at a later date and found useful.
Remember when you went to the library and were
shushed, but you cased the joint and found treasurers. (I found Out of Africa there long before the
movie came out.) Ray Bradbury educated himself by starting at one side of the
library and reading around it.
Now the internet can serve that same purpose.
It’s not better or worse, just different.
Remember when you went to record stores, and
comic book shops and inspiration was out in the world, rather than at your
desk. It had to be sought out, in museums, in the forests, and in picking up
shells from the beach.
Am I showing my age?
My hero.
Ray Bradbury
