Letters to Friends

Does anybody read old blog posts? Let’s find out.

You may have noticed that this blog is not quite what it used to be. That is because I deleted most of it. You might not have noticed any such thing.

About a year ago a publisher or editor or somebody approached me about writing a book. He saw this blog, showered me with flowery compliments and offered me a deal. I said no. I’m not a writer. The lifestyle does not interest me. I do not want to spend all day isolated in a room somewhere. I like being around people and being outside. I would be a terribly miserable person if I spent all of my time online trying to market and sell some book in a world where fewer and fewer people read books.

I have come across a few writers online and they all seemed obsessed with finding new ways to promote their book. I suppose if you are JK Rowling or whoever wrote all that Twilight crap then you rarely have to worry about it. But I’m sure that 90% of authors are lucky to sell enough copies of their book to buy a book.

A month or two ago an editor approached me about writing a book. She saw this blog, showered me with flowery compliments and offered me a better deal. I said sure, why not. I like the idea of having something to look at long after Blogger has made it impossible for people to use without their Google browser.

With a little effort this blog became a book. Or about half of it did. Rather than simply be lazy and publish the blog as is I went through it all and did some heavy editing. The book is roughly half of this blog with brand new extra special additions and a bunch of ravings I always meant to post but never got around to. There are also bits that I thought too personal for a blog. So I put them in a book that might still be around long after the blog is dead.

The first draft was entirely too long. Apparently your first book is supposed to be about 60 000 words. Mine was closer to 225 000. My editor politely set me straight. The conversation went something like this:

“Nobody wants to read a 900 page book.”
“People read War and Peace.”
“Most people don’t.”

She had a point. But my blog will never be considered one of the great works of Russian literature. For several reasons.

So I settled on a theme. The blog is pretty random. The book has a narrative. More or less. Telling a story made it much easier to decide what went in and what got cut.

They did not want what they are trying to sell to be available here for free, so I deleted a good deal of the blog. Even though there are many differences between the two. I also don’t want to deal with issues of plagiarising myself. Each post is now an excerpt of what it used to be or what is now available in book form. Depending on your point of view. I kept the post pages so I can put it all back when this book fad wears off.

My editor wants me to write a book about climbing Mt Everest. I’m not sure I can do that. That seems like the kind of thing that would take up a great deal of time. Climbing the mountain is hard enough. I don’t want to be typing on a computer whilst doing it. And it would probably take years if I wrote it all after I got back.

The current book is supposed to be an introduction to me so that the Everest book sells. A book about Mt Everest by somebody who has never written a book is not likely to attract any readers other than people who read Everest books anyway. The theory is that if I already have something available and have built some sort of following then there will be a larger audience for the Everst book. Just like in any other field, the people who are the most successful have the most success, thereby making them more successful.

The problem with all of this is that I’ve not actually gone to Everest yet. It is impossible to predict how it will turn out. And there are more than a few scenarios that are not book friendly.

Right now I feel as though I might as well give it a go. I can always make whatever I come up with a blog post if I do not have enough material for a book or I abandon the idea altogether.

Letters To Friends is currently available in pretty much every electronic format known to man.

Kindle versions are at Amazon.

The Nook version is at Barnes and Noble.

The iTunes version is at Apple.

It is at the Sony store. I am not even sure what the Sony version of a digital book reader is.

The Kobo version is available here. I’ve no idea what Kobo is but it exists nonetheless.

I am not sure what the format is, but it is at Bookworld.

Kindle, ipad, nook, kobo and a million other formats are available directly from the distributor but you have to have an account with them to buy anything. I think that is stupid since they sell books, but they mostly sell to booksellers and not to individuals. Anybody can create an account but it just seems an unnecessary extra step when you want to buy something.

I am part of a programme that makes books available to libraries for free but I have no idea which libraries will have my book.