The Voyage of Drift Away: Stamford to Annapolis

Well, I wrote book one of an anticipated two book set, the Voyage of Drift Away:  Stamford to Annapolis.   The next will be Annapolis to Green Cove Springs (below Jacksonville).

It is in the process of being published.  Until I receive a proof and approve it, the book is available only on Lulu.com (click on the link above).   Within a couple of weeks, it will be available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, your local bookstore, etc.

I did not go color.  The 6x9 paperback would run $105!  Ain't no way!   So the photos are black and white.  If anyone really wants color, let me know and I'll have one made for you. 

I used this photo on the cover, one of my favorites.

New Plan for the Books

I communicated with a publisher about this Drift Away blog transferred to Drift Away books.  First, I was told that publishers aren't interested in a series of books, which this would have to be.  At least two, perhaps three books worth.  Then I was told that they weren't interested in publishing a blog format book. 

Alright.  Well... I am.  My first book, Living Among Sasquatch:  A Primer is in a blog format and those who reviewed it loved it!  It is a diary of sorts, so the reader follows right along with us in our learning curve.   Most certainly the same would hold true in Pamela and me buying a derelict old trawler, making it serviceable, and then traveling down the east coast on it.  Blog format it will be.

Publishing in color is also important to me.  The blog photos are one key to the success of the blog, and therefore so too the books.  I thought I'd have to do hardcover to get color photos, but I found a less expensive alternative.  I can publish a 6 x 9 full color paperback, which is the way I will go.  I mean really, who is going to pay $100+ for a hardcover book?  Not this cheap old bastard.

I learned in business long ago that the secret to success is to listen to your customers.  My blog and book readers are my customers, and I hear you.  I will forego traditional publishing and self publish the books my way, not their way.  Even if I don't achieve the volume of book sales of a traditional publisher, I don't care.  This is the way you've asked for it, and the way I like it, the way you will get it, and the way I think it will work best.

Volume one will be Stamford to Albany to Annapolis, and ~may~ be available by Christmas.  The next volume(s), from Annapolis to Jacksonville, will be in 2018.

That's the plan.  Like cruising on Drift Away, it may change, but that is at least the vague idea.  It is time for a victory beer.

The Voyage of Drift Away - The Book(s)

This blog has been an online chronicle of not only Drift Away the boat, but Pamela and me, our dogs and cats, our travels, and our lifestyle.  Many of you have asked if I'm going to write a book about it.  I am now in the process of doing exactly that. 

But I have a problem.  It is getting too big. I'm not even through the first year and the book is over 300 pages, and I have two years to go.

I thought about leaving out the photos, but as they say, a picture is  worth a thousand words.  Make it only about our travels?  Naw.  Too many cruising books out there already.  Leave out the boat projects?  No!  That was half the "fun" (I just got to the part where we were replacing the refrigerator and found out the old one was glued in). 

I left out the obvious parts, like going to car shows.  But that ain't enough.

So I decided that instead of cutting out sections, I would just include the entire thing.  When I finish and see exactly how big it is, I'll start editing it and whittling it down.

As you long time followers know, we spent a lot of time in Annapolis, Isle of Hope, and Brunswick, and I won't bore you with repetitive happy hours, etc.  So maybe it won't be too bad.

But what I'm considering is breaking it down into two volumes.  The first would be 2011, the second 2012 and 2013 to keep the size and cost manageable.  To make the photos color, which I think is important, the volumes would have to be hardcover. 

The cost of color hardcover books is lofty.  The 174 page hardcover book I just published (Sasquatch, not cruising) sells for $59.99 on Amazon.  These could be twice that each.

I can also do eBooks and paperback with black and white photos for the thrifty of us. 

Just thinking  out loud here.  Any thoughts?

A Question For You All

I graduated from writing magazine articles to writing blogs to writing books.  I just published another book about Sasquatch and republished my first book in hardcover and color.  I now will move on to publishing "The Voyage of Drift Away:  A Toilet Companion".  But...

I downloaded Blurb, a blog to text tool, only it has a 500 page minimum.  What I intended to do was to convert the whole blog and then weed out the silly parts, which would get it down to six or seven pages.

No, kidding.  Weed out the stuff not cruising lifestyle related.  But with a 500 page minimum, heck, I might as well just copy and paste from the blog.  But that seems like a tremendous amount of work.  Not that I won't do it.  I will.  But does anyone have a better idea?  Any other blog to text tools?

Look for Drift Away, the book, in 2018 I guess.