WHEN in the course of human Events, it becomes necessary….
SITE NOTES: Everything Old Is New Again
byVanderleunonSeptember 24, 2021
Long-time readers will note that a number of elderly but evergreen essays are reappearing here with some frequency. This is because I have begun to struggle with publishing a collection of essays seen on American Digest from 2001 until 2021. Exactly how I am going to go about this remains to be seen especially since I have no way of knowing if I will sell ten or ten thousand copies. There are also the questions of financing, formats, print preparation, potential sales channels, promotion, marketing, fulfillment, and other items of log-rolling in our time, but I’ll save those until after the initial selection and assembly of the parts for this collection of odds and sods. For now, bear with me as I republish items I am looking at for inclusion.
I second the Ghost.
Also, I must say that I think you are the Master Blogger and American Digest is The Master Blog.
Nothing else like it on the interwebs.
Had spine injections at 0800 this morning, dropped my wife off in Reno to shop, and drove. No thought no specific direction.
I pulled over, I was in Virginia City,,,, directly in front of Mark Twain’s newspaper office from the 1800s “he was a reporter”, not the owner! Zero conscious path, driving, thinking, and there.
GV, just forwarded you A White Paper, documentation regarding the DARPA program and the weaponization of COVID. Who, What, Where, When, Why and How. Is documented in the 25/30 page write up, with associated cross references.
At least have a quick Scan, it’s a snap scot of external govt dirty deeds. Was going to forward to Pete, don’t believe he’s seeking the real Truth anymore.
Dirk
VI
Uncle JefeSeptember 24, 2021, 4:02 PM
You have been a daily read (and inspiration) for 20 years…I look forward to purchasing the compilation album.
Mike AustinSeptember 25, 2021, 2:20 AM
Sixteen years for me. Gerard inspired me to write. Reading his old essays takes me back in time.
jdSeptember 24, 2021, 4:38 PM
That’s wonderful news, Gerard!
PA CatSeptember 24, 2021, 4:56 PM
Sign me up for a copy of the Van der Leun gesammelte Schriften, and I’ll throw in a new catnip toy for the Herausgeberin.
Thought for inclusion:
I remember the essay on being present at an old man’s death in New York City. It later became a poem, “Stuck in Traffic”. As much as I loved the poetry, I preferred the account in prose.
JWM
theduchessofkittySeptember 24, 2021, 5:56 PM
Can’t wait to get my hands on one of those!
Hey… are you going to have autographed ones?
PA CatSeptember 24, 2021, 7:21 PM
I want Olive’s autograph as well as Gerard’s on my copy.
This is very welcome news,Mr V.
Hit us with your best shots,which is pretty much everything. What will make the final cut? Hmm. Good thing there’s a Master Editor in the room.
ZaphodSeptember 24, 2021, 8:19 PM
Castalia House FTW… You might as well go out with a bang!
ghostsniperSeptember 25, 2021, 4:53 AM
HA!
SoylentGreenSeptember 26, 2021, 6:51 AM
Castalia House… Vox would hide this book. I believe Gerard is a Boomer.
Andrew RSeptember 25, 2021, 1:04 AM
Count me in as well.
Gnawbone JackSeptember 25, 2021, 2:23 AM
Sweet. I’m in with the rest of the crew on this venture.
Good idea John. Where da preorder iz?
I got a fat C note sitting right over there ready to head west for 1 to 5 copies, depending, and if you could give a say, 1-3 month delivery time frame that would be good. Yes, autographed pleez. It will be added to the “coffee table books” shelf on the expansive book case in the living room, after sitting on the coffee table itself for a couple months. The top of the coffee table is glass so the cats like laying on any books found there as opposed to the cold glass.
ghostsniperSeptember 25, 2021, 6:38 AM
After thinking about it, I’m not going to wait. This week I am sending $100 cash to this address below to act as encouragement to move forward with the project.
Gerard Van der Leun
1692 Mangrove Ave
Apt: 379
Chico, CA 95926
KristinSeptember 25, 2021, 4:53 AM
I’ll buy your book. You have a way with words that move me every time.
Brother YahooSeptember 25, 2021, 6:42 AM
Independent publishing … here is a group of SFF writers, which is irrelevant to your genre, except that there are links to follow for resources that would be more suitable for your work … FWIW i hope it’s helpful and look forward to buying copies of your book for everyone in my family (they could use the insight). Best wishes! https://madgeniusclub.com/navigating-from-writing-to-publication/
Book, we’re in for five, great gifts for the family.
Dirk
Double XXSeptember 25, 2021, 9:51 AM
Mr. VL, COUNT ME FOR FOUR WHENEVER AND WHEREVER. C.C.
David BowenSeptember 25, 2021, 11:07 AM
me too ~$20 sounds good- please include the old lady and your dad’s silver dollars story!
BilejonesSeptember 25, 2021, 3:28 PM
in re the mechanics, you might try Ron Unz or Greg Johnson of Counter Currents who has just self published “The Year America Died” concerning 2020. Your project seems like a natural fit.
SoylentGreenSeptember 26, 2021, 6:57 AM
Gerard, I sense a possibility that you are fishing for feedback and with that introduction I’d like to suggest “Mondegreen Moments”. What a thought provoking dive into things. But then, everything you do is a thought provoking dive into things.
VanderleunSeptember 26, 2021, 7:37 AM
Forgotten about Mondegreen….. but you are right.
Still, hard to remember everything with over 14,000 items it’s hard to remember all of them.
john r henrySeptember 26, 2021, 12:25 PM
Let me echo Terry K and say publish via Amazon. I’ve published 4 books so far (Plus 1 I need to finish), 1 with a traditional technical publisher (CRC Press) and 3 with Amazon. I was very happy with CRC Press, they treated me exactly the way an ethical publisher should. No complaints at all.
But publishing with Amazon is so much better that I would never consider anything else.
1) Speed-It took most of a year from when I submitted my manuscript to CRC to when the book was available. My first Amazon book I submitted to Amazon on a Sunday, I had a printed proof copy by mail the following Friday. I approved it and the book was available for sale on Monday.
2) Terry K mentioned difficulties in formatting. Amazon has templates already formatted for all their standard book sizes. Just replace the Lorem Ipsum with your copy, perhaps a few adjustments here and there, save as a PDF and submit. My first book took a couple hours to format. Other books took longer because of pictures and captions but that was just a matter of moving things around a bit so they fit better.
3) Neither method costs anything. My first book was a collection of articles and columns from 10 years writing for a trade magazine so there was no editing. My second and 3rd books I paid for technical and copy editing but neither was very expensive.
4) Royalties – CRC pays me 10% paid quarterly. Amazon lets me set the price and my royalty is based on this. Depending on pricing , it can be as low as 10% as high as 75%.
5) Author copies – CRC give me 10% disocount on author copies but I can only buy 20 per year and I can’t sell them. It is cheaper for me to buy them through Amazon Prime and there are no restrictions on what I do with them. (plus I get a 10% royalty on the sale!) Amazon sells me author copies for under $5 (plus shipping) and doesn’t care how many I buy or what I do with them.
6) Payment CRC pays quarterly. Amazon pays monthly. I can go to my account and see how many books I sold last week, last month or whatever broken down by country and marketplace.
I’ll buy your book for certain however you go but I would strongly recommend that you go with Amazon. Just a much better process all around. If you want to talk about how to do this, drop me a note at johnfajardohenry@gmail.com
john r henrySeptember 26, 2021, 12:31 PM
Two of my books are available for free download at http://www.fraingroup.com/ebooks as well as on Amazon & Kindle. Printed versions are paperback but very good quality.
I did the cover for Machinery Matters myself. My co-author for Secrets of Buying Packaging Machinery had a professional graphics designer that works with his company do the cover for that book.
DeborahSeptember 26, 2021, 2:27 PM
You’re publishing a book at last — what heaven for us. How can we help?
How about including “Back to School” — a classic…
VanderleunSeptember 26, 2021, 4:26 PM
For you, first love of my youth, anything. Back to School it shall have.
Real World Address for Donations, Mash Notes and Hate Mail
Gerard Van der Leun
1692 MANGROVE AVE
APT 379
Chico, Ca 95926
Green Pants Interior by Klahn
Who Am I? by Carl Sandburg
My head knocks against the stars.
My feet are on the hilltops.
My finger-tips are in the valleys and shores of universal life.
Down in the sounding foam of primal things I reach my hands and play with pebbles of destiny.
I have been to hell and back many times.
I know all about heaven, for I have talked with God.
I dabble in the blood and guts of the terrible.
I know the passionate seizure of beauty
And the marvelous rebellion of man at all signs reading “Keep Off.”
My name is Truth and I am the most elusive captive in the universe.
Duty, Beauty, Liberty, Country, Honor, Family, Faith — Plus a few simple easy to follow rules for guys
Men saw the stars at the edge of the sea
They thought great thoughts about liberty
Poets wrote down words that did fit
Writers wrote books
Thinkers thought about it
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
Many’s the road I have walked upon
Many’s the hour between dusk and dawn
Many’s the time
Many’s the mile
I see it all now
Through the eyes of a child
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
[Chorus]
Lost dreams and found dreams
In America
In America
In America
Lost dreams and found dreams
In America
In America
In America
And close your eyes
Leave it all for a while
Leave the world
And your worries behind
You will build on whatever is real
And wake up each day
To a new waking dream
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
[Chorus]
Change, change come over
Change come over
Talkin’ about a change
Change, change
Change come over, now
Change, change, change come over
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I see my light
See my light
See my shining light
I see my light
See my light
See my shining light
Long-time readers will note that a number of elderly but evergreen essays are reappearing here with some frequency. This is because I have begun to struggle with publishing a collection of essays seen on American Digest from 2001 until 2021. Exactly how I am going to go about this remains to be seen especially since I have no way of knowing if I will sell ten or ten thousand copies. There are also the questions of financing, formats, print preparation, potential sales channels, promotion, marketing, fulfillment, and other items of log-rolling in our time, but I’ll save those until after the initial selection and assembly of the parts for this collection of odds and sods. For now, bear with me as I republish items I am looking at for inclusion.
Gerard Van der Leun
Comments on this entry are closed.
If it’s in the $20 range I’ll take at least one.
Can’t wait.
JWM
I second the Ghost.
Also, I must say that I think you are the Master Blogger and American Digest is The Master Blog.
Nothing else like it on the interwebs.
I’m looking forward to it.
Had spine injections at 0800 this morning, dropped my wife off in Reno to shop, and drove. No thought no specific direction.
I pulled over, I was in Virginia City,,,, directly in front of Mark Twain’s newspaper office from the 1800s “he was a reporter”, not the owner! Zero conscious path, driving, thinking, and there.
Clearly everything old is new, for me,,,,today.
VI
What GS said.
Good show, Gerard.
GV, just forwarded you A White Paper, documentation regarding the DARPA program and the weaponization of COVID. Who, What, Where, When, Why and How. Is documented in the 25/30 page write up, with associated cross references.
At least have a quick Scan, it’s a snap scot of external govt dirty deeds. Was going to forward to Pete, don’t believe he’s seeking the real Truth anymore.
Dirk
VI
You have been a daily read (and inspiration) for 20 years…I look forward to purchasing the compilation album.
Sixteen years for me. Gerard inspired me to write. Reading his old essays takes me back in time.
That’s wonderful news, Gerard!
Sign me up for a copy of the Van der Leun gesammelte Schriften, and I’ll throw in a new catnip toy for the Herausgeberin.
Yep, what Ghost & others said. Just tell us where to send the money.
In for two copies (Christmas is a-comin’) and I don’t really care what the price tag is, ya cheap bastads.
Thought for inclusion:
I remember the essay on being present at an old man’s death in New York City. It later became a poem, “Stuck in Traffic”. As much as I loved the poetry, I preferred the account in prose.
JWM
Can’t wait to get my hands on one of those!
Hey… are you going to have autographed ones?
I want Olive’s autograph as well as Gerard’s on my copy.
Autographed??!!
This is very welcome news,Mr V.
Hit us with your best shots,which is pretty much everything. What will make the final cut? Hmm. Good thing there’s a Master Editor in the room.
Castalia House FTW… You might as well go out with a bang!
HA!
Castalia House… Vox would hide this book. I believe Gerard is a Boomer.
Count me in as well.
Sweet. I’m in with the rest of the crew on this venture.
I’m in as well. Thanks for all the work!
Dave
Set one aside for me, Gerard.
Where’s the pre-order link?
Good idea John. Where da preorder iz?
I got a fat C note sitting right over there ready to head west for 1 to 5 copies, depending, and if you could give a say, 1-3 month delivery time frame that would be good. Yes, autographed pleez. It will be added to the “coffee table books” shelf on the expansive book case in the living room, after sitting on the coffee table itself for a couple months. The top of the coffee table is glass so the cats like laying on any books found there as opposed to the cold glass.
After thinking about it, I’m not going to wait. This week I am sending $100 cash to this address below to act as encouragement to move forward with the project.
Gerard Van der Leun
1692 Mangrove Ave
Apt: 379
Chico, CA 95926
I’ll buy your book. You have a way with words that move me every time.
Independent publishing … here is a group of SFF writers, which is irrelevant to your genre, except that there are links to follow for resources that would be more suitable for your work … FWIW i hope it’s helpful and look forward to buying copies of your book for everyone in my family (they could use the insight). Best wishes!
https://madgeniusclub.com/navigating-from-writing-to-publication/
Self publish. Check out Amazon first. https://www.amazon.com/gp/seller-account/mm-summary-page.html?topic=200260520
You can hire people to do it all or just pieces of it. I’ve started a book there and it can take a lot of time to format the pages.
The tradeoff is your money vs your time. Kinda like yard work.
Book, we’re in for five, great gifts for the family.
Dirk
Mr. VL, COUNT ME FOR FOUR WHENEVER AND WHEREVER. C.C.
me too ~$20 sounds good- please include the old lady and your dad’s silver dollars story!
in re the mechanics, you might try Ron Unz or Greg Johnson of Counter Currents who has just self published “The Year America Died” concerning 2020. Your project seems like a natural fit.
Gerard, I sense a possibility that you are fishing for feedback and with that introduction I’d like to suggest “Mondegreen Moments”. What a thought provoking dive into things. But then, everything you do is a thought provoking dive into things.
Forgotten about Mondegreen….. but you are right.
Still, hard to remember everything with over 14,000 items it’s hard to remember all of them.
Let me echo Terry K and say publish via Amazon. I’ve published 4 books so far (Plus 1 I need to finish), 1 with a traditional technical publisher (CRC Press) and 3 with Amazon. I was very happy with CRC Press, they treated me exactly the way an ethical publisher should. No complaints at all.
But publishing with Amazon is so much better that I would never consider anything else.
1) Speed-It took most of a year from when I submitted my manuscript to CRC to when the book was available. My first Amazon book I submitted to Amazon on a Sunday, I had a printed proof copy by mail the following Friday. I approved it and the book was available for sale on Monday.
2) Terry K mentioned difficulties in formatting. Amazon has templates already formatted for all their standard book sizes. Just replace the Lorem Ipsum with your copy, perhaps a few adjustments here and there, save as a PDF and submit. My first book took a couple hours to format. Other books took longer because of pictures and captions but that was just a matter of moving things around a bit so they fit better.
3) Neither method costs anything. My first book was a collection of articles and columns from 10 years writing for a trade magazine so there was no editing. My second and 3rd books I paid for technical and copy editing but neither was very expensive.
4) Royalties – CRC pays me 10% paid quarterly. Amazon lets me set the price and my royalty is based on this. Depending on pricing , it can be as low as 10% as high as 75%.
5) Author copies – CRC give me 10% disocount on author copies but I can only buy 20 per year and I can’t sell them. It is cheaper for me to buy them through Amazon Prime and there are no restrictions on what I do with them. (plus I get a 10% royalty on the sale!) Amazon sells me author copies for under $5 (plus shipping) and doesn’t care how many I buy or what I do with them.
6) Payment CRC pays quarterly. Amazon pays monthly. I can go to my account and see how many books I sold last week, last month or whatever broken down by country and marketplace.
I’ll buy your book for certain however you go but I would strongly recommend that you go with Amazon. Just a much better process all around. If you want to talk about how to do this, drop me a note at johnfajardohenry@gmail.com
Two of my books are available for free download at http://www.fraingroup.com/ebooks as well as on Amazon & Kindle. Printed versions are paperback but very good quality.
I did the cover for Machinery Matters myself. My co-author for Secrets of Buying Packaging Machinery had a professional graphics designer that works with his company do the cover for that book.
You’re publishing a book at last — what heaven for us. How can we help?
How about including “Back to School” — a classic…
For you, first love of my youth, anything. Back to School it shall have.