Book Publishing: The Long and Winding Road

Ernest Hemingway, Tom Wolfe, Bill Bryson ... the list of successful authors who started their writing careers in journalism is a long and illustrious one.

Like so many other journalists, I too have been dreaming of that publishing deal that would set me on the road to literary fortune. In fact, my journalistic career was more happenstance than design, a by-product of my early book writing efforts, rather than the other way around.

The impulse to write has been with me since my exercise book-filled scribbles at infants’ school. But it wasn’t until a backpacking trip around Spain with my wife in 1997 that I took the all-important step, and committed to become a writer. And that means consistently putting pen to paper.

I remember it now. Sitting in front of our tiny tent under the pine trees and stars, enveloped in the warmth of a Valencian spring evening, I opened my newly-bought notepad and with a cheap ballpoint began to recount our adventures.

In the 12 years since I have written something practically every day.

In amongst the hundreds of magazine and newsletter articles for my day job there has been that original backpacker’s tale, several novels, a host of short stories, TV programme pitches, and at the moment a work-in-progress screenplay.

The investment of a lot of time, a lot of work and a lot of hope. It’s been a long, and at times frustrating, journey. Indeed, given my lack of publishing fame and fortune you’d probably be justified in thinking it’s about time I gave up.

But although the dream of being a full-time author has seemed a million miles away at times, I have never lost sight of it. So I persevere.

Still, rightly or wrongly – and I’m sure there were glaring deficiencies in my work that merited the stack of rejections – I haven’t had much joy thus far with the traditional publishing world.

Which is why for “Should I Stay Or Should I Go,” my guide to the pros and cons of expat living, I decided to go down the internet route by writing an e-book, and setting up a website to support and sell it.

The internet is a fantastic evolution in the spread of the written word. For it has provided the opportunity for anyone with a message to reach out to a global audience, even if at times it can be difficult to get that message heard.

But the thing is, you never know when someone is listening. And that’s when one of those serendipitous events occurred to me.

Somehow Bea Stanford, founder of global network community Inside Twente (http://www.twenteinside.com/), stumbled on my website and signed up for my Moving Abroad-opedia newsletter. Apparently she liked what I wrote and asked if I’d share my blog posts on her site.

Through Bea and Inside Twente my book then reached the attention of Jo Parfitt, the author of numerous bibles on expatriate living, including “Expat Entrepreneur” and “A Career In Your Suitcase” (http://www.joparfitt.com/).

And I have Jo to thank for referring me to her publisher Lean Marketing Press, who in turn got in touch expressing interest in my book. As a result, we’re now working together to produce a print version of Should I Stay Or Should I Go, which we hope to bring out in the autumn.

It’s been a strange, circuitous route to publication – certainly not how I imagined it would occur. Nevertheless, it is an immensely exciting prospect, not least because I believe – and many other writers have similarly argued – that the model adopted by companies such as Lean Marketing is the future of publishing. But I’ll go into that another time.

Spain School Holidays

“School’s out for summer ...”

Yep, the school summer holidays have started here in Spain. Three months of freedom and sunshine stretch into the distance.

As my brother in England commented, it seems like a crazy length of time off. After all, the English schools won’t finish for another month yet, and then ‘only’ for six weeks.

Indeed, the schools in Spain seem to be about the first in Europe to break up. If the car registration plates are anything to go by it will be the beginning of July before the French cross the border to start their holidays, and a few days after that before the Belgians, Dutch and Germans arrive.

Still, the Spanish timetable is understandable. Through June my daughter’s school shifted its hours so they were in from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m., instead of the usual 9-12 and 3-5 p.m. The afternoons get too hot at this time of year to do anything else.

And now, with the full force of summer upon us, it’s too much for the kids to continue.

It’s been a long term too. Unlike in other countries, where there is a half-term break for the kids to recharge, here there are merely three long terms. The last holiday our daughter had therefore was Easter. And that was only for a week, rather than the two her cousins in England get.

So now 12 weeks at the beach beckon. What a prospect.

It’s not so great for the parents though. With so many working full time – and for people that live by the Mediterranean this is peak earning season – what are they supposed to do about childcare?

Hello grandparents ...

Hmm, not necessarily an option if you’re an expat and the rest of your family live thousands of miles away.

Or, as is commonly the case, you could enrol the kids in a summer school. So, back to class then. Maybe it’s not such a long, lazy vacation after all.

Expat Living Book Deal

It’s been a while since I’ve done any blogging for Expat Living 101.com. In truth, like so many other expatriates I’ve been hit hard by the financial crisis over the last nine months – particularly in the interest rate on our mortgage and the currency conversion of my foreign earnings into euros – which has forced me to work twice as hard. Not what you want at the best of times, but especially when the sun is beckoning outside!

But now I’m starting up again with this new Blogger site and a new mission ... for today I signed a contract with Lean Marketing Press for them to publish a print version of my book on the pros and cons of living overseas: “Should I Stay Or Should I Go? The Truth About Moving Abroad And Whether It’s Right For You.”

The publishing contract may not come with a $1 million advance and movie tie-in rights as per my J.K. Rowling aspirations, but it’s an exciting prospect nonetheless – one that hopefully will help a lot more people get a better handle on the real benefits and costs of moving to a foreign country, and enable them to get a much clearer view on the right path to take. And if it can help readers towards living the lives they truly desire then I will be well satisfied.

This blog then will record the book’s journey to fruition and beyond, as well as being an opportunity to record some of my thoughts and observations on the expatriate life as they crop up.

I hope it proves interesting – and if you have any comments or questions on the way then please feel free to add them.

Hasta luego ...