Saturday, August 15, 2015


THE BIG ELSEWHERE

Today I at last received a proof copy of my new book, The Big Elsewhere, which has been a couple of years in the writing and compiling, with sumie illustrations by Komori Fumio.

In the book I have distilled our 20 years of life here on this rural mountainside into an organic arrangement of "Views from a mountainside," slightly over 300 pages, from my journal writings, publications, public readings and selected, edited Pure Land Mountain entries arranged ("choreographed," as I like to think of it) by master arranger Ken Rodgers, with such chapter headings as: Living High, Deep Weather, Talk on the Wild Side, Monkeys and Onions, Walking with a Child, True Destinations, Where Is the Wild? and The Endless Breath, to name about a third of the chapters. It's a full volume in more ways than one.

Following thorough proofing and final editing, The Big Elsewhere will initially be available via publisher Heian-kyo Media at the Kyoto Journal, hopefully some time in late September-early October. Feedback and suggestions for reviews and promotion most welcome.



4 comments:

Deb said...

Holding that proof copy in your hands for the first time is a big moment. I'm *so* delighted that you've compiled your work into a book. Now I know what I want for Christmas.

I write about neurological disorders, and my work has a limited audience, but I once owned a PR agency so I'm never short on ideas. A Facebook account couldn't hurt, promoting the book with quotes, observations, some photos of your mountainside, your splitting block, etc.. : )

Your 'simple recipes" for vegetables which I LOVE and (trust me) would go viral on FB, especially if you do it as a series of images, with text superimposed, and include your name and the book title and your URL/FB page, so it refers back to you. It would get noticed. People love humour, especially really original humour.

You might do a give-away of a free copy a month picked from FB followers, so people come to the site to click for a chance for a free copy. Social media is an excellent way to promote product. And there should be some way for people to order books on-line. I expect Kyoto Journal will take care of that, but it never hurts to splash a few pages around leading to their order page.

You probably have colleagues at Kyoto Journal who can do all of this better than I, but if I can help, I'm willing to do whatever I can.

All the best,
Deb

Robert Brady said...

Deb,
Heartfelt thanks for the good advice. I will figure out how to do this and hopefully set things in motion in advance of publication. If I can get it all going in relatively organic fashion, it should help. I'll let you know how it's going. Again, many thanks.

Hughes ap Williams said...

Your book will be available in what languages? [BTW, so glad you are back!]

Robert Brady said...

Hughes, always glad to hear from you,. So far it's to be in English initially, with later a suitably tailored version in Nihongo, if we can find a translator for such a tricky job. I'll be posting news on progress here as it develops. Hope to have the first e-book version before too long now. Thanks for the interest.