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