Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Losing My Blog Rhythm...

Well, I was on a pretty good blogging roll there, posting something more days than not. However, my plate has gotten rather full, so I have less time and energy available for blogging.

The main thing is that I've been working to put togther my own book publishing company. With my agent not responding to my novel manuscript, I've been thinking more about self-publishing it. I've talked before about the various other book projects I've got going, and a couple of weeks ago I got the idea to put together a catalog of my books and mail it around to a mailing list of about 5,000 people I've been pulling together over the years. Then I decided, Why not sell a few books I like from other publishers? Then I decided, Why not publish a couple of books written by others?

So I'm launching Zarahemla Books. I'm pretty serious about it, having actually taken steps to formally register the business in Utah, reserve a URL at ZarahemlaBooks.com, make inquiries to acquire a couple of manuscripts, and start trying to raise funds. My wife has approved some home equity expenditure, viewing it as an expensive hobby, and my grandfather may agree to invest a little. What I need money for is mainly to print and mail this intial book catalog, which will cost between $3,000-4,000. Plus I'll have lots of other expenses, from setting up a website to getting my books ready for publication.

Anyway, I'll post more about this venture as I have time. I don't expect to break even, let alone make anything, but I think it will be a lot of fun! I will specialize in Mormon fiction, memoir, humor, and culture, and my marketing angle will be Mormon books that are too frank, edgy, and earthy to fly with Deseret Book and their clones. I want to popularize such books; right now, they're mostly all hiding out in what I would term the intellectual ghetto. I don't want to do any scholarly history, doctrine, or theology books, and I don't want to glorify immorality, but I do want to realistically portray temptation and sin, as well as attempts to repent and seek redemption.

3 comments:

Rebecca said...

Good luck! Sounds like you pretty much know what you're doing, which is always a good start. PS - I posted my thoughts about your book on my blog. :)

C. L. Hanson said...

Sounds like a cool plan -- hope it goes well!!!

BTW, you should definitely read Rebecca's review of your book. She picked up on some interesting points.

Paul Burrows said...

Need any arttistic or website building help?