O, Brave New World!

Tags

Amazoon, ebook-pro, The Balancing Game, Time Out of Joint

 

 

 

Since time immemorial (well, since the invention of printing) the production and distribution of books has been in the hands of specialists, the people who see to the editing, printing, publishing, and distribution of books. Each of those activities requires specialized knowledge and expertise, and so for hundreds of years the world of publishing remained in the hands of an elite band of cognoscenti, the professional publishing industry.

Then, in the wake of the internet revolution, Amazon burst on the world, bringing with it a radically new approach to the production and selling of books. Thus, it is no longer only a privileged few authors who manage to get accepted by an established publisher. Today anyone can publish his or her own book and put it up on the internet for sale, both as a physical book and as an ebook.

However, while it is relatively easy (for some people) to write a book, and not all that difficult to self-publish it, getting it into the public eye and accessible to the vast potential market that Amazon represents is quite another matter.

That is where a new sphere of specialization, book-promotion, comes into the picture. I was fortunate enough to be in touch with the company run by Benny and Tali Carmi, ebook-pro, which specializes in just that area.

I have heard of many cases of writers whose books have been accepted by recognized publishers but have not been given public exposure, and hence have not managed to sell. In fact, this happened to me with my first book, ‘The Balancing Game,’ which I published with the help of an American publisher. Both the physical book and the ebook were good products (in my opinion), but because there was no publicity campaign, sales were weak.

These days, the way a book is promoted focuses on getting a good ranking for a book on one or more of the various categories in which Amazon lists its books. This involves obtaining reviews, making the book available for free on various sites, and undertaking a series of actions which expose the book to the vast Amazon reading public. Thus, to my delight and surprise, after Benny’s campaign to promote my book ‘Time Out of Joint, the Fate of a Family,’ it was Amazon’s no.1 best-seller in three categories for a while.

After the initial campaign, which creates an internet buzz and gives the book an initial boost, sales are ‘in the hands of the public,’ to quote Benny. A month after my book was first launched on the internet sales seem to have settled at a fairly steady rate, and if this continues for some time I for one will be very happy.

 

Les fonts dangereuses

Tags

Fractur font, International Herald Tribune, international New York Times, N.S.D.A.P., San Diego Jewish World, The Balancing Game, Time Out of Joint

 

 

 

 I wanted to prepare a suitable version of the advertisement for my book, ‘The Balancing Game’ for inclusion in the website of the San Diego Jewish World, which posts my articles from time to time and whose motto is ‘There is a Jewish Story Everywhere.’ For this purpose I enlisted the help of one of my sons who, among his many talents, is also a designer and a computer whiz.

 “Oh, no!” he exclaimed when I showed him the SDJW site on my computer, “not Fractur font. That’s what the Nazis used!”

 It seemed to me that the editor had chosen a perfectly respectable, possibly quaint, gothic font for the paper’s logo. Furthermore, it is the font used by the august, now defunct, ‘International Herald Tribune,’ as well as by its successor, ‘The International New York Times.’ The effect it had on me was to call to mind ancient texts and artistic calligraphy, but obviously my son’s association was very different.

 Just to be on the safe side, I decided to try to verify what my son claimed. I remembered that tucked away somewhere in one of the three large files of documents, letters and other material that my late father had brought with him out of Nazi Germany in 1938 were a couple of posters put up by the Nazi party and presumably taken down by Dad clandestinely.

 Luckily, years before, when I had first opened those venerable files and inspected their contents I decided to index them. My father had put everything in alphabetical and chronological order, but I had removed the yellowing pages from their rusting ring-binders and, keeping their order, placed them in three plastic box-files.

 All I had to do was look at the index page at the front of each box file, and within minutes I had found what I was looking for. Sure enough, right at the end of the last of the files, the one containing material from between 1932 and 1934, were two folded-up posters, evidently dating from 1932, both screaming exhortations to the German public to vote for the National-Socialist Party (N.S.D.A.P.), and of course the lettering used was the Fractur font that my son had immediately identified. At first sight, the text seemed fairly innocuous.

 In 8 months

2 million workers have lost their jobs and are starving!

Get rid of the class struggle and its parties!

Smite Bolshevism!

Defeat provincialism!

One Reich

Will restore order and cleanliness!

One nation–

One Reich–

One leader!

That is what will be achieved under Hitler’s leadership!

Hitler will

Set the country to rights and restore its honour!

Germany’s honour is your honour!

Germany’s fate is also your fate!

Vote Yes!

For Hitler and the N.S.D.A.P.

We all know what happened next. However, it seems a shame that this elegant and artistic font should arouse such ugly associations. Such, it would seem, is the power of print and visual association.

The sight of the posters seemed to stun my son. For someone born and brought up in Israel, for whom the Holocaust and the tragedy of the Jews of Europe is something he has learned about from history books or possibly heard about from survivors, to see and touch such tangible evidence from that terrible time was a moving experience.

The posters were printed on poor-quality paper, and are beginning to deteriorate. They are large, measuring 32 inches by 23, and are hence too big to go into my photocopier.

Just for the record, however, I have included the text of that poster in my forthcoming novel, ‘Time Out of Joint: the Fate of a Family,’ which deals, inter alia, with the political currents which swept through Europe in the first half of the twentieth century.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Master Class in Writing

Tags

IAWE, Ilana Blumberg, The Balancing Game

 

After publishing my novel, ‘The Balancing Game,’ I felt that I was entitled to subscribe to the IAWE (Israel Association of Writers in English). Since joining I have begun to receive invitations to attend one or another of the writing seminars that they organize. Of course, all these involve paying a fee of one kind or another, and the cost involved means that I am generally well able to resist the temptation to hone my writing skills and – perhaps more importantly – meet other like-minded individuals.

However, when I received notification about a one-day seminar, known as a master class, on the subject of ‘Writing About Family,’ I finally succumbed. It was to be held not far from where I live, the cost was not exorbitant and I began to look forward to the encounter with fellow-writers and kindred spirits.

In ‘The Balancing Game’ I focus to a great extent on family life, as perceived by a child, and although it’s too late to amend any mistakes I may have made in it, I have other books in the pipeline which I felt might benefit from a fresh approach. In fact, in one way or another pretty much everything I write is connected with family, and I have to admit that it is the focal point of my life.

Prior to the class the fourteen participants were sent three passages as reading assignments. These were largely associated with mother-daughter relationships, and were of varying quality. But I persevered, even though one so-called ‘story’ was particularly long and boring, wondering as I did so how some of these writers managed to find publishers who were prepared to bring their material to the world.

And so it was that on a fine June morning I found myself sitting round a long table on a shady deck in the Judean Hills, together with the other participants, all of them women and all (except one, who had children who were younger than my grandchildren) no longer young. It was interesting to meet the other aspiring writers, some of whom had even been published in one forum or another.

After everyone at the table had introduced themselves and given a brief biography, we got down to business. The moderator, Ilana Blumberg, who has published a memoir entitled ‘Houses of Study’ and teaches English literature at Michigan State University, made some good points about what helps to make a narrative text flow smoothly, what is the nature of good writing, and the importance of being aware of the audience to which one’s writing is addressed.

We were then asked to write about how one’s mind wanders while performing a routine activity such as washing dishes, and each one of us was asked to read her piece out. It was interesting to see what the others had produced, and some of the writing was really amusing, insightful and revealing.

I found myself writing about a situation in my childhood when I and my sisters would help our father washing the dishes at the weekend. The train of associations that it produced was quite an eye-opener for me, and several of the participants said that they would like to hear more (they could if they bought ‘The Balancing Game,’ and one of them actually did).

After each piece was read out Ilana analysed it with considerable insight and tact, always seeking out the positive aspects. Then the other participants were asked for their comments. The women were almost invariably generous in their praise, and I don’t recollect a single word of criticism from any of them. Perhaps they were too kind, but it was helpful to hear what everyone had to say.

Finally, we were given another writing exercise, this time it involved generalizing our personal experiences, as the author of one of the set texts had done. Once again, I was amazed at the stream of ideas that emanated from my fevered brain. Who knows, maybe one day it will constitute part of another book that I may or may not write.