NOW THIS WILL BE AN ADVENTURE!

I just signed a contract with Austin Macauley to publish my book, One Woman’s Camino. I have been told that the process takes 10 months. I’m just a little bit nervous that it will take time away from the other things that I love to do, but it’s only 10 months. I hope I don’t have to do a lot of rewriting. I’m sick of reading it.

Austin Macauley is what is known as a hybrid publisher. I was holding out for a traditional publishing house offer, but I don’t think it’s going to happen, and I got this email from Austin Macauley:

“Thank you for your email. I fully understand that most people feel that the traditional model of publishing is the only viable option these days. However, as I am sure you know, the publishing industry is an extremely saturated market, meaning that a large majority of traditional publishers will close their doors to both newer and established authors alike. This makes it extremely difficult for authors to break into the traditional publishing ring. Therefore, the hybrid model of publishing has become increasingly popular during the last fifteen years as it minimizes the risk in taking on an author and it gives these authors the chance to have their works seen around the world.

I would like to emphasize that the Board reviews all works with a view to offering a non-contributory agreement in the first instance and their decision is not solely based in the quality of your work; The Board will only offer a contract to works that they truly appreciate and would really like to work with, such as yours. To clarify further, the choice to offer a traditional contract is a lengthy process in which we must consider the author’s publishing history, strength of their profile, current market trends and many factors must be accounted for when offering a contract; therefore, we will ask the author for a contribution towards the publication costs rather than reject a work with excellent potential. Each contributory fee detailed under Clause 15 represents roughly 1/3 of the overall publication costs, regardless of the option you choose. We would be covering the remaining 2/3 of that cost, which is why we refer to this offer as a partnership-based offer. As we work predominantly with new authors who we hope to introduce to the market, the contributory fee allows us to work with them while remaining pragmatic.”

I’m also working on an article about my experience with the medical community and the diagnosis of osteoporosis. I want to have some people review it before I post it to Substack. It basically is just asking questions about the diagnosis and treatment that no one seems able to answer for me. Stay tuned.

Last night, I attended a neighborhood party at the home of Lesley and Don Hughes. They seem a very welcoming and supportive group. I feel fortunate to be here; it’s the first time I have actually lived in a neighborhood. Lesley and Don just completed some extensive landscaping, and the effect is enchanting.

We celebrated a number of birthdays, including Natalie’s. Happy Birthday Natalie!

Lesley and Giselle:

I received one communication from Dan yesterday. “Fantastic day of skiing.”

We’re both happy.

I had an enjoyable experience today working with the Geek Squad over the phone. I called them because I couldn’t get my printer to work. It worked fine last year, but now…no. I tried to download a new printer driver from HP, but they said they no longer support this printer. So, I got on the phone with the Geek Squad. I eventually ended up with tech support in Panama City. I first spoke with a delightful young man, Steven, who said he grew up in this province (Chiriqui) and then moved to PC for his job. We talked about the rain and the parades and the rain and the beauty and the rain. He couldn’t get the printer to work, so he transferred me to the next level. I hung up my phone, but they still had control of my Mac. Eventually Primoul came on, and in very short order he got the printer to work. He also said he noticed that my system was kind of sluggish, so he fixed that and cleaned up old files. I was so impressed. Ten years ago I could barely get decent Internet here. Now I’m able to get technical problems fixed in a snap. And at the end of the chat he typed in “Thanks for your love and support.” Amazing.