Would you buy the book ?

New to the world of GSer forums, but this was the first Forum item that caught my eye. I have read a number of books, the uneasy rider, the healing road and jupiters travels are the first few that spring to mind.

If it is going to be a chronicle, make it personal IIWY, but dont do the "rushing the last few chapters" as is more often the trend.

The thoughts on the last month / 1000 miles seem to be glossed over in the aforementioned books, but arent they just as important? reflective thoughts on the way home are even more enlightening than the forebodings of the initial few miles.

Just my views, but will be interested in the end product. :-0
 
The Book.

For those of you still interested in the post RTW situation I thought I'd update you a bit on what happened with the book. I wrote around 6 or 7 chapters which a few chaps from this site reviewed for me. Their reviews were honest (thank you) and basically said that it was too factual in so far as there wasn't enough of John & I's personal feelings in what we'd experienced and what I'd written. It was fair and honest criticism. I then wrote an extra chapter which covered one of the most exciting times of our journey and wrote it with the feedback taken on board. That was much better received to the extent that most said they weren't able to put it down until they'd finished the chapter.

Next step then was finding a publisher or a pre-publisher (I can't remember their proper name) Anyway, to cut a long story short I went through all of them listed in this huge annual journal and not one was interested, not one, and that was with photos, the lot! They all said there wasn't much call for it. I'm sorry to say that my experience/their comments were backed up by other m/cycle adventure writers who, even when published, said it was a very slow market. John & I did consider vanity publishing but it would have probably taken around a year to write and that meant that I needed not to work but that couldn't happen (as we saw things at the time) because money was now very low.

I haven't given up entirely on the idea of finishing it but I doubt it will be in the near future. We kept a log for the whole three years and are both amazed at how quickly this can bring back a whole raft of memories so we always have the ability to go back to that to ensure our facts (& feelings) are right!

Thanks again for all of you who followed us and took an interest in what we did. We appreciated your interest and support. :thumb2

Mike & John May 2014
 
I'd love to read your book. In fact, I'd love to read that one chapter.

My grandfather had some amazing experiences in life having been born in Kenya and lived there for a while, then moved back to UK and had an incredible life all over the world.

A couple of years before he died he started writing his book. His health deteriorated and he only penned a couple of (awesome!) chapters, but we all wished he had written the while thing.

If it were I, I'd write it chapter at a time and initially publish online on a website. Then once it's all written (several years), they could be amalgamated into a book. Quite a cheap way of doing it.
 
For those of you still interested in the post RTW situation I thought I'd update you a bit on what happened with the book. I wrote around 6 or 7 chapters which a few chaps from this site reviewed for me. Their reviews were honest (thank you) and basically said that it was too factual in so far as there wasn't enough of John & I's personal feelings in what we'd experienced and what I'd written. It was fair and honest criticism. I then wrote an extra chapter which covered one of the most exciting times of our journey and wrote it with the feedback taken on board. That was much better received to the extent that most said they weren't able to put it down until they'd finished the chapter.

Next step then was finding a publisher or a pre-publisher (I can't remember their proper name) Anyway, to cut a long story short I went through all of them listed in this huge annual journal and not one was interested, not one, and that was with photos, the lot! They all said there wasn't much call for it. I'm sorry to say that my experience/their comments were backed up by other m/cycle adventure writers who, even when published, said it was a very slow market. John & I did consider vanity publishing but it would have probably taken around a year to write and that meant that I needed not to work but that couldn't happen (as we saw things at the time) because money was now very low.

I haven't given up entirely on the idea of finishing it but I doubt it will be in the near future. We kept a log for the whole three years and are both amazed at how quickly this can bring back a whole raft of memories so we always have the ability to go back to that to ensure our facts (& feelings) are right!

Thanks again for all of you who followed us and took an interest in what we did. We appreciated your interest and support. :thumb2

Mike & John May 2014

Ok, so here's what to do.....(Or it's what I'd do anyway, definitely)

Publish the book on a decently designed website with the first chapter and a selection of photos free, then charge a sensible amount (a couple of quid maybe) for each of several instalments.....that way, you could gauge if it's worth continuing to write by the initial uptake of what you have already written :)

Easy to set up, easy to charge for and easy to write for........and you could stick on as many photos as you want with no extra cost in the publishing......add videos if you have any, and even monetise it by having kit recommendation pages with an Amazon affiliate scheme embedded in the page, and a sticker/t shirt page as well (printed to order, no risk)

You've got this far and it seems a shame to waste the material......t'internet is the cheapest medium to publish on and for a travelogue with loads of piccies, has to be one of the most flexible and best :nenau
 
Ok, so here's what to do.....(Or it's what I'd do anyway, definitely)

Publish the book on a decently designed website with the first chapter and a selection of photos free, then charge a sensible amount (a couple of quid maybe) for each of several instalments.....that way, you could gauge if it's worth continuing to write by the initial uptake of what you have already written :)

Easy to set up, easy to charge for and easy to write for........and you could stick on as many photos as you want with no extra cost in the publishing......add videos if you have any, and even monetise it by having kit recommendation pages with an Amazon affiliate scheme embedded in the page, and a sticker/t shirt page as well (printed to order, no risk)

You've got this far and it seems a shame to waste the material......t'internet is the cheapest medium to publish on and for a travelogue with loads of piccies, has to be one of the most flexible and best :nenau

Yes, thanks Fanum. Someone I met a few months ago published his Solo trans-Atlantic sailing adventure through vanity publishing on Amazon. I'm still weighing it up. Unfortunately other things have priority at this very moment but thank you for the encouragement. I appreciate it. :thumb
 
Love these kind of books, BUT!!! Now see that this thread and book idea has been going on for 5 years re events from 6 years ago. Sorry guys but I think you've probably missed the boat :blast
The world changes very fast, 6 years is a long time back.
 
I disagree with the last post. I recently bought a book called First Overland: London to Singapore by Land Rover. The tour was 50 years ago and the book is still selling. I am not sure about a per chapter price. When people buy something they generally want to know the price that it will cost them. From a writer's point of view I can see the attraction.

I love these types of books. Somehow I have missed Jupiters Travels, so I will seek that out. Thank you.
 
Well heres a thought...why not do a write up of how you could have done things better when on the trip. You those great ..."in hindsight we could have..." stories. Almost like this is what we did...but you should rather do this...use this, forget that eyc? Just a thought now that you have 3 years of reflective learning?

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk
 
This would be great. Any time, day or hour would support materials on travel regardless of the means. I enjoy reading adventures, definitely yes I would consider buying.
 


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