Update
Before you get to the article…
On February 23, 2018, my book on the Mau Maus and Sand Street Angels, who were two Brooklyn youth gangs from the 1950s, has been completed. It took 15 years of research and writing to complete Brooklyn Rumble: Mau Maus, Sand Street Angels, and the End of an Era. This book is roughly 6″x9″ and has 370 pages and includes a look at the characters in the Mau Maus and the details of a gang killing that happened in February 1959 in front of the iconic Brooklyn Paramount Theater (now Long Island University). If you want to buy a copy, click here and this link will take you to an online ordering page.
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Many have asked me how the book is progressing. I initially expected to be done by the end of summer 2017, but now here we are at December 19, 2017 and it’s still not ready. I never realized how intensive writing a book was and for that reason I am still working on it.
However, with that said, I am extremely close to finishing. I am pleased to say that I have completed the writing process, the book has gone through the first proof reading and those corrections have been made. The book has been given back to the proof reader for a final proof reading. I expect there will be very few corrections to make this second time around. The proof reader said that she will have the book back to me after Christmas. Once I make those few corrections, I immediately go into the printing phase!
While the proof reader had the book for the first proofing, I had much background work to do that did not have anything to do with the writing process. This included figuring out online ordering, setting it up on my website, figuring out the correct type of paper to use, figuring out the perfect binding and UV coating process and understanding the finer points of layout (such as headers and footers). I also had to figure out shipping rates for shipping the book in Canada, the U.S. and International. This included coming up with a shipping solution from Michigan for mailing books to the U.S. (shipping from Canada into the U.S. is beastly expensive believe it or not). All of these points take up a lot of time.
This morning I took three photographs of the book (see below) before I gave it to the proof reader for the final proofing. The book is 6″x9″ (unless I have to change the size later). It is 450 pages long. Of that, 378 pages consists of the “meat” of the book which consists of 10 chapters, an epilogue and two appendixes. In addition to this there are 55 pages of end notes.
Here are the steps I need to take yet, so you can get a sense of how close the finish line is:
- Print two books out and figure out final printing and paper cost
- Give two samples to printer to UV coat and perfect bind which will be my proof
- Make corrections – if any – from proof reader
- Order 300 padded envelopes from USPS to be sent to shipping depot in Michigan
- Print 300 copies of the book and insert thank-you letter
- Drive the books down to Michigan to shipping depot
- Finalize book cost including shipping cost on website and make it live
- Get the word out through word of mouth, email and Facebook that the book is ready for purchase