Dancing with the Stars. American Idol. Barack Obama. Lindsay Lohan. These are the things people are interested in.
How carbon forms inside giant, dying stars, and how that carbon comes to know itself, that, not so much. I’m a Jeopardy guy in a Wheel of Fortune World.
OK, now I’ve loaded up this blog entry with search terms that maybe will get me some action. Clever, aren’t I? Or not.
I received a discouraging e-mail from my editor today. It seems that the utter failure of The Turtle and the Universe makes it less likely that any other books I ever write will ever get published. That’s right, everyone in the world who has never published a book has just jumped ahead of me on the list of marketable authors.
Funny that if I write a book bad enough to not get published I can just start over, but if I write a book just bad enough to get published and then do horribly, I am saddled forever. Yes, I shot the albatross.
Oops, that reference will not do well with those readers who got here because they searched for Lindsay Lohan. Sorry.
6 comments
Comments feed for this article
May 24, 2009 at 7:24 am
slightlyharmless
I found your book by recommendation on a forum. I just ordered it and can’t wait for it to arrive!
May 24, 2009 at 3:36 pm
stephenwhitt
Thanks for ordering my book. I hope it lives up to your expectations. It was a lot of fun to write – as much fun to read? I don’t know, but I’d love to hear what you think.
June 5, 2009 at 2:59 pm
slightlyharmless
I just received my book in the mail a few days ago, and so far I am loving it! I’ve made a recommendation to one of my favorite science teachers and he ordered a book on the spot.
One thing that I noticed right away and REALLY like is that it’s not a picture book but it is a book with pictures. If there had been less text per page and the picture way bigger, it would seem very childish too me. But if there hadn’t been any pictures at all and it was just straight text it might go over the heads of those you’re trying to reach.
I remember as a kid I was always reading a few years beyond the “recommended level” on the book, so I really think you did a good job in being able to entice your intended audience. Just growing out of the picture book phase and beginning to grasp at “adult (not like that) books;” this book is like a stepping stone.
I’m so glad you wrote this book!
May 24, 2009 at 1:36 pm
KateyJ
Hang in there. I heard about your book through an atheist group on a knitting website.
You’re definitely being talked about! And your book is garnering interest among parents.
Tell your editor to wait a little while before pronouncing your book “dead.”
May 24, 2009 at 3:41 pm
stephenwhitt
Hi Katey,
I didn’t realize atheism was rampant among knitters
Thanks for the kind words. I do hope parents find something valuable in the book. It will be challenging for children, but I really believe the wonders to be found in a totally naturalistic look at the big questions – where did we come from, where are we going, what is the universe, anyway? – are worth the struggle through some deep concepts.
Good luck with the non-theistic knitting!
June 6, 2009 at 4:08 am
stephenwhitt
Thanks and I hope you continue to like the book. I’d love to claim that through careful analysis and market research, we came up with just the right number of illustrations. In truth, the illustrations were dictated by what I could afford. Stephanie Hernandez, who by the way works with me at COSI, did me a big favor by illustrating my book for not much compensation.
Prometheus Books “let” me find (and pay for) my own illustrator. Fortunately they did give me an advance, which in fact pretty much all went to Stephanie. It was worth every penny.
Thanks also for the recommendation. I wondered why my Amazon number suddenly jumped 800,000 spots! (Yes, that’s how much it jumps when your numbers are as low as mine. Ah, me.)
Anyway, thank you, thank you, thank you. If and when my second book ever finds a publisher, I hope you’ll give that one a try, too.