Despite the proliferation of "books" that say nothing, or nothing worth saying, there still is nothing like a real, hold-in-your-hand book to make its writer feel good. I guess it is because, despite all the evidence that there is no guarantee of immortality, authorship of books seems to come close to promising everlasting life. As in, someday explorers from another galaxy will visit our burnt-out planet and will discover our name, our very own name, on a singed scrap of book cover.
It isn't much, but it's something.
I am not immune to such basically forlorn longings for forever, as I remembered when I finally held a complimentary copy of my most recently published book in my hands. This is true even though I hope for more than the dessicated eternity I have just depicted for my work and my memory. "Not marble, nor the gilded monuments of princes shall outlive this powerful rhyme..."
My book, "Jerusalem Journal," is not a sonnet by Shakespeare. It should be so lucky. It is not in any way, shape, or form a great book. It is a good read, and I hope people enjoy it.
It also is a print-on-demand book, which means it is produced one copy at a time, as readers order it. This is a controversial technique; but I like it. It means I don't have to store hundreds of copies around my apartment. It means I don't have to PAY for hundreds of copies; and that is an excellent thing.
"Jerusalem Journal's" emergence on the market came about only after some research. Essentially, I had no money to spend. I learned that several organizations, notably lulu.com and wordplay.com, would let you put out your books absolutely free. That's if you had the savvy to design them yourself, which I don't. If not, you could hire help from the specialists who advertise on their sites. That will usually run into four figures. If you have money, or can do it yourself, I can only say that I've seen beautiful books put out using both these programs.
I was lucky to discover publishamerica.com; or at least, after holding my newborn book this afternoon, I consider myself lucky. PA took care of all the formalities, like cover design and formatting. It charged nothing, although here too you can buy all sorts of extra services, stock up on quantities of books and the like. It expects the author to help with the promotion--but this is a learnable skill, and any author who does not wish to promote is foolish to do a book in the first place.
"Jerusalem Journal" definitely is a niche book, although I have some trouble defining the niche. I guess it is a historical travel memoir.
So, it's not "The DaVinci Code." Thank heavens. I believe it will bring pleasure and a measure of understanding not to millions, but to some thousands of people over the years. Who could ask for more than that?