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A Book

by Dahni
© 2012
all rights reserved
for Rachel, Writers and Readers everywhere
This all begins with you, the writer. Why do you do it? Rest assured that there can be a lot of money in writing. Topping the list for last year would be J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter Empire at three hundred million dollars. Not bad income for a year. She is either close to or has already exceeded billionaire status. Not too bad for someone that wrote her book on a train and in cafés as a single mother on welfare. Sure, we all love a 'rags-to-riches' story. J.K. Rowling is one. If you as a writer are looking for subject matter, a theme or just inspiration, why not look into or write a book about her rise from virtually nothing to what she is today. The research alone will astound you! I have now mentioned two key points in writing already:

1. Have something that inspires you - more about this later

2. Research - - more about this later

We were discussing the writer's reason (s) for writing. We were talking about J.K. Rowling as an example about money. There are other examples like Stephen King and many others that write and write a lot. Authors such as these are almost always guaranteed to have their next book on some 'Best Selling List.' This means money, a lot of money and especially 'advances.' An advance is what an author receives before their books are published. Then an author receives royalties after publication (so much for each item sold). But as to 'advances,' sometimes these are to sustain the author while they complete their work. Sometimes these advances are given to them, just to start a new project.
Here are a few examples of advances. When U.S. Secretary State, Hillary Rodham Clinton was just a new Senator-elect from my state of New York, she agreed to sell Simon & Schuster a memoir of her years as first lady, for the near-record advance of about eight million dollars. You cannot miss the words in bold italics and red - near-record. Her record was exceeded by Oprah Winfrey's weight loss book at 12 million and then tax records show that former President Bill Clinton topped the list for the all time record in advances. With a retail price of $35, publisher Alfred A. Knopf had enormous hopes for the book. The company has sold in excess of 2,250,000 books and gave Clinton an advance of $15 million. According to Publisher's Weekly, this was the largest advance ever, for a non-fiction title. There are plenty of other examples in both fiction and non-fiction - more about these two later.
Sure, J.K., Stephen, Oprah, Hillary and Bill are all famous people and that must make a difference in how much money can be made in writing? Don't forget that J.K. Rowling was virtually unknown when she wrote her first book. So basically was President Barack Obama. When he wrote his first book in 1995, he was just a little known U.S. Senator from Illinois, but he did alright. And to tell you the truth, at some time in the past, all of these authors had at least three things in common. They were all unknowns, they all had something to say and they all had people willing to listen to or read what they wrote. They all had one more thing in common - they each had a publisher.
Publishing is just like any other business, they are seldom in it to deliver to the world, content we can't live without or do not want to live without. Publishers are in it to make money. They generally could care less if you have written the Next GREAT AMERICAN NOVEL, the next GREAT Enterprise (Like the Harry Potter Franchise) or if your name is God and you want to publish the Bible for the very first time. As a writer new or seasoned, WE need to understand this fundamental fact about publishing. They look not at entertainment value, great ideas, sense, or even common sense per se; they look at dollars and cents. Can they sell it and make money, a lot of money? But if your highly successful book and their golden-cash-cow also changes the world, well sure, they will be glad to have helped in making that happen.
We have looked at enormous amounts of money that can be made in writing. We looked at the income of just one year at $300 million. And we looked at enormous and record breaking advances. BUT these are mere pennies on the dollars that are made in publishing and everything else that spins off like movies and merchandise etc. As a writer, you are now responsible for countless other lives, dependant upon you for their paychecks and enormous profits, and you the writer, will be paid pennies for your content in support of so many others! Do not be overwhelmed! Do not be depressed! There is an upside to all of this. You just have to write, the publisher will take care of all the rest. Like what? Well there is editing, book design, artwork, graphics, text, paper, printing, marketing, advertising, promotion, distribution, digital versions, audio versions, hard back and paper back versions, possible merchandising and 'spin-offs' like movies, sequels and series etc. Oh, I forgot to mention the exciting part. The publisher will set up book tours for you. Yes, you will get to go on book tours, meet people, sign your books and maybe even do interviews on television and radio. WOW, isn't that exciting! Did I mention this will probably be grueling, time consuming and after the initial novelty wears off, it will most likely be just work and you won't be able to wait until it's over and you can go back home and rest!!!
This writing and publishing thing all hinges upon having a publisher. I offer you a sincere, happing hunting with getting one. You first usually prepare an inquiry to see if a publisher or a particular publisher might be interested in learning more. Often you may not get a response, that's just rude, but it happens a lot. Maybe you will at least get some automatic response, wait, wait and wait some more and never hear another word. If you actually receive a lot of rejection letters, emails or memos, they can be used as unique wallpaper for your room or office. If you get them, that's a whole lot more than others get, because they never try. So I at least will give you a lot of credit for trying, if no one else will.
To be fair, publishers receive 100's maybe 1,000's of inquiries every day. Sometimes they are so overwhelmed your inquiries might just fall through the cracks and is never seen. There are just so many projects that any publisher can take on, at any given time or over the course of a year. They are in business and must operate like a business or go out of business. This means that they must prioritize. They must be selective. They must accept only the very best projects and balance their costs to maximize their profits. To be fair, if you or I are new authors or unknown, let's be honest, no matter how great our project might be, to a publisher we are simply risky.
Along with a publisher or I should say generally before you get a publisher's nod in your favor, you will probably need an agent and/or a publicist. May your trails be happy ones, in finding one of these too! It's the same situation with them as it is with publishers. They want to be paid and if you or I are new or unknown we are just as much of a risk to them as we are to a publisher. But agents are most generally needed, just to get your work into the hands of a publisher, but there is no guarantee anyone at the publisher's office will read you book, even if you have a recognized, established and popular agent/publicist. Maybe your book conflicts with another author. Maybe it has to go through a whole lot of readers, before it ever gets to an editor or a decision maker. Maybe those readers are temps or interns. Maybe they don’t want your book to go forward, just because, they want their own book to be read or a friend's book etc. And maybe your book is too similar to their book, their friend's book, a book already published or a book already published by the publisher your agent contacted. Sounds depressing, but fear not. The key is persistence! J.K. Rowling persisted until she just happened to be at the right place at the right time and actually found a publisher that was willing to give her book a look, nothing more and nothing less. But they loved it and we know how that turned out. To really be positive about your prospects, let us assume that you MAKE IT. When all the agents, publishers and publicists that rejected you suddenly appear in your in mass with their begging bowls, please be kind and refrain from trying to get even. :) Until that day, what else can you do?
You could publish your project yourself. Most of us can't afford this, but it is an option. There are subsidy publishers or what are sometime called vanity presses. They will pretty much publish anything and many of these provide many other services. But if you guessed that you have to pay for these services, and even buy your own books to resell, you guessed correctly. Many of these subsidy publishers or vanity presses are border-line scams, so be careful. But history is full of authors that published their own works, usually their first books. Mark Twain published his first book. No other publisher would consider him as an author or touch him with a ten foot pole. This again, all sounds depressing, but fear not.
So we have come full circle back to where we started - Why are you writing in the first place? Something has to be greater than all you have to go through to get your words to the readers. I call it the 'burn.' Something has to be burning in your gut. Something must be white-hot in the depths of your being. It has to come out. It has to be written! If you have the burn, you will persist.
What's cooking? You can't let it boil over. You can't let it burn out. But no one can be 100% inspired and on fire, 100% of the time. The 'burn' must be contained and controlled or it will burn you out. But what's cooking in you? Is it fiction or non-fiction? It matters not which one as both are important. But I will offer this one piece of advice, for whatever it's worth. The rules, regulations, requirements and effort to source, document, quote, use of grammar and a whole list of nearly endless stuff are absolutely required after you have written a non-fiction book, you may well be better off just writing fiction. Even so, this moves us to the very next thing after the 'burn.' If you are making up stuff, you're writing fiction, but you still have to do research. Even J.K. Rowling did A LOT of RESEARCH in developing her characters, scenes, plots, languages and settings. Yes, she did research, even though her books were inspired and came out of her own mind. Read poetry, learn poetry and write poetry - all styles and even the old English sonnet like William Shakespeare wrote. You will be absolutely amazed to discover in your research, how many authors started out as poets or at least writing poetry. Poetry will help you save time too. It trains your mind to focus, to concentrate, to sum-up, to be more clear, to become more imaginative, to learn and use tools like figures of speech and all of this, to deliver your message as clearly, emotionally and as perfectly as is possible, with fewer words! BURN - RESEARCH - CONTROL THE BURN and PERSIST.
Many people think or even say something like this - "One day I want to write a book." One day comes and goes and another, and another and they have still not started. To help you get into the writing mode, I highly recommend nanowrimo.org - every year in November you could, along with many others, take the 'write a novel in a month challenge.' It is a very useful site for any writer, new or seasoned. It helps you take the 'burn' out of your mind and put it into concrete form - words! You do not have to wait until November. You could go to the site, sign up for a FREE account, use their helpful tools, tips and resources and just start anytime.
Time is the one thing we all have an equal amount of - 24 hours a day, no more and no less. This is the biggest complaint I hear from people that perhaps really do want to write, but they say, "I just don't have the time." This is my twin-tip and what I did. First, most writers have a special place, chair, lighting and a near endless list of that which makes up their comfort zone. Well sure, you want your environment to be conducive to writing. You want to be inspired. You want to be comfortable. The problem with this is that daily, each of us are bombarded with a whole lot of stuff that demands our attention. So what happens? Generally speaking, where there is no comfort-zone there will be no writing. To tackle no-time and no-comfort-zone, I purposely took myself out of my comfort zone. I would go to bowling alleys, crowded and noisy places and many situations that I would not ordinarily want to write or thought I could write in. I trained myself to write in almost any situation, nearly anyplace and day or night, late or early, inside, outside, in the heat and in the cold, rain, snow and ice and on and on. Doing this helped me to be always 'on' - anyplace, with anyone and at anytime. I developed the habit of always having something to write on and with or something to record audible notes etc. So when I had a moment or minutes, waiting on the doctor to see me, some other appointment, waiting for the bus, the taxi, my ride, my car to be fixed, for food or drink or whatever, wherever and whenever, I would be ready to write and I wrote. Write with a pen, a pencil, colored crayons, soap crayons on the wall while you take a bath. Write on a roll of toilet paper, colored paper, legal pads (green and yellow and all kinds of colors. Write in the dark with a candle or a flashlight. Write on black paper with florescent colored ink. Write with picture, doodles and drawings or cut and paste pictures. Write on the side of a building (preferably one that you own), on a wall, on glass with your finger when the window is frosty. Dictate your words to someone or with something. Find and write with an old manual typewriter, an electric typewrite, with keyboard and monitor, with some other digital device. Sing your words. Compose your words with music. Write something with something on something always - all the time.
Along with the comfort-zone many artist-writer types believe that being under the influence of drugs/alcohol enhance the so called 'creativity.' I think it was Ernest Hemmingway that said, "Write drunk, but edit sober." You can look at this any way you want. My take on it is this - If I write drunk, I surely must be sober to edit it BECAUSE, what I wrote in a drunken state, PROBABLY will not make any or little sense. So just to fix it, I would need to be sober. That all seems like a waste of time to me, so I write sober and edit sober, for if for no other reason than, it saves me a whole lot of time. But since the discovery of mind altering drink or drugs, many have and many still think their use gets the juices flowing or that it produces what I call the 'let-down effect.' The let-down effect' is similar to the sucking of a baby lips on mom's nipple, gets the milk flowing. Some doctors actually suggest an alcoholic beverage might help the 'let-down effect.' But in writing, what we are really talking about is getting the 'burn' from the mind, down the arm and into the instrument of writing and the result of writing which is - WORDS! I believe closing your eyes, breathing, relaxing your mind, freeing yourself from as many external distractions as possible, will influence the 'let-down effect.' Besides that, it's cheaper than drugs or drink, better for your health and something you can control or learn to control by training yourself. By making it a habit and forcing yourself to get out of your comfort-zone will enable you to write anywhere, anyplace, with anyone and anytime. For what it's worth, in my personal experience, when I am out in public writing, people seem to not approach me and leave me alone. J.K. Rowling would attest to this writing in cafés. If you are sitting alone and not writing, that's when people seem to approach you and want to talk.
Ok, to recap, you have the 'burn,' you research, you train yourself to write under any circumstance, you train yourself to cause the 'let-down effect' at your command and you persist. But there are a few more things I want to share before closing out this part. One is how to deal with the 'blank page' and playing the 'trash-ball' game.
The blank page or screen is just what it says and what it means - it's blank until words appear. Your 'burn' is white hot, but your fingers aren't moving. The words will just not come out. It does not matter WHY they won't come, what is most important is that words come out and appear on paper, on screen or are spoken. I don't really care what they are, just as long as something is taken out of my head onto whatever is used to put them onto. If I have to copy words from something already written by myself or anyone, I'll do it. You must decide when and where you write. You must decide that you are smarter, better, greater, and stronger than any lifeless 'blank' piece of paper. You don't always have to be inspired to write. You just need to write something, anything always and all the time with what ever means you have available to you at the moment. Trash-ball is the game played that wastes a whole lot of your precious time. Scribble, scribble, "Oh, that sucks," fist, grab, crumple, yell scream, call it names, wad it up into a tight ball and see it you can toss it as a dunk shot "swish," or a least an off the rim shot into the trashcan. Well, hey that was pretty fun, so you master the art of trash-ball - Yay! Nope! Trash nothing until your book is done. It is only 'done' after the final step - it must be EDITED!
What do you mean edit, I wrote it exactly as I wanted it to be written. Trust me, it needs to be edited. It could be edited by you, but most authors cannot edit their own work. It's personal, it's my book, it's my word-child it's my word-baby, I birthed it and know it backwards and forwards, inside, outside, right-side up and upside down. I am its parent. It is my child. Chill out author! You need to become emotionally detached if you are going to edit your own work and to have others edit your work. Editing is not, absolutely not an attack on you personally or your child. Sure, you birthed it, you are its parent; it is your child, but now it needs to grow up and be able to live on its own and out into the world of readers. It takes more than just a parent to prepare the child to live in the world. This is what editing is all about. You may adore you baby-boy-book's long, blonde never cut curls. Then you take your baby-boy-book out into the public and they might say, "What a beautiful baby-girl-book." As its parent you are offended and tell them angrily, "It's not a baby-girl-book, it's my baby-boy book!" Then they just might get upset that they were deceived by you in thinking it was girl and become angry that's its a boy. They may never want to read, get to know or ever see how truly great your baby-boy-book really is and just might not ever want to read any future children you birth either. I am sorry if this analogy is too close to home for anyone, but the point is that if you don't want others to criticize your baby-book, learn to edit yourself and allow others to edit your baby-book, so that your child and you are seen in the best possible light by as many people as possible.
Now you can play trash-ball (but make copies just in case what you think sucks others might think is really great). You must let your child go. You must allow it to grow.
OK, if you have done all of this - Burn - Research - You Write Always - You 'Let-down anytime - You Control the Burn - You Handled the Blank and Trash-ball - You Edited and allowed your baby to be Edited - You Persisted - CONGRATULATIONS!!! I mean this from my entire being, CONGRATULATIONS, YOU HAVE BIRTHED A BOOK! You're done! Not quite. Now how you ended is how you continue - WITH PERSISTENCE.
You have to get this into the minds and hearts of readers. You have to publish it yourself, find an agent that will get it to a publisher that will publish it or you have to get it to a publisher that will publish it. 1,000+ rejections (or no responses) do not mean your baby-book is horrible. It could mean that and you need to be honest with yourself and/or accept honest criticism from those that you trust and that you know really love you and have your best interests at heart. But it could also mean that you stopped at 1,000 when the very next effort gets you to those that can make it happen. Persistence and the 'Burn' go hand in hand here. You must believe in yourself and your baby (have the 'burn) and you must persist until you succeed, no matter how long that might take. Finally, just remember that if it burns inside of you, the odds are in your favor that the world or at least a part of it is waiting to burn with it as well! No matter how great your baby-book might be, it aint' happening without the help of others, PERIOD!
I greatly desire for you and myself as writers that our "moments of fame" come and last for many years. But after 2 1/2 years (on the computer for me) and in order of importance and effect, these have been for me and may they for you, also be - Moments of Ecstasy!

1. There is nothing quite like opening up a package and holding your printed book in your hand!
2. There is nothing quite like holding in your hands, your digital book on your iPad or whatever device you may use to view eBooks!
3. There is nothing quite like hearing in your own voice, your own audible book or part of your audible book!
Now if you think this Part was long, trust me, this is the condensed version. A work in process is a book, on How to Write a Book.
And after all of this, all that you have gone through to birth you baby-book, the world may still not know how needful, precious, beautiful and great your baby-book truly is. They may never know. But I guarantee that you and the world are better for the baby-book you birthed! You and the world for certain, will absolutely never know unless you try. For myself (and I hope for you as well), I would have rather died than to have never tried. And I am almost 100% sure that I would die, if I do not try.

Part 2 - How I Did It

One could think that I have an agenda in writing this long-ass article (so far). Call it what you will, but I started this entire article with letting you know it would be in three parts. Read the parts you are interested in or that apply to you. But I ask you, I implore you, I beg you, for you, and for others and yes for me too, at least skim over this Part, but PLEASE, everyone read the third part!!!!!

The first part which just ended was written truly to help an author write. It was written so that the author might have an idea about what it takes to write; what's involved besides just the easy part - WRITING. And it was written that any other that reads it might come to have a greater understanding and appreciation, for what it takes to write that the reader invests really little time with, in comparison. 2 1/2 years to produce and a quick glance at the cover to then never pick it up or read takes mere moments. 2 1/2 years to deliver and have read, toss, forget or even momentarily appreciate, takes just hours. The writer writes through hell and back. The reader picks it up, slams it down and says, "Well that sucks," or they read it through in little time and either decide it sucks or it is good or great, then generally move on, leave it in the past and as if it was still unknown to them as when it was unknown to them before they read it. But generally, this is the way it is. It takes hours to prepare you fancy feast too, but just minutes to consume it.

I have written and published a book. So in this, I have some level of expertise. I am not an established author. I am virtually unknown. Try as I have it came down to this, without being able to find and have an agent or a publisher, there was left me with only two choices. Some could keep going, but in my situation I believed there were only two choices left. I either drop the whole thing or do it myself. Obviously, I chose to do it myself. If you read the first part of this article you would understand the following, I had 'the burn.' This 'burn' or reason for writing kept me going for 2 1/2 years. It has aged me, challenged and changed me, further indebted me and not just myself, but my wife as well. I lost sleep, did not eat and still gained weight. I am nearly exhausted with still much left to do. Why would I do this to myself? Why would I do this to my wife? Why would I put us into jeopardy like that?

To answer these questions, but not to excuse myself, I will share some of my background. As far back as I can remember, I have always wanted to write. I have been writing something, somewhere for most of my life. It's like breathing to me. But my interests were in poetry and fiction. But as long as it involved words or writing, I guess it didn't matter so much in the past, just as long as it involved writing and I could write. I sold advertisements so that newspapers and magazines could be produced and read by readers. That was OK, as I was still around words and was able to be somewhat 'creative' with the ad copy or text, design etc. Then I was offered a part-time position and trained as a reporter. I loved it!

Then circumstances drew me into investigative journalism. Circumstances, what circumstances? "There is no one else available to do this," my editor informed me. Well I did it, kept doing it, got better at it and became a professional full-time investigative journalist. It was just OK. But I kept at it and was grateful for the training and the experience. But what kept me going was that once in awhile, I was able to write some feel-good, human interest, pie-in-the-sky, rags-to-riches, positive, sweet, some fiction, opinion, poetry and good-news story fluff stuff.

Then one day I found myself embroiled in a heated situation between a state family protective service and the mother of a child. I had private information that led me to a secret court meeting that was only for the court, the agency and the mother. I stuck a microphone in the face of the agent that swore on an affidavit that the mother could not be located, and saying, "Isn't it true that you lied on that affidavit as the day it was written the mother was in your office in front of you?" Why did the agent lie? They did not like the child's mother or believe her to be a fit mother, that's why. I went into the courtroom. I was recognized. They had a sidebar. I was asked to leave the court. The judge was upset that I even knew about this secret court. I waited outside. I confronted lawyers and the agent again, who was now in dark sunglasses. Here is a tip: If you wear sunglasses inside, you just might have something to hide or you just might purposely want to be noticed. But people that wear sunglasses inside, certainly draw my attention. But the agent I was sent to confront was surrounded by people as if they were Secret Service Agents and whisked the agent away out the back. I was sent a subpoena by the State's Attorney General to appear in court. They were trying to intimidate me to give up my sources. Believe it or not, CNN was in touch with my editor and said, "Don't let him get out of jail until we get a crew there." They assumed as did my editor that I would go to jail, rather then give up my sources. CNN was interested in this story because it lies at the very core of, Freedom of the Press. My editor was dancing, jumping up and down and grinning from ear to ear. Why was he acting this way? I certainly wasn't at all happy or excited about my prospects. To my editor, it meant national exposure, the likelihood of the Associated Press picking it up and that would mean a lot of money, prestige, possible awards of excellence in journalism etc. to him and where we were both employed. To me it meant, contacting my family and preparing them for my being in jail. To me it meant that I would be going to jail to protect my sources and for the mother that was wrongfully separated from her child, her child that was then carried off to a secret location. I just did what I had to do, because it was to me, the right thing and the only thing I could do.

Apparently, the state's Attorney General got wind of the possible media circus that was about to hit the state and he pulled the subpoena. The articles about this case, caused many others with similar stories of abuse, to flood our office. I did not have to go to jail, but enough information moved like wildfire through the state and the governor got an earful and got involved. He shut down Child and Family Protective Services and cleaned house from top to bottom. The mother was vindicated and her child returned. Heads rolled and there were a lot of firings, including the agent that I had confronted. The state was Arkansas. The Governor was now former Governor, Mike Huckabee and yes we have met. What's my point here to boast? No, I had learned all of this as an investigative journalist. Investigative journalism was to me then and it is to me now, just simply looking for answers, not to prove anything, but to find the answers. This is called research. It basically just means, asking questions. Immediately following this pressure cooker-state-wide case, I found myself front and center in the first homicide case of a Latino and specifically a Latino woman, the first such case in history, in all of Northwest Arkansas. I was grateful for all I learned in this, for my participation and contribution, but by my choice, I ended my investigative journalism career, immediately following this. Before you judge me, I did what I had to do then and got to be pretty good at it, but it was not me. It was not what I was about or what I wanted to write or write about. I wanted to write poetry, fiction and good-comfort-fluff. Well, I suppose you can get out of investigative journalism, but for me, the investigative journalist in me, just grew quiet, lying dormant for a season. It awakened suddenly, about two and half years ago.

Despite what you may have just read if you read it, I think of myself as being a nice guy. I am really not confrontational. I neither like to confront others or like to be confronted. I basically like all people, all kinds of people. I only see color I suppose, because I was taught to. But people to me are all just people. I have always been curios I guess. I probably drove my parents near crazy, asking WHY? Now maybe it's the poet-romantic-imaginative person in me or maybe it's the reporter in me that thinks that people are interesting and everyone has, 'a story.' Maybe it's both. Differences don't inflame me they intrigue me. But somewhere along the way in my life, either I just grew up to realize that much of what I was taught, believed and saw as a child were just childish or something happened to change everything.

Like many people, I used to steer clear of history, religion, politics and law. I have seen my own friends and family get mad at me, get up and get away from me. I am quite sure that I contributed to this divide even though it was not my intention. Self-preservation causes us to take stands to defend our positions. But I have seen this go way, way far beyond mere self-preservation to self-destructive and destructive behavior. The levels of volume, quantity of vitriol; the poison darts in speech have been on the rise. We see blue states, red states, race and culture wars, the haves and the have-nots, rich and poor all fighting with each other. The church of me-my-self-and-i has a local presence on every corner in the USA. We are divided. I just could not understand why in a country of "unalienable rights," that produced the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution could, in just a little over 200 years become so divided. I hear or read such things as those documents previously mentioned are just old, outdated and only for a time; for white men. We can't even agree to disagree anymore. It's us against them, you against me. I have even been called a racist, just for using the word. People are just pissed off! But where are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness I was taught about as a child????? Was that all just bull? So 2 1/2 years ago, the investigative journalist in me woke up and whispered one word in my ear and said, "WHY?" So I went, and looked and researched and researched.

As I learned and saw things I shared them with others. I got feedback. Was it just my opinion or something else? I got involved in other groups and read other blogs. I listened and learned more. Then it became as clean as the air after a spring rain and as clear as a mountain pool. I was not making it up. What I saw was exactly what was there. I started a blog (a whole series of connecting blogs actually). I wrote and wrote, responded to comments and kept writing. Why did I do this? In Part 1 of this article, the word 'burn' was used. Yes, the subject was burning inside of me, but I wanted to share it. Why did I want to share it? I share for two reasons. I share first because I'm like a kid that has an ice cream cone, for the very first time. I love this ice cream stuff and I believe you just might too and I care about you, so I offer my cone to you. But most importantly, I believe it is my responsibility to do so and that it is the right thing to do. Imagine it is a beautiful day. Some writer that has not read the first part of this article is playing trash-ball with their crumpled words and tried to toss it into the trash can. It bounces off the rim and flies out of an open window. The wind carries it away, out of sight and out of mind. Later, I am out enjoying the weather and taking a walk. Then all of sudden, right in my path and in my line of sight is this piece of trash, a trash-ball. I had three choices. I could just walk by because I did not put it there; it was not my fault or responsibility. I could walk by the trash-ball and wonder who cluttered the path with this piece of trash and how many others had also, just walked on by. Then finally number three, which is really my only choice, was to reach down, pick it up, and take the responsibility for putting this piece of trash where it belongs. My book is my bending down, picking up the trash and doing something about it, because it is the right thing to do!

A consensus began to form from the many people I spoke with. Most of their remarks centered on something like the following: "Why wasn't I taught this stuff in school?" "How come no one else picks up on this stuff?" The last common statement was, "You should write a book!" So I did.

I wrote a book. Then what? Well it had to be published. I had neither an agent nor a publisher. I could not get either an agent or a publisher. I did not and do not have the resources to publish it myself. But I felt and feel, believed then and I still believe it is important to get this information out now. It just cannot wait. We are almost out of time. So I looked for alternatives. I tried an online website that helped artists, writers and others raise funds. There was a time limit required. It was set up so that either you raised ALL of the money you were seeking by the deadline or you received none of it. I had commitments, but not enough and I received not a dime for all the time and effort put into it - video, graphics, freebies designed and offered to sponsors etc. Next!

I searched the Internet and found several online publishers. Basically they provide the software, templates, an online presence to market your book, printing and many other services for a fee of course. Well aren't those sites rip-offs, you might think? This certainly could be true for some. But believe it or not, many seasoned and already successful writers that have agents and publishers flock to many of these online publishers. Why, for the simple fact that they have more control of their works and can keep more of the money they are entitled to for producing the content.

Audible books RSS content, CD's, DVD's, MP3 files etc. are also very important, primarily first to benefit those that are visually impaired. But they have many other applications as well. You can download files to your digital devices, pop in a CD, DVD into your car, computer, in your home entertainment center or where ever and with whatever means available to you for sound and listen to the book. Most readers and many authors prefer to have these available in their own voice. RSS (really simple syndication) content are like internet feeds of content available as subscriptions in chapter form, say one per week until the user completes the entire book. Both RSS and all forms of audible books require special software, recording equipment, special requirements, expertise, and a lot of time and truly are much more expensive to produce and generally sell less than a hardback book with full color dustcover. Audible.com is perhaps the biggest distributor of audible books. Audible books can be purchased directly from their website, from Amazon.com (their parent company) or from many other places that sell audible books. Audible.com has a company underneath them that actually produces the content (acx.com), works with authors to submit their content and provides opportunities for voice-over work in reading content. I am an author/member of this production company. What that means is that I can submit content if it is according to their requirements.

Smashwords.com now promotes Podiobooks.com Podiobooks produce serialized books as RSS feeds, by subscription, books as installments like one chapter per week. This allows the author to take their time, instead of having the entire book done all at once. There are upsides and downsides to Podiobooks. To the author and to the reader (subscribers) all content is FREE to upload and FREE to download. Most installments (chapters) are produced to last around twenty minutes. This happens to be around the average time it takes people to drive from home to work and from work back home. They can just download or pop it into their device and listen to it any time the choose. People generally like to finish something started so if the print book chapters are longer or less than twenty minutes, adjustments need to be made to produce your audio content. Now the potential downside - Podiobooks and the author only get paid IF the subscribers decide to donate and they decide what amount (if any) that they want to donate. If donations are made, Podiobooks takes a small cut, but most monies go to the author. You can pay to have your content produced and recorded then submitted to any audible provider you choose that will accept content. Here where I live, the two cheapest prices I found for recording studios was $85 or $35 PER HOUR. Wait until you read later how long it would take to turn my book into audio content and how much it would cost at the cheapest rate per hour, given above. You can produce the audio book yourself. If you do not own the software or have access to it and the necessary equipment, the minimum outlay is around $800. I don't have either the software or the equipment. I do not have an extra $800, but mostly, I just don't have the time.

There may be others and maybe others better, but for me, I chose one such site for the digital book at Smashwords.com and one for the print version at Lulu.com.

For me, my choices have proved to be beyond my expectations. Lulu does offer digital books as well, but I had already chosen Smashwords before I chose Lulu. And I am glad I did, because not only did Smashwords style guide help me produce my digital book, it helped me greatly to publish the print version with Lulu. To produce my digital version or eBook, it cost me absolutely nothing, except my time and a lot of it, just to format it properly and to have it converted to the various popular digital formats. There was a 'learning curve' for sure and maybe I am just slower than you would be. But to be picked up for Apple's iBooks, Barnes & Noble's Nook, Amazon.com for the Kindle and other formats, it has to look professional and conform to their standards and requirements. Smashwords is totally FREE. But they do not edit, check spelling or format you book. They provide a style guide and if followed exactly, you will receive no automatic errors found in an email to you and Bam, just like that; you have published a digital book. But if you cannot follow their style guide which will likely end in errors, they still will not format your book. But they will provide a list of successful authors that are willing to do this for you for very nominal fees. Perhaps in the long run it would have been cheaper in time anyway, just to have paid someone to do this for me. But I read and re-read their guide. I persisted and did it myself. Smashwords provides each author an online artist's profile page to show the world who you are and what you have to offer, but they neither charge you for this nor do the work for you. I had to provide the picture of myself, design my page and upload the copy (text) of what I wanted. If you ask and if you have been published (no automatic errors) you can request to have your book included in their premium catalog. Then Smashwords actually has real live people review your work to insure it meets the requirements of their distributors. If accepted with no further corrections needed, they provide you with a FREE ISBN number and Smashwords is on record as the publisher. And then Bam, one day you check and your digital book shows up in iTunes as an iBook with Apple, and a Nook for Barnes and Noble and a Kindle version at Amazon.com etc. Smashwords gets paid when your book sells and you set the price and keep most of the money when it does sell. They also offer you coupons so you can offer discounts or even make your book free if you would like to, just so that more people would and can read them. Costs invested at Smashwords? Nothing! Time involved? Unknown exactly, but a whole lot! Although many authors (those with publishers) often release their hard back print version, digital and audio versions at the same time, I was advised and chose to release my digital version first.

Digital or eBooks are not just the latest technology craze. They have many wonderful features and applications. First off they are cheaper, from $0.00 to around $12.99 for a full book like mine. FREE? Yes many are free as a way to get people to read and possibly a real publisher might be interested in you and your future works. Digital books are available in many different formats depending on the device you use iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Kindle, Nook etc. These are searchable and you can add links. You can look up words as you read them and there are so many more features, not available in a print version. They are available as instant downloads. These digital devices are smaller and weigh less than an average book like mine which is around two pounds. You can hold a lot more digital books in your device than you can possibly carry print versions. Since the devices are smaller and weigh less, they are ideally suited to take with you to read some of or the entire book while traveling, waiting at appointments etc. If it is stored on your device, you don't even have to be connected to the internet to read. As to storage though, the new buzz word is 'cloud.' This allows you to store everything on your computer or digital device to some off site location. Some of these are free and some are nominally priced for a yearly subscription and depending on the size of your files. But this saves you money and time in not having to tax or upgrade your device's hard drives. For the 'cloud' you would have to connect to the Internet to retrieve your files and books. Digital or eBooks also contribute to a healthier air quality and no paper, ink or chemicals are used. At least with one version of Kindle, the Kindle Touch I believe, will actually read the book to you, provided that there are no restrictions on your book that will not allow this. The voice is a computer generated female or male voice, your choice. This is great for those that may be hearing impaired or if you would like to listen to any or all of you book, while traveling, resting or for whatever reason you choose to. Speech recognition and generation technology has come along way. I look for it to get even better in the future and for this feature to become available or many more devices and formats for digital books (eBooks). Perhaps there are many other applications for digital books or those coming in the future.

For print, Lulu.com is totally free as well, but they do offer many services if you cannot perform the services yourself. They will provide you with a simple template to construct and format you book. You can use their software to make a template backed design for your cover design if it is to be a paper back or hardback. They offer a FREE ISBN number for distribution to bricks and mortar bookstores (real book stores), with Lulu on record as the publisher. After you upload your properly formatted, edited and spell-checked book, they will send you a proof copy as a PDF file. If everything looks good to you, Bam it is published on Lulu.com at no cost to you. If you want to buy your own book, 1 or however many you want, you can, but this is an option and depending on the quantity, there are discounted prices to you the author. They provide you with an artist's profile page which you will need to set up and Bam, you are now a published author, but it is only available on Lulu.com on their home page catalog, your lulu profile page or if a chain or single bookstore sees it on Lulu they can order them from Lulu. Lulu does not format, edit, spell check, market, distribute or provide anything special unless you pay for it by their packages or ala cart services. If you want to distribute you book to bookstores, their distribution service costs $75 and will take 6-8 weeks to implement. I chose this option. It was set up immediately following my Launch date live in Columbia, MO (my home town) and online at RESETbook.com, after February 1, 2012. $75 would be the minimum amount I would have paid to Lulu. Everything free is basic and limited. But if you do not want anything special or you just want to see your book published or you just want to buy a few say cookbooks you made for friends and family, free and basic is fine. But I wanted my book to be as professional as possible. I had two choices, either pay for it or do it myself. I chose to do it myself, because I had to.

First, the book needed to be edited. I edited and edited and then edited some more. My wife Susan gets the credit (not the responsibility for it), but the credit as being the final editor. I owe her at least $4,000.00 which is what it would have cost me as a minimum to have it done professionally. Special professional formatting little glyphs (little black images for chapter headings and other interior design elements), font size, page headers with my name and page number or book title and page numbers for the opposite pages, I did myself including designing those little glyphs. Cost would have otherwise been around $700. Full color dustcover for my hardback book would have cost $300-400. I designed my own from scratch which includes the inside flaps which talk about the book and the author with my picture. It had to be set at high resolution for printing, designed to compensate for what is called 'bleed', and the requirements had to be precise for length, width and the correct size for the spine. Then it had to be uploaded as a PDF file. You have to have design-software and a way to make PDF files which I did. That could cost around $100. I did this myself as well. So after all of this, after it 'proofed' and everything looks good, Bam you are published either publicly on Lulu, privately (not available to the public and only through you) or pay the $75 and have it available anywhere (if ordered), on Lulu, from your Lulu artist's profile or from you directly - personally or through your website if you have one. I have one. But from you personally or from your own website, the books to be sold must first be purchased by you from Lulu at your discounted price, depending on the quantity. And I must mention that if you only want one single book, Lulu will make and ship one single book. This is important to know because, often printers have a minimum run of 100 -1,000 books. Thank God for the new digital printing presses and on demand printing! So I'm done now right? Not quite.

Multiply the above dollar amounts X 2. Did I mention that what is soon to be out is the second book? Well it is. Even though the first was not published, everything above went into it. I re-titled the book, re-wrote it, re-designed, re-edited, and re-formatted. Based on additional research and a single conversation with a county Supreme Court judge (who happens to live in my neighborhood), the book was 're-everthing-ed.' The Judge simply said, "We need to reset our republic." So he gets the credit for the change from 'PURPLE HAZE 'An UN-alien's Guide to Finding Our Republic' to what it is now, RESET 'An UN-alien's Guide to Resetting Our Republic.' For his efforts, he gets the 3rd book printed. I get #1 and my wife Susan, the editor received book #2. So honey, $4, 000.00 - $38.00 = $3,962 left that I owe you for editing. :)

If you want to market and distribute your books this costs extra from thousands to tens of thousands of dollars+ or you must do it yourself. I had to and chose to do it myself. I have this website I-Imagine.biz to promote the book, two other websites, several blogs, several Twitter accounts, my Facebook profile, a RESET page and RESET group through Facebook, email and phone contacts, and word of mouth. I acquired the domain name of RESETbook.com, designed it, set it up and paid for a year along with a SSL (secure socket layer) to secure and encrypt information, for a merchant account with Paypal and with Chase Bank to process most of all the major credit cards. I have an iPad. Through my cellular phone carrier Verizon I purchased a device - Intuit^® GoPayment^TMto be able to swipe credit cards while at a book signing etc. I had to set up an account with them to encrypt the data to protect the customer and to be able to add the appropriate sales tax. It cost around $30 but I have a rebate so I'll get that back. By the way, most government departments use Verizon, because of its many layers of security.

As to the cost of my hardback book, Lulu set the price at: $38.45, I have no control over that, but I can offer it in person or on my website for less which will sell for $38.00 That is not much difference in price to the purchaser, but to me it makes a huge difference. Every author's dream is to say, sell millions of books on Amazon.com, through Barnes and Noble online and in their stores and where ever printed books are sold. But none of them are going to buy my book for full retail price. They will buy low and sell high. The author gets paid on the price the book is paid for. And its really pennies on the dollar compared to whatever else is made from the author, who affords them the opportunity to make money, potentially a lot of money. This does not seem fair does it? But this is the way it is. On top of this, the author has to wait 60-90 days before they will receive a dime due them. And most will not pay you until the amount is equal to or greater than $75. So can you understand why any author (myself included) would want to sell their books from their own website or person to person? Not only do you get your money faster 3-5 business days, but you get to keep more of it, not much more, but more. As to price, here is a comparison. I recently ordered a book and it was signed by the author, (OK they are famous), but I had to wait 4 weeks to get it. I had to write my own message (To) and it was printed on the bookplate, signed (From) the author's with just their signature (first name). It sold for $38 + shipping + taxes. This book was at least 100 pages less than mine. I am now selling my book for $38 + taxes with FREE shipping and the bookplate is all handwritten with your message (To) and (From) me with my signature. On the launch date in my hometown and at website at RESETbook.com, on 2/1/12, there were other 'freebies.'
Friends have told me not to be concerned about taking 3-4 weeks to ship a book. They order stuff online all the time and this is normal. Friends also questioned my giving anything away for free. Well, I guess that I don't like to wait. I want something right now. So I am making stuff available for FREE, but for a limited time ONLY! I am trying to give people an incentive to BUY NOW. It benefits them and it helps me. I will know how many books to order and depending on the quantity ordered, this will determine my discount. I am indeed interested in getting paid as much as I can and as quickly as I can. Most if not all of the profits will be used to purchase more books. It may be a long time if ever, that I have anything for myself. I would love to at some point inform you that some of the proceeds (my profits) will go to help two worthwhile organizations, near and dear to my heart. One is Hillsdale College, a school in Michigan that has never received government support (by choice) EVER. They teach their students the principles of Liberty. They fight to learn and promote Liberty. The other organization I would love to help Wounded Warrior Project. These men and women fought and continue to fight for Liberty. After recouping our costs and should this book become profitable, there is only so much money, anyone needs. What is money (extra money) for, if it cannot help others that truly need and deserve our support? I ask you to help us become profitable that WE the People can help others.
Well what am I giving away? Besides the signed bookplate, I am offering a FREE digital version of the book in most of the popular formats iBooks, Kindle, Nook etc for a Limited time ONLY until 3/10/2012. Why would you care if you are buying the book? Well, if you don't want it or have such a device to read it with, you can give it as a gift. It gives the book more exposure. Maybe the person you give it to will want the print version. I can certainly see how one person could use a copy of all three - the print version, the digital version and a audio version (if it was available). At present, there is no audio version available of my book. You will shortly understand why. However, I recorded in my own voice, a sample of me reading a portion of the book. I am making this available for FREE as well, until 3/10/12 click here
The digital version of the book and this MP3 file will be available as instant downloads. My step-son Jonathan, helped me to record this and he did all of the editing. He did an incredible job and I am very, very pleased with the quality. But it took he and I from start to finish and then with his expert editing, 5 hours to produce around 30 minutes of audio where I read around 10 pages of my book. My book has around 450 pages. Divide 450 into (45) 30 minute segments = about 22.5 hours just to read it and hear it being read from start to finish. Now multiply 22.5 hours X 5 hours for editing each segment = 112.5 hours to turn my audio book into an audio book with an average retail price from $15-20. The cost to produce this using the cheapest recording studio in town is $35 per hour X 112.5 is almost $4,000 and this still does not include the cost for CD's, DVD's, cover design, cases, setup costs, shipping and taxes. Let's say we add another $2000. At a total of around $6,000 I would have to sell around 400 audio books, just to recover my costs. I cannot afford to do this at this time, but mostly even if I could, I do not have the time necessary to do it. But I will certainly recommend to those I know that are visually impaired, to consider a Kindle Touch at around $140. It is my understanding that it will audibly read the book to them in a male or female voice (their choice). Yes, it is a computer generated voice, but they sound pretty good. Believe it or not, I have already heard about one person witnessing another person arguing with their 'Siri.' 'Siri' is an intelligent software assistant and knowledge navigator, functioning as a personal assistant application on the new Apple iPhone 4s. WOW! This person needs to get out more with real and live people. But anyway, I hope my book can be read on a Kindle Touch for those that are visually challenged. This of course would be possible provided that their are no restrictions unknown to me that it cannot be heard because of it not having released digital rights to audio content of my book. But I certainly am interested in making my book available in as many formats and to as many people as possible. Click here for a FREE eBook or digital version of this book. Offer expires 3/10/2012.
And one more thing I offer is to accept checks, but only on my website at I-Imagine/RESET12 ONLY and sending me an email Dahni@RESETbook.com
I ordered 120 books. 6 cases weighing around 220 pounds are presently stacked in the foyer near our front door. Twenty or so of these will be sent to people that if they like it, they may help to get the word out about my book to the entire county. I will not go through the list, but Oprah Winfrey is on this list. Copies have been delivered to political figures in my state of New York - 1 executive, 1 legislator and 1 county supreme court judege. Rush Limbaugh, Dylan Ratigan of MSNBC and Bob Parsons, Executive Chairman and Founder of Godaddy.com each has an autographed copy. Some copies I had to ship (costs) and some I personally delivered to individuals in Columbia, MO while I was there 1/28-2/2/12. The books weighed in excess of 200 pounds in the back of my car. If the weather was lousy (which it was not) was used for traction and to positively impact local economies by the increased the amount of gasoline used. So see, an author can be a 'cottage industry' in producing profits to many others in many ways. Am I done? Not just yet.
You the author (if there is no one else), must set up book tours, contact the media for possible print, television and radio interviews. Interviews? Yes you (I) must promote the book. Who else is there? Well, if you are going to be doing interviews, you need to look your best. It was off to the Men's Wearhouse for me. Perhaps you have seen their commercials on TV with the owner closing with, "You are going to like the way you look. I guarantee it." I was married in their clothes. Every time I have needed to look my best, I have been going to them for years. I always take (except for once) my personal expert, my wife Susan. I love how they always make me feel, treat me like a friend or someone they actually like and love. They make Susan feel this way too. I trust them. They dress, measure, fool with and pick out clothes, shoes, belts, ties and so forth, colors I never would, but in the end, all conclude, including my personal expert, I look good. I designed my own ties, designed an embroidered long sleeve polo shirt, buttons, a coffee mug and even a trucker's hat at Zazzle.com. When it came time to pick up my new duds at Men's Wearhouse, I asked and they allowed me to take pictures, which I set up and either they or Susan took the pics. Everyone was excited there. I was given the personal email address for the owner and his personal phone number. It was highly suggested that I contact him. I chose to email. After the subject line and after he read: Dear Mr. Zimmer - he was greeted with the following in bold letters:

"I'm going to love the way I look, when I launch my book.

I guarantee it!"

Press releases must be written and sent out. Everything must be done in a timely manner. Emails must go out, phone calls made, and begging and pleading with your family and friends must be done in person if possible. You the author must control who, what, where and when, anything and everything about your book in as far as its promotion is concerned. It must be promoted on your time. Keep your commitments and if others will not honor them, move on to NEXT! For example, the launch date when is it? Mine is to be live on the website and in person on the same date, Wednesday, 2/1/12. Why on Wednesday? The statistics I found, indicate that Monday is lousy launch-anything day because, many people are tired and worn out from their weekend of R&R. Mondays are the least productive days in most businesses. On Tuesdays, people are generally just starting to come out of a fog and start to become productive. Forget about Thursdays and Fridays as production slows way down again. Apparently, many people are just thinking about the weekend again. So Wednesdays have been shown to be the most productive day in most businesses. People are more alert, more energetic and more productive on Wednesday. So Wednesday 2/1/12 is my day to launch.

I designed and ordered business cards from Vistaprint.com Very cheap, great quality - 1500 for around $40 bucks. I designed magnetic signs and a bumper sticker for my car. My signature will appear in vinyl silver gray metallic on the driver's side. I will be a walking talking advertisement and my car will be a mobile billboard. You can even take a picture of what is called a QR code with a smart phone and it will immediately open a page on my website - WhereIsDahni Once there, you can track me as I move across town or across the country, get updates from my Twitter and Facebook posts + whatever else I can think of or possibly have the time to squeeze in. Almost done! Mail out some books, get my haircut, get a manicure (yes for the second time in my life, the first was when my mother passed away years ago). I need to go to my car dealer next week, get an oil change, and they will be washing, waxing my car and putting on my signature, magnetic signs and bumper sticker. I will be setting up pictures and someone will take them of me and the car, my Chevrolet American Revolution (mostly made in Mexico) HHR. I am trying to not only just promote my book, but to help other businesses as well and especially those that have helped me. Then it's home, pack, fill up the car, kiss my wife goodbye and head out on the road for about 1,000 mile one way trip to my hometown. Not everything is set in stone. But I am going anyway. On the way home with or without books, I am going to see my son in Lexington, KY. This is all an adventure into the unknown. There are no guarantees. It is a hell-of-a risk, but no different than any other Small Business that take risks to succeed and the risks which may end in failure.

With the exceptions of my wife Susan as the editor, feedback from many, encouragement from family and friends, only one person has paid a dime for any of that is as a down payment for one book. I have three commitments for books, our next door neighbor when they get back from the Bahamas next late spring or early summer, the Judge (that does not realize I'm giving him one for inspiring the new title) and our accountant. Everything else, we have paid for or must pay for. Throughout all of this and in everything I have shared (with the exceptions I have given), I Dahni Hayden have done all of this myself. Of these facts yes, I am proud. I am proud to have accomplished not only in just finishing what I started, but in all I have done after the book was merely written. But in all humility, I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that there are others which could have done a far greater job with everything I have done and this includes, even the writing of this book. In retrospect, I would have preferred to have only just written the book and designed the graphics, leaving all the rest in far greater hands, quicker hands, more proficient hands, more professional hands, and perhaps clearer and more succinct hands than mine. But I could not. It just was not available. I did what I had to do. It is what it is. Still, should this book succeed, it will be because of the efforts of so many, that my meager efforts pale into insignificance by comparison. Should it fail, I bare all the responsibility. But I can live and die knowing, I have done the very best I could. So I head out next week upon an adventure of perhaps a lifetime. With great excitement, enthusiasm, I'll-miss-you-honey-wish-you-were-going-with-me, I leave my home and wife in Rochester, NY and carry trepidation (I'm scared as hell), but also filled with Hope.

Part 3 - How You Can Help

Everything written above and not written, not shared was to get to this final part. It is all to get to you. If you have read all or any of the above, I sincerely thank you. To all that read this part, I especially and sincerely thank you! If you have not read any of the above I ask you NOW to just scroll from the top of the page all the way down and back to here.* Look at the length and number of words. Imagine how long it took to write. Imagine how long it took to accomplish everything written about, xof which it is still, but a mere overview. Yes, it is long and represents a lot which has been written and even more, much more that has not. This entire three part article and the sum of all its three parts has a purpose, far greater than what I have done and all that has been done to get to this part, this point. The effort expended has all been done, because it is the right thing to do and it is for YOU. Yes, I mean YOU with all my heart. Yes, I would this book be a financial success and that is all entirely based on numbers. But in order to RESET Our Republic, it too is entirely based on numbers. So any financial success and the RESET of Our Republic are inextricably bound to each other. I am asking for your help. In helping me, you are helping yourself. In helping yourself you are helping US, WE the People.

I have limited resources. There is no major publishing empire funding this. Me-myself-and-I make up the entire advertising and marketing engine. I am asking, pleading, yes I am begging for your help, for yourself, for US, WE the People and for me. It begins by you taking the time to become informed with the information presented in this website and all the links connected to it inside and outside of this website. It begins with the following link: RESET

Go through as much as you need to, to hopefully, make the decision to purchase the book. I am not asking you to trust me, but to first become informed. Next, purchase a book. Then it continues by you reading the book. Then IF you find it to be what I truly believe it to be, share all that you have done to that point with others. First, consider the title:

RESET "An UN-alien's Guide to Resetting Our Republic"

Except for the peculiar word "UN-aliens" above, the title is pretty clear, what this book is about. It is about Resetting "Our" (yours and mine, Our), Republic. So what are "UN-aliens?" Perhaps it is my own made up word, but an un-alien is the opposite of an alien. An UN-alien is someone from here, born and raised in the United States or is a citizen of the United States. The word UN-alien is also used as an abbreviation from one of the greatest documents ever written in Our history, The Declaration of Independence.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,

that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,

that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Excerpt from: The Declaration of Independence, July 4th 1776

Unalienable rights are rights which can neither be taken nor forfeited under any circumstances. They are a gift from the creator or if you do not believe in God, then universal endowment by 'Nature's God' (cause and effect.). However you believe WE got them, WE got them, WE have them or WE had them, of which Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness are but three of many rights. The premises and conclusions of this book clearly show how these rights have been diminished over time, that Our (yours, mine Our) Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness is in serious jeopardy, why this is, when did this happen and what can WE the People do about it? WE can RESET Our Republic! So there you have it in a nutshell, what this book is all about.

Reset the book, is of vital importance to have the information contained in it, to be available to as many people as possible, before the November 2012 general election. Yes, this is the year WE either re-elect or elect a new president, but this book is not, it absolutely is not about whom the president is or will be, who is up for re-election or is running for office in Congress or who is on or may be appointed to the Supreme Court. It matters not whether you are a Democrat, Independent, Republican or Other. It matters not the party, person or platform. It matters not your sex or age, the color of your skin, your educational or economic situation or what your religious or spiritual beliefs might or might not be. But it does matter that you understand WHY WE need to RESET Our Republic, HOW to do this and that it must begin, November of 2012. You will just have to read and share the information to understand what I am talking about here.

I have done the best I could to share as simply as possible, what is so huge and vastly complicated. Perhaps like me, you will just have to get out a dictionary, pop some neurons and have to think, re-read and do your own re-search. I make no apologies for this.

If you work or have contacts in the media and can help get the word out, it would be greatly appreciated. As written earlier, the real success of this book is directly tied to numbers. It is numbers of people, US, WE the People that are required to RESET Our Republic. How many people? In order to RESET this Republic, WE need around 150 million people participating. How did I come up with this number? According to the last U.S. Census and the last election in 2008, there were around 304 million people living in the United States. Less than all those eligible to vote, but around 150 million or half of the population actually voted in the last election. Then roughly half of those that voted were divided over personal and party lines. But the point is, to RESET Our Republic, WE the People need to send a mandate or a majority message to the powers that be, this Our Republic and you the government, work for US. This book does not blame, criticize or condemn any person or party. It does not divide it UNITES!

I believe in geometric progression. 'Each one reach one' which becomes 2 then 4, 8, 16, 32, and so forth. There exists in nature, a certain type of water lily that the day before it totally covers a pond, it is only half-covered.

I believe in the theory called, 'Six degrees of Separation.' This theory suggests that anyone is at any time, just 6 people away from reaching anyone in the world. Years ago, I met Susan, who is my wife. Susan is the daughter of Ethel and Bud Meech. Bud, my father-in-law will forever be, a United States Veteran that served in the Navy during WWII. He participated in many extraordinary events in history, onboard the U.S.S. Murphy. The Murphy was a small destroyer designed as an escort ship and to have greater speed and maneuverability. One such event Bud participated in was when the Murphy was dispatched to Norfolk, VA, for a secret mission. In Norwalk, VA they escorted other ships. It was not until they were far out at sea that the mission was revealed to the crew. Following behind the Murphy was the U.S.S. Quincy. Onboard the Quincy was the President of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The mission was to escort the president for the historic Yalta convention with Joseph Stalin and Winston Churchill. After safely reaching their destination, the Murphy departed and went up the Suez Canal for their next mission, which was to pick up the King of Saudi Arabia for another historic meeting with FDR. There are many other extraordinary events that my father-in-law and the U.S.S. Murphy participated in, too numerous to mention. But FDR had sons. His sons had sons. A few short years ago, my father-in-law introduced me personally to the grandson of FDR, Delano Roosevelt. If my math is correct, - me + Susan + Bud + FDR + his son + Delano Roosevelt (grandson to FDR) and back to me, is six degrees of separation. I know it is possible for US to reach a majority of US, WE the People, in a short period of time.

On January 18, 2012, 6,000 websites and 13,000,000 (yes, 13 million) people participated in a one day Internet black-out or protest of pending legislation in Congress. This bill was so poorly written that Our lives, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness could have been attacked, if this bill would have become law. All kinds of people put aside their differences and came together - United. The result was that this unity, as of this writing, has shut down this bill! I know that WE the People can be United to RESET Our Republic. I know that if each of US will stand together, WE can get this book into the hands, eyes, minds, hearts and active feet of 150, 000,000 of US, WE the People. I am not asking or expecting this to happen in a single day. It just needs to happen by November of 2012. With 13,000,000 people getting involved in a single day for Liberty, surely WE can reach 150,000,000 in nine months, ready to act and act in November! I need your help.

This book is based on truth. It is based on facts that are publicly available to anyone. It is based on the simple truth -

If the cause is removed, the symptoms will disappear!

This book, if you will agree with its solution after reading it and will act, or if not, I will offer anyone these three personal guarantees, before you even read it!

1. I offer my personal guarantee that if read, you will never think about politics, American History, religion or law in the same way as you may now, ever again!

2. I offer my personal guarantee that at least one chapter; Chapter 21 'Jurisdiction,' is worth the price of the book!

3. I offer my personal guarantee that one single word will positively affect Your Life, Your Liberty and Your Pursuit of Happiness whenever you are involved with other people!

Thank you for your time. Thank you for your support. Thank you for your patriotism. Thank you for being united with - of, for and by US, WE the People!

E Pluribus Unum,

1 of WE the People

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