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How the book, False Roads To Manhood got published!!!

Hello, all,
Many of you have never read the story of how my book become published. It’s was a nightmarish and exciting journey of discovery that lead to D.E.S.T.I.N.Y. It’s not the complete story, but it’s a story of Determined Effort So Tenacious It Negates Yuck. It’s how, I overcame obstacles to see this book materialize from dream status to a published book. Share the story with your friends. I hope you find it interesting.

Let The Journey Begin

 The journey began for False Roads To Manhood back in 1997. With a stubby pencil and a spiral note book, I took a seven year journey into the heart and soul of manhood to write and publish my first book. What started as an idea and a thought began to surface as words on paper from my heart. These are my storied events behind publishing my book.
  
By the year 2005, I completed the hand written manuscript but realized I needed to type the book. So until I bought a computer, I started a research journey by reading other books on the subject matter. I discovered during the writing process that anything you write must be verified with corroborating evidence. Later, I finally bought a computer and began typing my draft manuscript. Over the seven year period, I almost quit several times. I also took breaks to research how I was going to publish my book.
 
I finally finished the book and realized that I needed an editor. We looked around and I located my first editor at a local college in Huntsville who worked for the English department. I inquired about her to get information. We met and talked about editing my book and she agreed to help. We poured over the book with edits, changes and rewrites for months and sometimes we had long meetings to go over what she thought I should revise or rewrite. Finally after a long period of time, I thought I was ready. But after some recommendations that I should get a second edit done, I relented and began searching for another editor. This time my journey took me to Sally Stuart’s book, with a listing of editors, publishers, literary agents and magazine publishers. I searched through the book and my eye caught the name of a particular editor. My wife cautioned me at that time that I should take my time before deciding on a second editor, but I wanted to get done and published as soon as I could.

We contacted the lady by email, had phone conversations and we asked her for a sample edit of the book to examine her work. Then we asked for recommendations from her and they all checked out to our satisfaction except for one who said he would not use her services again because she focused too much on the small stuff. Against my wife’s wishes, we hired her and the editing process began all over again. We sent the editor one chapter at a time as she requested. For months, I was making changes and talking on the phone with her. She began to tell me that she could get my book into publishing houses if I retained her her as my literary agent.  I began to notice as time progressed that she seemed more concerned about getting paid than editing my book. I made all the edits I thought should be done and from the surface, it looked like I had a well edited book.  With her continued high pressure sales tactics, I agreed to review her literary agent contract.  But before we signed it, I took it to a lawyer and he told us that it was written in her favor and he changed it so it would be mutually beneficial to me, the author and to her, the literary agent. We sent the revised contract back to her, and she was highly indignant that we changed her contract and she decided it was not in her best interest to represent my book as a literary agent. Well, needless to say, after all her editing was done we paid the last check.

I finally got up enough nerve to let my friends look over the book and even a professional counselor. I started getting negative feedback that I did not want to hear. To confirm their suspicions, I asked my co-worker to look at my book and he went through the entire book and found many errors that should have been caught by the second editor. I finally realized that my haste to get done with editing turned into waste.  I was devastated, shocked, disappointed and angry. I really did not know what to do with my book after that. I asked other co-workers if could they take time to edit it and they couldn’t.

My wife and I thought since we had been signing up on web sites and getting writer information that I should attend a writer’s conference. We found one in the state of Tennessee. It was an eye opening experience and that’s an understatement. Unbeknownst to me, I started talking about my book at one of the breakout sessions with other writers and published authors. It so happened that someone asked me who edited my book after each of them had the chance to go over my manuscript. I said the name Bonnie and everyone slumped their head down as if they were praying. They finally told me they knew the person that edited my book and she was a very good sales person but her skills in editing were atrocious. She had a PHd in English. If you had saw my face, it was as if I needed a defibrillator to bring me back to life. I learned a lesson that day. You can hang out a shingle in any book and identify yourself as an Editor, Doctor or anything, but it doesn’t mean squat unless you verify and verify and re-verify over and over again, someone’s credentials. At the conference, I met an acquisition editor from a major publishing house who told me to send her my manuscript after we talked what my book had been through. I sent her my manusrcipt after the conference. Some time later she told me in an email that my manuscript was not what they were looking for. That was my first rejection.

Can you hear that sucking sound? It was my money flying out of my pocket. As a result of that debacle, I had to figure out a way to save my book from the trash heap of finished, I quit!  My wife and I spoke about a third editor but she was not hearing it. I wanted to try one more time before I retired or quit with the whole book.
 
I went on a hunting trip for another editor and I’m not sure, but I believe I found a third editor on the internet. We made first contact with her. We grilled her and asked for a sample editing of one of my chapters. After we got the finished work back, I was shocked to see red all over the place. The second editor did catastrophic damage to my book.  We phoned the third editor and after talking with her, we signed with the third editor to repair what had been death editing to my book. Until this day, I still use and recommend this editor. She rehabilitated my book back from dead on publishing arrival.  After months of working with her, we finally got to a point where the book was ready for a publisher. I was spared the agony of defeat by this third editor.

Now the manuscript is completely edited and final in 2004. And the next phase took me to a place I’d never been before. I started drafting up book proposals and sent one to a book proposal service because publishers no longer accept unsolicited manuscripts from authors. I was not going to give up on my dream of being a published author. But after my book proposal sat on the website waiting for acquisitions editors and publishing to contact me, time ran out. I saw my money take wings and fly away on that effort, too.

I proceeded to mail out inquiry letters and book proposals every where and every one was returned rejected out of hand. So after many rejections, I decided to self-publish. I did not go with any self-publishing companies but went a step further. I wanted to be a publisher and an author. We found another local person to accept my book to do layout based on one of my co-workers recommendations. Again, we made first contact, and did our usual investigation of her abilities and after much talking and praying, my wife and I signed with her. I decided to print 350 copies. She worked the book layout, assigned ISBN number. I filed my book with the Library of Congress. After about two to three months, I feverously began to look for a person to design my book cover. We asked my wife’s friend who designed covers to do the honors. She agreeed and we took about three months to go over my ideas for a cover. At the same time we set up my first book signing event and the pressure was on for the publisher to finish on time. She did finish on time and we had the first printing done, but we lost 50 copies because the printer was not a professional printer of books. We had the book signing and it went well. I deigned my first bookmarks and flyers using Micro-Soft publisher and gave them out to everyone. I sent out emails to all my friends. I started getting interviews on TV, and radio regularly. And I appeared in local newspapers. I also had a lot tips from friends.  The first printing sold out and we gave some books away. However, after I started getting my paperwork together to become a publisher, I happened to find and sign up on the internet as a publisher to order my own ISBN’s. I  then searched my publisher’s ISBN that she assigned to my first printing and found out it was fake.  Again, I was devastated and hurt. I wanted to sue her, but my wife encouraged me to let go of the whole matter.   Then I found out the printer who cut my first book made it bigger than a 6 X 9. I was furious and questioned the publisher but she could not give me any answers.

I finally had had enough of people messing over me and started my own publishing company to re-publish my book all over again. In the second printing we found a professional book printing company and printed a second printing with a new ISBN and the book was the right size. However, after we printed the second printing, I was told by a traditional publisher that they could tell my book was self-published just by looking at the layout. I asked them how they could tell and they said the margins and gutters were wrong. But even in that painful discovery, I pressed on selling books. Well, about the same time, I was approached by a co-worker who found out about my book and suggested that I needed a website to promote my book. I was not the least bit interested, nor was I going to spend another dime. Well, he persisted and then offered to set me up a web site at no charge, but I said I would pay him something. I ended up paying him more than what I intended. And there’s story behind that.  Well, after the site went up and was running, book sales increased. But then when the second set of book sold out I was once again at a crossroads as to whether to let the book die and I move on with other things in my life or republish the book with a different more professional cover.

Because I believed I could do it myself, I officially set up my LLC and began the new process of republishing my book with a different subtitle than the original with some content changes.
 
Again, on the suggestion of another author, I contacted his web site designer an we negotiated a contract and she built my new web site and, layed out my book again. Guess what? I actually had a forth edit done. Can you hear the money saying bye Frank Chase Jr. My new web site designer took some of the material from my old orginal site and built a new site. I provided all the information to be posted on the site and to this day, some of it never made it online. The revised book was backed financially by me borrowing a large some of money from my retirement plan to do over. I was involved in designing my company LOGO for FC Publishing, LLC. I choose from three designs for my new book cover based on what I envisioned in my mind. After months of going over draft logo designs, book cover designs and website designs, I finally settled.

At this juncture, I was also encouraged to check out a marketing person on the advice of an author friend. I did contact her and she gave me her credentials. I went forward because my author friend said she was OK. I signed with her to develop a press kit and to do my book marketing efforts and book tour schedule. But at one point in the process, she asked me to make a check payable to her instead of her company, and I did so with no thought of anything happening. Well, I discovered that she had bad blood with my web browser. They were once friends. My book got caught up in the cat fight after their relationship went sour, and I ended up losing thousands of dollars because the marketing person skipped town with my money without delivering anything but one or two book blurbs. To make matters worse, I learned that my marketing person, swindled money from other Huntsville, AL authors. I was ready to kill and I tried everything in my power to recover my money but it was a total loss.  So what do you do? You develop your own press kit and I did.
 
So in the end, I learned that self-publishing is a tough business and I’m glad I did not give up. I leaned more about publishing from my mistakes than I did if someone else did the job for me. Things have turned around some since I started using more professional services instead of fly by night charlatans.
 
I market my book using professional press release services and marketing services and I still do my own marketing using Micro-Soft publisher. With my new printed book, I had professional book marks done, and palm cards too. I also have business cards with my book cover on one side.  Marketing a book takes money, and you have to be wise as a serpent where and when you spend your money. As far as marketing, I’ve set up book blogs, joined author websites and any website that allows you to post your books and information. I also write articles which provide an avenue to expose my book to other audiences. I’ve always said, If I had accurate knowledge I could have avoided many mistakes but I do not regret none of the experiences because no one can ever take away what I’ve learned about publishing and the continued leaning I’m experiencing as an author and a publisher. I learned during the process that you can get sample edits from many publishing places and in some cases, the more sample edits you get, your entire book could be edited without you paying a dime, but I would not advise doing it because all editors are not the same. So, you’ll end up having to meld all the sample edits into one sound edit. There are vultures out there waiting to pounce on the unsuspecting novice author. They will promise the world, and the best defense is to verify first and let trust be earned by those who want to publish your life’s hard work.

I market my book on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and many author websites and blog sites. I participate in book signings and speak at book clubs and still appear on TV to talk about my book.  Self-publishing is a rewarding experience, but it does take away from your time in writing new projects. I’ve submitted my book to self-published book contests with Writer’s Digest. Self-publishing requires a lot of your time and energy in marketing and surfing the net for opportunities to expose your book. You must choose the best road that fits your personality. So why is the acronym D.E.S.T.I.N.Y important in this discourse. Publishing a book requires Determined Effort So Tenacious It Negates Yuck.  If your book has a destiny, you can’t allow nothing or no one to stop you from pressing on. Self publishing is a rewarding experience because you are in charge of everything. In fact you become an Entrepreneur.

 

 

 

What’s In A Name?

By Frank Chase Jr.
Scripture reference: 1 Chronicles 4:9-10 NKJV

Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother called his name Jabez saying, “Because I bore him in pain.” And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh, that you would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!” So God granted him what he requested.

The article’s title is an important question. Most people don’t consider how significant a name is, what it means and the impact names have on our lives. This chapter begins with a genealogical account of the family of Judah. As a biblical fact, the Old Testament and the New Testament devote entire chapters to genealogy and family history often overlooked by readers. Family history is important. We need knowledge of where we come from in our natural family, and most importantly, in our spiritual family too, because knowing where we come from helps us to know where God wants us to go.

Like a well-performed play, the genealogy reads smooth as God traces the family history of Judah. Verses 1-8 details the generations of the sons of Judah, his grandchildren and his great grandchildren. Without notice, God turns a curve and allows the cat out of the bag with a two-verse family history lesson on a man named Jabez. God upstages the genealogy and remembers Jabez’s entrance into this world and drops a dime about his difficult birth. What do I mean when a person drops a dime? Well, back in the 1970s, we used the term for buddies who squealed on us. When we did some wrong, underhanded dirt, we expected our partners in crime not to reveal what happened and to keep a promise not to drop a dime on us. We also used this term for people who didn’t keep their word about private matters and shot off their mouths to others after we confided in them about a problem. But when God drops a dime, you’d better believe it’s for a good cause. The good cause here is that God enlightens Jabez through his genealogy. Perhaps Jabez didn’t know about his family history.

Amid this significant genealogy, God thinks it’s so important that he pauses for an intermission and reveals a key sidebar to us of an account about why Jabez’s mother named him Jabez in verse 9. Because she bore him in pain, she named him based on her experience. His name meant, “He makes sorrowful.” In the Amplified Bible his name means, “Sorrow maker.” How could Jabez go through life driven by thoughts that his destiny, purpose and the meaning of his name could only produce pain and sorrow in other people? That’s a heavy load to carry.

The name given to us at birth is significant because names connect us to our destiny, identity and purpose. Does this mean our names control success or failure in life? Look back over your life and you decide. The purpose of names is a biblical truth for us to think about. People in the bible often chose names for their children with thoughtful intent and taught their children to understand their name and purpose in life.

To extrapolate from this verse to help single or married mothers, we never see Jabez’s father mentioned at all. Was he alive or dead when Jabez came into the world? Though his mother’s childbirth was full of physical pain, could we contemplate that a financial problem might exist with raising a son alone? Maybe she named him Jabez because in her pain she knew the struggle involved as a single parent and wondered how she would provide for his day-to-day care. This analysis may not be hermeneutically sound, but let me encourage all single mothers not to name your male or female child based on painful life battles. Our children should never bear our pain or the aftereffects of a name we
pick because of the unwise choices we’ve made. Babies need names that set them up to know their identity and help them discover their life’s purpose.
 
As we get down to the gist of Jabez’s prayer, And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh, that you would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!” So God granted him what he requested. We see he did not let his name affect his destiny. In fact, God knew his destiny and dropped a dime about his life before he prayed the prayer. God called him more honorable than his brothers. What a compliment from the God of Israel who had a dynamic, embolden answer to his prayer! But did not Jabez know what tribe he came from and what exploits they performed with God’s help? Did he not know the powerful people of the tribe of Judah, like Caleb, a faithful spy and King Solomon and many other kings that came from the tribe of Judah like David? And if that’s not enough, Jabez is in for a treat because Jesus descended from David and thus from the tribe of Judah. That’s why God started with the family record to show us we need to know who we are in the family of God even if we don’t know our natural family history.

Maybe we don’t have a problem with our name. Perhaps we don’t have a name identity crisis like Jabez, but we deal with a label crisis from other people. Maybe negative labels passed down from generation to generation have whipped us upside the head, captivated our mind and has defeated our children for years with effects that shaped their disposition, character, and motivation about how to prosper in life. With false thoughts, we convince ourselves that we’re cut from the same rug as drunken uncle bud.

Some of us don’t like our names nor our history, but we should understand what our name means in God’s purpose for our lives. Whether it’s our name, labels or what people say about us, God wants intimacy with us that models Jabez, who first asked God to bless him indeed. Bless in the sense that
God will act without reservation in his time to our request for any need in life. Second, God wants to enlarge our territory. In context, territory refers to land, but God wants to expand our influence for good, not for bad, and not just in material possessions like land, but also in favor that God’s hand is with us in success. Jabez wanted God to keep him from evil and prevent him from causing pain and disappointment to anyone around him. But after his prayer, his life changed. If our natural family history has painful misfortune we’d like to forget, we do have a history in God’s family that’s much different because He lives in our lives.

Finally, God answered and granted Jabez everything he prayed for. Jabez’s life is an awesome story. For as a man thinks in his heart so is he, Proverbs 23:7. I’m glad Jabez didn’t think too long about his name and become a sorrow maker and a painful man, but prayed to God for change. And as intermission ends and scene two begins, God goes back to finish the genealogy of Judah from verses 11-23 so all would know the end of the story is good.

Then what’s in a name? Only what we make of it and what we ask God to do for us in a Jabez-like crisis. My first name is Frank and so is my father’s. My inherent name means “Free Man.” The spiritual connation of my name means “Shining.” Like Jabez, I pray that God blesses me indeed and enlarges my territory of influence materially and spiritually as a free man in Christ. For whom the Son sets free is free indeed. I pray that I shine because I know my purpose in God.

If my parents had known to encourage what my name meant or if I knew what my name meant as a child, I could have shined as a clarinet player for God. I loved musical instruments and I liked to write, but my desire to be a musician and an author died. Back in the 70s, my passion also flowed in the game of tennis, and I might have shined as a professional tennis player like Arthur Ash, who I always wanted to be like. But the terminator of life experiences sabotaged that dream and many others. Without knowledge of my free man status, I didn’t follow those dreams. My light went out, but God dropped a dime on me in this article and placed in my spirit that I shine like a free man as an author on the center stage of life. The hand of God is with me and my genealogy isn’t a look back in regret but a look forward with knowledge of who I am and always will be. And that’s a free man that shines in the Kingdom of God.

If we had a life that began like Jabez, know that God will drop a dime to remind us where we come from and who we are in Him. And then God will finish the story to let us know that even though we may feel like we’re in last place, we’re always first. Remember, You have D.E.S.T.I.N.Y. Determined Effort So Tanaciours It Negates Yuck.

© Copyright Frank Chase Jr. 2004-2005 – All Rights Reserved. 

 

Frank Chase Jr., has BA degree in communications from Washington State University and a BA degree in Biblical Studies North Carolina College of Theology and an Associates degree in Ministerial Studies. Mr. Chase will graduate with a Master’s degree in Biblical Studies form North Carolina College of Theology in June, 2008.  As an author, speaker, and entrepreneur he resides in Alabama. His book False Roads To Manhood, What Women Need To Know; What Men Need To Understand is available from the publisher with a signature at: www.fcpublishing.com. Or Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble.com