[Paddlewise] Author-Author-Author

Michael Daly wrote:

> I just did this for my kayak club newsletter and figured
some
> of you would be interested.  Note the second book includes

> a Paddlewiser author!
>
> Mike
>
> Guide to Sea Kayaking Lakes Huron, Erie & Ontario,  Sarah
Ohmann and Bill
> Newman, The Globe Pequot Press, Guilford, Conn.  ISBN
0-7627-0417-9
>
> Guide to Sea Kayaking On Lakes Superior & Michigan, Bill
Newman, Sarah Ohmann
> and Don Dimond,  The Globe Pequot Press, Guilford, Conn.
ISBN 0-7627-0416-0
>
> These two books are part of a larger set of regional
guides on sea kayaking
> published by The Globe Pequot Press.   I purchased the
first since it covers the
> areas I kayak in the most (one trip described is only a
few minutes from my
> house).  I was impressed enough by the first to go out and
buy the second,
> especially now that some friends and I are planning a trip
to Lake Superior and
> to Saguenay next summer.  It should be noted that the
eastern Great Lakes book
> includes sections of the St. Laurence River, including the
Thousand Islands and
> Saguenay regions!

Thanks for the positive comments.  Send the corrections and
negative comments to the
publisher (we are very fragile people).  Actually I have at
least one correction to
make.  All three of us authors are on the Paddlewise list.
Don Dimond helped us
research the first book while Sarah and I did most of the
writing and research for
both books.

 Initially we thought we could paddle the routes together,
but we soon found the
overall territory that we had to cover was too great for us
to do together.  We split
the routes so naturally I am holding to the story that all
of the errors and poor
writing is limited to Sarah's routes not mine.

It turned out to be a real monster of a project primarily
because of the logistics of
covering over 5,000 miles of shoreline.  Sarah had 11,000
road miles to expense on
her taxes and I had 10,600.  The two of us worked more or
less full time for six
months to pull it all together.  After finishing all this we
could see why no one
else had completed books on kayaking all the Great Lakes
before.

A word of warning to anyone who has the romantic notion that
they want to make a
living as a kayak guide author.  Most of your time is spent
behind the wheel of a
car, on the phone or in front of a keyboard instead of on
the water.  As for
compensation I think I might break even by the end of 2000
and who knows maybe
minimum wage by 2005 if sales continue to be good.  It was a
lot of hard work for not
much money, but it was a rewarding experience just the
same.  I am not saying that
you should not try the author gig.....but.....keep your day
job!

Bill Newman



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