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From: <wanewman_at_uswest.net>
subject: [Paddlewise] Author-Author-Author
Date: Fri, 03 Dec 1999 00:07:47 -0600
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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From: Michael Daly <michaeldaly_at_home.com>
subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Author-Author-Author
Date: Fri, 03 Dec 1999 23:19:12 -0500
wanewman_at_uswest.net wrote:
> 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.


Well, I have to admit I was a tad nervous about posting the review here, knowing
that Don would read it.  Had I known that all three of you hung out here, I'd 
probably not have posted it!  You know, it's not good manners to criticize folks
etc.  However, I hope that the review came across the way I intended - the 
criticisms are pretty minor.

I actually purchased the first book in error!  I had confused it with "Kayaking 
Georgian Bay", a recently released book by Jonathon Reynolds and Heather Smith.
I didn't know the title and only knew that the authors were a man and women,
so the eastern Great Lakes book seemed to match.  Then I received the Qayaq 
newsletter of GLSKA and saw Sandy Richardson's review of the Georgian Bay book.
Oops!  Anyway, Sandy's review was somewhat negative, so I guess I chose the 
right one.  

Thanks for the books - I'll be making use of them for years to come.

Mike

PS - the route nearest my house is the Humber River one.  If you paddle and
drag your kayak another 1.5 km up the river (over the rocks and dams), turn
right and go straight up the "cliff", then continue west one block, you'll 
be at our house.  I prefer to exit the water at the yacht club and car-top 
the kayak the rest of the way.
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