Kenn Amdahl is the author of “There Are No Electrons: Electronics for Earthlings” and “Joy Writing”, which I am currently reading. He’s also the publisher of the aforementioned books. In fact, he hasn’t called anyone “Boss” in 18 years, thanks to the success of Clearwater Publishing Company. Jealous? Read on to find out what he has to say about following in his footsteps.

Your first book, “There are No Electrons,” was rejected 89 times. Clearly it was a dud. Yet you decided to self-publish. Who the hell do you think you are?

Actually, my first book  (a science fiction novel) was only rejected 28 times, but I was young and easily discouraged.  I thought all those New York editors and agents probably knew more than I did, so I put that book in a drawer and wrote “There Are No Electrons: Electronics for Earthlings.” When that manuscript was rejected 89 times, I noticed a pattern: the second book generated three times the rejections of the first. At this rate, if I wrote a third book it would be rejected 278 times. Clearly, I’d be wiser to cut my losses and publish Electrons myself.   

Another factor was that I kept getting the same rejection letter. It said, “Well, I loved your book myself, personally, but then I’m a Very Enlightened Reader.  Unfortunately, there aren’t enough VERs out there to support a book like this. But hey, good luck with whatever career you decide to pursue that is more realistic for a guy like you.” 

That got me to thinking. First, it was remarkable that so many of them thought my name was “Unfortunately.” Second, rejections from 89 VERs seemed like a pretty good market sample. Very Enlightened Readers were out there, they just didn’t know each other. Apparently, they don’t get out much. 

I read Dan Poynter’s book, “Dan Poynter’s Self-Publishing Manual,” which made the book biz sound easy, then I hatched Clearwater Publishing Company. I’m glad I did. One thing the New York publishing industry doesn’t tell authors is that the markup on books is better than the markup on burritos.   I make a profit of between five and ten dollars per book. I’ve sold nearly 100,000 copies of Electrons over the last 18 years. In that time, “who the hell I think I am” has changed from “Unfortunately” to “The guy who wrote There Are No Electrons.” And several other books.

Fine, you sold 100,000 copies and expanded your empire. Whatever.  But now people are getting dumber and can’t read anything longer than a text message. How long until we see you behind the counter of the local 7-11? 

OK, so that wasn’t me behind the counter at the 7-11. Lots of guys look like me. And I was just trying to help her with her uniform. Anyway, I thought you said you destroyed the negatives. 

Yes, book sales are down across the board, because so many people have lost their jobs. Two thirds of all independent bookstores have gone out of business in the last eight years. Barnes and Noble had its worst year ever in 2008. But once the economy improves and people are working again, they will remember that nothing makes them look as smart as holding a book. So obviously, they will buy my books, because my books are designed to make people look REALLY smart. They will want my books on their coffee table, they will stage my books on the shelf behind their shoulder when Sixty Minutes interviews them, they will hold one of my books in their hand while proposing marriage: “See how smart our kids will be? Oh yeah. Plus I got you this diamond ring.”

The Internet and e-books and computers have all changed the way we read. It’s possible that future books will primarily exist in electronic format. But reading will survive. Reading is what separates civilized humans from ordinary run of the mill politicians. As long as civilization remains valuable to us, so will books in one form or another. When more people get their information from talk radio than from books–that’s when we’ll have to worry.

This article was written by John Roach http://prowritingtips.com John is a writer and copy editor. You can follow him on twitter at @johnwroachiii. To see more posts click here

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