I am now a published author!
 

Took twenty years to get it done, but a journal I kept during my senior year of high school is now transformed into a book! Won't make it into the New York Times bestseller list but it's something I've prepared to commemorate my high school's upcoming 20-year reunion this Labor Day weekend.

Here's the marketing blurb for the book:
It's available right now in paperback; the hardcover copy should be available in about 4 weeks. Any of you interested in purchasing the book, click on the link above.

CONGRATS!!!

Felicidades!
 

I work with 2 2001 NM senior high grads and one of them got a kick out of seeing the book! She says she loves Mr Hudak. Apparently he goes to school on a skateboard!

Good luck and congrats again!

:D

Re: Felicidades!
 

Yep, he's been riding a skateboard to and from school for over 25 years. From his apartment in Miami Beach to the Metrobus stop and then across the Broad Causeway to North Miami, where he skateboards the rest of the way to school about 10 blocks north of the bus stop.

Spoke to him over the phone a couple of weeks ago and he's doing fine... he's already got an invite to our reunion!

Congrats! :)

WOW!!! Congrats!!!

As a rival to North Miami..... (NORTH MIAMI BEACH IS BETTER :p GO CHARGERS!!!) LOL u know im messing...all in good fun ;)

I will of course pick up this book....see how the pioneers were like all those years ago...

its cool to have a book written about an area i know alot about...
congrats and good luck at your reunion...what a great accomplishment...
congrats
:D

Yay, congratulations! I'm so impressed--I always wanted to have something of mine published, and I really admire people who have the motivation to do it! :)

I might buy it, since I finished Harry Potter a couple nights ago and I need something to read now!

Congrats!

:D
GO PIONEERS!
(Still bleed green and gray (our school's colors) after all these years!) ;)

BTW North Miami Beach's Class of '83 is also having their 20-year reunion that same weekend and at the same hotel (Fort Lauderdale Marina Marriott), but in a different ballroom. Do have quite a few Pioneers that married Chargers and vice versa, so both schools got together to at least save money on having separate events on different weekends.

Wow, congrats! That is an amazing accomplishment.

Congratulations! This is so exciting for you! :)

Congrats!!! :)

Congratulations!! :D

Congratulations, AlphaSigOU, on your getting published!

Do you have any advice for this aspiring mystery writer?

http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmili.../pinkieone.gif http://216.40.249.192/s/contrib/blac...milecrunch.gif http://216.40.249.192/s/otn/wink/smily012.gif

Basically, never let rejection get you down.

I had my book published by the print-on-demand (POD) publishing house iUniverse (www.iuniverse.com). Basically POD means just that, the book is prepared to order; there's no stock of books you have to buy or keep in storage.

Granted, traditional publishers scoff at POD houses as being nothing more than a modern-day vanity or 'subsidy' press, but when whatever you've written is focused to such a narrow audience (as my book is) most traditional publishers aren't interested, especially with first-time authors.

For $200, iUniverse will publish your book in trade paperback format; it's another $200 to have it done in hardcover (though I did take advantage of a promotion last month that got the hardcover done for free). Within a week or so you get proofs back of your book and an opportunity to make any changes. You're entitled to 50 changes at no charge, so it would behoove you to have most of your major revisions and editing done before submitting. They will also design cover art as well or you can submit a design of your own. You'll then receive a revised proof with corrections; if all is well, then the book is scheduled for publishing. People can begin ordering the book as soon as it appears in the iUniverse store. You get one free book with the submission; if you choose the Premier program, you get five books.

As far as marketing your book is concerned, you're generally on your own. iUniverse supplies you with a basic book marketing kit with your submission, but nickel-and-dimes you with additional fees for manuals on how to market and distribute your book. If you want a third-party editor to review the book and make suggestions, they charge $200; however, based on sales and editorial scoring, your book could become an 'Editors Choice' book, and they usually take care of those books that might have a fighting chance in the mainstream.

I highly recommend that you have a literary agent shop your manuscript around first and see if it is something they're interested in before going to iUniverse. My literary agent is Christina Arneson (also a fellow classmate of mine from high school); she's part of the Intellectual Property Management Group (http://users.erols.com/veritas/ipm.htm). She has a very funny book out: How to Aggravate A Man Every Time... and have him beg for more! Likewise their website has some tips for aspiring authors

That's basically it in a nutshell. I was quite surprised how quick the turnaround was from submission to print. Any questions, please feel free to PM me.

Great News! Congratulations.

As you may know, Bob Greene, the syndicated columnist for the Chicago Tribune Syndicate did much the same thing and published it years ago under the title, Be True To Your School. I don't know him, but he grew up about 10 miles from me and the same time (graduated HS the same year), and a lot of the stuff he talked about was stuff I either attended or heard about. Reading that book was really a lot of fun.

I'm sure yours will be, too.

Hmmm as for the argument on who is better.....

NMB OR....

North Miami

will be a forever lasting debate...

but its cool that your having your reuinions in the same place...it would be funny if a lil rivarly was played out...

rivarly is all in good fun...you know im messing with you... :) i couldnt be prouder to have a south miami author write a book.....

CONGRATS! your great!

Congratulations! http://smilies.networkessence.net/s/...n/pcheers1.gif


Though Coral Park will always be #1 to me... http://www.gamers-forums.com/smilies/otn/wink/thumb.gif

Congratulations!!! I've always wanted to write a novel! My first real job was working at a Barnes & Noble, my mom works in publishing, and I organized 2 massive book drives for 3 elementary schools through DG... maybe it's a sign I should actually follow up on my goal of writing a book! Congrats again!

Congratulations, I read the first couple of pages of the book on the website and I thought it was pretty good.

all of us who always said we would write a book...salute you.
congrats.
:D

Congratulations!

I'll wait for the soft-cover edition

Congratulations!

Sidenote: I lived in North Miami Beach when I was between 1 and 3 years old. (Dad was finishing up with college) Are North Miami and North Miami Beach the same place?

I don't remember much except our apartment had seen better days (probably about 50 years before) and we used to go to (I think this is right) Hollover Beach every saturday

Congratulations!

They're two separate cities; the rough dividing line between the two is NE 151st Street. Haulover Beach is still very much around, though a part of it is now a clothing-optional beach. Haulover Cut divides the island of Miami Beach from the mainland.

Back when I was living in the area, North Miami and NMB were predominantly white and Jewish, today NM is mostly Haitian.

MoonMyst17 may violently disagree with me, but I still think NM is a lot better! :) (I graduated from North Miami Senior in 1983, she's a Charger graduate, don't know what year though.)

Congratulations!!! I'm so glad to hear it is out!!

I'm going to my high school reunion this weekend - maybe I should take notes....;)

HMMM how to respond to this threadd......hmmm ok well for one...i know North Miami is mostly Haitian now, although i hear they have a magnet program that brings in other students, not by much though.

The thing I LOVED about NMB (chargers) was that it was VERY mixed culturally. I was friends with all different kind of people and that is what made it so unique, there were white and jewish from aventura area which fed into NMB and jamacians, haitians, caribean, latin, indian, chineese, japanese, international you name it we had it... i had the opprutunity to meet all kinds of people..and learn alot of things

BUT sad thing happened when I was a junior at NMB...they decided to build Krop Senior High on Ives Dairy road...a road that kinda seperates NMB (mostly lower middle to upper middle class) and Aventura ( a more wealthy white/jewish area)
when Krop was built the schools that fed into NMB became limited and the white/jewish and alot of hispanic kids ended up going to Krop and NMB became much like North Miami and predominetly minorities.

SOOOOOOOO when I was at NMB....North Miami was our rival....but with the addition of the new school Krop in a much closer area, Krop and NM are competing for rivarly...lol...NMB-ers commonly call Krop "Krap"

But all in all both schools have thier good qualities...but I am still and always will be a CHARGER ;) class of 2000.

U know I luv ya AlphaSigOU...but you know how it is ;)

LOL

That's true... I'd forgotten NM has that International Baccalaureate (IB) magnet school program; I forget what NMB's magnet is.

I've been told by faculty members and others that Pioneer pride isn't as strong as it was back when I was a student. Back in my day our famous Mr. Hudak used to make home movies documenting school activities, then edit them into a film at the end of the school year accompanied to popular music of the day. (Sadly, once Super 8 film went off the market (thanks to cheap camcorders), he ended the tradition in the 90s.)

Another prestigious award Mr. Hudak did was the Student Government Unsung Hero award; awarded to the student (not an SG officer) who performed outstanding service to Student Government. I was the 1983 recipient. The award is rarely, if ever given today. I still have the trophy to this day.

MoonStar or AlphaSig: if I got our NMB address from my mom, would either of you be able to give me an idea of what the area is like today? I'm curious and I know my mom would be, too!

Thanx :)

Hey!
PM me with your address, ill do the best I can...I can always pass by and take some pics for you... :D
let me know

Congratulations! I am so happy for you!!! :D

I was just in South Beach. Is that where you went to high school? The beach is beautiful as are the people! :)

Actually, no... Back in my day South Beach was a geriatric ward and the art deco district was almost wiped off the map to make way for condos. But Miami Vice put South Beach on the map!

When I came back down for my 10-year reunion in '93 it was a bear driving up Ocean Drive on a Saturday night!

Congrats!!!

WooHoo Congrats on publishing your book!!:D

AlphaSigOU, I had just sent you a PM!

http://burns.thefinaldimension.org/c...milecrunch.gif

However, I didn't notice you had PM'd me about a week ago. I didn't notice until today. I apologize! My bad! Thank you for the referal nevertheless!

http://burns.thefinaldimension.org/c...ye/stretch.gif