Should You Publish Your Own Book?

Many people write novels and memoirs. Many professionals write books to enhance their professional reputations. Should they consider self publishing? Book publishing print on demand makes self publishing easier and cheaper, but potential authors may have some questions.

Q. Should I publish my book through an established publisher?

If you can, sure. You'll probably need an agent who expects a piece of your advance and royalties. If there's not much chance of a lot of sales, there's not much chance of finding an agent. Your royalties are going to be maybe 5% to 10% of what the publisher receives. That means your book will need to sell a large number of copies to make it worth the time of any agent to pitch it for you.

If you can get a conventional publisher, the publisher will handle editing, proofreading, cover design, layouts, indexing, ISBNs, Library of Congress numbers, and the multitude of details that separate professional book publishing from amateur. If you are published by an established publisher, you get credibility. All those are worth a lot. But you will still need to promote the book yourself.

Q. Isn't publishing a book a long, expensive process?

Through a traditional publisher, yes. Of course, a lot of the time and money is to insure quality and to launch the book into bookstores.

If you expect to self publish, do a full launch, and compete in bookstores, yes, it is a long and arduous process. Do not try to compete in bookstores without first reading Dan Poynter's "The Self Publishing Manual."

Quality can be expensive. With a traditional publisher, you pay for it by low royalties. With self publishing, you pay for it directly up front.

Getting a book you can sell online, at personal appearances, and in your office need not be long and expensive. If you just want to give the book away to family and friends, it can be quick and inexpensive. It is only a little more involved than duplicating pages and having them bound at an insta print shop, but you get an elegant book.

With print on demand, you can buy even a single copy at a modest price. I published a 108 page US Trade perfectly bound paperback and printed off a single copy that cost me $10.65 total, shipping included. In even slightly larger quantities, they cost less apiece: You save on both printing and shipping.

Q. Aren't print on demand books of poor quality?

No. Many publishers now use print on demand technology. The quality can be every bit as good as you get from a conventional printer. The one I ordered was excellent.

Q. How much money can I expect to earn?

For most books by most new authors, not very much, no matter how you publish it. Self publishing and selling personally and online, you can keep more than half the price. Selling through bookstores you would get much less than half the price. You're responsible for promoting the book in either case.

If you are an independent professional, the real benefit of publishing a book is in building a reputation among clients as an expert in your field. Clients will seek you out. Publishing with a major publisher is better for your reputation, but a small publisher is better than no publisher--unless you are in an academic field. If you self publish, buy your own ISBN and name your small press something different from your name or the name of your book.

For those who are asking, How do you publish your own book? Thomas Christopher created the CD, Get Your Book Out!. The CD has videos to show you how to self publish Book publishing is now quick, cheap, and easy.

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Should You Wait For a Traditional Publisher Or Self-Publish?

If you can't find a publisher for your book, don't feel bad--it's very hard to get published by a major house unless you're famous. However, don't give up. If you have a message that will inspire, make your readers smile, or teach them a truth that can change their lives, then by all means, self-publish. If you're willing to promote it, you may just find a publisher for it later on.

Two of my books were traditionally published and two were self-published. There are advantages and disadvantages to both so you may just find that self-publishing is the route best suited for your story.

My journey into the book publishing world started in the mid 90s, when I decided to write a memoir about caring for a profoundly handicapped child. I called it, "A Time to Weep; A Time to Laugh." After receiving a round of rejection slips with responses like, "We already did a story like that"; We don't do personal experience stories" and even, "Our editor died," I decided to publish it myself.

I had my manuscript professionally edited and typeset. Sweltering in my garage during a particularly hot summer in Maryland, I attached the pages together with an old comb binding machine and made a hundred copies.

At first I felt embarrassed promoting a book to the news media that had been rejected by publishers...until the day I received my first letter from a reader: "Dear Lisa Saunders, I recently read an article...about your daughter Elizabeth. I just had to buy your book...I've had a hard time with accepting [my daughter's disabilities]...Thank you for writing your book. It helped a lot." Her letter meant the world to me. My story did have a purpose.

Then, unbelievably, a publisher contacted me. The editor said, "I am attracted to your book, not only because it's a good story that fits into our market, but because you have already laid the foundation for a good promotional campaign." I signed my first contract with a publisher. I gave up the right to sell my self-published version (which hurt when I received an order for a hundred copies from a hospital) and spent an entire summer rewriting the manuscript according to the editor's specifications. But moments before the book went to press, the publisher downsized. My editor was let go...and so was my book.

Although I was able to keep the small advance, I felt utterly defeated and shelved the manuscript. I just didn't have it in me to pursue another publisher or to self-publish it again.

I moved on. Besides, memories of my great-grandfather's bed clanging back and forth in his bedroom on railroad-like tracks, my aunt making me use the outhouse, and the terror of riding my ornery pony, blossomed into the children's novel, "Ride a Horse, Not an Elevator." While the Sentinel newspaper in Maryland serialized "Ride a Horse, Not an Elevator," I searched for a publisher. Another set of rejection slips convinced me to try getting an agent instead. Even getting one of those was difficult, but I finally did and signed a one-year contract with her.

But she was unable to sell the story to a publisher within the year so I decided to self-publish again. This time I had a printer bind it to look like a real paperback book (called perfect bound) and I sold it to local school children, horse enthusiasts, and New York and Iowa featured it as part of their state-wide 4-H program called, "Horse Book in a Bucket."

I have since been traditionally published. My first book to find a publisher, "Ever True: A Union Private and His Wife," published by Heritage Books, was a result of me finding three-years of Civil War love letters between my great-great grandparents in my mother's attic. And the next book to find a publisher, "Anything But a Dog! The perfect pet for a girl with congenital CMV (cytomegalovirus)" published by Unlimited Publishing LLC, was my updated story about my disabled daughter Elizabeth, but this time, I wrote it about her life in relation to a homeless, old dog who found his way to her couch.

Although being published by someone else gives you some credibility with certain media, most readers don't care. Unless you are fortunate enough to get published by a major house that will spend a lot of time and money promoting your book (which is unlikely unless you are famous), I think it is better to be self-published because you can do what you want, when you want, and without asking permission.

With all the authors out there willing to share their experiences, there is no need to feel alone on your journey to getting published.

Good luck!

Lisa Saunders, Suffern, New York
Web site: http://www.authorlisasaunders.com
Blog:"How to Get Thin and Famous (or at least published!): http://howtogetthinandfamous.blogspot.com/

Lisa is a full-time writer for the State University of New York at Rockland and a member of its Speakers Bureau. She is the author of the books, "Anything But a Dog! The perfect pet for a girl with congenital CMV (cytomegalovirus)"; "Ever True: A Union Private and His Wife"; "Ride a Horse, Not an Elevator" and free e-book, "How to Get Published."

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Self Publishing Your Own Book: When Should You Consider It?

Self publishing your own book is one of the publishing industry's dirty little secrets. Mainstream publishers, editors, and authors easily dismiss self publishing and print on demand publishing as a rip-off for both the writer and reader. After all, if the writer was a real writer then they could find a real publisher, right? That has been the conventional wisdom for a long time but in today's modern, technological society that conventional wisdom does not always hold true. So who should consider self publishing?

Real writers should consider self publishing. Published authors often find themselves placed in a prison of their own making. Once they have achieved even modest success in a specific niche it is often hard to break out of that niche and publish something different. However self publishing gives authors control over their own writing so they can change direction or genre if they choose. Published authors who have taken some time off from their writing often find it just as hard to return as it was to break in initially. They can often easily parlay their experience and audience into a successful self publishing career. Finally, writers who have an idea that does not fit neatly into one of the major publishing houses slots may find self publishing their only alternative. Just because it doesn't fit into a neat slot doesn't mean your book doesn't have great potential -- think about Diana Gabaldon and J.K. Rowling.

Control freaks should also consider self publishing. Once you sign your baby over to a major publisher then you lose control of your book. The publisher can slap a horrible or inappropriate cover on it, change its name, or even alter the main characters. Your name will go on the book but what is published may be drastically changed from your original creation--and not always for the better. Think it won't happen to you, or that you won't care as long as you get the royalty check, then think again. I can tell you that I still cringe whenever I have to claim a book I published in 1998. It's not the book that makes me want to crawl under a rock--but the cover and title the publisher slapped on it.

Money grubbers should also consider self publishing. While the independently wealthy may consider their art reward enough the rest of us need to eat and pay the mortgage (not to mention buy paper and pens) so money does matter. And of course, we want all our hard work to be rewarded. In our capitalist society that reward should be monetary. While self publishing may require you to put up some of your own money and traditional publishing will instead offer you an upfront payment, the final balance sheet will tell you a much different story. The initial advance from a traditional publisher will be small (unless you are Stephen King) and may be the only money you receive for your book for a long time -- and perhaps ever depending how your book sells. Any book royalties you receive will be for a small percentage and will be spread out over years to come as well as held ransom for book returns. The final indignity is that your book's sales depend greatly on the promotional effort your publisher puts into it. The ugly truth is that the publisher does not much care about your baby and will rarely put any extra money, manpower, or thought into how to promote your book. Most midlist and lowlist authors conduct (and foot the bill for) their own promotion. At least when you self publish you know you will be on your own and you can factor that into your budget.

If you are a real writer, a control freak, or a money grubber (or perhaps some combination) then you should consider self publishing your own book.

Deanna Mascle is a multi-published author, creative writing teacher, and freelance writer. If you are considering self publishing you should check out this free report "Self Publishing: Is It Right For You" at http://answersaboutwriting.com/selfpublishing/

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Book Publishing Contracts For Writers: What Should I Look Out For?

Dave, I just got a contract for a book from a publisher that I haven't worked with before. These long, tedious legal documents just befuddle me, however! Would you mind spinning through this and seeing what you think about the terms and clauses herein?

Here are my thoughts on this contract. Note up front that I'm not a lawyer and haven't received any particular training in contract interpretation. I do have an MBA and have spent lots of time with lawyers reading and rewriting contracts, however, so I think my advice will be helpful. Also, as a note to my faithful readers, I cannot review contracts for you without charging for my time, and frankly you'd be much better off asking a lawyer to help you out anyway. :-)

Rather than reproduce the entire contract, I'm going to just excerpt the highlights and follow them with my comments or thoughts. I am deliberately not talking about royalty percentage, advances, and other specific numbers because those aren't really appropriate to publish in a public forum of this nature.

.. there shall be no royalty payment on copies of the Book sold at less than Publisher's cost...

Determined by? Audited by? Actual number? These vague and hard-to-enforce clauses always make me anxious because it's built on trust without any ability for you to audit the books (with most publishers, at least). What if the book has a retail price of $19.99 and the publisher decides that $10 is their cost? Then any book sold at any sort of discount are 'less than the publisher's cost' and you don't see a dime.

NET RECEIPTS - For purposes of this Agreement, the Publisher's "Net Receipts" from sales shall mean net profit received by the Publisher from sales of the Book, less credits, returns and funds required for reprints.

Funds required for reprints is a printing / publisher cost of business, assuming that I'm understanding what's being referenced, and that cost shouldn't affect the author. This clause is bogus and should be eliminated.

All monies received for direct sales will be held for a period of 12 months to allow for credits and returns.

That's ridiculous. All my MBA "future value of money" instincts cry out on this one. If there's a 'hold on reserves' that floats from payment to payment, then que sera, sera, but having a 12 month lag is exploiting the system without any benefit to the author. I'd reject this.

TAXES - All payments made under the terms of this Agreement will be subject to USA Federal income tax withholding, as required by the United States Internal Revenue Code.

No, these are royalty payments and I'm pretty darn sure that the

publisher doesn't have to worry about taxes, just report them as

royalty income for the author to the IRS. If you read the http://www.irs.gov/instructions/i1099msc/ar02.html [http://

1099MISC filing

instructions on the IRS site, it explicitly says "include in this box gross

royalties (before reduction for fees, commissions, or expenses) paid by a publisher

directly to an author or literary agent or paid by a literary agent to an author."

The only instance where this 1099MISC might not be relevant is if the author is overseas, in which case the publisher needs to pay taxes on the amount that's being paid to the author. Not sure exactly how that'd be structured, but any halfway decent accountant should be able to shed some light on this topic.

ACCOUNT - All royalties and other income accruing to the Author under this Agreement shall be credited to an account maintained on the records of the Publisher (the "Royalty Account"), which Royalty Account will be charged for all amounts paid or payable to Author, including any advance payments, and for all amounts Author is charged, or obligated to pay, pursuant to this Agreement.

This smells of some sort of cross-accounting trick, somehow. I'd kick this out. Each book should have its own account or it should be explicitly stated that the account will not interweave credits and debits from different projects.

OVERPAYMENT - If any person comprising the Author has received an overpayment of money from the Publisher or has an outstanding monetary obligation to the Publisher, whether arising out of this Agreement or any other agreement with the Publisher, the Publisher may deduct the amount of such overpayment or outstanding obligation from the Royalty Account or any sums due to such person under this Agreement.

And there's the cross-accounting clause. Debt with one book should not affect credit (royalties) with another book. Absolutely reject this. Each book project should stand on its own two feet.

AUTHOR DISCOUNT - The Author shall also be entitled to purchase additional copies of the Book for the Author's personal use (self-promotion) at a discount of twenty-five percent (25%) off the suggested retail price of the Book, plus the cost of shipping and handling, while the Book remains in print.

That's ridiculous. The book should be available to the author at cost plus shipping, not at a discount rate that's less than the discount a typical bookstore sees! At least 45% off, if not 60% off the cover price. The publisher shouldn't try to exploit the author in this fashion. Theoretically, the author and publisher are partners on this publication, after all.

AUTHOR'S CORRECTIONS - Author alteration costs in excess of ten percent (10%) of the cost of the original composition, and any expenses incurred by the Publisher in the making of Illustrations replacing those originally submitted with the Book, shall be charged to the Royalty Account.

I think it's important to specify that it depending on why these changes are required. If there's a new version of the program and the screenshots need to be replaced, or if there's a major corporate reorganization or change in the laws or economy, that's not a cost the author should incur. It's just part of the risk of trying to capture in print an element of our fluid, ever-changing world.

COPYRIGHT - The Author hereby expressly grants, transfers, and assigns to the Publisher full and exclusive rights to the Book, including, without limitation, the copyright in the Book, all revisions thereof, and the right to prepare translations and other derivative works based upon the Book in all forms and languages...

And what payment does the author see if the publisher prepares a translation or derivative work? Curiously that isn't specified in the contract as far as I can see...

The Publisher will register copyright in the Book in the name of the Publisher in compliance with the United States Copyright Law. If the Publisher supplies artwork (including artwork for the cover of the Book), it may register copyright separately therein in a manner satisfactory to the Publisher.

Note that there are publishers who let the author retain copyright of the material while the publisher copyrights the overall work. A much nicer approach, in my opinion, much more respectful of the author.

Tip to new publishers: the author can retain copyright without infringing on your rights of publication or compilation copyright.

The Author represents and warrants that, except as previously disclosed to the Publisher in writing, the Author has not aided in the preparation of and is not under any obligation to any other publisher or person to prepare any publication directly competitive with the Book, or which could interfere with his or her performance of this Agreement or interfere with or impair the sale of the Book.

And here's the first glimmer of the non-compete clause. This is a no-go. You need to have it either MUCH more specific (like "author is under no obligation and shall not produce any other work that is specifically addressed at the introductory Bash shell script programming audience, to be marketed online through Amazon marketplace and other ebook venues") or strike this entirely.

The publisher doesn't own you, the author, they're just buying your words.

NON-COMPETITION - The Author agrees that so long as the Book remains in print, the Author will not participate in the preparation or publication of, or allow his or her name to be used in connection with, any work which might compete with the Book or the exercise of any rights granted Publisher hereunder. The Author may, however, draw on and refer to material contained in the Book in preparing articles for publication in professional journals, for teaching purposes, and for delivery at professional meetings and symposia, provided appropriate credit is given to the Publisher and the Book.

Which, of course, is unacceptable. If I write a book for this publisher called, say, Fifty Ways to Hack your Shell (Hey! That's a good title!) I would be prohibited from ever writing about shell programming or, ostensibly, any Unix topic that included discussion of shells because it *might* compete with the book.

This needs to either be much, much more tightly defined or removed entirely.

Actually, I hate all these non-compete clauses because they're where you can really see how most publishers stack the deck against the author, even though it should be a fair, equitable and professionally respectful relationship.

OUT-OF-PRINT PROVISIONS - If at any time, the Publisher determines that the demand for the Book is insufficient to warrant its continued publication, the Publisher may declare the Book out of print. In such event, the Author shall have the right to purchase the Publisher's stock of the Book, if any, at one-quarter (1/4) of the Publisher's established list price, but not below cost.

That's just daft on the part of the publisher. If it's out of print, then they have a warehouse problem and they should just liquidate the remaining books to the author even at just shipping costs. It'd be cheaper than having to pay for them to be destroyed...

If the Publisher declares the Book out of print, then upon the Author's written demand, the rights granted by the Author under this Agreement will revert to the Author...

I'm not sure that's consistent with copyright law. This is really why it's better to have the author retain copyright because then once the book goes out of print the material naturally falls back to the author anyway, without remembering to notify the publisher in writing.

I hope that this review has been helpful and informative. What you're willing to accept in a publishing contract is directly affected by why you are writing the book in the first place, so think through your motivations, the big picture, and your career before you decide exactly what you'll accept and what you'll insist must be removed. For the record, I have rejected contracts and lost writing gigs because of unacceptable clauses. I think it's worth it, but you, in my position, may not think so.

Again, just to reiterate, this is not offered as legal advice and I disclaim any responsibility for your acting upon anything I've said herein! :-)

Dave Taylor is author of sixteen technical books including the award winning, best selling Wicked Cool Shell Scripts and the popular titles Learning Unix for Mac OS X Panther and Creating Cool Web Sites. He also runs the popular and lively Ask Dave Taylor! Q&A Web site where he fields business and technical questions every day, including questions specifically about The Writing Business [http://www.askdavetaylor.com/%0D%0Acat_the_writing_business.html].

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What an Author Should Avoid in Print-on-Demand Publishing

At present, it is unclear which business model will prevail, traditional publishing or print-on-demand (POD). Each model has one sub-category. Traditional publishing says that presses will print a certain number of books up front--20,000 for a promising book by a new author to 250,000 copies for an established writer. The POD model does not print any books until they are paid for by the customer. The book is kept in digital form and distributed online. These two business models could not be more different from each other, even though they share the same industry, compete for the same authors, and create the exact same physical books. It is the distribution that has radically changed in recent years. It should be noted that traditional publishing has a deep-seated aversion to POD, which I will explain presently.

The first sub-category, for traditional publishing, is a more conservative version of the original model of printing a lot of books up front, which I call half-hearted publishing. Half-hearted publishing means a larger house will print only 5,000 copies of a book that they might have once printed 50,000 copies. The marketing budget is severely cut.

This quasi-publishing model is neither traditional publishing nor POD publishing, and it is a model that is counter-intuitive to an industry that, if anything, requires boldness and much risk-taking. Half-hearted traditional publishing has formed as a result of various pressures on the traditional publishing industry in recent years, such as: the recession; the rise of the Internet and robust online advertising; the rapid growth of POD publishing; and even things like dying newspapers (that take with them their networks of book reviews and its own distribution).

The sub-category for POD publishing is a much larger industry than the main category; indeed, the very notion of POD publishing is my own invention. If one accepts, then, that POD publishing exists until I can prove why, POD's sub-category is vanity publishing and self-publishing. The two terms, vanity publishing and self-publishing, are indistinguishable; both involve the author paying money up front to have his or her book published and then obtaining a certain number of copies of that book and selling them. Traditional publishers--the large presses like Random House or Farrar, Straus Giroux (Macmillan)--have come to despise POD publishing because in their minds it is associated with self-publishing, which is and always was loathed by traditional houses.

Self-publishing has been frowned upon by every part of the book industry, in fact, from academia to the customers themselves, despite the fact that many noted American authors (Stephen Crane, Edgar Allen Poe, and Walt Whitman) self-published their work-oftentimes successfully both in terms of sales and their books' legacies. Recently, with the digitization of society, it has become far easier to self-publish for authors. Thus, a vast self-publishing industry has evolved online that incorporates POD technology. There is an additional stigma from traditional houses at the idea of selling books directly to authors, which is what self-publishers do. It is unclear why that stigma exists.

World Audience is not a self-publisher; but why that is fact is open to debate. Is it because we do not charge our authors to publish their books? It is common practice for new, independent presses to charge their authors in some manner, to help offset the costs of a book's publication. Once a new press reaches a certain maturity as a business and has acquired enough capital, it is no longer necessary for it to charge its authors. So if this is a criteria defining a press that self-publishes authors, it is a flawed one.

Is it because World Audience has an editorial staff and only publishes books we want to publish, as opposed to any book, as self-publishing companies do? The point is it does not matter so long as the press can sustain and grow its business. POD technology is revolutionary and World Audience has embraced it, along with all things tech--whereas traditional publishers have rejected these things, and are suffering as a result. A little stigma can be a dangerous thing.

With POD technology, a book remains in print indefinitely, housed digitally on databases throughout the Internet. This means that the author and the publisher are linked and must work together to make the author's book successful, over time. With traditional publishing, once the initial print run was sold, author and publisher parted ways; perhaps, even immediately after the book's publication. The marketing was over in a matter of months. POD publishing is altogether different: the marketing of a book can continue for years. The POD publisher cannot be expected to do all the marketing in this kind of arrangement. It is up to the author to market his or her book. World Audience's authors, such as Gene Ayres (Hour of the Manatee ISBN: 978-1-935444-08-4), Dr. Jay Granat (Zone Tennis ISBN: 978-0-9820540-9-3), and Dr. Frank Romano (Storm Over Morocco, 3rd Ed. ISBN: 978-1935444251) are but three of World Audience's authors who have always understood that they must work hard to market their book.

These authors have devoted their energies to building Web sites and marketing their books online in myriad ways. However, one of World Audience's authors, Chyna--along with her photographer Emillio O--refused to accept that an author must market her book. Perhaps her refusal arises from her lengthy publication record with books and magazines that incorporate the traditional publishing methods I have explained. Regardless, I canceled Chyna's and Emillio O's book, Paper Doll ISBN: 978-1-935444-22-0. It would have been easy for a celebrity of Chyna's status to do signings, which she agreed to do but then reneged on her offer. In fact, as her publisher I was able to arrange signings for Chyna very easily. There are costs involved in keeping a book in print with POD. By canceling Paper Doll, I have set an example for other authors that in the current climate there is little room for error, and publishers cannot afford to tolerate lackadaisical authors who are uninterested in their own books. During a revolution, which is what this is, such actions are the equivalent of sabotage.

And given the new paradigm of POD publishing, canceling Chyna's book is a new precedent that I have set. It is almost unheard of that an author would not care about the success of her book; but Chyna has shown me that it is indeed possible. Additionally, given the networked nature of the Web, POD publishing is a linked business and each author must rely on the success of the other writers published by World Audience. Each book that World Audience publishes is a vital part of that network, and is a major risk and investment. By not doing her part to market her own book, Chyna has diminished the opportunities of the other authors in World Audience, and even the press itself. Clearly, it was a major mistake to publish Chyna's book and World Audience nearly did not survive as a result. Without her help in marketing her book, Paper Doll is selling very slowly. Although I have canceled Paper Doll, the procedure takes time, and it is possible to reinstate it, should the author change her mind and decide to contribute to her book's success, which is easily obtainable.

The business model of POD publishing demands that the author and publisher work together. The profit per copy sold is much higher than with traditional publishing and there are less people involved in the operation because it is so efficient and has little overhead. Fewer copies have to be sold to make a profit. However, because there are a lot of books in print today, selling even a few thousand copies of a title can be a daunting task. But selling those few thousand copies means that that particular book has reached a wide readership, relatively-speaking. And there are very few returns with POD publishing, which is not the case with traditional publishing. The reality is, at present, there are no more mega-selling books. None. And the concept of a typical book that is published by a major press that becomes a large hit and sells hundreds of thousands of copies--in the summer of 2009--is a fantasy.

In conclusion, it is vital for authors to recognize and understand the ways publishing is changing if they want their books to succeed. Why else would an author go to the trouble to create a book in the first place? World Audience is competently navigating a course through the chaos of the publishing industry, and even growing very rapidly as a result of our stewardship, determination, and resourcefulness. World Audience is able to win in this game by relying on its authors to market their books. If writers do not do their part, their books will not be successful on their own. And if a writer neglects her book, the damage caused by that action is much greater than perhaps perceived. It is as if a ship is navigating extremely rough waters and one of its seaman has fallen into the water and is being dragged by the ship, still clinging to a rope connected to the ship. The crew is unable to pull the seaman in because of the heavy waves of obstinacy, so this unproductive member of the team has become a drag, literally, on the ship and she must be cut from the team. That dead weight endangers the entire crew. And so the captain must take a big axe and cut the rope and the seaman will float out to sea, alone and gone.

M. Stefan Strozier lives in New York City. He is the founder and artistic director of La Muse Venale Acting Troupe. His plays, Guns, Shackles & Winter Coats, The Whales, The Tragedy of Abraham Lincoln, and The Green Game, were performed in lengthy runs, off-off and Off-Broadway, and in the Midtown International Theatre Festival. Additionally, he was written Belzac December Night (one-act; first of 8 plays about America), and La Revolucion (first of 3 5-act plays about the Mexican history), He has directed six plays and one staged reading of a musical, and produced twenty plays. His novels, short stories, poems, essays, plays, etcetera, are on his Web site: http://www.mstefanstrozier.org He has been published in literary journals (online and in print), magazines, and newspapers. He is the founder, CEO, and publisher of World Audience Publishers, and the editor-in-chief of audience Magazine.

This 3rd Edition of Storm Over Morocco, a true story, includes a new chapter about the author's childhood -- after fighting his sometimes violent father and struggling as a counselor for some of Northern California's most dangerous young criminals -- he turned to fighting for victims of world conflict by organizing interfaith peace projects in the Holy Land. The epilogue recounts a tense meeting in a West Bank refugee camp between the author and militant Palestinian Moslems to prepare for an interfaith peace march. Seeking a solution to conflict through interfaith peace, he set out for the Holy land from Paris in 1978. While traveling through Casablanca, Morocco, he was invited to study Islam in a mosque; it turned out to be controlled by an extremist Moslem sect which promptly imprisoned him. He was wrongly accused of being a Zionist spy. His search transformed into a desperate struggle for survival when he is accused of sabotaging the faith.

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