We've Moved!

Please come visit our Why Healthcare Matters Blog in its new location. We'll be posting regularly as we launch our book Why Healthcare Matters and get deeper into the debate about the national healthcare crisis. We're working with employers to help them take better control over the rising costs and declining outcomes from our healthcare system. We're providing training on Healthcare Consumerism and Communications Planning and, speaking at industry and corporate functions and consulting with firms on how best to motivate behavior change by encouraging greater personal responsibility for their own health.

Why Healthcare Matters nears release date

After writing through the long summer and early fall of 2007, Why Healthcare Matters was delivered to HRD Press for their review and editorial eyes. That was a longer and more ardous process than expected. Manuscript revisions and rewrites took the winter and spring, and now the last refinements are just about in place. The publisher expects the book to be out in September. In conjunction with the book's launch, a new blog will be launched soon. In related news, the barge was featured in the NY Times last month (much better pic!) in their article about the community in which we live.

Finally, writing space!

Well, it was a long time coming, but then it happened fast. Just after my past post, we moved from our small NYC apartment to this house barge in a marina! This photo is the "before" picture, and plenty of time, effort and $$ have gone into the "after" pic. But after a full summer of fixing it up (well my wife coordinated just about all of it!), there is now an office fully equipped and ready for writing (that's the window in the lower right).

With everything set in that regard, I've also decided to revisit the agent route. There's just too much that can go amiss with self-publishing. So the proposal is back on the table, revisions are underway, and the plan is to begin sending query letters to agents by early next month. The overall timeline has definitely shifted a bit, but it has also allowed the book to grow and mature. Events continue to feed the main themes and storyline, and the content more viable than ever.

Thank you, Dan Poyntner!

I must have subscribed to his newsletter many months ago, and like so many others that I once thought important to keep up with, just scan or delete. But last Friday afternoon, I took a closer look at the newsletter from Dan Poynter http://ParaPub.com. Clicking through to his site, I found a free info kit about self-publishing, and in it some self-promotion for his self-published book, Writing Nonfiction. Saturday morning, I walked down to the Lincoln Center Barnes & Noble and picked up a copy. It's a simple read with a lot of really good ideas. I had also realized that I already own his Book Publishing Calendar, so all this has put me on the track to go ahead and take the steps needed to write the book first. Waiting for an agent to appear is (for now) a waste of precious time. I simply need to have the organizational skills, motivation and plan to go ahead and write. Dan provides a good roadmap. I already have a draft cover and three-ring binder going (two of his first "musts"). Now to organize the content and list out the chapters. I'll post the TOC once the draft is done.

Hello Agents?

A few months ago, I drafted up a concise and cogent query letter and sent it off to my "pre-vetted" list of literary agents, this at the recommendation of all the "Book Proposal Doctors." My list came from standing in Barnes & Noble on the Upper West Side and reading through the "Acknowlegements" sections of books I felt were similar (e.g. "complementary") enough to entice the agent for that book to represent mine. I sent over 25 letters, mostly by e-mail, though others by snail mail as their protocol required. Many wrote back to say thanks but no thanks,. Some did say they were interested, and I sent off my proposal (revision #66) to each of them. No bites though. I understand that rejection is part of the process, but I just wonder if it is a sign that I need to go ahead and write the book and get it out into the market, rather than follow the "process" that is expected of authors that expect to follow the traditional route. Glad to take on suggestions here about the importance (or not) of using an agent and a publishing house to get a book to market.

Publisher or profit?

They told me the only good way to publish a book was to write a great proposal, get a savvy agent and approach the best publishers in the industry. Then the others said that publishers retain most of the revenue, don't do a thing to help you with the writing and leave you to do your own promotion.

So, after a couple years of straddling the fence about which way to go with the marketing of Why Healthcare Matters, it's clearly time to just get on with the writing of the book. I haven't seen Al Gore's movie http://www.climatecrisis.net or read his book, but I like that he's been able to use his knowledge and platform to speak his mind about global warming. I really see the power in that. Healthcare was supposed to be the issue in the 2004 presidential campaign until terrorism, Iraq and swift boats were seen by consultants as more relevant issues to the populace. Healthcare is difficult to champion as a politician. It's too complex. The Clintons tried to take it on early in their presidency and it nearly choked them. But for 2008, if we're past the immigration issue, healthcare should be domestic Topic A.

Why Healthcare Matters should be out by the end of 2007, and it can hopefully can fuel the political agenda during the next presidential campaign.