Civil War books and authors

Our friends Dave and Carol Moore live in a lovely home on Herr’s Ridge in Gettysburg. Dave’s father was a professor at Gettysburg College for many years, and Dave grew up in Gettysburg. When Dave finished his residency (he’s a family practice physician), he and his wife Carol decided to settle in Dave’s home town.

We often use Dave and Carol’s home as a our base of operations when we’re in Gettysburg, and they’re always extremely generous with us. J.D. and Mike Nugent will be staying there this weekend when we’re all in Gettysburg, and we will use it as our base of operations once more. Consequently, J.D. had Ted Savas ship books to Dave’s house, and Dave generously agreed to house them for us. Each of us bought 100 copies, plus we get our authors’ copies. Then, Ted had lots of orders from book vendors and the like, so 800 copies of One Continuous Fight: The Retreat from Gettysburg and the Pursuit of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, July 4-14, 1863 were delivered to Dave’s house. That’s 67 boxes of books, folks, which filled an entire UPS truck. Carol had to help the UPS guy unload the truck, because the driver couldn’t handle it all himself. Needless to say, they pretty much take up a whole bay of the garage.

Dave called me this evening to inform me that his 16-year-old daughter Becky just got her driver’s license, and that we created some serious problems for Becky. Dave gave Becky permission to drive home from the test, and then suggested that she practice pulling the car in and out of the driveway. Dave’s driveway’s got an odd angle to it, and it’s difficult to maneuver under the best of circumstances, and because of the books in the garage, the brand-new driver had some serious problems with maneuvering the car in the driveway and was completely unable to pull the car into the garage itself because there were too many boxes of books there to permit access. Too funny.

Thanks, Dave and Carol. We appreciate it. And Becky, sorry about the problems with maneuvering. The good news is that they will be gone by this time next week. 🙂

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Sarah Keeney, the marketing director at Savas-Beatie, informed us today that the completed copies of One Continuous Fight: The Retreat from Gettysburg and the Pursuit of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, July 4-14, 1863 will ship from the printer tomorrow, right on schedule. Actually seeing a copy of the finished book is only a few days away…..

UPDATE, 10:00 PM: J.D. just called. He spoke to Ted Savas a little while ago–Ted called him on his way into an Iron Maiden concert, of all things. The books shipped today, not tomorrow, and Ted told J.D. that the entire first printing has already been sold. With Plenty of Blame to Go Around: Jeb Stuart’s Controversial Ride to Gettysburg, it took two weeks for the first printing to sell out. This first printing was significantly larger than the one for Plenty of Blame, and it sold out before the books even shipped from the printer.

Geez, we might actually make a few bucks on this one…..

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Time for a rant. It’s been a while since the last one.

Google Book Search can be an extremely valuable resource. However, its usefulness can be severely limited by a practice that I REALLY don’t understand. More on that in a moment.

I remain as vehemently opposed to the concept of Google scanning works that are still covered by copyright as I have ever been. The flagrant disregard of intellectual property rights offends me deeply, and I will never support that aspect of the Google problem.

At the same time, the database of public domain materials is tremendously useful. I’ve made very extensive use of it, and I appreciate it. However, there is an aspect of the program that I just don’t get. There are a number of scanned works that I’ve encountered that can be looked at, but you can’t print them out, and you also cannot download them to your computer. They’re all in the public domain, so I cannot begin to understand what the rationale might be for such a moronic practice. Obviously, the library that owns the book has placed this idiotic restriction on the use of the material, and it infuriates me to no end. Where the book is in the public domain, there simply is NO justification for such an idiotic policy.

It’s akin to dangling a bottle of whiskey in front of an alcoholic and then expecting that alcoholic to not take a drink from that bottle. There is no justification for teasing a researcher like that. It leaves the work almost useless, and I’ve had just about enough of it.

Sorry for the rant, but I needed to get that off my chest.

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Here I am, once again engaging in acts of shameless self-promotion…..

I’m pleased to announce the launch of my other new web site, ericwittenberg.com. Please stop by, check it out, and let me know what you think. Thanks for your time, and thanks also for your indulgence of my efforts at self-promotion.

The good news is that there’s only one more of these self-promoting posts left to go….

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J. D., Mike, and I are pleased to announce the launch of our new website for the promotion and sale of our new book, One Continuous Fight: The Retreat from Gettysburg and the Pursuit of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, July 4-14, 1863. The book is due out in about two weeks. Please check out the website.

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J. D. Petruzzi’s got a great post over on his blog that easily could have been (and probably should have been) the eighth post in my Things I Wish I Knew Then But Know Now series of posts that ended yesterday. Here’s the post in its entirety:

The realities of writing
Buddy Eric Wittenberg has made a very revealing series of posts over the past couple of weeks entitled “Things I Wish I Knew Then But Know Now” about the realities (oftentimes harsh realities) of writing about the Civil War. His posts could apply equally as well to any type of historical writing. There are 7 installments to Eric’s series and the first one is here.

His posts should be required reading for anyone considering, or starting out, writing about Civil War subjects. Eric’s insights may not prevent every novice writer from making certain mistakes or experiencing particular common pitfalls, but at least one would realize they’d been warned. Eric’s insights weren’t meant to turn any promising authors off from pursuing their dreams, but instead to make them aware of the realities of the nuts and bolts of the researching, costs, writing, publishing, and marketing aspects.

In just thinking about the various well-reasoned subjects that Eric posted about, I also thought of another this morning: Be prepared for criticism of your work. You gotta have a thick skin, folks. Criticism, both good and bad, of your work will only make you better at your researching, thinking, and writing. If you’re willing to put your work out there in print in front of thousands of people, you have to be prepared to take some heat. Some of it will be useful, others not. Like some authors, some readers have an agenda – and they won’t like your interpretations. We all get tomatoes thrown at us, and you just have to learn to duck and smile. But much of the criticism you receive will be very helpful – it will point out weaknesses in your research and you’ll learn a good lesson from it.

Let’s face it – regarding Civil War history, there are many things that are hard and fast facts. Many other things are open to interpretation. And sometimes things in each category can move back and forth – for instance, if some primary source comes to light for the first time and modifies something we previously thought was hard and fast. You have to learn that a subject you write about may be looked at differently down the road. Be able to adjust to that.

Previously, I’d mentioned that some authors/historians seem to have an “agenda.” We all know some whom we call, for lack of a better modifier, “contrarians.” Some seem to be out to change the historical record no matter what that takes – ignoring some evidence while reinterpreting other evidence. For some reason, they’re not happy that Gen. Joe Schmo’s cavalry charge happened in a particular place. Or that a particular unit was in a certain area of a battlefield for a rather mundane reason – they have to make their location a grandiose part of a much larger plan, attempting to reinterpret an entire battle. No matter that there’s no evidence for these reinterpretations, and that existing evidence, in fact, refutes their new “theories.” If you’re going to stick your neck out and attempt to change what historians feel to be established fact, then be prepared to take the heat in a mature way and back your interpretations with evidence. If you’re proven right, you will be deservedly lauded. If not, you have to roll with it.

So, when you get published (whether it be articles, books, or contributory material) you become somewhat of a public figure. As in politics, you will get commentary, praise, and criticism from all sides. Be prepared for it, and deal with it. Learn from it. Grow from it. Stand your ground when necessary and warranted, and be willing to adjust when necessary and warranted. Let’s face it, all of us authors will blow it from time to time – we will screw up the narration of an event. We’ll put the wrong person in the wrong place. We will map something incorrectly. We’ll put the wrong date on something. If we keep in mind that we weren’t “there,” and that everything we study and write about is based on the evidence that’s out there, we’ll be able to take shots from readers who, in many cases, may know more about something than we ourselves do.

For one more angle, I would also like to commend a couple of fantastic posts by my publisher, Ted Savas, on his personal blog. Recently he’s been posting about the “view” from the publisher’s angle, and his posts go hand in hand with Eric’s eye-opening series. See the first by Ted here, and the second here. Just as there are many myths about authors and writers, there are many misinterpetations when it comes to publishers. Ted’s very insightful posts will educate all of us about what publishers must deal with in today’s marketplace and the ever-changing demands of the consumer.

In the end, if you’re a budding author of any genre, don’t let any of what I, Eric, Ted, or others have to say turn you away from it. Write. Do it. And love it. Giving birth to a book is like putting breath into a child. You’ll likely never see your investments back, you’ll get criticism, praise, and you’ll be constantly frustrated.

And you will love and treasure every moment of it. Simply seeing my wife and family smile when one of my articles or books comes out puts a burst of wind into my sails, and I can’t wait to sink my money and time into the next project and do it all over again.

You’ll see. So stay with it.

Precisely. Well said, J.D.

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I sincerely hope that this series of posts has shed some light on the issues that those of us who write Civil War history face. First, and foremost, I wanted to share my experiences with those of you who read this blog who are either working on, or are considering, your first book on the Civil War, so that you can gain insight from my ten years’ experience working in the arena. The lessons related here were hard-learned, and if you can gain something from then, I’m glad I undertook the project.

Second, for those of you who are consumers of Civil War history but have no interest in writing something of your own, I hope you gained some insight into the struggles that we all face in an ever-changing marketplace. Most importantly, I hope you now understand that unless we’re fortunate enough to teach Civil War history at a college or university, it’s all but impossible for us to make a living doing this, meaning that it is a labor of love, because we surely don’t get wealthy writing these books.

Third, I hope that those of you who’ve read this series now have a better understanding of precisely what goes into the publication process. Like politics and making sausage, it’s not a pretty thing and is probably best viewed on an empty stomach.

I also want to thank my fellow Civil War authors who contributed to the comments to the various posts in this series. Your insights and comments only add value to the insights for the readers. Thanks for taking the time to do so.

Finally, and as always, I want to thank my readers for indulging this series.

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The Process of Researching Your Book Will Cost Much More Than You Expect, So Plan Accordingly. In this, the final post of the series, I will address something that J. D. suggested in a comment to the last post. I actually had planned on ending the series with this particular subject, so J.D. beat me to the punch. Ah, well.

J.D. is absolutely correct about the costs associated with researching and writing one of these books. Let me very blunt about this. I’m self-employed. If I don’t work, I don’t get paid. It’s really as simple as that. Folks pay me in excess of $200 for my time, so it has to be worth my while to pry myself out of the office.

I also live far from places like the Library of Congress, National Archives, or even the Army history center in Carlisle, PA. We’re looking at a full day of driving each direction to get there, plus lodging costs.

The truth is that it’s cheaper for me to pay someone to do a lot of the legwork for me, which then permits me to bill hours here at the office. However, those folks expect to be paid for their time and effort, just as I do. Plus, there are aspects of the research that I do myself, and given my belief that one cannot properly write about these battles without having a solid grasp of how terrain impacted the action, I spend significant amounts of time on the ground learning the terrain. That’s not only time away from the office, it’s travel cost.

Finally, I buy a lot of books when doing my research. I prefer to have the books and not photocopies, so it means that I can spend significant sums to gather research material. Fortunately, a lot of the regimental histories are now available by reprint, or even better, can be downloaded from sites like Google’s book search site, which saves cost. Even for the downloads, you still have paper and toner costs associated with obtaining the materials, not to mention the time spent doing the searching.

There’s simply no way around it: typically, I spend more on doing the research for my books than I ever make in royalties. If you want proof positive that what I do is a labor of love and not necessarily done for a profit motive, that last statement should be all you need.

My advice to you is to keep in mind that you’re going to spend a lot of money researching your book, and that it’s probably going to be more than you think. Plan accordingly.

Tomorrow, I will do a quick wrap-up of this series, which I hope has been helpful to you.

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Your Book Will Cost You More Than You Expect, So Plan for It. There are lots of hidden costs associated with the process of publishing a book. As just one example, some publishers insist that the preparation of the book’s index is the author’s responsibility. If you’re like me and don’t have the time, patience, attention span, or inclination to do an index, you will be expected to pay someone else to do it. To be completely and entirely candid about it, there are fews things in the world that piss me off more than being expected to pay for the preparation of an index. I’ve always viewed that as the publisher’s responsibility, since it’s part of the process of preparing the book for publication, and with the software that’s presently available for book layout and design, it’s become quite easy to do. But, I’ve had publishers insist on charging me for the privilege of preparing an index, and it’s something that I really don’t appreciate.

Another hidden and unexpected cost is the cost of maps and illustrations. Cartography, in particular, can be very expensive. I am aware of one popular cartographer that demands $200 per map, which I won’t pay. Most are about $50 per map, and some go as high as $100 per map. I am a firm believer that no book can have enough maps, so you’ve got to be prepared to pay the costs associated with map preparation unless you have the skills to draw them yourself, which I do not.

Finally, there can be costs associated with getting permission to use illustrations. This is another thing that angers me. The illustrations are, almost without fail, in the public domain, so it escapes me how an entity can charge to use something that’s in the public domain. However, it’s probably wise to err on the side of safety and pay the requested fees to avoid trouble.

So, the upshot is to be prepared for costs and expenses associated with the preparation of your book that you never anticipated.

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Everyone Needs an Editor. Yes, Even You. “There are two kinds of editors, those who correct your copy and those who say it’s wonderful,” wrote the eminent political historian, Theodore H. White. He was absolutely correct.

Everyone needs an editor. There’s not a writer alive who doesn’t. That means you, and it likewise means me, too. I will be the first to admit that editors make my work better. A good editor can make a good work a great one, and a decent one a good one. One prominent book editor summed up the role of the editor quite nicely. “I see my [editorial] role as helping the writer to realize he or her intention. I never want to impose any other goal on the writer, and I never want the book to be mine,” she wrote. A good editor can help you realize your vision even when you’ve reached the point where you just don’t see the problems with your manuscript any more. And I guarantee you that every writer reaches that point sooner or later. Likewise, a good editor’s work is transparent to anyone but you as the author–the reading public should never be able to tell where your work ends and the editor’s work begins.

In a perfect world, author and editor form a seamless team. Both share a common vision for the work, and both are dedicated to making it the best work possible. There has to be chemistry between the author and the editor, or the project will be in serious trouble. On one of my projects with Potomac Books, they assigned a copy editor that claimed to be knowledgeable about the Civil War, but proved not to be. I had to educate him, and we never developed a chemistry between us. Before long, I was responding to each of his inquiries with a surly, grouchy response. It was an awful experience, and I told the publisher that if this guy ever came near one of my projects again, I would pull the project from Potomac Books and take it elsewhere. And I was as serious as a heart attack when I said that. Fortunately, they realized that I was serious, and he came nowhere near the next book that I did with Potomac.

Here’s another tip. While the author has the ultimate say, the editor usually isn’t making suggestions about things just for their amusement or good health. Take those suggestions seriously; they’re offered for the betterment of your project. With the notable exception of the idiot referenced in the last paragraph, I rarely veto the suggestions of my editors for just that reason. I have found that they rarely steer you wrong.

However, as I said in the last post, you’ve got to set your ego aside when you deal with an editor. You cannot get offended by their constructive criticisms, and you likewise cannot allow your ego to cause you to dig your heels in and disregard a good suggestion of your editor just because you’ve got your boxers in a bunch over something that the editor said. You just can’t do that.

The editor’s role is crucial, and a good one can make or break your book. Keep that in mind when you deal with your editor, or be prepared to suffer the consequences.

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