Hi Ham, John, Arlo, and all... Back in 1998, Bodvar Skutvik asked me if I thought it possible to put the old Lila Squad archives into some kind of coherent format. I told him: No. Absolutely not.
But we all know Bodvar... he is nothing if not persistent. He asked me again and again, I told him: No. Truthfully, I thought he was joking. There was no way. Has anyone taken a look at those old archives? What a mess! A few months later, Bodvar asked me once again. It so happened that my (seasonal) businesses were slow at the time and I had nothing more pressing to do so I finally agreed to take a stab at putting those old archives in order. Once I got started, I was hooked. It took six months but finally I had produced a first draft, which I loaded onto a website (that I taught myself to build). I thought my work was finished. I called my work LILA'S CHILD. Imagine my surprise when Bodvar wrote me a few months later to inform me that Robert Pirsig had found my website while browsing the web! And that he liked my work! Bodvar noted as an afterthought that Mr. Pirsig was making annotations on some of the posts in LILA'S CHILD. I wrote Bodvar back and asked him if he thought Mr. Pirsig might like to share those annotations. Bodvar told me no. He didn't think that was a good idea. So I dropped it. But boy, did I want a look at those annotations! I immediately began working on the first draft to improve it, make it better. I guess a couple three more months went by. And one day Bodvar wrote me to say that Mr. Pirsig had agreed to take a look at the updated LILA'S CHILD when it was ready and perhaps add some annotations. Like you, Ham, I did all the work myself. No editor. No graphic artist. No help. I admit it is rough. I self-published with AuthorHouse back in 2002. I didn't understand that somewhere in between the uploading of my copy to their's that a vast array of mistakes crept into the manuscript. God, what a mess. It took me a year to straighten it out. Anyway, I didn't do any of it for money. I did it to make things better. To improve. I did it because it was fun. I had the greatest time! I'd never been so intellectually challenged. It saddens me that my old friend Bodvar thinks so little of LILA'S CHILD. But that's neither here nor there. Others weren't impressed either. I don't care. A few people have found value there. And that pleases me. But again, that's neither here nor there. I didn't do the work for anyone other than myself. I saw something that needed doing and I did it. That's all. I've been planning for years to re-edit the book but it is such a chore to get back into it again I just don't know if I have the wherewithall. One day, maybe. Until then, enjoy, http://www.amazon.com/Lilas-Child-Inquiry-into-Quality/dp/1403356203/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1218343075&sr=8-1 Dan On Tue, Feb 23, 2010 at 3:22 PM, Ham Priday <[email protected]> wrote: > Arlo -- > > > [Ham, previously]: >> >> If monetary reward was my only incentive, I have failed miserably. >> Obviously, I have a personal interest in philosophy and a desire to >> share my thoughts with others. These are incentive enough for me. > > [Arlo]: >> >> Then why do you say that without monetary reward nothing of >> value would be made? Are you exempt from the lure of money >> that infects the masses? > > As usual, you are splitting hairs to win an argument, Arlo. What you > deprecate as "the lure of money" is nothing more than reciprocation for > one's work output. The point I tried to make to Gav was that the real value > of human labor is the workmanship of the product or quality of the service > we provide, not the dollar value we put on it. > > In a free-market economy, the value of goods and services is determined by > the price the customer is willing to pay. Market price is the measure by > which the producer sets his employees' salary levels, budgets his > manufacturing and distribution costs, and gages his profit share. That the > free market is the most efficient and benefical system for mass commerce is > demonstrated by its adoption thoughout the industrial world. > > In a barter (or auction) system, goods are sold to the highest bidder or > exchanged for other goods of comparable value to the seller. Bartering > still finds practical use in local farmer's market situations and certain > E-Bay transactions, but is not a feasible system for the commercial market > at large. > > Book marketing is a special situation in that the author trades on his/her > reputation, is subject to the policies and literary genre of the publisher, > and must meet the whims or fancies of the reading public. Non-fiction works > on esoteric topics like economy, sociology, and philosophy are generally > marketed as 'trade books'. As I had no creditable expertise (curriculum > vitae) as a writer or philosopher, I decided to self-publish my book. (For > the uninitiated, this means having to pay not only for the mechanical > production, but for every step in the marketing process--art and graphics, > distribution, promotion, buyers' lists, independent reviews, signing > presentations, etc.) > > Having limited means, I did this 'on the cheap', creating my own graphics, > doing my own editing, and foregoing several of the customary (but expensive) > steps. I'm still hoping to get the exposure of a "free book review", > especially one that targets academia and philosophy seekers, but so far have > been limited to the mailing list Xlibris has billed me for. If nothing > else, this venture into book publishing was a learning experience for me. > > Obviously, not all things of value are produced for money. As to your > specific question, my primary motivation was to have others consider (and > benefit personally from) a Philosophy of Essence that I've developed over a > half-century of inquiry and introspection. As a secondary goal, I had hoped > to recover at least the cost of my investment in this project. While this > is still possible, it will require considerably more intitiative on my part. > And I'd sooner discuss philosophy with people I know are interested than > spend my final years trying to market it. > > I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, Arlo, and thank you for your > interest in my new career as an "author". > > Cheers, > Ham > > > Moq_Discuss mailing list > Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. > http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org > Archives: > http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ > http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/ > Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
