Small Indy publisher needs your help

UPDATE 03-18-2023

Publishing Date: 05-09-2023

ISBN: 978-1-932211-25-2

Binding: Hardcover w/Jacket

Format: 6" X 9" X 0.881" (280 pp)

Advanced Reading Copies: Not Funded (Anticipated cost for printing & mailing - $500 - $1500 depending on GFM funding and availability)

Status: In Final Editing & Formatting

Distributor (Print and distribution): Ingram and Amazon

UPDATE 02-03-2023

Publishing Date: 03-15-2023

ISBN: 978-1-932211-25-2

Binding: Hardcover w/Jacket

Format: 6" X 9" X Spine TBD (360 pp)

Advanced Reading Copies: Not Funded

Status: In Formatting

In anticipation of filling out this section of my campaign description for myself and my company, I prepared a three-page monologue of my experiences in the publishing industry. Then I realized that there wasn’t much need to put out all the ‘gory’ details of a purpose in life that was lost in the quagmire. But some of us survive and learn from the experience; some, like me, thrive on the challenge. And, at 76 years of age, a challenge is very good!

Having fought the publishing ‘wars’ for over twenty-two years, I know how a new author feels when publishing their first novel. It is frustrating and aggravating to learn that it doesn’t matter how well a book is written nor how much research has gone into perfecting the story. And it certainly doesn’t help when folks who have read your manuscript ask you: “Why haven’t you published your book?” The first-time book author doesn’t have an answer and quickly moves on to the weather.

For that reason, I started The Lighthouse Press, LLC in 1999, starting with my novel While Tyers Sleeps… The advent of Xerox's print-on-demand technology (POD) made it possible to print multiple copies of a book at minimal up-front cost. For a small publisher, this was a God send. I printed 200 copies of my book and then tried submitting the copies to the booksellers, just like the majors! They never responded, and it never occurred to me that the booksellers, led by Barnes & Nobel, would consider POD as ‘vanity’ publishing and that was the end.

Ironically, I began to receive book submissions through my website on the internet from other authors in the same position, and my company grew from one book to over fifty by 26 different authors within four years. By most standards, I was a successful publisher, but that didn’t help me sell books. And, without book sales, there wasn’t any money for promotion and marketing, which is the foundation of success in today’s publishing world.

Hence the reason behind my GoFundMe campaign: Funding for promotion and marketing, book printing and storage should book orders (750 minimum for offset printing instead of POD). Additional funding is necessary for Advanced Reading Copies (ARCs) for distribution to reviewers and selected booksellers, including shipping costs. All funds will support the publication of When Death Becomes Convenient, and if any funds remain, they will help other active titles as presented on my website www.TheLighthousePress.com.

About the book:

Inspired by actual events, When Death Becomes Convenient is the story of a comatose patient, Tyler Rand. It is a tragedy of unexpected victims, not only the hospitalized but also doctors with reputations on the line, lawyers aligned with litigants, broadcast media enjoying the ratings of controversy and the family involved.

The real-world victims—from the 1980s through the early 2000s—endured the same torments; the prospects of indefinite life support, health and estate rights publicly argued on courthouse steps and the humiliating invasion of privacy while lives were being decided in courtrooms.

This novel revisits those days when right-to-life and right-to-die advocates waged media wars. It is an inside look at medical health when the rights of unconscious victims were a fledgling area of law. Each time, in the end, after the judiciary-imposed decisions and the media glare went dark, the public moved on to the next controversy. Ruined families were struggling with what many had characterized as the “convenience of death.”

But more than that, this novel takes us into the patient’s mind—before medical science realized such victims were silent prisoners inside bodies defying outward indications of awareness.

If it were you, what would you be thinking? Would you hope for the nearly impossible—however unlikely—or wish to die with dignity? What would your family do? Who would speak for you?

In this probing and profound exploration of private torment amid a public storm, we are left with little room for comfortable or unbiased opinions. Every once in a while fiction transcends boundaries and speaks to us so fundamentally that we change our perceptions and sometimes our lives.

At this point, a clarification is needed: When Death Becomes Convenient is based on my original While Tyler Sleeps… published in 1999. The original has been edited and revised to add more context to the story. I plan to promote and market my work, but I need your financial support to make this happen.

Thank you for reading, and I look forward to your contribution to my campaign!