I took an unpaid leave of absence from my teaching position in 1985-86 to write the book, which I called the kids' almanac. I found a Writer's Digest book called How to Write a Book Proposal by Michael Larsen. I followed its guidelines and submitted the proposal to a major publisher in the fall of 1985. Within a few weeks, I received a call from a vice president in the reference division of that company. He said he was very impressed by my plan and would like to have it ready for the American Booksellers Association convention in May of 1987. As any aspiring author can imagine, I was thrilled! He said he'd call back soon and discouraged me from doing too much more work on the project until we could firm up a contract.

This began week after week of delay as my precious year of unpaid leave slipped by. I faithfully waited by the phone and accepted the many reasons given for why things were moving so slowly. There were always encouraging comments when I did speak to anyone. There had been a very positive reaction from the school division, I was told April 4. The marketing people in the trade division were quite favorable. The proposal would soon be presented to the publishing committee and a contract would be forthcoming. Everyone at the company was very impressed with the quality of my work. I would be given an advance and air passage to the company headquarters to discuss this with the editor and team assigned. And so on, and on, and on. The delays came a few weeks at a time until I had no choice but to go back to the classroom. On October 28, I was told that two possible editors had been selected for the project and things were in the final stages. It wasn't until December 1, 1986, a full year after I submitted the proposal, that I received final word that the project had been rejected.

This process left me exhausted and discouraged. I had been completely out of control. That Christmas I sent copies of the proposal to several other publishers. I got a few calls back, but no real sparks of interest. Things were at a standstill.

After a year back in the classroom, I took another year's unpaid leave to travel. I needed time to think about what to do next. In ways, I wanted to give up on the book idea, but I couldn't. An idea had been conceived and had taken on a life of its own. I knew I would regret it if I didn't follow through in some way.

In Tanzania, we teamed up with an Australian couple to rent a Landrover and driver for a trip to the Ngorongoro Crater. During that 4-day trip I first heard the term "desktop publishing." I didn't own a computer at the time. But Barry from Australia knew a lot about computers and suggested that I could publish the book myself.

When I returned to Minneapolis, I started to research self-publishing and desktop publishing. At that time, Apple Computers were the leaders in desktop publishing. Even IBM fans admitted it. Back in Alaska, I bought a MacIntosh SE and began taking computer classes. I gradually invested in software: Microsoft Word, Aldus Pagemaker, Adobe Illustrator. I had a strong desire to complete the book, but it was impossible to get much done while teaching. In the summer of 1989, I worked long and hard, spending many gorgeous days inside my little Quonset hut working. My enthusiasm kept buoyed me up! I taught again in 1989-1990 and applied for a third unpaid leave in 1990-91 to complete the book and get it into print. I finally got everything done and sent the book to the printer on December 17, 1990. We left for a trip to Mexico the next day. We already had several thousands of dollars in presales. En route to Mexico, I stopped for a consultation with Marilyn Ross, author of several books on self-publishing. She urged me to quickly send drafts to major national reviewers. I did, from Tucson, and the two reviews that generated brought in tens of thousands of dollars worth of orders over the next few years.

Part of me always hoped that I could prove with success that I had marketable ideas, and that an established publisher would eventually take over the business side of things. I have never been interested in marketing, but without some marketing and promotion people can't know what's available. After seeing standard author contracts and hearing the stories of many published authors about troubles with their publishers, however, I am glad that first publisher rejected the book. Things could well have gotten even worse once a contract was signed.

When people ask me how to get their books published, I say self-publish. For one thing, your chances of even getting as far as I did with a large publisher are abysmally small. Most do not even review unsolicited manuscripts. They are simply too busy. Even if a publisher does accept and publish your book, the chances of you making any money after the advance are abysmally small. I once read that of every five books printed by the major publishers, two break even and two don't even earn back the advance. Only one of five is profitable. That statistic may not be accurate, but if your book does not move off bookstore shelves quickly, it will be returned to make room for more profitable books. Money drives the business.

These days, there are many more options than I had in 1985, including publishing ideas on a web site like this. For me, the joy of publishing is sharing ideas that are of benefit to others. The internet has made it possible for me to share lots of ideas that wouldn't merit a whole book. Digital copying makes it possible to get just a few books printed at a time, according to demand. I encourage aspiring authors to check out all the possibilities before committing too much time, money, or energy. Make a plan and go for it!