Thursday, January 2, 2014

Today's Thoughts on… the Founding of the Homeplace (I)


Today's Thoughts on… 
the Founding of the Homeplace (I)


[This is a new Daily Theme I've adopted here as Author and Creator of The Homeplace Saga, beginning with the start of 2014. The intent here is to be able to "step back" and share what I see as useful thoughts about both process and product issues of the Saga components.]

On November 2, 2012, I posted the first of an ongoing series of Friday posts (one, two or three a month) beginning to share stories related to the Founding of the Homeplace from early 1833. These have generally been presented as 4-part serial presentations of a series of short stories (1833, 1838, 1843, 1848). [You can start at the link above, read each one, and read the next at a single click at the end - if not, please let me know! ;-)]

[Source: Currier & Ives, “Home in the wilderness,” c1870; Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov : accessed 31 Dec 2012)]

I have previously noted that these Founding Short Stories will eventually be compiled into the "next book in the series." - likely titled: "American Centennial at the Homeplace: the Founding of the Homeplace (1833-1876)." That will probably still take place, later in 2014, or early in 2015.

However, the NEWS today is that, rather that ending the Friday serial presentations in January, as I had earlier anticipated, the Friday serial presentations will be continued, and perhaps accelerated to an every Friday serial installment presentation.

Let's step back, for a moment, and consider the background of this decision. For some time now, I've been posting book excerpts on Monday and these serial presentations of Fridays. These, with reminder posts on social media (Facebook, Google+, sometimes Twitter), typically receive about 100 page views - several have exceeded 200, and some have exceeded 400. Free gets attention! Some of you are obviously reading what I write - even if not everyone, of course.

Contrast this with relying on "books" - either print or Kindle - for you folks to read my work. While "Back to the Homeplace" did sell several hundred print copies, and more on Kindle, the subsequent books, in the recent years of ebooks, have been read by very few (can't be read, if not bought!). Publishing, reading, … the whole industry… has changed dramatically.

THEREFORE, the decision to continue to publish the weekly stories of The Homeplace Saga.

All four books are still available in print and kindle. Please consider adding them to your collection… to get the FULL stories. Meanwhile, thanks for reading these posts.

This discussion will continue next week, in this spot…  ;-)


*****
"May each of us have a Homeplace to hold onto, if only in our minds."

Bill ;-)




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