After 10 years, my book Leaving Cleveland is off to the publishers Boulder Point Publishing LLC. I can’t express the joy and relief I feel of accomplishing one of my life goals. As I had state almost 10 years ago, it was a story I had to tell that has been gnawing at me for a long time. I am so grateful for all the support from family and friends to create this book.
What’s next? I wait from the publisher to get back the revised cover for approval. Then I will receive the book and check for any changes that need to be made. Once that is all complete the book will be printed in hardback; paperback and digital for e-books and sold around the world wherever you can buy books.
I am going to make this short and open a bottle of champaign but please subscribe so you can receive the latest update, be entered into giveaways and excerpts from this book.
I wanted to share my exciting news that my book Leaving Cleveland is off the final Proof Reader. What does that mean? It is the first step to publishing my book. If there aren’t any major issues I should get the copy back mid January and will send the corrected manuscript and art work/cover to the printer.
Of course there are many potential setbacks to delay the final printing but as it stands the final book should be printed and out in the market by March. I wanted to give a big should out to Saudamini Siegrist for doing the final edit and really making this book shine. Fortunately I have a patient nature and it really helped moving this project along. It always takes longer than you think but my mantra has has always been ” make this the best possible book regardless of the time it takes to complete.”
The First Step to Publishing a Book:
Leaving Cleveland Proofreading
Congratulations on taking the first step on your publishing journey. Our editing team is now working on your supplied files. If we have any questions we’ll contact you. Otherwise we’ll send you an email in 10-12 business days alerting you that your editing project is complete and that your edited files are available for download in your BookBaby account
As I had mentioned in the past book cover is not final and once the proof reading is complete I will send my art work to professional designers to create the book cover and design the book. My next post will be the actual book cover. So please subscribe and share.
This is an excerpt of Chapter 21 and to set it up: Izzy is on one of her ” lost weekend” episodes and can not be found. The publisher Jahnie, of the magazine Vinyl, is freaking out since he went out of his way to convince Dustin Hoffman to be photographed for the cover of the magazine by Izzy. Tensions are mounting for Tiny; Sam and Jahnie since Izzy is not returning her calls and Hoffman and his entourage are on their way to the studio. Izzy finally makes an appearance and declares to Sam that she does not feel like taking any photos today and tell him to call off the shoot with Hoffman, but it is too late …..
Chapter 21
Dustin Pays a Visit
“Good morning, Tiny. Have a good weekend?”
“Not bad. Went to CBGB’s and saw this band called Blondie. The lead singer was smokin’.”
“Sorry I missed it. So, what’s happening this week? Any traveling?”
“Izzy left a note for you that she wanted you to start pulling out these images from her archive and taking them to the lab to make 8” x 10” work prints.”
Tiny handed me a sheet of paper with the names of famous people
Izzy had photographed.
“What’s this about and anyway shouldn’t you be on it?” I said, looking at the list.
“She is putting together a book and I have better things to do.” Tiny turned away and stared at the calendar on her desk. “She does have a big a shoot in the studio on
Friday for Vinyl and wants to have these images printed up by tomorrow. So, get busy.”
“Are you going to tell me who is coming by this Friday, or am I going to have to guess?” I tried to see what was written on the calendar. Tiny looked up at me. “Dustin Hoffman.”
“Seriously?” I said.
“Seriously,” she said. “He’s between films and Jahnie met him at a party last week and someone convinced him to have his portrait taken by Izzy,”
“Benjamin from The Graduate for fuck’s sake! Great movie!”
“Personally, my favorite was Kramer vs. Kramer. Nailed the divorced dad and I should know.”
“OK,” I said. “I’ll track down these chromes and get prints made. Is Izzy coming in today?”
“Nope. Not till tomorrow. She’s off on one her lost weekends. Probably see her on the side of some milk carton one day.” Tiny let out an unexpected snort.
Izzy didn’t show up till Wednesday afternoon and Tiny was not happy. The phone never stopped ringing. Jahnie was freaking out, wondering what had happened to Izzy. He was responsible for getting Hoffman to the studio that Friday and according to Tiny was having doubts if that was a good idea.
Izzy entered the studio as if her absence was never noticed. As soon as she entered Tiny jumped out of her seat. “Where the fuck have you been? Janie’s been calling for the last two days!”
The cover may change again when I had it over to a professional designer:)
Fall is usually the month of transition and this blog is no exception. I will streamlining my blogs to focus on my book Leaving Cleveland, out in March or 2023.
I am in the research phase but know that I will be changing the link to this blog to just Leaving Cleveland. For those who are subscribing be on the look out for that change so that you do not miss out on updates for the book.
This is a short blog but I have been asked ” why is your publication date March 14th ( presale on January 14th) ? March 14th marks the birthday of my mother-in-law Ann Siegrist who passed away in 2014 at the age 89. She was a voracious reader, a kind person and made the best pies ever.
The joy of self-publishing is I get to call the shots and have control over the final publication. It also means I am responsible for everything. As a freelance for over 40 years you get use to that pressure. Finally I have been tweaking the cover and the last version is what you see here. That said once I hand off my book to the printer/designer…it may change again…but for now I like it….
Thanks for your time and please share and subscribe ….
“Enry the Eighth ” photo by Johnny Strand the Photo Man. 1981
Exclusive Content:
It appears I don’t throw anything away. When I was writing Leaving Cleveland, I went through my old polaroids of people who I photographed before handing the camera with film to the photographers I was assisting. The above image is the actual polaroid from the Henry the Eight Shoot Eats Ice Cream, taken in 1981….that is 41 years ago!!!!!
In the book, the protagonist, Sam, really begins his photo assisting career with ” Johnny Strand the Photo Man” a high end commercial photographer who smokes a lot of pot.
In Chapter 7 I”m ‘Enry the Eighth I Am, Johnny business is tanking and is trying to figure out how to turn it around. Sam is about to lose his job, which would be the end of the story but, Jenny ( Johnny’s photo rep) tells Johnny if he can come up with a great test image of food, she may be able to snag the Burger King account ….the Burger King morphs into King Henry the 8th eating ice cream, iconic.
Reality Check: For those unfamiliar with the freelance life of a photographer, it is a life of peaks and valleys. Never knowing where and when the next job is coming wondering how you are going to pay the fixed expenses. In the commercial photography world the expenses are high and so are the rewards. The trick is to string enough jobs together to stay afloat…It is not a career for those with ” thin skin.”
Excerpt from Chapter Seven from book Leaving Cleveland out in the world March 2023.
Everything Johnny said about the job proved true. Long hours, demanding clients, and a lot of unwarranted despair. My day started at 8. Johnny would walk in at 8:30 with blood shot eyes, smelling of Jasmine, humming some Reggae tune and looking very happy. By lunchtime his glow was gone and in need of replenishment. Our lunch orders went out at noon to the deli downstairs. This was when Johnny absented himself, to reappear an hour later just as the sandwiches arrived, his glow back. That’s when Jenny, his rep, would arrive and join us and we’d sit as a team around the oak table and eat.
“Hey Johnny, how’s it going?” Jenny would ask. She was slender, mousy brown hair, a beauty mark on her right cheek and always dressed in a tight-fitting button-down shirt tucked into a long black skirt, which highlighted her narrow waist. She’d have on her signature scarf, always very colorful, meticulously tied around her neck. She was from Patterson, New Jersey, and had a thick Jersey accent.
On my first day at the oak table Johnny asked her, “Any news about the Burger
King account?”
She smiled and said, “It’s between you and Tom Brody, but the art buyer said she liked the fact that you shoot other things besides food. I think you need to set up a test shoot of something with food that I can take over to her by the end of the week.”
“Like what?” Johnny responded, his mellowness unmellowing.
“I don’t know. You’re the creative. You come up with something,” Jenny said.
Johnny put his head down on the table like a child taking an afternoon nap in school. For five minutes we all just stared at him. Suddenly he raised his right hand with his forefinger pointing to the ceiling.
“Let’s photograph Henry the Eighth eating ice cream.”
“Genius!” Jenny exclaimed. “That will combine your talent with people and food.
Who can we get to play Henry?”
“Get the Funny Face catalog,” Johnny commanded. “They owe us a favor and I think there are few models there that will want to do this.”
Jenny pulled out the catalog and Johnny flipped through its pages. After about ten minutes he slammed his fingers on a headshot and declared, “Tom Lang, he’s perfect— belly, beard, and all. I will get Ong to style it. Call Barbara and see if she’s available to help.”
The studio was instantly abuzz. Jenny was on the phone convincing Barbara, a food stylist, that doing this photo test would help her career. Johnny was on his way to the elevator. Turning back to us, he announced, “I’ll recruit Ong.”
Jenny got off the phone and looked at me.
“We are on! We got the model. We got the food stylist. And now we cross our fingers and hope Johnny convinces Ong to do him a favor.”
“What’s she like?” I asked.
“Who?”
“Ong.”
“Johnny met her about five years ago and it was love at first bite. She moved into his apartment the next day.”
“So why wouldn’t she do him a favor?” I asked.
“Because she is about money and is not into doing favors unless there is money involved.”
Leaving Cleveland 