My dad left me a book before he...?

Question

Before he died, my dad gave me the master disk to a book he had written that is titled "Why Am I Here? Written by the Ghost of Socrates", put under this name because he was afraid what he had to say would not be considered "proper" in some peoples eyes, or because there is too much TRUTH in it for the general public to handle. He mentioned a man by the name of Salmon Rushtie, who was killed for what he knew. I don't know this person so I can't comment. I've read it, and it is everything that I can remember him ever telling me when I was growing up, and I agree with almost all of it. It also explained to me, now that I am older and went over his book many times to understand what he was trying to put across, all the unexplained things I'd always wondered about, like where are the dinosaurs in the bible? Huge creatures not mentioned. Uh huh. Right. Very controversial, but very important. He wanted it published but died before it was. It's up to me now. Would you read it?

Answer 1

When you write "It's up to me now.", I'm assuming that you realize that getting your father's book published by a publisher will probably involve a monumental effort, but you don't want to fail him.

There is no definite way to have your father's book accepted by a
publisher, regardless of how well written it is, or how significant it may be. However, I do recommend checking out Poets and Writers magazine's classified section at www.pw.org. This section always has publishers looking for new books.

Regardless of how difficult it is to getting a publisher to publish a book you can always resort to self-publication.

It used to be that if you published your own book, you paid for having 5,000 copies printed and tried to sell them. What usually happened is that you ended up giving them away as Christmas presents, funerals, etc., and having abut 4,900 copies left molding in the basement when you gave up writing.

Now, there is print on demand publishing, and anyone can have their book printed at essentially no financial or emotional cost. In this light, I recommend taking a look at www.cafepress.com.

Cafepress is a print on demand company where you can offer everything from buttons to t-shirts to books that you write.

Each person doing business with cafepress is given a "store". If you offer a single item, such as a book, there is no charge to run your store. If you offer numerous items, it's about $5 per month to maintain your store.

Cafepress creates the button, book, t-shirt, greeting cards, etc. when an order is placed, ships it, bills it, and sends you a check for your sales. They have a set base price for an item, and you charge above that for whatever profit you want to make. For a book, they have a base price of so many cents per page. Advertising your store is up to you.

My wife and I have a store at cafepress, and you're welcome to check it out at: www.cafepress.com. Our store is called earthmoonmars.

Answer 2

I think the dinosaurs existed like millions of years before the books of Bible were written, maybe that is why they are not mentioned there. On the other hand, huge creatures ARE mentioned in the Bible; they are just not being identified there exactly as "dinosaurs", but as the "dragons".
In any case, only a publisher can say for sure if the book will sell.

Answer 3

I'm sure many people would read it and discuss it. Spirtituality is such a soft science, but very interesting these days. I would try to find that other guy if he has any major contributions to the book and discuss the terms before it hits the shelves though. Trust me, those things can get messy if not done the right way.

Plz do have it published though. I would be delighted to know that my sons had published a book of my poetry post-partum. Just to know that they cared enuff and believed in me enuff to do it.

Answer 4

Well, for one thing, Salmon Rushdie is still alive. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_Rushdie

It sounds as though your father had some non-traditional views. If I were his son, I would read it to know my father better.

Otherwise, I might read it from curiosity, but I probably wouldn't pay money to buy it. There are lots of non traditional views to be found.

By all means continue to explore the topic. Publish a book if you think you find something significant.

But off hand, I think if your father felt he had a finished piece of work, he would have published.

Answer 5

Salman Rushdie is a writer, Iranian originally- now exiled in England, I believe. He's still alive, though. Look up some of his books on amazon.com (he also has a cameo appearance in the movie "Bridget Jones's Diary". Lol).

As for your father's book... it sounds like the next "Da Vinci Code". If you think it's good, contact a literary agent who can advise you about getting it published.

Answer 6

Hi, if you know for sure your dad would have wanted to publish the book, then it makes sense for you to try to go down that path. He would be very happy and proud of you for doing that for him.

There will always be people interested in controversial topics and for almost anything, there's someone who would read.

Answer 7

agents are really hard to come by for unknown works BUT if it is as you say and since it was your fathers you will have the drive to see it through ...
Before you go running off and get disappointed you need to work up a proper permission to send letter which you send to.
You will also need a list of agents and publishers to question about the works ..
Contact me I have a huge list .. I will be more then happy to share

I am a bookdealer by trade ...

Answer 8

Salmon Rushdie is still alive!!! He was the target of a Jihad and was in hiding for many years for a book he wrote. Check it out at your local library (sorry the title I cant remember).

Answer 9

Weren't the dinosaurs before the existence of literate humans?

Answer 10

yes ofcourse because i m a imatured writer and would love to read such a book which is somewhere near to truth