Beating the Dementia Monster, Take 2

We published Beating the Dementia Monster in February 2018.  If you read this blog, you know that a lot has happened since then.  And I've been acutely aware of some significant shortcomings in the book.  Aside from leaving the reader hanging about the insulin trial, the appendix always seemed a little amateurish to me.  I have felt for a long time that a new, better edition was in order, and I can do it.

So I've been working on that.  I have a new manuscript, and it is being reviewed by several authorities.  Both the doctor and the neuropsychologist that reviewed the first edition have reviewed the manuscript.  Also, a friend of mine from high school who retired from the book publishing industry has been hugely helpful, as has someone senior from the Alzheimer's Association.  I'm also hoping to get a neurologist.  I'll identify people by name in the acknowledgements section of the book.  (My nephew Gavin who is a published author and works for a publishing house offered to help as well.  I may yet go to him.)

This time, I want to have it published traditionally rather than the self-publishing route I followed before.  The first edition is still selling well on Amazon, and I got another 5 star review the other day.  But I can write something better, and I have.

Getting a book published traditionally turns out to be pretty challenging.  It seems that publishers don't want to accept manuscripts from authors, they need to be filtered for them by an agent.  So I need a literary agent.  That turns out to be its own challenge with highly specialized protocols. 

My classmate helped me craft a query letter.  That's pretty straightforward -- tell the prospective agent why your book is so great in one page, maybe a page and a half.  But he suggested a lot of things that never occurred to me.  Oh, you also need to explain how you plan to promote the book, since publishers don't do that anymore.  You are the publicist, and you need to convince the agent that you have the wherewithal to do that..

The agent also needs to see a book proposal.  This is a business plan for the book that analyzes the market and describes how the book will be generated and sold.  It's a minimum of ten pages, but maybe 50.

I need to start writing the proposal now, but I hope to get some reviews and endorsements before I actually begin approaching agents.  I also want to get at least one more speaking gig under my belt.  That will be on September 22.  Then something for the Alzheimer's Association in the spring.