Beginners’ Pluck

First-time novelists usually find the path to publishing a tortuous one, unless they are willing to take an unconventional route.

For example, Richard Moore spent 10 years writing “A Loss of Freedom” and two more years chasing after agents and publishers. Eventually, the Oak Park resident discovered 1st Books Library, one of the largest publishers of print-on-demand and electronic books.

Now, the 77-year-old Moore is writing a sequel to his book.

He had planned to set his first book during the World War I period, in order to re-create the story of his father, a Marine wounded in battle. However, he changed his book into a fact-based novel about the persecution faced by some Americans during that era.

“They called them hyphenated Americans--German-Americans, that sort of thing. I had a 90-year-old uncle of German descent who lived in the Fresno area at that time, who recalls he was afraid to go into town because of persecution,” he said.

His sequel picks up his character during the final days of the war and the period afterward, when everyone was worried about communism, he said.

Moore holds a degree in journalism and spent 30 years in public relations, writing news releases, annual reports and movie scripts--writing that was short and to the point, he said. He soon learned that he couldn’t write a book that way--he had to go back and add color.

It cost him approximately $1,000 to publish through 1st Books Library, which took care of everything from the cover design and proofreading to press releases. You can order the book through his publisher at (800) 839-8640 or by logging on to https://www.1stbooks.com to download a copy. The e-book costs $4.95; the paperback is $15.95. It can also be ordered through Barnes & Noble and Borders. Moore can be reached at (818) 865-0032.

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Another first-time novelist, 66-year-old Mark Lichterman, ran up against the same Catch-22 with his first book, “The Climbing Boy.”

“If you don’t have an agent, publishers don’t look at you, and unless you’ve been published, agents don’t want to waste their time with you,” Lichterman said.

The book takes place on Christmas Eve Day--the same Christmas Eve of Dickens’ famous “A Christmas Carol”--and is based on the early and mid-19th century practice of sending young children in to clean chimneys. Called climbing boys, the children were taken out of orphanages or poor families who apprenticed them to chimney sweeps.

Not coincidentally, Lichterman owns the Flue Bug, a chimney-sweeping company in Westlake Village, where he lives.

After writing “The Climbing Boy,” he went on to write two more novels, “The Becoming” and “The Hole Digger.” Then he hit a five-year writer’s block--a hollow feeling that he likened to hiding part of himself in a closet with his characters.

Finally, after collecting too many rejections, he discovered Electric Bookworm, an online publisher looking for unpublished writers, and it agreed to publish “The Climbing Boy.” Electric Bookworm was started on a shoestring by Theresa Carrion, a Chicago resident who worked on Y2K problems for corporations until she turned to online publishing, he said.

Lichterman is as eager to promote his publisher as he is to tout his own work, because it’s such a good idea, he said.

For one thing, the author incurs no costs--although on the other hand, hard-copy versions of the book are not available. Buyers can choose the format--as an e-book, or the Rocket eBook format, in which you need the Rocket eBook portable reader, the size of a hard-cover book that takes an inserted CD, or the free viewer for your computer from the Rocket eBook site. E-books run $5 to $8, payable through your credit card to Electric Bookworm.

Amazon.com will also take orders for the disc version. Visit https://www.electric-bookworm.bigstep.com to learn more. You can reach Lichterman at lktrman@aol.com.

HAPPENINGS

* TODAY, 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Mystery author Jan Burke will appear at 11 a.m. at a breakfast signing of her novel, “Flight.” At 2 p.m., Stephen White will sign “The Program.” Mysteries to Die For, 2940 Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks, 374-0084.

* THURSDAY, 6:30 p.m. Dessert with the authors, sponsored by the Board of Directors of the Friends of the Thousand Oaks Library. Among them, Lisa See, Paul Bishop and Charles Hillinger. Reservations 477-3007. Free to members, $7 to nonmembers. Community room of the Thousand Oaks Library at 1401 E. Janss Road.

* FRIDAY, 3 p.m. Author, screenwriter and novelist Ross Venokur will discuss and sign his new poetry collection “Haiku! Gesundheit: An Illustrated Collection of Ridiculous Haiku Poetry.” Borders, 125 W. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks, 497-8159.

* FRIDAY, 7:30 p.m. Author Joyce Catlett and psychologist Lisa Firestone will discuss “Fear of Intimacy.” Borders, 497-8159.

Information about book-signings, writers groups and publishing events can be e-mailed to anns40@aol.com or faxed to 647-5846.