Godot has arrived....In late September I did the last post for this blog.  You may have thought I had abandoned the book.   Not so.  A friend who worked in publishing suggested to me that once the manuscript is accepted there is a lag time if you are using a large publishing house.  The warning was correct.   I've spent the last few months using my skills and my patience in working through the path that my publisher (Archway - an imprint of Simon and Schuster) has established.

But this morning my concierge sent me what in the legislative business were called mark up copies. So it looks like we are near the end of getting this in print.   I will need to take some time to mark up the copy and submit my edits.   I think I am going to print the manuscript out because in this case I think I can work with it more efficiently than on a screen.   After those edits are completed I will send them in, Archway will then do their "magic" and Of Course It's True, Except for a Couple of Lies will be in print on all major platforms. (Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes and Noble, etc.).  It will come in three flavors Hardbound, Soft Cover and Ebook.  But here are five things I can tell you now.

#1 Pricing of the Hardcover is beyond my control - the publisher sets the price based on page count and a couple of other factors.  Assuming that the book comes out close to the size it is now (375 pages) - the price will be $39.95.

#2 - The Soft Cover Edition - the softcover version will be $22.95.

#3 - The Ebook Edition - This is where I get to set the price.   The default price is $3.99 but it can go from $2.99 to $9.99.  I am inclined to set the price in the $5.99 range.  

#4 - Spanish Language Edition - In December I gave a speech in Mexico City at a conference on Integral Formation in the Digital World - I was able to reconnect with a college from a University where I taught and he expressed interest in me going there some time in the fall and presenting the book to a convocation.  My Spanish tutor has volunteered to translate the manuscript.    That will be published under another imprint (not sure which one) but because of my work in Mexico "Of Course It's True Except for a Couple of Lies will become Por Supuesto es Verdad, Excepto por un par de Mentiras."  I think that will be primarily released as an Ebook or Soft Cover.

#5 - Release Date and publicity - Based on my schedule and some other factors I think the book will be available on all platforms by sometime in June.  I have spoken with a couple of knowledgable people about how to increase visibility of the book which will include some unique things like the convocations at Universities where I have taught or worked.  I have also thought about some very specific events with groups where I have been involved which would offer the proceeds from all sales to that group.

The Sequel - I am mulling doing a sequel to the book which would be a historical novel, tentatively called "In Pursuit of Happiness" which would be a story about one of the inspirations of the book (my namesake Jonathan Archer - who came to California in 1849 but died soon after arriving) and his younger brother Oliver Hazard Perry Archer who stayed in New York and became a very successful entrepreneur who among other things was a part of the group which dumped Jay Gould from the Erie Railroad board in 1872.   As I was researching this book I found a lot of evidence that Jonathan and OHP were good buddies and wondered what might have happened had Jonathan lived and thrived in California.  It would be based on that set of assumptions and would be considerably shorter that OCITEFACOL.   I am convinced that despite family lore about Jonathan's motives for coming to Sacramento during the Gold Rush - his real motive was Brannonesque (Sam Brannon was a merchant who quipped the way to make money in the gold was was not to pan for gold but to sell supplies to the miners.

Thanks for your patience on this project and for (those of you who still are!) your continued interest.