After all the responses to my request for feedback on writing a new book, you certainly deserve an answer. I did read every suggestion and and thought about every single suggestion. What did I decide? What does the future hold?
I am going to write a new book, but not at the expense of the blog. The third book will be a collection of previous posts, organized into chapters of interest and importance. I will not set a deadline for this project. Work will continue as I have the time and interest. I would guess it will be ready sometime early in 2018. I will publish a Kindle e-reader version first. If the response is strong enough, I will make a paperback version available on demand.
My primary focus will remain right here. The comments about the blog's immediacy and ability to build on the community we are establishing seems most exciting and important. Our world is changing quickly and the issues that affect us all really require feedback and discussion.
Look for some experimentation on content. I may begin to integrate video clips more often. If I can figure out how to produce and link a podcast about retirement to the blog, I will do that too.
I may hire a professional web designer to help me customize parts of the blog that Google doesn't. I may even take the leap and switch to Wordpress from Blogger, as long as all the links and rankings for keyword searches don't disappear. Realizing that anything and everything is hackable, I am backing up the full blog every 7 days so it can be restored quickly without much loss.
The comments on I Need Your Feedback included so many excellent suggestions for post topics that I should have a steady stream of new material for the quite awhile . There were some really intriguing ideas, some of which will require you to help me with your personal stories and reactions, all of which helps us build our community of shared experiences.
So, that's the answer: a book will be forthcoming but the blog will get most of my attention. Betty assures me I can do two things at once. I trust her.
Note: I received a new book for review. While I'm not done reading it yet, I will say I am finding Prescription for a Happy Retirement right up my alley. In fact, he and I agree on so many point I almost thought there is no need for another one from me!
The author, James Bash, has nailed it on every important point so far. I will have a review in a week or so, but invite you to check it out on Amazon. Congrats, Jim, on an excellent addition to my retirement book library.
Good to hear, Bob. I'll look forward to reading it whenever you decide to put out the e-book version. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Chuck.
DeleteCongratulations on your decision Bob! I'm sure this will be an excellent book that I will be anxious to add to my library.
ReplyDeleteI am also happy to hear you will still be continuing the blog. You said yourself, our world is changing quickly. It seems these days there are almost constant changes and many of those affect the retirement population directly. Blogs are particularly helpful for keeping up with all those changes!
THere is a shift going on that may affect blogs going forward: we are becoming a very visual and aural, or sound-oriented, people. Podcasts and videocast (often called vlogs) are the fastest growing segment of this type of communication. I hope to explore both areas as an addition to the written word you read here.
DeleteCongratulations on your decision. We are relatively young to the "retired lifestyle," so I believe your book may help serve as a kind of retirement road map for those of us just starting on the Encore Voyage! Thanks! ~ Lynn
ReplyDeleteThe Encore Voyage...I like that expression.
DeleteBob, you should give the Bash book a quick 5-star review on Amazon -- the poor guy's got zero reviews now. I'm sure you appreciate how important reviews are to sales.
ReplyDeleteI was going to wait until I am finished to be accurate and honest. But, yes, it is on my list.
DeleteBob, there's a book coming out in about a week called the New Senior Man. A friend sent it to me. I'm not qualified to review such a thing and I dont even know what all the content was, but I figured I'd let you know. I also have the book you are going to review on my short list
ReplyDeleteLet me know if you move into the podcast area. I have a couple blogging friends who do so sucessfully, but they are in a different arena-and they also do Utube (I have thought about doing tutorials on Utube on things not retirement related). Good to see that you are moving forward on the book!
Thanks, Barbara. Yes, I will talk about podcasting and YouTube stuff if and when it happens. I have recorded two podcast episodes already but had to stop when I developed throat problems. That has been solved so it is probably time to get back into it.
DeleteI would listen to you doing pod casts. Although I find it takes more focus to listen to pod casts than reading. Partly because of minor age related hearing issues Just a note. If Leonard Bernstein decided that Romeo and Juliet were enough we would have missed West Side Story. Just saying
ReplyDeleteThe podcasts would likely be older blog posts, designed to attract those who don't already read the blog. It would be designed as a form of promotion. So, current readers might not find them all that attractive.
DeleteBob, I am happy to hear that you will be moving forward with writing another book. As well, I will curious to hear about your experiences with podcasting and vlogging, if you get into that.
ReplyDeleteJude
Thanks, Jude. We will see how it all develops.
DeleteI'm glad to here you are proceeding with the book, while continuing the blog. Since I stopped working in March, I've been catching up on archived posts that I missed since I've only been following A Satisfying Retirement since 2014. My thought while reading the older posts was that it would be nice to have a ebook version to read offline and also broken out in chapters as a collection of related posts and comments.
ReplyDelete