Heck of a year, wasn’t it? I’m sure I’m not alone in admitting that the year in a writer’s life didn’t go exactly as planned. And yet, looking back on what I wrote for 2019, I realize 2020 wasn’t that different, at least as far as the writing part goes. There was, however, one huge difference, which I’ll get to in a minute.
Royalties continue to trickle in for my three previous traditionally published books on Tesla, Edison, and Lincoln. Okay, maybe royalties have fallen to a drip. But my editor sent word in the spring that the Edison book would be coming out in a Chinese-language edition. Those licensing fees and royalties haven’t shown up yet, at least in part because of something called COVID.
Oh, you’ve heard of COVID? Of course you have. The rather unplanned pandemic did what pandemics tend to do, completely mess with everything previously considered normal in the world. Publishing was no exception. With stores closing temporarily in the spring and only partially reopening (and in some cases, reclosing) over the rest of the year, it was a tough time for actual bookstores. Barnes & Noble was already reworking its business model before being hit with guards standing outside the doors metering potential shoppers to a few at a time. Independent bookstores were especially hard hit. That said, Amazon and big box stores that also sell groceries (e.g., Target) had increasing book sales as the year progressed. With people sequestered at home, more people read more books. Like Amazon, publishers also did well as books replaced lost restaurant, movie, and bowling nights. Overall, print sales were up about 8% for the year and some publishers were reporting their best year ever. So I should see those Edison royalties eventually, maybe even in the spring. My two e-books also occasionally send royalties my way.
The writing life itself kept me incredibly busy in 2020. With my travel schedule reduced to zero, I spent more time reading and writing. Here’s some writing highlights:
- Began a series of posts on whether Confederate monuments should be removed. I’m hoping to turn this into a book.
- Wrote and delivered three presentations on Zoom (not counting my participation in dozens of additional Zoom meetings). I’ll moderate a panel in two weeks.
- Three book reviews for the Lincoln Herald, an academic journal.
- Produced eight book reviews for the Lincolnian, the newsletter of the Lincoln Group of DC.
- Wrote an article for the Lincolnian on Lincoln’s Long Road to Emancipation.
- Wrote an article for The Lincoln Forum Bulletin.
- Had three separate contributions in the “From Our Readers” section of Writer’s Digest magazine.
- Was interviewed on Facebook Live by filmmaker Annabel Park on Lincoln’s views of the current election.
- Entered nine writing contests. Of these, seven are still under review (two didn’t win, although for one I received very helpful feedback).
- Collaborated with Ru on a planned travel book.
And that isn’t even the BIG NEWS!
[For those with good hearing, that’s a drum roll in the background]
On December 31, 2020, the very last day in the year of the corona, I signed a formal contract with a well known publisher, who will publish and distribute my new book on Lincoln’s interest in science and technology.
This is the culmination of years of research and toil. There’s a long story behind the production of this book, but I finally got around to putting forth a proposal this year. My agent shopped it around and two publishers expressed interest. Negotiations were to be had, and on the final day of 2020 I carefully scrawled my official signature at the bottom of the fifth page of micro-print. That’s just the beginning, of course. My deadline to provide the full manuscript is July 1st, and the projected date of release is February 2022. I’ll provide more details as the project progresses, but suffice to say I’m very happy to be proceeding…and will be exceedingly busy writing for the next several months. I can’t travel anyway so I might as well be writing.
So what is the plan for 2021?
In case you skipped over the big news right above this paragraph, the first six months will be consumed with writing my Lincoln book. I will live and breathe the book during that time.
In my spare moments I’ll continue posting essays related to Confederate monuments with a goal of compiling them into book format at some point. I’ll also squeeze in essays for the travel book collaboration, although realistically that will have to wait until the summer. There are three other book projects that will sit in some level of dormancy until the second half of the year. I’ve cut my intended reading goal from my usual 75 books down to 50 books to free up some time for writing. I’ll also squeeze in some book reviews for the Lincolnian and possibly the Lincoln Herald. In the latter stages of the year I’ll pick up my previous goals of producing articles for journals and magazines, at least part of which will be marketing-related for the new book. Finally, I’ll likely increase my speaking schedule, especially as the book release date gets closer (and into 2022 once it hits stores).
Needless to say, I’ll be spending a lot of time at my computer in 2021.
Happy New Year to all!
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David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.
Congratulations David!
Your current book-projects sound very interesting.
I very much appreciate your writing style – which is clear, compact, informative, etc. (As a fan, I’ll pay attention to the publication date and availability.)
Wishing you be the best, in bringing it together before the deadline.
Not directly related to Confederate Monuments, I’m curious about your opinion on the renaming of many San Fransisco schools.
(Slow to be informed, I only read a couple articles in detail this week. I hope it is not rude of me to use your blog for my own diatribe.)
Come the end of January 2021 Lincoln High School will be destined to have a new name.
Native American perspective and resentments are understandable. The Homestead Act was self-serving to ‘European Americans’. And Lincoln really could have done something to change the Indian Affairs; he should have known he was the only one who would do it. (And then he went and picked a Tennesee-an for VP, a death-nail to so much progress made…)
I am newly upset to see Daniel Webster and James Russel Lowell on the chopping block. The school administrators used Wikipedia as references for their research and quotes, which is shockingly shallow. Where is the conversation? Where is the weighing of acts and words of justice vs. weakness in the face of prejudice all around? …
Several outrageous things said? Compromise when it was not leaders’ choice to have Slave Power in the first place? Can people who lived in a different time be measured by today’s standards?
Thanks for the compliments, Amy. I’m looking forward to seeing the book in print.
As for the San Francisco situation, I don’t know what discussion, public or otherwise, was had regarding the school name changes. The idea of such a broad swath of change seems to suggest they decided on the “lumping together” of any and every name that might be objectionable to others. I would have preferred they had full open discussions on each name so that all the history could be put into context. That is effectively lost by treating them all in one fell swoop.
I think having those discussions is critical. Various groups have views that have largely been ignored in history and we should use these occasions to bring those viewpoints out into the public sphere. That critical goal is bypassed with such a broad decision. In short, there is as much ignorance in a broad decision like this as there is by ignoring differing views in the first place.
Abraham Lincoln obviously would involve a complete different set of discussion points than Confederate statues, and even of Washington, Jefferson, Columbus, Webster, and Lowell. Again, we should have those discussions openly and with all viewpoints. As you say, where is the conversation?