Growing up in the War Zone
Near the end of the 2nd World War, we lived in
western Hungary where the fighting between the red army
and German soldiers was from house to house. While the
front moved back and forth, we were hiding in an
underground bunker. When Germans were in control of our
village, a couple of the soldiers came into our house to warm
up in the evening. I was 6 years old and remember sitting on
the knee of one of the soldiers called Hans while he was
singing for me in German a song that he really wanted to
sing for his son who was the same age as I. Hans spoke a
little bit of Hungarian and was telling my parents that he was
away from his family for a long time and was hoping to see
his son and wife soon. But, after one of the door to door
fighting between German and Russian soldiers, when we
came up from the bunker and as we walked by our house, I
saw Hans lying there not moving and covered with blood.
Grandfather said with anger: “damn Hitler, damn Stalin,
damn the war”.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Dare to Take the Next Step - Adventures of a refugee
As a young boy, I used to sit on the knee of my grandfather
(Nagy papa) and listened to his many stories about the “big
world” that was outside our little village of Nyögér, Hungary.
Grandfather never travelled further than about 100 km from the
village, had never seen a movie, but read a few books, including
the bible. He used to read the newspaper every day and sometimes
the fancy color magazines that had pictures in them about major
cities, especially Vienna. His vision of the big world was
developed from these pictures. He also had a highly creative
imagination about life outside our village. Even at an early age, I
was fascinated by his stories and told him that I wanted to go and
see the “big world”.
So, at age two and a half years, I packed some food in a
basket and started out on my journey to the big world. Our village
priest, who was an amateur photographer and always had his
camera with him, saw me as I was coming out of our house and
asked where I was going. When I told him, he thought the
occasion was perfect for him to take this picture that is on the
front cover of this book.
Sixteen years later I narrowly escaped execution for being a
freedom fighter. I then started my adventurous journey to the big
world as a refugee, living my grandfather’s dream!
I hope my adventures will be an inspiration to the refugees of
current times that every dark cloud has a silver lining.
(Nagy papa) and listened to his many stories about the “big
world” that was outside our little village of Nyögér, Hungary.
Grandfather never travelled further than about 100 km from the
village, had never seen a movie, but read a few books, including
the bible. He used to read the newspaper every day and sometimes
the fancy color magazines that had pictures in them about major
cities, especially Vienna. His vision of the big world was
developed from these pictures. He also had a highly creative
imagination about life outside our village. Even at an early age, I
was fascinated by his stories and told him that I wanted to go and
see the “big world”.
So, at age two and a half years, I packed some food in a
basket and started out on my journey to the big world. Our village
priest, who was an amateur photographer and always had his
camera with him, saw me as I was coming out of our house and
asked where I was going. When I told him, he thought the
occasion was perfect for him to take this picture that is on the
front cover of this book.
Sixteen years later I narrowly escaped execution for being a
freedom fighter. I then started my adventurous journey to the big
world as a refugee, living my grandfather’s dream!
I hope my adventures will be an inspiration to the refugees of
current times that every dark cloud has a silver lining.
Futuristic Trends in Publishing
eBooks may outsell the traditional paper books within the next 5 years.
The publishing industry is rapidly changing from the traditional hard copy format to electronic books (eBooks) that can be downloaded wirelessly to hand-held computers at half the cost than those being sold in book stores. Bookstores as we know them now will gradually transform into digital outlets, selling eBooks and Print on Demand (POD) versions or simply go out of business.
This transition is being pushed on two critical fronts: “traditional” publishing companies who cater mainly to established authors will be forced to share the market place with visionary hi-tech competitors such as Lightning Source; and book stores stocked with hard copy products will gradually lose their market share to web-based companies such as Amazon.ca, e-books.com and diesel-ebook.com.
Lightning Source was formed in 1997 with the advent of print on demand technology. As a member of the Ingram family of companies, they draw from the strength, experience and global relationships of their parent company. They have taken the print on demand technology and refined it into a finely tuned print and distribution model which is revolutionizing the publishing business by uniting the world of publishers and consumers into an interactive community where even the most obscure titles can be accessed as easily as a current best-seller.
Publishing companies of any size can benefit from the Lightning Source POD model by eliminating the guess work in ordering, reducing the cost of warehousing, eliminating the need for keeping an inventory of books and pulping (print only what is needed). In addition, new titles can be uploaded as PDF files and made available to customers at half the cost of their POD counterpart through secure downloads. But the most significant benefit that the Lightning Source infrastructure offers is connectivity to a highly comprehensive distribution channel of book wholesalers and retailers at low cost and minimal risks. Using Ingram’s distribution channel a new title always appears as in stock and available to over 30,000 wholesalers, retailers and booksellers in over 100 countries.
During the transition period, print on demand versions will dominate the marketplace. However, as readers get more familiar with a new breed of technology such as hand held computers optimized for eBooks, the momentum will shift from hard copy paper books to digital alternatives. Integrated hardware and software platforms are being introduced into the market place by several international companies. For example, Amazon.com released in November 2007 for the US market a software and hardware platform called Amazon Kindle for reading eBooks and other digital media. Three hardware devices, known as "Kindle", "Kindle 2," and "Kindle DX" support this platform, as does an iPhone application called "Kindle for iPhone. Another technology that handles eBooks is BeBook which has been released recently into the market by a company from Holland (Endless Ideas BV). This technology facilitates reading any pdf*, mobi, lit*, epub*, html, txt, prc, fb2, jpg file and over 300,000 of free news feeds from BeBook, including Mobipocket Digital Rights Management support. BeBook offers unique paper-like display and long life battery (one charge will last 7.000 page turns).
In addition to the two devices listed above, over 20 such units have entered the market during the past 2 years. Further information on these devices is available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_e-book_readers Pricing is between $200 and $500 but will be reduced as competitors move aggressively to control the market. The time has come that we can carry all the books we own in a small hand held device, as well as can download over 300,000 books for less than $10 each from anywhere with wireless connectivity.
The publishing industry is rapidly changing from the traditional hard copy format to electronic books (eBooks) that can be downloaded wirelessly to hand-held computers at half the cost than those being sold in book stores. Bookstores as we know them now will gradually transform into digital outlets, selling eBooks and Print on Demand (POD) versions or simply go out of business.
This transition is being pushed on two critical fronts: “traditional” publishing companies who cater mainly to established authors will be forced to share the market place with visionary hi-tech competitors such as Lightning Source; and book stores stocked with hard copy products will gradually lose their market share to web-based companies such as Amazon.ca, e-books.com and diesel-ebook.com.
Lightning Source was formed in 1997 with the advent of print on demand technology. As a member of the Ingram family of companies, they draw from the strength, experience and global relationships of their parent company. They have taken the print on demand technology and refined it into a finely tuned print and distribution model which is revolutionizing the publishing business by uniting the world of publishers and consumers into an interactive community where even the most obscure titles can be accessed as easily as a current best-seller.
Publishing companies of any size can benefit from the Lightning Source POD model by eliminating the guess work in ordering, reducing the cost of warehousing, eliminating the need for keeping an inventory of books and pulping (print only what is needed). In addition, new titles can be uploaded as PDF files and made available to customers at half the cost of their POD counterpart through secure downloads. But the most significant benefit that the Lightning Source infrastructure offers is connectivity to a highly comprehensive distribution channel of book wholesalers and retailers at low cost and minimal risks. Using Ingram’s distribution channel a new title always appears as in stock and available to over 30,000 wholesalers, retailers and booksellers in over 100 countries.
During the transition period, print on demand versions will dominate the marketplace. However, as readers get more familiar with a new breed of technology such as hand held computers optimized for eBooks, the momentum will shift from hard copy paper books to digital alternatives. Integrated hardware and software platforms are being introduced into the market place by several international companies. For example, Amazon.com released in November 2007 for the US market a software and hardware platform called Amazon Kindle for reading eBooks and other digital media. Three hardware devices, known as "Kindle", "Kindle 2," and "Kindle DX" support this platform, as does an iPhone application called "Kindle for iPhone. Another technology that handles eBooks is BeBook which has been released recently into the market by a company from Holland (Endless Ideas BV). This technology facilitates reading any pdf*, mobi, lit*, epub*, html, txt, prc, fb2, jpg file and over 300,000 of free news feeds from BeBook, including Mobipocket Digital Rights Management support. BeBook offers unique paper-like display and long life battery (one charge will last 7.000 page turns).
In addition to the two devices listed above, over 20 such units have entered the market during the past 2 years. Further information on these devices is available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_e-book_readers Pricing is between $200 and $500 but will be reduced as competitors move aggressively to control the market. The time has come that we can carry all the books we own in a small hand held device, as well as can download over 300,000 books for less than $10 each from anywhere with wireless connectivity.
Flash Back to Refugee Life
November 19th 1956 was a pivotal day in my life. I crossed the Austrian border from Hungary, left behind family and the homeland that I loved. At 18 one is supposed to be adventurous, willing to explore new horizons. But, when at age 18 you are away from home for the first time, and in a foreign land where you don’t understand the language, live in a guarded camp, the spirit of adventure can become a frightening picture of reality.
The exodus of over 200,000 Hungarians to the west after the defeat of the 1956 student revolution in Hungary created some real challenges to western powers. Governments were genuinely willing to help by taking in refugees but the numbers put a new reality check on the magnitude of willingness. Besides the humanitarian sympathy, there was a feeling of guilt by some countries who encouraged freedom fighters through Radio Free Europe and Voice of America by implying (without actually saying) that help was on its way. We believed them and when help was not coming, we felt abandoned. (In addition, the timing of the French-British-Israeli invasion of Egypt over the nationalization of the Suez canal was considered to be a significant contributor towards the defeat of the revolution.
In the refugee camps near Graz, Austria, delegations of western countries were holding meeting to screen refugees. There was a serious concern by western countries, that members of the dreaded Hungarian secret police also crossed the border and were among us seeking refugee status. Then there was talk that our ranks were infiltrated by communists who’s objective was to spy for the Soviet Union. This in turn created suspicion on all refugees and the onus was on us to proved that we were not one of the undesirables.
When the exodus of refugees picked up momentum, the US Government initially set a limit of 6,500 but this number went up to 80,000. Canada welcomed 40,000, Britain took in 22,000, France 13,000 and the rest went to other countries. I ended up among those who went to Britain.
Today, it is estimated that over 35 million men, women and children are either temporarily or permanently exiled from their homes. This is more than the entire population of Canada.
Flashback to refugee life brings back memories that are bittersweet. There were feelings of hopelessness: how will I survive in this strange land without speaking the language, having no education or trade, and without the family to support me? At the same time, there was a glimmer of hope that new opportunities will open up. And, I was one of the lucky ones. A wonderful and caring family that I met in church in Halifax, Yorkshire (Mrs. and Mrs. Gillespie) took interest in my situation. They helped me with learning the English language and invited me for lunch every Sunday after church. They also helped me to win a scholarship at the University of Edinburgh to study science. Nine months after leaving the refugee camp, I was a full time student at the University studying for a B.Sc. degree.
My message to today’s refugees: show that you are willing to take the next step. There are many caring people in volunteer and church organizations who are willing to help you. You only need to reach out to them and show that you are willing to re-build your shattered life. And, remember: every dark cloud has a silver lining.
The exodus of over 200,000 Hungarians to the west after the defeat of the 1956 student revolution in Hungary created some real challenges to western powers. Governments were genuinely willing to help by taking in refugees but the numbers put a new reality check on the magnitude of willingness. Besides the humanitarian sympathy, there was a feeling of guilt by some countries who encouraged freedom fighters through Radio Free Europe and Voice of America by implying (without actually saying) that help was on its way. We believed them and when help was not coming, we felt abandoned. (In addition, the timing of the French-British-Israeli invasion of Egypt over the nationalization of the Suez canal was considered to be a significant contributor towards the defeat of the revolution.
In the refugee camps near Graz, Austria, delegations of western countries were holding meeting to screen refugees. There was a serious concern by western countries, that members of the dreaded Hungarian secret police also crossed the border and were among us seeking refugee status. Then there was talk that our ranks were infiltrated by communists who’s objective was to spy for the Soviet Union. This in turn created suspicion on all refugees and the onus was on us to proved that we were not one of the undesirables.
When the exodus of refugees picked up momentum, the US Government initially set a limit of 6,500 but this number went up to 80,000. Canada welcomed 40,000, Britain took in 22,000, France 13,000 and the rest went to other countries. I ended up among those who went to Britain.
Today, it is estimated that over 35 million men, women and children are either temporarily or permanently exiled from their homes. This is more than the entire population of Canada.
Flashback to refugee life brings back memories that are bittersweet. There were feelings of hopelessness: how will I survive in this strange land without speaking the language, having no education or trade, and without the family to support me? At the same time, there was a glimmer of hope that new opportunities will open up. And, I was one of the lucky ones. A wonderful and caring family that I met in church in Halifax, Yorkshire (Mrs. and Mrs. Gillespie) took interest in my situation. They helped me with learning the English language and invited me for lunch every Sunday after church. They also helped me to win a scholarship at the University of Edinburgh to study science. Nine months after leaving the refugee camp, I was a full time student at the University studying for a B.Sc. degree.
My message to today’s refugees: show that you are willing to take the next step. There are many caring people in volunteer and church organizations who are willing to help you. You only need to reach out to them and show that you are willing to re-build your shattered life. And, remember: every dark cloud has a silver lining.
Flash Back to Colonial Service Life
I arrived in Georgetown, British Guiana on Tuesday, December 4, 1961 from England on a cargo ship called Arakaka. I was recruited by the British Colonial Office to work as Assistant Conservator of Forests in charge of Forest Surveys. After graduating with a B.Sc. degree in Forestry from the University of Edinburgh, and completing a training course in aerial photo interpretation and map making at the Directorate of Overseas Surveys in Tolworth, England I was ready to take on my first professional assignment in the country that still had large areas of undisturbed rain forests. My job was to lead a surveying expedition into the jungles each year for 3 months during the dry season with a crew of 45 men for the purpose of collecting ground survey data in support of making forest cover maps.
The period I spent in British Guiana was politically unstable, was marked by strikes, riots, political unrests and racial tensions. The reason for the disturbances was due to the belief by the British and American governments that the democratically elected Prime Minister, Dr. Cheddi Jagan was a communist and would lead his country to be another Cuba.
I was there during those disturbing times and watched the development of events with great interest. I got my job through the Colonial Office but I was part of technical aid to the government of British Guiana from Britain. Hence, I reported to the head of the British Guiana Forest Service, the Conservator of Forests. I witnessed in February 1962 the fires where a significant part of the business section in Georgetown was burned down and there was no doubt in my mind that the disturbances leading up to the destructions were instigated by radical opposition members and right wing foreign agencies for the purpose of unseating the Jagan Government.
Initially, I found my situation in British Guiana to be somewhat uncomfortable. I was a former freedom fighter from Hungary, an anticommunist, recruited by the Colonial Service of the British Government and assigned to work with the local Government who was branded by the key western powers as communist. But as I got to know some of the Cabinet members of the Jagan Government, they were far from being communist. They were dedicated to free their country from colonial rule and to make better living conditions for the working class. By classical definition, the Jagan Government was socialist, following some Marxist philosophy.
My neighbour in Georgetown was Dr. Morrison Sharp, head of the History Department of the newly established University of British Guiana. He was an academic of liberal views and lost his university position in the U.S. during the McCarthy era. He was recruited to come to Georgetown by Sir Lancelot Hogben, Vice Chancellor of the University of British Guiana. Friendly discussions as neighbours revealed that we were both moderate in our views. Dr Sharp was a member of a think tank run by Sir Lancelot, advising the Jagan Government on political science issues. I had the privilege of being invited to join this group that met every Saturday afternoon to give balance to their left leading discussions. Being part of the think tank was the highlight of my stay in British Guiana. The members were real intellectual and very compassionate in their ideology. I learned from them that extremism to the left or to the right is equally destructive, regardless if it is politically or religiously motivated. I also realized that that the communists in Hungary (the country where I lived until age 18) were not true to the teachings of Marx and Lenin; they used or abused the ideology to get into power and then suppressed those who supported them to remain in control.
I also realized that I had grown up with some values that were not a good fit with the lifestyles of the colonial system. When my wife Audrey and infant son Michael arrived in Georgetown and we rented a house, and one of my colleagues offered his help to find a domestic servant to do the cooking and cleaning. I said that it will not be necessary because I grew up in an environment where we did our own cooking and cleaning. After all there were just the 3 of us and my wife did not have a job outside the home so we did not need servants. To my surprise I was told that it would be looked upon by the local people as being selfish for not wanting to share my above average income with those who were less fortunate. So we engaged the services of an Amerindian girl who was a single mother of a 3 year old little girl. We provided room and board and a small income for Lena and her little girl who enjoyed playing with our one year old son.
We were fortunate to have a good circle of friends, mostly local colleagues and some expatriates. I was increasingly uncomfortable when we went out to a restaurant with some of the older expatriates, especially when they addressed a middle age waiter as “Hey boy”. On the fun side, with Lena living in our home, we had a built in babysitter and we went out with our local friends to night clubs and often danced calypso until 5 in the morning. My favourite pastime was taking our son to the Botanical Gardens in Georgetown.
Then in 1964 the disturbances intensified again as the country was preparing for the December elections. In June 1964 I sent my wife and son back to Scotland (where her parents lived). When the rioters were overturning and burning cars, I sold our Hillman station wagon and bought a scooter. So each time I saw a rowdy group of people coming towards me, I was able to turn around quickly with the scooter and head for safety.
At the end of November I packed our modest belongings and shipped it back to Scotland. The government purchased for me a return air ticket so that I could leave the country at the end of my 3 year contract.
But, there was a general strike and I could not cross the picket line to get to the airport. After a few days of waiting in a hotel, I met in the bar a former neighbour who was an airline stewardess with Air France. After a few rum and coke drinks we developed a strategy. Next morning I bought a shirt and pants that were the same colour as what Air France employees were wearing and I sat behind Miss DeFreitas (dressed in her Air France uniform) on her scooter and we managed to get through the picket lines. That evening I managed to get a flight from Georgetown to Trinidad.
The period I spent in British Guiana was politically unstable, was marked by strikes, riots, political unrests and racial tensions. The reason for the disturbances was due to the belief by the British and American governments that the democratically elected Prime Minister, Dr. Cheddi Jagan was a communist and would lead his country to be another Cuba.
I was there during those disturbing times and watched the development of events with great interest. I got my job through the Colonial Office but I was part of technical aid to the government of British Guiana from Britain. Hence, I reported to the head of the British Guiana Forest Service, the Conservator of Forests. I witnessed in February 1962 the fires where a significant part of the business section in Georgetown was burned down and there was no doubt in my mind that the disturbances leading up to the destructions were instigated by radical opposition members and right wing foreign agencies for the purpose of unseating the Jagan Government.
Initially, I found my situation in British Guiana to be somewhat uncomfortable. I was a former freedom fighter from Hungary, an anticommunist, recruited by the Colonial Service of the British Government and assigned to work with the local Government who was branded by the key western powers as communist. But as I got to know some of the Cabinet members of the Jagan Government, they were far from being communist. They were dedicated to free their country from colonial rule and to make better living conditions for the working class. By classical definition, the Jagan Government was socialist, following some Marxist philosophy.
My neighbour in Georgetown was Dr. Morrison Sharp, head of the History Department of the newly established University of British Guiana. He was an academic of liberal views and lost his university position in the U.S. during the McCarthy era. He was recruited to come to Georgetown by Sir Lancelot Hogben, Vice Chancellor of the University of British Guiana. Friendly discussions as neighbours revealed that we were both moderate in our views. Dr Sharp was a member of a think tank run by Sir Lancelot, advising the Jagan Government on political science issues. I had the privilege of being invited to join this group that met every Saturday afternoon to give balance to their left leading discussions. Being part of the think tank was the highlight of my stay in British Guiana. The members were real intellectual and very compassionate in their ideology. I learned from them that extremism to the left or to the right is equally destructive, regardless if it is politically or religiously motivated. I also realized that that the communists in Hungary (the country where I lived until age 18) were not true to the teachings of Marx and Lenin; they used or abused the ideology to get into power and then suppressed those who supported them to remain in control.
I also realized that I had grown up with some values that were not a good fit with the lifestyles of the colonial system. When my wife Audrey and infant son Michael arrived in Georgetown and we rented a house, and one of my colleagues offered his help to find a domestic servant to do the cooking and cleaning. I said that it will not be necessary because I grew up in an environment where we did our own cooking and cleaning. After all there were just the 3 of us and my wife did not have a job outside the home so we did not need servants. To my surprise I was told that it would be looked upon by the local people as being selfish for not wanting to share my above average income with those who were less fortunate. So we engaged the services of an Amerindian girl who was a single mother of a 3 year old little girl. We provided room and board and a small income for Lena and her little girl who enjoyed playing with our one year old son.
We were fortunate to have a good circle of friends, mostly local colleagues and some expatriates. I was increasingly uncomfortable when we went out to a restaurant with some of the older expatriates, especially when they addressed a middle age waiter as “Hey boy”. On the fun side, with Lena living in our home, we had a built in babysitter and we went out with our local friends to night clubs and often danced calypso until 5 in the morning. My favourite pastime was taking our son to the Botanical Gardens in Georgetown.
Then in 1964 the disturbances intensified again as the country was preparing for the December elections. In June 1964 I sent my wife and son back to Scotland (where her parents lived). When the rioters were overturning and burning cars, I sold our Hillman station wagon and bought a scooter. So each time I saw a rowdy group of people coming towards me, I was able to turn around quickly with the scooter and head for safety.
At the end of November I packed our modest belongings and shipped it back to Scotland. The government purchased for me a return air ticket so that I could leave the country at the end of my 3 year contract.
But, there was a general strike and I could not cross the picket line to get to the airport. After a few days of waiting in a hotel, I met in the bar a former neighbour who was an airline stewardess with Air France. After a few rum and coke drinks we developed a strategy. Next morning I bought a shirt and pants that were the same colour as what Air France employees were wearing and I sat behind Miss DeFreitas (dressed in her Air France uniform) on her scooter and we managed to get through the picket lines. That evening I managed to get a flight from Georgetown to Trinidad.
The day I met Dr. Elizabeth Kübler-Ross
In February 1972 I got on an aeroplane in Toronto, heading home to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. I was carrying a state-of-the-art (at the time) computer terminal. It fitted into a suit case small enough that I was allowed to carry it on to the plane and put it under the seat in front of me. As I was struggling to fit it under the seat, the passenger next to me watched my predicament with some measure of curiosity. When I finished my ordeal she asked me “what is that?” With a sense of pride I replied: “it’s a computer terminal”.
As we continued the conversation I explained that I was a research scientist and was building a computer simulation model to illustrate in the computer how trees grow. I then asked her:
“What do you do?” She said:
“I am a writer. I recently published a book called ‘On Death &Dying’. I am Elizabeth Kübler-Ross.”
Since I was reading mainly technical books and journals at that time, I never heard about her before. So, I continued to put my foot in it. I told her it was pretty gutsy for a writer to take on such a subject. She then smiled and said
“Actually, I am also a medical doctor”.
I was interested in the subject matter and we ended up having a good discussion about people’s reaction when they are told that they are terminally ill. She explained the five stages patients go through at that time:
Denial and isolation: “not me, it cannot be true”
Anger: “why me?”
Bargaining: “yes me…but”
Depression: “yes me”
Acceptance: “it’s OK”
She gave me an autographed copy of her book when I attended her lecture at the Plummer Hospital that evening. I drove her to the airport the next morning and continued to exchange Christmas cards for a few years afterwards.
Thirty two years later I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. On January 27, 2005 I started 37 sessions of radiation treatment in the Ottawa Cancer Clinic. During each session I had to lie on my stomach, the technician strapped a mold on my buttock and the radiation proceeded for about 12 minutes. At that time I often thought of the meeting I had with Dr. Kübler-Ross. I learned to have a deep appreciation of what is now called the “Elizabeth Kübler-Ross” model: the five stages of grief as a pattern of phases, most or all of which people tend to go through, not always in sequence, after being faced with the tragedy of their own impending death. While I was determined to survive cancer, I also faced the possibility that my body may not respond to the treatment as expected.
I was one of the fortunate ones thanks to the excellent cancer treatment facilities we have at the Ottawa Cancer Clinic. I responded well and I am now cancer free… as free as one can ever be.
The writings of Dr. Kübler-Ross inspired me to start a similar project after I completed my cancer treatments. This project involved collecting stories of cancer survivors about their reaction and courageous battles after they were told: “you have cancer”. I was lucky to have three other cancer survivors to join this project and we have collected heart-warming and emotions packed stories from 36 cancer survivors. We will publish these stories in a book called: “Death Can Wait – Stories from Cancer Survivors” by Frank Hegyi, Roslyn Franken, Jacquelin Holzman and Max Keeping. Book launching will be on August 23rd in Ottawa as part of “Dancing in the Street”. These stories give testimony to a new culture developing around cancer: “don’t think of death… think of survival” coined by one of the co-authors Max Keeping.
As we continued the conversation I explained that I was a research scientist and was building a computer simulation model to illustrate in the computer how trees grow. I then asked her:
“What do you do?” She said:
“I am a writer. I recently published a book called ‘On Death &Dying’. I am Elizabeth Kübler-Ross.”
Since I was reading mainly technical books and journals at that time, I never heard about her before. So, I continued to put my foot in it. I told her it was pretty gutsy for a writer to take on such a subject. She then smiled and said
“Actually, I am also a medical doctor”.
I was interested in the subject matter and we ended up having a good discussion about people’s reaction when they are told that they are terminally ill. She explained the five stages patients go through at that time:
Denial and isolation: “not me, it cannot be true”
Anger: “why me?”
Bargaining: “yes me…but”
Depression: “yes me”
Acceptance: “it’s OK”
She gave me an autographed copy of her book when I attended her lecture at the Plummer Hospital that evening. I drove her to the airport the next morning and continued to exchange Christmas cards for a few years afterwards.
Thirty two years later I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. On January 27, 2005 I started 37 sessions of radiation treatment in the Ottawa Cancer Clinic. During each session I had to lie on my stomach, the technician strapped a mold on my buttock and the radiation proceeded for about 12 minutes. At that time I often thought of the meeting I had with Dr. Kübler-Ross. I learned to have a deep appreciation of what is now called the “Elizabeth Kübler-Ross” model: the five stages of grief as a pattern of phases, most or all of which people tend to go through, not always in sequence, after being faced with the tragedy of their own impending death. While I was determined to survive cancer, I also faced the possibility that my body may not respond to the treatment as expected.
I was one of the fortunate ones thanks to the excellent cancer treatment facilities we have at the Ottawa Cancer Clinic. I responded well and I am now cancer free… as free as one can ever be.
The writings of Dr. Kübler-Ross inspired me to start a similar project after I completed my cancer treatments. This project involved collecting stories of cancer survivors about their reaction and courageous battles after they were told: “you have cancer”. I was lucky to have three other cancer survivors to join this project and we have collected heart-warming and emotions packed stories from 36 cancer survivors. We will publish these stories in a book called: “Death Can Wait – Stories from Cancer Survivors” by Frank Hegyi, Roslyn Franken, Jacquelin Holzman and Max Keeping. Book launching will be on August 23rd in Ottawa as part of “Dancing in the Street”. These stories give testimony to a new culture developing around cancer: “don’t think of death… think of survival” coined by one of the co-authors Max Keeping.
Book Publishing
Options for First Time Authors
It is the dream of most first time authors to be a best selling author. Yet the sobering statistics about the book industry provide a painful reality check that the probability of achieving that goal is very low.
It is estimated that about 1 million new books are published each year worldwide. United Kingdom appears to lead with over 200,000 new titles being released each year, followed by Unites States (172,000), China (136,000) and Germany (96,000); Canada is averaging close to 20,000 new books per year. While best selling authors count their numbers sold in millions, over 90% of the new titles end up selling less than 1,000 copies. A large percentage of new titles hit the market through the self publishing route and hence lack any sizeable distribution infrastructure. Printing companies who service self publishing authors are often reluctant to do business with the larger book stores mainly because when unsold books are returned to them they are forced to absorb the printing costs.
First time authors generally have few options available to them in the publishing industry. After finishing the manuscript, the next step is to write a brief synopsis which can then be used to find a publisher. Some authors opt to get a Literary Agent to represent them to publishers. There is no guarantee that this approach will work and it could cost about $500 or more. Publishing companies with established distribution network rarely take the work of first time authors, especially if the manuscript deals with autobiography. Consequently, the next logical step is to find a printing (small scale publishing) company and proceed with the self publishing option. At this point some authors chose to engage the services of an editor (at costs ranging from $500 to $1,000) to position the manuscript to be market ready. Next the printing company will supply a formatting specialist (at a cost of about $500) to prepare the manuscript to be print ready. Decision at this point can be costly. Some printing companies may advise the author to print 1,000 to 2,000 copies of their book right at the start in order to reduce the printing costs by approximately 50%. For an average book of 6,000 to 8,000 words the printing may still cost up to $5 per copy, hence requiring the author to invest $5,000 to $10,000. A self publishing author without a large scale distribution network is likely to sell about 500 books during the first two years. Many authors who have taken this route freely admit that they still have boxes of their book in the basement!
Another option for a first time author is to print initially 200 copies at a higher cost such as $10 each (investment is reduced to $2,000), then sell each book for $20 and recover the investment during the first year with a modest amount of profit. Following that, the printing costs of 100 copies each time can be covered from the profits of previous batches. This approach provides an efficient option for “testing” the market and if the sales start to increase then the author can start printing larges batches to reduce costs. I used this option with an Ottawa publishing company (Baico Publishing www.baico.ca ) and have found it highly cost effective.
A relatively new phenomenon that is available to authors is to make the manuscript available as eBook through a company that is linked to major international book sellers. I explored this option with www.lightningsource.com and my first book “Dare to Take the Next Step – Adventures of a Refugee” is now included in the catalogues of several major eBook distribution companies (e.g. website: http://www.booksonboard.com/index.html Search: Hegyi). This option requires a relatively small amount of investment (less than $100), the eBook can then be purchased online for less than $10 and still yielding the author approximately $4 per book.
It is the dream of most first time authors to be a best selling author. Yet the sobering statistics about the book industry provide a painful reality check that the probability of achieving that goal is very low.
It is estimated that about 1 million new books are published each year worldwide. United Kingdom appears to lead with over 200,000 new titles being released each year, followed by Unites States (172,000), China (136,000) and Germany (96,000); Canada is averaging close to 20,000 new books per year. While best selling authors count their numbers sold in millions, over 90% of the new titles end up selling less than 1,000 copies. A large percentage of new titles hit the market through the self publishing route and hence lack any sizeable distribution infrastructure. Printing companies who service self publishing authors are often reluctant to do business with the larger book stores mainly because when unsold books are returned to them they are forced to absorb the printing costs.
First time authors generally have few options available to them in the publishing industry. After finishing the manuscript, the next step is to write a brief synopsis which can then be used to find a publisher. Some authors opt to get a Literary Agent to represent them to publishers. There is no guarantee that this approach will work and it could cost about $500 or more. Publishing companies with established distribution network rarely take the work of first time authors, especially if the manuscript deals with autobiography. Consequently, the next logical step is to find a printing (small scale publishing) company and proceed with the self publishing option. At this point some authors chose to engage the services of an editor (at costs ranging from $500 to $1,000) to position the manuscript to be market ready. Next the printing company will supply a formatting specialist (at a cost of about $500) to prepare the manuscript to be print ready. Decision at this point can be costly. Some printing companies may advise the author to print 1,000 to 2,000 copies of their book right at the start in order to reduce the printing costs by approximately 50%. For an average book of 6,000 to 8,000 words the printing may still cost up to $5 per copy, hence requiring the author to invest $5,000 to $10,000. A self publishing author without a large scale distribution network is likely to sell about 500 books during the first two years. Many authors who have taken this route freely admit that they still have boxes of their book in the basement!
Another option for a first time author is to print initially 200 copies at a higher cost such as $10 each (investment is reduced to $2,000), then sell each book for $20 and recover the investment during the first year with a modest amount of profit. Following that, the printing costs of 100 copies each time can be covered from the profits of previous batches. This approach provides an efficient option for “testing” the market and if the sales start to increase then the author can start printing larges batches to reduce costs. I used this option with an Ottawa publishing company (Baico Publishing www.baico.ca ) and have found it highly cost effective.
A relatively new phenomenon that is available to authors is to make the manuscript available as eBook through a company that is linked to major international book sellers. I explored this option with www.lightningsource.com and my first book “Dare to Take the Next Step – Adventures of a Refugee” is now included in the catalogues of several major eBook distribution companies (e.g. website: http://www.booksonboard.com/index.html Search: Hegyi). This option requires a relatively small amount of investment (less than $100), the eBook can then be purchased online for less than $10 and still yielding the author approximately $4 per book.
The Importance of Branding
The word brand originally referred to burning and it was associated with the process of marking an animal with a unique symbol so that the owner could identify it as part of his/her herd (in the days of the cowboys in the Wild West). The practice involved heating in a fire a branding iron that was fashioned into a symbol, which would then be pressed against the hide of an animal and leaving a permanent scar on the body.
The term brand in our hi-tech society has a wider meaning; it is the identity of a specific product, service or business and is being used extensively in marketing. It can take many forms, including name, sign, symbol, color combination and slogan. The highest level of success in branding is to create an image that is instantly recognizable and is associated with a company, product or service. This takes a considerable amount of investments of time and money. Companies that have achieved this include for example McDonalds (with its Golden Arches), Microsoft for software (name and font), Google for search engine (name and font), and Facebook and Twitter for social networking (name and font).
During the past decade, there has been a rapid increase in the number of people using web based social media for networking and “marketing”. This rapidly growing phenomenon created relatively new buzzwords such as viral marketing and viral advertising; they refer to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives (such as product sales) through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of pathological and computer viruses.
A particularly unique aspect of viral marketing is the effective use of branding through social media such as Facebook (over 400 million active users) and Twitter (over 70 million visitors). However, the challenge is to get visitors who see your message to actually read it. Long “selling” messages on Facebook are likely to be overlooked by your FB friends unless some intriguing branding is included in the first 3-4 words. On Twitter, the importance of branding is even more critical due to the 140 character limitation on messages. The next step after getting attention with branding is to take the “looker” to a web site and attract them to become “buyers”. This can result in another show stopper because the first page on a website is often a general description of the company and it may take one or more clicks to get to the item that caught the attention of the looker in the first place. This problem may be solved by creating a link from the social media to a blog site where the item of interest is briefly described and/or illustrated with descriptive imaging or linked to a website where the item for sale can be purchased such as Amazon.com
Such a marketing approach is being used effectively to promote the sale of books and consulting services by experts such as Peggy McColl, a New York Times best-selling author, author of Viral Explosions and internationally recognized expert on marketing; see:
http://blogbusinessworld.blogspot.com/2010/07/peggy-mccoll-viral-explosion-blog.html
Roslyn Franken, co-author of Death Can Wait and author of “The A list: 9 Guiding Principles of Healthy Eating and Positive Living” is also using this approach effectively for book sales and for consulting assignments: http://roslynfranken.blogspot.com/
I am also using this approach to communicate to Facebook and Twitter friends my activities, my stories that are being published in CanAsian Times, and the promotion of my book “Dare to Take the Next Step” that is sold on Amazon.com as Print on Demand and on Diesel as eBook: http://frankhegyi.blogspot.com/ In all instances, branding was found to be a critical ingredient of success.
The term brand in our hi-tech society has a wider meaning; it is the identity of a specific product, service or business and is being used extensively in marketing. It can take many forms, including name, sign, symbol, color combination and slogan. The highest level of success in branding is to create an image that is instantly recognizable and is associated with a company, product or service. This takes a considerable amount of investments of time and money. Companies that have achieved this include for example McDonalds (with its Golden Arches), Microsoft for software (name and font), Google for search engine (name and font), and Facebook and Twitter for social networking (name and font).
During the past decade, there has been a rapid increase in the number of people using web based social media for networking and “marketing”. This rapidly growing phenomenon created relatively new buzzwords such as viral marketing and viral advertising; they refer to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives (such as product sales) through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of pathological and computer viruses.
A particularly unique aspect of viral marketing is the effective use of branding through social media such as Facebook (over 400 million active users) and Twitter (over 70 million visitors). However, the challenge is to get visitors who see your message to actually read it. Long “selling” messages on Facebook are likely to be overlooked by your FB friends unless some intriguing branding is included in the first 3-4 words. On Twitter, the importance of branding is even more critical due to the 140 character limitation on messages. The next step after getting attention with branding is to take the “looker” to a web site and attract them to become “buyers”. This can result in another show stopper because the first page on a website is often a general description of the company and it may take one or more clicks to get to the item that caught the attention of the looker in the first place. This problem may be solved by creating a link from the social media to a blog site where the item of interest is briefly described and/or illustrated with descriptive imaging or linked to a website where the item for sale can be purchased such as Amazon.com
Such a marketing approach is being used effectively to promote the sale of books and consulting services by experts such as Peggy McColl, a New York Times best-selling author, author of Viral Explosions and internationally recognized expert on marketing; see:
http://blogbusinessworld.blogspot.com/2010/07/peggy-mccoll-viral-explosion-blog.html
Roslyn Franken, co-author of Death Can Wait and author of “The A list: 9 Guiding Principles of Healthy Eating and Positive Living” is also using this approach effectively for book sales and for consulting assignments: http://roslynfranken.blogspot.com/
I am also using this approach to communicate to Facebook and Twitter friends my activities, my stories that are being published in CanAsian Times, and the promotion of my book “Dare to Take the Next Step” that is sold on Amazon.com as Print on Demand and on Diesel as eBook: http://frankhegyi.blogspot.com/ In all instances, branding was found to be a critical ingredient of success.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)