« The Need for This Blog, and 3 Ways It Addresses that Need »

A few weeks ago I completed a “Submission Proposal” to Berrett-Koehler Publishing that followed their guidelines. They have a wonderfully helpful AND challenging set of questions that need to be answered for them to look at a manuscript. Right off they ask, “What is the need for this book and how does it meet that need?” Since this blog has a lot of modified excerpts from the manuscript, my answer tells you what need I feel I’m addressing with this blog. Quoting from the proposal:

When it is obvious that we have only one Earth to live on, but continue to use the resources of more than one, we need to figure out what is going on. Why are our leaders and culture gridlocked, unable to solve this complex problem even when we know it can lead to our extinction? What is the nature of the grip that Multi Earth living has on us? And how can we be released from that grip in order to practice One Earth living more fully? Changing our Earth-destroying habits to life-enhancing ones will persist as the most demanding challenge for our species during upcoming decades. Therefore, interest in the themes of my book [this blog] will increase, not decline, for the foreseeable future.

My book [this blog] addresses the above need by

1. showing how Multi Earth living mesmerizes us despite the inevitable consequences of failure and death that come with  this worldview, 
2. emphasizing how we humans have the capacity to choose the One Earth worldview over the Multi Earth worldview, and 
3. disclosing my own struggle to reshape my life to One Earth living after having come under the spell of Multi Earth ways. I believe that as readers ponder the contrasting worldviews, consider the information I give, and follow my personal story, they will engage in self-reflection on their own Multi Earth vs. One Earth tensions. 

Today (8-7-12) I received a most pleasant phone call from Berrett-Koehler explaining that they would NOT be publishing my manuscript because they were preparing another with similar content for release in the spring. She encouraged me to submit it to other publishers because “you’ve done a lot of good work and it’s a very hot topic.”

Comments

[K.Williams]

Berrett-Koehler are not sufficiently interested (for whatever reason), so, what next? One such book is nowhere near enough!

[Chris Morales]

Sounds like a great book Lee. Looking very much forward to reading it.

[Lee Van Ham]

K. - Pondering what's next and considering getting it to another publisher, maybe Beacon. But we also have an eBook group that wants to publish it. An enhanced eBook that includes video and audio embeds appeals pretty strongly too. Do you have ideas?

Chris - appreciate your encouragement. You may have contacts from your degree at Kroc Center for Peace and Justice, USD, who could help enlarge this conversation, no?