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Harley L. Sachs
  • 93, Male
  • Houghton,MI
  • United States
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Something About Me and My Book:
I've been a freelance writer since 1957 and have quite a few books published since I retired in 1986. My web site is www.hu.mtu.edu/~hlsachs where you can link to the catalog, reviews, and listen to two stories the BBC broadcast. My latest project is of interest to freelance writers who might like to finance their next trip abroad with their writing. The little book is called "CHilly-CHilly BANG! or How We Freelanced Through Europe's Coldest Winter in a VW with a Kid." It's hard work and you have to keep on the move, but the credential acquired through all that publication helped land me a university teaching job. The book can be downloaded or a custom copy printed from www.lulu.com.
Website:
http://www.hu.mtu.edu/~hlsachs

First installment, "COnspiracy!"

Thought you might want to read my next to be published (March 2009, Zumaya) mystery. It's called "Conspiracy!" and was previously an ebook at ElectricUmbrella.com until the site was pirated and shut down. Let me know if you want to read more of this:
Conspiracy!
by
Harley L. Sachs
Prologue: Portland
Jake Friedman didn’t believe in ghosts or clairvoyance, but he did have foreboding. When he opened the office door and switched on the light he felt a presence in the room that made him pause. There was no one there. Everything appeared to be the way he had left it: recycled metal desk and office chair, garage sale fax machine. Only the filing cabinet and the computer monitor were new. What could be the cause of his uneasiness?
Smoke, Jake decided. Someone had been smoking. He told himself it might have been the janitor, except there was no janitor, and Jake was the only one who had keys to the new lock.
If someone had picked the lock and let themselves in, they’d be disappointed. The computer monitor was just a screen he plugged into the laptop he carried with him. There was nothing in the filing cabinet but some correspondence, stock contracts, and authors’ manuscripts. Maybe some disgruntled author with second thoughts had somehow gotten in to search for her manuscript. Who could do that?
There was no telling. The slush box behind the desk was full of unsolicited and unread manuscripts, a pile that grew faster than he could chip away at it. The world was full of authors and they were all determined to impose their attempts on him.
Authors could be weird. They could mail in a bundle of yellow pages typed single spaced in a godawful italic face, swear in the cover letter that the story was all true, and demand an immediate contract for a million bucks. Jake had seen more than enough of those kooks when he worked at the Meridian Agency in New York. Now, thank God, he had made the leap, put the whole continent between him and Sol Meredith at Meridian to set up his own agency in the Pacific Northwest.
Sol had been a con artist who had found it easier to extract fees from authors than to actually place their work with a publisher. Sol’s ads in the writers’ magazines had lured wannabe authors so he could collect reading fees, consultation fees, editing fees, and charges for spurious expenses. Occasionally Sol had actually placed a book, but none had ever earned back the advance on royalties.
Meridian was a racket and working for Sol was degrading. Jake had needed his own space, and not have anyone tell him that he had to read that single spaced italic junk because the alleged author could pay the reading fee. That was why he got out.
His agency was legit. His own name in gold letters was on the door. He decided himself what books had hope of publication, even though it was a struggle. Mergers and conglomerates in the mega entertainment industry had turned what had been a stable business into quicksand. Relationships developed with editors over years of lunches in Manhattan evaporated overnight when the accountants’ computers ferreted out the editors whose choices had not reaped the high return demanded by greed. There was no tenure for editors.
Considering market volatility, Jake’s hit with the Godot book, Conspiracy! had been a coup. The agent’s cut of the hefty advance from Nile publishing had put him in the black. It had also made it possible to move the business out of his home. His house was a worn out duplex off Everett Avenue, what the real estate agents coyly called a fixer-upper, a euphemism for gut the place and rebuild from the inside out. You couldn’t meet an author in all that plaster dust. The plan was that once the other half was fixed and rented it would pay the mortgage.
Moving into a real office on the third floor of a run- down building in the Pearl District with its galleries and studios was an improvement over having to rendezvous with authors at a table at Starbucks. Thank you co-authors Harold Stevenson, Tom Godot, Nile publishing, and the luck of seeing Conspiracy! make the best seller list.
Jake went to the one window in the office that wasn’t painted shut and threw it open. Some fresh air would get rid of that mysterious smell of tobacco smoke, wherever it had come from.

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Harley L. Sachs's Blog

Ever had a delayed flight? Here's a tip.

My flight from Minneapolis to Seattle was delayed for two hours and a fellow passenger informed me that if your flight is delayed more than two hours, you can ask for an "inconvenience voucher" (not to be confused with an incontinence voucher for having beend enied bathroom access). An inconvenience voucher can be obtained at the check-in desk or on the plane UPON REQUEST. and may range from a free ticket to $25.

If your luggage is not delivered with the plane, you can also ask for a…

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Posted on October 2, 2007 at 8:27am

Comment Wall (6 comments)

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At 2:19am on February 28, 2009, Bert Martinez said…
Hello, I'm Bert Martinez, I'm looking to network with success minded authors. If you would like my free report 30 Strategies for Selling More Books just fill out the form below. I look forward to networking with you and if there is anything that I can help you with please do not hesitate to contact me.

You Were Created to Succeed!

Bert Martinez
www.bertmartinez.com




For Email Marketing you can trust
At 9:35am on October 30, 2008, Harley Sachs said…
Here's another tip: I print out bookmarks five-up (that means five at a time) on 110 pound stock (same as business cards) and carry them wherever I go. They cost me about a penny apiece. Since I ride public transportation, I watch for people reading books and give them a bookmark. The front of the bookmark lists my books and the back tells people that some are in the local library and others can be ordered. Another tip is to get all your friends, relatives, grandchildlren, etc. to ask their librarians to add my books to their holdings. Librarians need tips from readers and appreciate those suggestions.
At 7:40am on December 21, 2007, Harley L. Sachs said…
My mail box tends to overfill, but time permitting I'm happy to share information. this is such a tough business any little bit can help.
At 3:16pm on December 20, 2007, Doris Anne Beaulieu said…
Dear Harley;
Thank you so very much for caring to share.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS
Doris
At 8:33am on October 30, 2007, Harley L. Sachs said…
Check out your local newspaper for free ads. Northern Express in Traverse City, Michigan and the Oregonian in Portland both offer free ads, and your book can be listed. I put up ads even though I do not sell the books myself. By thetime I pay the postage to get a book my discount has been wiped out. The best I can do is direct people to the publishers so they can order books themselves.
At 10:19am on October 29, 2007, Author & Book Promotions said…
Hi Harley,

Thanks for your information. I've sent you a request for a friendship.

I look forward to networking with you.

Nadia
 
 
 

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