1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,320 Robert Plank: Marketer of the Day episode 725 tell your story 2 00:00:04,320 --> 00:00:08,190 and leave a lasting literary legacy through memoir books with 3 00:00:08,190 --> 00:00:16,050 Jan Bear. Hey everyone, and welcome back to the marketer of 4 00:00:16,050 --> 00:00:19,890 the day podcast. We are here with return guest Jan Bear, and 5 00:00:19,890 --> 00:00:22,710 you can find her previous appearance at marketer of the 6 00:00:22,740 --> 00:00:27,750 day.com, forward, slash, 207, you can find her current website 7 00:00:27,900 --> 00:00:33,360 at B, E, A, R, web content that.com that's bear. Web 8 00:00:33,360 --> 00:00:37,350 content.com and she has a Facebook group called Book genie 9 00:00:37,470 --> 00:00:41,430 and Jan. Bear is a writer and editor and a book designer who 10 00:00:41,430 --> 00:00:44,430 is excited about the new publishing options and the 11 00:00:44,460 --> 00:00:48,120 opportunities they offer for people to get their message out. 12 00:00:48,240 --> 00:00:51,990 One thing to consider is, after you're gone, after your long 13 00:00:51,990 --> 00:00:55,890 debt and all of your websites expire and the podcast Bill 14 00:00:55,890 --> 00:00:58,980 stops getting paid, what will be left? Well, maybe nothing, or 15 00:00:58,980 --> 00:01:02,310 maybe some of the books that you've put out so that future 16 00:01:02,310 --> 00:01:06,570 generations, future relatives and people who live in the years 17 00:01:06,570 --> 00:01:10,620 past, you can get your books and find out all about you. So we 18 00:01:10,620 --> 00:01:14,340 are excited to jump in and see what there is to unpack. So Jan, 19 00:01:14,340 --> 00:01:16,290 glad to be talking to you again. It's 20 00:01:16,500 --> 00:01:18,840 Jan Bear: good to talk to you too. We kind of meet up on 21 00:01:18,840 --> 00:01:22,340 Facebook every now and then. It's nice to to see you in 22 00:01:22,340 --> 00:01:24,020 person again. Yeah, 23 00:01:24,020 --> 00:01:26,840 Robert Plank: it's good to keep the connection alive and and 24 00:01:26,840 --> 00:01:30,440 have that diverse group of people, because it gets kind of 25 00:01:30,440 --> 00:01:32,660 boring if you just hang out with, you know, the people you 26 00:01:32,660 --> 00:01:35,840 went to school with, or family or co workers or people like 27 00:01:35,840 --> 00:01:38,900 that. So it's good to have that diverse connection, and because 28 00:01:38,900 --> 00:01:41,980 we have the internet and Facebook, then we can just have, 29 00:01:41,980 --> 00:01:45,220 you know, all those, those varied types of personalities. 30 00:01:45,400 --> 00:01:49,540 And so we were speaking on Facebook and over email about 31 00:01:49,540 --> 00:01:53,440 you have this new concept called the family legacy book. So do 32 00:01:53,440 --> 00:01:56,140 you feel like telling us about that and catching us up on what 33 00:01:56,140 --> 00:01:56,800 you've been up to? 34 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:01,980 Jan Bear: Yeah, you know, we've all got older people in our 35 00:02:01,980 --> 00:02:09,120 lives, and you know what? With time and and people being too 36 00:02:09,120 --> 00:02:12,780 busy to listen and listen to the stories, a lot of times, people 37 00:02:12,780 --> 00:02:15,420 don't feel like anybody's going to be interested in their 38 00:02:15,420 --> 00:02:19,980 stories. And we don't really know what our parents our 39 00:02:19,980 --> 00:02:23,660 grandparents went through. We don't. They're they're from 40 00:02:23,720 --> 00:02:27,260 another country, because the past is so different from what 41 00:02:27,260 --> 00:02:31,940 we're what we have now, and it's really hard to imagine what 42 00:02:31,940 --> 00:02:36,980 their lives were like. And there just doesn't seem to be the 43 00:02:36,980 --> 00:02:40,900 right time to sit down and say, you know, tell me what you did. 44 00:02:41,140 --> 00:02:43,780 Tell me what happened. Tell me what it was like when you went 45 00:02:43,780 --> 00:02:49,480 to school. How did you get by without a cell phone, and what 46 00:02:49,480 --> 00:02:53,440 was it like when World War Two happened, or whatever? You know, 47 00:02:53,440 --> 00:02:56,980 a lot of our older people have really interesting history. 48 00:02:57,700 --> 00:03:01,140 Maybe they were heroes, or maybe they had some kind of battle 49 00:03:01,140 --> 00:03:04,320 experience that they just don't want to talk about every time 50 00:03:04,320 --> 00:03:07,560 somebody comes over, or maybe they did something really 51 00:03:07,560 --> 00:03:11,160 interesting in business, and, you know, they just don't think 52 00:03:11,160 --> 00:03:14,280 it's that interesting. But if you sat down and listened to 53 00:03:14,280 --> 00:03:17,640 them, you would get a lot of insights into how the world 54 00:03:17,640 --> 00:03:21,620 hasn't changed and how it has. And I hate to see those 55 00:03:21,620 --> 00:03:25,040 opportunities go away, and because of the way the 56 00:03:25,040 --> 00:03:29,960 publishing works right now, you can, you can get a book from 57 00:03:29,960 --> 00:03:33,020 those people, and it doesn't have to be a New York Times 58 00:03:33,020 --> 00:03:37,040 bestseller. It can be just something that the family buys 59 00:03:37,340 --> 00:03:41,260 and they know about. I did one of these books for my father in 60 00:03:41,260 --> 00:03:45,940 law, and I found out that he had a really interesting life. You 61 00:03:45,940 --> 00:03:49,960 know, he knew Bob Dole in high school and and he didn't get to 62 00:03:49,960 --> 00:03:53,740 go to World War Two because he was a farm worker, and farm 63 00:03:53,740 --> 00:03:58,780 workers were designated as people who were needed to 64 00:03:58,780 --> 00:04:03,660 produce food for everybody. And so he watched everybody around 65 00:04:03,660 --> 00:04:08,460 him go off to World War Two, and he was, you know, I mean, he did 66 00:04:08,460 --> 00:04:12,300 what he had to do, because that kind of person he is, but he 67 00:04:12,300 --> 00:04:16,860 also felt really hurt and sad about all the people who didn't 68 00:04:16,860 --> 00:04:21,480 come back. And he was there working as a farm worker. He's a 69 00:04:21,480 --> 00:04:24,980 really interesting perspectives that we that we don't want to 70 00:04:24,980 --> 00:04:32,480 lose. And so, you know, because he wrote this book, and it 71 00:04:32,480 --> 00:04:36,920 turned out to be pretty, pretty short, because he's a tight 72 00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:43,420 lipped Kansas farm guy, he was, he was able to have something, 73 00:04:43,540 --> 00:04:47,140 and is the last time I talked to one of his great grandsons, 74 00:04:47,140 --> 00:04:51,640 who's in fourth grade. He had a biology project, and this little 75 00:04:51,640 --> 00:04:54,880 guy was going to read his grandpa's book and report on his 76 00:04:54,880 --> 00:04:58,420 grandpa for his biology project, along with, you know, the other 77 00:04:58,420 --> 00:05:02,040 kids are going to be doing Einstein. And Tesla and what 78 00:05:02,040 --> 00:05:06,840 have you, but this guy was going to talk about his grandpa, and 79 00:05:07,200 --> 00:05:13,920 that's a legacy of a kind that is more than money, because it's 80 00:05:14,040 --> 00:05:17,940 because it's living history, and it's something that that people 81 00:05:17,940 --> 00:05:22,460 can connect to and really understand how they got to be 82 00:05:22,460 --> 00:05:27,500 here, and what kind of people made us. So that's I would, you 83 00:05:27,500 --> 00:05:30,200 know, that's kind of an exciting prospect for me. 84 00:05:31,100 --> 00:05:33,440 Robert Plank: Yeah, and you give us a lot, a lot to chew on. 85 00:05:33,440 --> 00:05:36,260 There a lot to think about, because, um, because, like, you 86 00:05:36,260 --> 00:05:38,720 know, I think, as you were explaining all that, I think 87 00:05:38,720 --> 00:05:44,080 about how, like, our parents kind of are very closed off to 88 00:05:44,080 --> 00:05:47,320 us, right? Our parents don't want to be open. And there was a 89 00:05:47,320 --> 00:05:51,460 point when our parents were the age we are now going through a 90 00:05:51,460 --> 00:05:54,880 lot of similar things, but they weren't really like our best 91 00:05:54,880 --> 00:05:57,280 friends and sharing everything. They were kind of like their own 92 00:05:57,340 --> 00:06:02,100 person. So there's a whole kind of undiscovered side of things. 93 00:06:02,400 --> 00:06:07,260 And you also reached the point of, maybe someone is a little 94 00:06:07,320 --> 00:06:10,080 elderly, a little getting up in the years, and they have that 95 00:06:10,080 --> 00:06:13,500 objection of saying, Well, who wants to hear about me? Who 96 00:06:13,500 --> 00:06:16,620 wants to hear about my story? And you're saying, Well, you 97 00:06:16,620 --> 00:06:19,680 might already be telling the same story and repeating it over 98 00:06:19,680 --> 00:06:23,600 and over anyway, why not get it down once, and why not maybe get 99 00:06:23,600 --> 00:06:27,080 it in print and get it to be the best that you know, get it 100 00:06:27,140 --> 00:06:30,500 refined and get to the best that it can be that way. It's not a 101 00:06:30,500 --> 00:06:33,140 matter of, oh, he's telling the same story again, and next thing 102 00:06:33,140 --> 00:06:35,720 you know, your grandpa's gone, and then there's no story to 103 00:06:35,720 --> 00:06:38,420 tell. So it's like you might already be telling the story 104 00:06:38,420 --> 00:06:42,280 again and again anyway, and it's good to have it there, because 105 00:06:42,280 --> 00:06:45,100 you don't know who will use it. And you're saying that this 106 00:06:45,100 --> 00:06:49,120 isn't like something that will be, you know, out there for the 107 00:06:49,120 --> 00:06:53,020 the whole world or sell a billion copies. It's mostly for 108 00:06:53,080 --> 00:06:56,380 those loved ones, those family members, to have something of us 109 00:06:56,380 --> 00:06:57,880 after we're gone, right? 110 00:06:58,420 --> 00:07:03,300 Jan Bear: Yeah, yeah. I mean, you know, memoirs are, is a, is 111 00:07:03,300 --> 00:07:08,940 a hot, is a hot property in the publishing business. But I'm 112 00:07:08,940 --> 00:07:12,840 not. I'm not selling this, as you know, this is going to be a 113 00:07:12,840 --> 00:07:15,420 New York Times bestseller. Probably, no, it could be, you 114 00:07:15,420 --> 00:07:17,820 know, I'm not. I'm, well, it couldn't be, if you're self 115 00:07:17,820 --> 00:07:21,860 publishing. That's just the way the New York Times, does it. But 116 00:07:21,860 --> 00:07:26,900 the thing is, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what people 117 00:07:26,900 --> 00:07:30,860 outside the family know if it's if it's got wider appeal, it'll 118 00:07:30,860 --> 00:07:35,120 have wider appeal. And that's great. But the most important 119 00:07:35,120 --> 00:07:39,920 thing is, is to build up this library of what happened in the 120 00:07:39,920 --> 00:07:45,400 past and why and why it happened, and why we are who we 121 00:07:45,400 --> 00:07:49,780 are now. You know, the other thing is, a lot of people will 122 00:07:49,780 --> 00:07:53,200 say, Well, you know, grandpa's old, and he doesn't, he doesn't 123 00:07:53,200 --> 00:07:56,920 like to write. He's never written anything, and that is a 124 00:07:56,920 --> 00:08:01,380 problem that can be easily overcome also, because all you 125 00:08:01,380 --> 00:08:07,260 have to do is sit down with him and him or her and make an 126 00:08:07,260 --> 00:08:10,680 outline, you know, say, Okay, this is what, this is what we're 127 00:08:10,680 --> 00:08:13,920 going to do this book about. This is what happened, and this 128 00:08:13,920 --> 00:08:17,460 is the story we're going to tell. And then you just sit down 129 00:08:17,460 --> 00:08:21,800 and you record conversation where you talk about the outline 130 00:08:22,220 --> 00:08:25,280 you talk about, okay, so this is, this is what it was like. 131 00:08:25,280 --> 00:08:27,800 These are your first memories, and this is your elementary 132 00:08:27,800 --> 00:08:33,320 school, and so on through there. And then you've got the whole 133 00:08:33,320 --> 00:08:36,920 thing. And then, like you say, you've got an outsider who can 134 00:08:36,920 --> 00:08:42,040 come in and make it sound right. You know, people talking Never. 135 00:08:42,460 --> 00:08:46,060 You don't talk like you could do a book, because that's just not, 136 00:08:46,600 --> 00:08:51,640 not the way we converse. So you make it into a book, and then it 137 00:08:51,640 --> 00:08:55,120 reads well, and it reads, it reads quick rhythm, you know, 138 00:08:55,120 --> 00:08:59,140 reading actual spoken conversation does, and it sounds 139 00:08:59,140 --> 00:09:02,460 good, and you get a great cover on it, and it's something you 140 00:09:02,460 --> 00:09:07,680 can put on your shelf and say, Look, this is my book. You know, 141 00:09:07,680 --> 00:09:13,560 I wrote a book. And so he's got a chance to show that to his 142 00:09:13,560 --> 00:09:19,560 friends. And, you know, his connect with old, you know, past 143 00:09:19,560 --> 00:09:22,820 acquaintances and that kind of thing. So, yeah, 144 00:09:24,200 --> 00:09:27,440 Robert Plank: so this process of you figure out the outline, and 145 00:09:27,440 --> 00:09:30,620 then, and you sit down, and then, and then, you know, flesh 146 00:09:30,620 --> 00:09:34,940 out the book contents. Is this something that works better over 147 00:09:34,940 --> 00:09:39,560 the course of, like, weeks, months, years, or is it good to 148 00:09:39,860 --> 00:09:44,080 budget like, you know, every Friday for half an hour. Is it 149 00:09:44,080 --> 00:09:46,480 better if it works on a schedule, or every now and then? 150 00:09:46,480 --> 00:09:49,180 Or, like, what seems to work best for this? 151 00:09:50,500 --> 00:09:57,880 Jan Bear: Um, I probably doing it. It really depends on on the 152 00:09:57,880 --> 00:10:00,780 other person's energy, because it can be. Really kind of 153 00:10:00,780 --> 00:10:04,980 tiring. I think, you know, the shorter the time frame you can 154 00:10:04,980 --> 00:10:08,940 get into, the better it is for the book, because then you've 155 00:10:08,940 --> 00:10:14,040 got a continuity going on and and the author can remember, you 156 00:10:14,040 --> 00:10:16,440 know, kind of okay, this is where we left off, and we'll 157 00:10:16,440 --> 00:10:21,500 keep going. So, you know, if you can do it like in an hour or so 158 00:10:21,500 --> 00:10:27,260 over a week, that would be great. If you can do it, you 159 00:10:27,260 --> 00:10:30,080 know, in several hours, over several days, that would be 160 00:10:30,080 --> 00:10:33,980 fine. But you know, if the person just doesn't have the 161 00:10:33,980 --> 00:10:37,880 energy to do that, then you work, then you work with the 162 00:10:37,880 --> 00:10:42,460 energy that they've got. So it kind of depends on where in the 163 00:10:42,460 --> 00:10:46,540 person's life you're you know you're coming in and collecting 164 00:10:46,540 --> 00:10:50,920 these stories, because you know, somebody who's 62 and really 165 00:10:50,920 --> 00:10:53,620 busy but has a really interesting story to tell is 166 00:10:53,620 --> 00:10:56,800 going to have one schedule, and somebody who's 94 is going to 167 00:10:56,800 --> 00:10:57,460 have another. And 168 00:10:59,320 --> 00:11:02,700 Robert Plank: you raise an interesting point there in that 169 00:11:02,700 --> 00:11:06,960 it seems like it would be better to get on the sooner rather than 170 00:11:06,960 --> 00:11:11,760 later, right? So that way, if, if you're 60, then you can maybe 171 00:11:11,760 --> 00:11:15,000 take more of your time, as opposed to 94 you really, you 172 00:11:15,000 --> 00:11:17,160 know, you don't know how much time you have left. 173 00:11:18,060 --> 00:11:22,100 Jan Bear: That's true, yeah, um, and then the energy is part of 174 00:11:22,100 --> 00:11:25,400 it. I think maybe 60, I don't know, for a lot of people, 60 175 00:11:25,400 --> 00:11:28,580 might be too young, because kind of 60 is really the new 40s 176 00:11:28,580 --> 00:11:32,060 these days. But, you know, you get, you get up there pretty 177 00:11:32,060 --> 00:11:35,900 far, you know, you're going to run into the dangers of somebody 178 00:11:35,900 --> 00:11:40,960 getting in, getting into the dementia, or, you know, just not 179 00:11:41,140 --> 00:11:45,100 just not getting there. I mean, just being too, too frail to do 180 00:11:45,100 --> 00:11:47,740 it. So, yeah, sooner rather than later. 181 00:11:49,000 --> 00:11:52,300 Robert Plank: Okay, fair enough. And then. So when this kind of 182 00:11:52,300 --> 00:11:57,160 thing is done, is it like, uh, recorded an audio or like, do 183 00:11:57,160 --> 00:12:00,660 you have the laptop there? Or like, how are how the actual 184 00:12:00,660 --> 00:12:02,820 chapters and contents hammered out. 185 00:12:04,080 --> 00:12:07,140 Jan Bear: Well, you just you record it, and you can record it 186 00:12:07,140 --> 00:12:10,620 with a laptop. There. You can bring in a recording device, and 187 00:12:10,620 --> 00:12:14,820 then you can send the you can send the files off to be 188 00:12:14,820 --> 00:12:18,480 transcribed professionally, and then you have to listen to them 189 00:12:18,720 --> 00:12:23,600 again anyway, because, you know, transcriptionists are human too, 190 00:12:23,600 --> 00:12:28,340 and you know, you got to make sure that it's right. And then 191 00:12:28,340 --> 00:12:30,920 you take and then you have a first draft, and you take that 192 00:12:30,920 --> 00:12:35,660 first draft and you and you refine it until it's, you know, 193 00:12:35,660 --> 00:12:38,660 it sounds like a book, and then you would send it back to the 194 00:12:38,660 --> 00:12:43,540 author, and whoever the author designates to be, you know, to 195 00:12:43,540 --> 00:12:47,620 help with it, you know, maybe, maybe it's the kids, maybe it's 196 00:12:47,620 --> 00:12:52,000 the author's kids who actually go in on the book together. But 197 00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:57,040 you send it back and they look it over, and they and they want 198 00:12:57,040 --> 00:13:00,600 to catch mistakes that only they could know about it. I mean, you 199 00:13:00,600 --> 00:13:04,620 know, somebody talks about, you know, some public fact, I can 200 00:13:04,620 --> 00:13:08,400 look that up, but if they're talking about a family fact, I 201 00:13:08,400 --> 00:13:12,900 wouldn't necessarily have any way to find out the answer, 202 00:13:13,200 --> 00:13:16,980 although, with my father in law's book, I was able to to 203 00:13:16,980 --> 00:13:22,800 find the names of school teachers he had in 1919, 30 204 00:13:22,800 --> 00:13:26,600 some, something, just because they were listed in the 205 00:13:26,600 --> 00:13:30,200 genealogy sites on the on the web. So that was pretty 206 00:13:30,200 --> 00:13:33,320 interesting, but still, they would look it over and find 207 00:13:33,320 --> 00:13:38,060 errors. Then it would come back to me, and I would fix those 208 00:13:38,120 --> 00:13:42,460 errors. I would lay it out and proofread it. And I have a good 209 00:13:42,460 --> 00:13:48,100 friend who is just a fantastic cover designer. Her name is 210 00:13:48,100 --> 00:13:52,120 Leslie Aiken, and we work together on all these. I do the 211 00:13:52,120 --> 00:13:55,360 interior design, and she does covers, and you just come out 212 00:13:55,360 --> 00:13:59,140 with a book that looks like it could have come off the off the 213 00:13:59,140 --> 00:14:02,040 shelf of one of the big five publishers, 214 00:14:03,780 --> 00:14:06,180 Robert Plank: awesome, and as you know, like it's totally 215 00:14:06,180 --> 00:14:09,660 possible to get a book to look professionally made. It's just a 216 00:14:09,660 --> 00:14:13,080 matter of that fine tuning, because you can, you can make 217 00:14:13,080 --> 00:14:15,540 any book you want, and that's good, but that's also the 218 00:14:15,540 --> 00:14:18,900 problem, right? Because you might make the margins wrong, or 219 00:14:18,900 --> 00:14:22,460 have a stupid font, or have those typos in there. But what 220 00:14:22,460 --> 00:14:28,580 I'm hearing from you is to have multiple sets of eyeballs 221 00:14:28,580 --> 00:14:33,860 looking at this cover and the facts and the research and the 222 00:14:33,860 --> 00:14:36,740 grammar, and you're making sure that if everyone kind of puts 223 00:14:36,740 --> 00:14:41,260 their heads together, it might even be a family unifying sort 224 00:14:41,260 --> 00:14:44,200 of activity. So there's that part of it of having multiple 225 00:14:44,200 --> 00:14:47,080 people look at it, because one person won't catch all the 226 00:14:47,080 --> 00:14:50,980 mistakes. And I'm also hearing from you a lot of kind of just 227 00:14:50,980 --> 00:14:55,540 go about it easily with multiple passes and inch along and, you 228 00:14:55,540 --> 00:15:01,140 know, work on the cover a little bit and get. That transcript to 229 00:15:01,140 --> 00:15:05,340 come back, and it just seems like it's not a rush job here. 230 00:15:05,340 --> 00:15:10,200 It's kind of making multiple sweeps to get it inched closer 231 00:15:10,200 --> 00:15:11,040 to what you want. 232 00:15:12,360 --> 00:15:15,720 Jan Bear: Yeah, pretty much. I mean, standard editing is 233 00:15:16,260 --> 00:15:19,320 there's the structural editing, which just splits up the 234 00:15:19,320 --> 00:15:23,540 overview, and then there's line editing and copy editing, which 235 00:15:23,540 --> 00:15:27,800 is going in and fixing sentences and checking back. And then 236 00:15:27,800 --> 00:15:30,860 there's proofreading, and that is going through there and 237 00:15:30,860 --> 00:15:34,520 making sure every comma is right, and that the word splits 238 00:15:34,520 --> 00:15:38,300 at the end of the lines in the final in the final version, or 239 00:15:38,300 --> 00:15:43,660 right. And, you know, font, font things and all that stuff. And 240 00:15:43,660 --> 00:15:46,420 they really have to happen at three different at least at 241 00:15:46,420 --> 00:15:49,780 three different times, possibly by three different people. But 242 00:15:49,840 --> 00:15:53,440 you just can't keep all that in your mind at the same time. And 243 00:15:53,440 --> 00:15:58,600 so that's why you do it in you do it in three passes. And yeah, 244 00:15:58,660 --> 00:16:03,600 and so yeah, you do get, you do get help from the family, as far 245 00:16:03,600 --> 00:16:10,800 as, like I say, knowing what, knowing family facts. But I did 246 00:16:10,800 --> 00:16:15,060 a memoir for a guy, and he said something about, he's talking 247 00:16:15,060 --> 00:16:19,320 about some kind of car that had automatic transmission, and he 248 00:16:19,320 --> 00:16:21,260 had a name for it. And I thought, well, how does that 249 00:16:21,260 --> 00:16:24,620 spell? Well, I found out that the automatic transition he 250 00:16:24,620 --> 00:16:27,560 named didn't go with the card that he was talking about, and I 251 00:16:27,560 --> 00:16:31,520 was able to fix that for him. So it was a Buick and he it was 252 00:16:31,520 --> 00:16:35,480 Dyna flow or something, and but anyway, by by doing that kind of 253 00:16:35,480 --> 00:16:39,980 fact checking, you can eliminate the little mistakes that people 254 00:16:39,980 --> 00:16:44,500 go, Ah, yeah, you know, you got that wrong. And the car not out 255 00:16:44,500 --> 00:16:47,380 there somewhere, is going, Hey, that's not the right kind of 256 00:16:47,680 --> 00:16:50,320 that's not the right kind of automatic transmission for that 257 00:16:50,320 --> 00:16:56,080 car. And so you want somebody to really, to really question every 258 00:16:56,080 --> 00:16:59,080 single thing in there like that, and just spend a lot of time 259 00:16:59,080 --> 00:17:02,640 googling stuff to find out if that's how it's spelled, make 260 00:17:02,640 --> 00:17:07,380 sure it's spelled the same way all the way through and and 261 00:17:07,440 --> 00:17:11,220 whether it's whether it's actually the right thing, you 262 00:17:11,220 --> 00:17:12,000 know? So, 263 00:17:12,840 --> 00:17:15,660 Robert Plank: yeah, and it's, I mean, that's a good mindset to 264 00:17:15,660 --> 00:17:20,300 have, because at first listen, it seems like a little 265 00:17:20,300 --> 00:17:24,080 obsessive, but then when I think about it, it's like, Well, every 266 00:17:24,080 --> 00:17:26,600 now and then you read a book and it's got a typo, or it's got 267 00:17:26,600 --> 00:17:29,540 something that just takes you out of it. And these are even 268 00:17:29,900 --> 00:17:33,860 professionally published books, or professionally published 269 00:17:33,980 --> 00:17:36,860 college textbooks that's on the eighth edition that has the list 270 00:17:36,860 --> 00:17:41,740 of errors from the previous printing. And so it seems like 271 00:17:41,740 --> 00:17:45,580 it does pay to be a little little bit of obsessive in the 272 00:17:45,580 --> 00:17:48,640 right amount and do that fact checking and make sure that that 273 00:17:48,640 --> 00:17:52,000 part goes with that car, that way, that way you end up with a 274 00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:56,320 good, finished quality product. And so when the book is done, 275 00:17:56,560 --> 00:17:59,920 who exactly owns the rights of this memoir, 276 00:18:00,940 --> 00:18:04,320 Jan Bear: the author or the family. I mean, if the author, 277 00:18:04,380 --> 00:18:07,680 if the author says, Look, I want my, I want my children to own 278 00:18:07,680 --> 00:18:10,560 it. You know, that's fine, because I published through 279 00:18:10,560 --> 00:18:16,140 Amazon, which, which is, which is free to publish there, and 280 00:18:16,140 --> 00:18:20,840 you can get, you can get author copies at at the cost of 281 00:18:20,840 --> 00:18:24,620 production, but then it's also available on Amazon if somebody 282 00:18:24,620 --> 00:18:28,460 else wants to buy it. So, you know, you you can buy, you can 283 00:18:28,460 --> 00:18:32,060 buy copies for all your grandchildren, but if they want, 284 00:18:32,120 --> 00:18:36,020 you know, if your friend from wherever wants to buy a copy of 285 00:18:36,020 --> 00:18:39,740 it, you can just buy it from Amazon. It, you know, just pick 286 00:18:39,740 --> 00:18:44,560 up a copy online. And so I set up a separate account for them, 287 00:18:44,560 --> 00:18:48,160 and you have to go in and put in a bank. And Amazon pays 288 00:18:48,160 --> 00:18:53,380 royalties directly to your bank, so you own it. You know, I mean, 289 00:18:53,380 --> 00:18:56,680 I wait until I get paid before I turn over the keys to it. But 290 00:18:56,680 --> 00:18:58,600 they have it. It's theirs. 291 00:18:59,619 --> 00:19:02,639 Robert Plank: Fantastic. And then and then. So I imagine, so 292 00:19:02,639 --> 00:19:06,419 once the all this work has been put in, and the book is done, 293 00:19:06,419 --> 00:19:09,839 and the family owns it, and it's it's selling, I imagine that you 294 00:19:09,839 --> 00:19:13,139 can kind of have fun with it and do some some different, like, 295 00:19:13,139 --> 00:19:16,259 outside the box things with the book, right? Like, for example, 296 00:19:16,259 --> 00:19:20,399 you could, like, have the whole family on a cover, or put in 297 00:19:20,579 --> 00:19:24,499 photos from back in that time in the book. So that way it's 298 00:19:24,499 --> 00:19:27,919 preserved, or have different family members put a little 299 00:19:28,099 --> 00:19:33,499 blurb or like or even when the when the the person in question 300 00:19:33,499 --> 00:19:36,379 that the memoir is about passes away, you can, you know, go back 301 00:19:36,379 --> 00:19:39,679 and update a little thing at the end there. So just off the top 302 00:19:39,679 --> 00:19:42,579 of my head, things like this brings to mind things that 303 00:19:42,639 --> 00:19:45,819 aren't possible with a traditional publisher, right? 304 00:19:45,819 --> 00:19:48,339 When the book takes 10 years and it has to go through all these 305 00:19:48,339 --> 00:19:50,979 kinds of people, when you're doing this, when it's a self 306 00:19:50,979 --> 00:19:53,919 published process, you can kind of make any kind of book you 307 00:19:53,919 --> 00:19:57,219 want. So in these, these books that you've been creating, have 308 00:19:57,219 --> 00:20:00,059 you done anything kind of fun and interesting, similar. Or 309 00:20:00,059 --> 00:20:03,479 what, what I listed there anything that just kind of is 310 00:20:03,479 --> 00:20:07,019 different or stands out, or just kind of personable as as opposed 311 00:20:07,019 --> 00:20:09,419 to just a start and finish book? 312 00:20:10,440 --> 00:20:15,240 Jan Bear: Well, you know, on my father in law's book, it has a 313 00:20:15,240 --> 00:20:20,100 photo of him standing beside his car. You've seen those photos 314 00:20:20,100 --> 00:20:23,780 from the, you know, 40s and 50s, when the guy's standing by his 315 00:20:23,780 --> 00:20:25,160 car and he's standing by his 316 00:20:25,160 --> 00:20:27,920 Robert Plank: and and why is that? Anyway, I know what you're 317 00:20:27,920 --> 00:20:31,040 talking about, but why the heck do they stand beside the car? I 318 00:20:31,040 --> 00:20:32,120 don't understand. I 319 00:20:32,120 --> 00:20:34,520 Jan Bear: think the cars must have been way more special back 320 00:20:34,520 --> 00:20:39,080 then than they are now. Okay, gotcha but, but anyway, so. And 321 00:20:39,080 --> 00:20:42,340 then on the back, we've got a few more photos, because you can 322 00:20:42,340 --> 00:20:45,400 put color on the outside, and then, you know, we've got some 323 00:20:45,400 --> 00:20:48,400 black and white photos on the inside. And so that's a 324 00:20:48,400 --> 00:20:52,840 possibility. When I did the one, the memoir for the guy, he was 325 00:20:52,840 --> 00:20:58,660 an Army Ranger, and he didn't have, he didn't have a photo of 326 00:20:58,660 --> 00:21:03,900 himself with a parachute, but I was able to find online a photo 327 00:21:03,900 --> 00:21:07,680 of a guy in a parachute at about the same time that he was in the 328 00:21:07,680 --> 00:21:12,840 army, and that was on the cover of the book. And so a lot of 329 00:21:12,840 --> 00:21:16,200 times you can use these, these personal photos, they're 330 00:21:16,320 --> 00:21:20,840 actually best way to go. And like I said, my friend Leslie 331 00:21:20,840 --> 00:21:24,440 akin makes these covers, and the things she does with type and 332 00:21:24,440 --> 00:21:29,900 design are just just fantastic, you know. So, yeah. 333 00:21:31,460 --> 00:21:33,560 Robert Plank: Well, excellent. Well, I think that you've given 334 00:21:33,560 --> 00:21:37,100 us a lot to think about, and I think that there are so many 335 00:21:37,100 --> 00:21:41,560 things that can be done nowadays with self publishing, and there 336 00:21:41,560 --> 00:21:45,760 are people out there who their stories, otherwise might have 337 00:21:45,940 --> 00:21:52,000 died with them. And like my, my mom's dad, he he lived till 95 338 00:21:52,780 --> 00:21:56,620 and I went up and visited him every year, and it took took a 339 00:21:56,620 --> 00:22:01,560 long plane flight, but at 92 he was coherent in there. After 93 340 00:22:02,280 --> 00:22:05,280 the dementia started kicking in, and it was like he was already 341 00:22:05,280 --> 00:22:09,840 half gone. And you know, my dad died when he was 58 and when we 342 00:22:09,840 --> 00:22:13,680 were cleaning out his house, I was just looking for any little 343 00:22:13,680 --> 00:22:18,960 scrap, like a little diary entry or a note or anything that was 344 00:22:18,960 --> 00:22:21,500 about how he was feeling, or what he was thinking, what he 345 00:22:21,500 --> 00:22:24,080 was doing, and there was nothing like that. And, and, you know, 346 00:22:24,080 --> 00:22:27,020 you always, you always think about, you know, what would you 347 00:22:27,020 --> 00:22:30,980 give for five more minutes with that, that loved one, that's 348 00:22:30,980 --> 00:22:34,700 that's gone well, if you think ahead, and you do a little bit 349 00:22:34,700 --> 00:22:37,880 of planning, and you go through this activity of creating this 350 00:22:37,880 --> 00:22:41,380 legacy book, will then now you'll have that kind of 351 00:22:41,380 --> 00:22:45,820 permanent record, in a way, of the things that they've done, 352 00:22:45,820 --> 00:22:47,920 the things that they thought, the things that they've 353 00:22:47,920 --> 00:22:51,640 experienced, and that can help you, not only you, but also 354 00:22:51,640 --> 00:22:54,460 other members of your family. And it can be kind of a family 355 00:22:54,460 --> 00:22:58,240 bonding experience in one way or another, as far as everyone 356 00:22:58,240 --> 00:23:01,320 helping with the book or working on the book. And so I think that 357 00:23:01,320 --> 00:23:05,880 this is a great idea. So how can people find out more about this? 358 00:23:05,880 --> 00:23:09,600 How can people talk to you? How can people make the next step if 359 00:23:09,660 --> 00:23:14,100 they are interested and eager to move forward with this legacy 360 00:23:14,100 --> 00:23:14,880 book idea, 361 00:23:16,320 --> 00:23:21,020 Jan Bear: you're welcome to email me. I've got a contact 362 00:23:21,020 --> 00:23:24,860 form on my website, or you can email Jan at their web 363 00:23:24,860 --> 00:23:29,840 content.com you can check in with me on Facebook. I've got a 364 00:23:29,840 --> 00:23:36,560 Facebook page bear web content, plus the book Genie. And that's 365 00:23:36,560 --> 00:23:40,160 a that's a group for people who think they might want to be 366 00:23:40,160 --> 00:23:44,380 authors but aren't quite sure about it. So it's a very open 367 00:23:44,500 --> 00:23:47,980 it's a closed group just to keep spammers out, but it's very open 368 00:23:47,980 --> 00:23:54,100 to anybody who's interested enough to join up. And I'm glad 369 00:23:54,100 --> 00:23:57,280 to sit down and talk to somebody about the project and help them 370 00:23:57,280 --> 00:24:00,600 evaluate whether it's a good fit for them, because I understand 371 00:24:00,600 --> 00:24:03,960 that it's not, not going to work for everybody. You're talking 372 00:24:03,960 --> 00:24:07,740 about a chunk of change, because there's a lot of work in it, and 373 00:24:07,740 --> 00:24:11,460 so it might be something for the kids to get together and pitch 374 00:24:11,460 --> 00:24:15,240 in, to help, to help their you know, their grandparents 375 00:24:16,140 --> 00:24:21,860 whatever, or father whatever, to to put together. But you know, 376 00:24:21,860 --> 00:24:25,700 you're probably talking about three to that $5,000 depending 377 00:24:25,700 --> 00:24:29,720 on how long it is. So yeah, 378 00:24:30,740 --> 00:24:34,820 Robert Plank: but not too bad at all, considering all the hours 379 00:24:34,820 --> 00:24:38,000 of work that that goes in with with you and your team and the 380 00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:42,220 cover creator and all these things where, if some, I mean, 381 00:24:42,220 --> 00:24:44,680 if someone's gotten this far in the interview and listening, 382 00:24:44,680 --> 00:24:47,500 they're somewhat interested, but if they try to go about it 383 00:24:47,500 --> 00:24:50,200 themselves, who knows how long it would take if they'd run out 384 00:24:50,200 --> 00:24:53,440 of time, if they'd stop halfway, if they get frustrated, better 385 00:24:53,440 --> 00:24:57,160 to contact you, because you've done this before a number of 386 00:24:57,160 --> 00:25:00,540 times, and three to $5,000 as far as I'm concerned. It is 387 00:25:00,540 --> 00:25:04,260 super duper low price as far as what you get, which is a 388 00:25:04,260 --> 00:25:07,860 finished book with all these, all this attention to detail put 389 00:25:07,860 --> 00:25:08,520 into it, 390 00:25:09,720 --> 00:25:13,620 Jan Bear: yeah, and you know, I don't, I don't think there's any 391 00:25:13,620 --> 00:25:18,540 way to put a value on really knowing what that person was 392 00:25:18,540 --> 00:25:23,480 like. And that's what you really get. You get more about how they 393 00:25:23,480 --> 00:25:26,900 felt about things, how they looked at the world, all of 394 00:25:26,900 --> 00:25:31,100 these, these private things that need that, you know, we just 395 00:25:31,100 --> 00:25:36,200 don't, we don't know how to say face to face, and we don't know, 396 00:25:36,860 --> 00:25:39,320 you know, we don't know if anybody's really interested in 397 00:25:39,320 --> 00:25:44,440 it. And, you know you you got grandpa, and he tells the same 398 00:25:44,440 --> 00:25:47,560 story over and over again. And people just say, Oh, Grandpa, 399 00:25:47,560 --> 00:25:51,760 please. But if he's telling it again and again, then maybe it's 400 00:25:51,760 --> 00:25:54,760 something that's important somehow. And if you can put it 401 00:25:54,760 --> 00:25:59,380 into a context, and you read it again later, you have a chance 402 00:25:59,380 --> 00:26:02,220 to read it again 20 years down the road, and maybe you're a 403 00:26:02,220 --> 00:26:06,600 little bit closer to his age, and you can think, oh, that's 404 00:26:06,600 --> 00:26:11,040 what that was all about. And if he's gone, you've just missed 405 00:26:11,040 --> 00:26:11,280 it. 406 00:26:12,900 --> 00:26:16,080 Robert Plank: So and that part right there, that's, that's a 407 00:26:16,080 --> 00:26:19,380 little trippy there, that's time travel, right? Because if, if 408 00:26:19,380 --> 00:26:24,620 Grandpa is is 80, and you're 20, there's that age difference, but 409 00:26:24,620 --> 00:26:28,220 then later on, once you're 80, once you're the same age as him, 410 00:26:28,340 --> 00:26:34,460 then you're getting his words from, from the past and and, 411 00:26:34,460 --> 00:26:37,340 yeah, and it's like, and we've all experienced that, where 412 00:26:37,460 --> 00:26:41,080 maybe you watched a movie, or you read a book of any kind When 413 00:26:41,080 --> 00:26:44,140 you're younger, and then go back and watch the movie or read the 414 00:26:44,140 --> 00:26:46,840 book again, and it's completely different for you, just because 415 00:26:46,840 --> 00:26:50,320 you're a different person experiencing that. So this is 416 00:26:50,320 --> 00:26:53,140 awesome, really deep and heavy stuff, and we have that's are 417 00:26:53,140 --> 00:26:56,140 some great resources for people to go to. First of all, check 418 00:26:56,140 --> 00:27:00,480 out that book, Genie, Facebook group, that way, if you're the 419 00:27:00,480 --> 00:27:03,120 kind of person that you're interested in writing or 420 00:27:03,120 --> 00:27:08,700 publishing in general, but you just need a friendly mob to talk 421 00:27:08,700 --> 00:27:10,980 you into it and push you in the right direction. That's a good 422 00:27:10,980 --> 00:27:13,620 place where you can go and get talked into putting out a book 423 00:27:13,620 --> 00:27:19,260 of any kind, and then bear web content.com that's B, E, A, R, 424 00:27:19,260 --> 00:27:24,020 W, E, B, content.com and you can find out about more about this 425 00:27:24,020 --> 00:27:29,300 legacy book thing, and talk to Jan, go to her contact form, or 426 00:27:29,300 --> 00:27:34,700 jan@bearwebcontent.com thanks so much for stopping by. Janet. Do 427 00:27:34,700 --> 00:27:37,760 you have any final parting words to say before we wrap up and 428 00:27:37,760 --> 00:27:38,660 wind down this thing? 429 00:27:41,119 --> 00:27:44,199 Jan Bear: I just, I just don't want you to lose the opportunity 430 00:27:44,199 --> 00:27:48,879 to know who your elders are. And you know, we've lost so many of 431 00:27:48,879 --> 00:27:53,739 them. I mean, through all these generations, let's, you know, 432 00:27:53,799 --> 00:27:56,679 let's take the opportunities we've got now to find out who 433 00:27:56,679 --> 00:28:00,359 they really are and what their lives were like before it's too 434 00:28:00,359 --> 00:28:00,659 late. 435 00:28:04,619 --> 00:28:07,199 Robert Plank: Today's episode is sponsored by done for you, 436 00:28:07,199 --> 00:28:11,639 podcasting.com is your podcast not what it should be? One if 437 00:28:11,639 --> 00:28:14,999 you could simply show up and have a team deal with content 438 00:28:15,059 --> 00:28:18,179 outreach for guests, editing production, social media, 439 00:28:18,179 --> 00:28:21,599 traffic and more, check out. Done For You, podcasting.com 440 00:28:22,259 --> 00:28:22,379 you.