Acknowledge What?

I decided late last week that I wanted to get my book out in months of April and May, and in order to meet that goal, I needed come up with a new title (done) and both a dedication and an acknowledgement page. The dedication was ridiculously simple as I simply dedicated the book to a few late lamented family members.

The acknowledgements, on the other hand, were just a tad more difficult, simply because I am self-publishing my book. If I was publishing this the traditional way (aka small/medium/large press), I probably would be thanking a myriad of people who had a very small-to-none part in it: agent(s), editor*, copy editor, acquiring editor, higher muckity-mucks who wouldn't know a verb from a noun, research assistants*, proofreaders, beta readers*, strange readers, graphic artists*, my pet cat, my cousin twice removed from a distant third cousin who made a suggestion to change a sentence, etc. etc. etc., until I had two pages worth of clutter.

*these people straddle both worlds and thus deserve actual genuine acknowledgement.

But I'm not publishing it the traditional/legacy/corporate way. I'm self-publishing it, so in that particular spirit, I should be able to put my own Church Lady special mark on it. So in that vein, here is a rough draft of what my acknowledgement page will look like.

"If this were a traditionally (aka small/medium/large press) published book, it would be a complete certainty that this section would be filled with a cornucopia of over-the-top praise and sappy adulation to those people who had "helped" me get this quarto published.

Alas, this was not traditionally published, but in fact, self-published, and self-published to me exacting standards. And because it was published to my exacting standards, there will be no one to blame but myself if you should find it not to your basic minimum threshold of a good read.

Having said that, there are quite a few people I would like to offer my sincerest praise and beefy adulation, because without them, my book would have as much flavor as a no sodium diet.

Maureen Cutajar at GoPublished was the one who did the formatting for my books, both e-book and print. For a neophyte like myself who honestly recognized his limitations, she was an absolute godsend.

Kelly Abell of Select-O-Grafix, LLC, who did my book covers (as well as my previous covers and book trailer) and once again captured the very essence of what the story was all about.

To my blog readers who have stuck with me through thick and thin during the past seven years. You have been the perpetual influence that has poked, prodded, pleaded and cajoled me into pushing myself to do thing that I've never even tried before.

To my blogs. Without you, I would probably still be living the dream inside my bald head as a wannabe. Additionally, without you, I would've never written the short piece of flash fiction that ultimately became the genesis of this story.

My family. The contribution that my family made to this story, which pretty much was a key factor in getting this thing written, was something that every writer should be eternally grateful for:

They left me to my own devices.

For that small gesture, I will be forever grateful.

Most fittingly, I leave the last acknowledgemtn to the one person who helped make this all possible, and in fact, withoutt him, the story would have never come to fruition. Nay, it probably wouldn't have never been born without him.

Me.

That's right. Without the new me (as opposed to the old me) deciding to get serious not only about his writing but about himself as well, not only would this book not been written, but chances are nothing of importance would have ever been accomplished."

And that, my friends, is what an acknowledgement page from the mind of G.B. Miller would look like.

(c) 2015 by G.B. Miller. All Rights Reserved.