A Manifest Spirit

We are pleased to announce the release of:

A Manifest Spirit, The 359th Fighter Group 1943-1945

Relying not on recollections rendered imprecise by the passage of time, or secondhand reports which inevitably lose context, A Manifest Spirit instead presents observations from the group historian, base chaplain, and the fighter pilots themselves, recorded as they occurred during the conflict. The complex operation of a wartime fighter base, the deep satisfaction of a successful mission, and the heartbreak of waiting for pilots that never returned, are presented with the clarity that can only come from contemporaneous reports.

A Manifest Spirit is a tribute to the officers that gave the 359th Fighter Group its organization and direction, the enlisted men who made it work, and above all the pilots, 121 of whom made the ultimate sacrifice in the pursuit of freedom.

Available now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other retailers.

Rocky Mountain Railroad Club

Presentations 'R' Us?  Not exactly, but Dick and I have been putting the finishing touches on a new PowerPoint presentation for the Rocky Mountain Railroad Club.  On February 16, 2016 we'll talk about Howard Fogg's art career and his service with the 359th Fighter Group during WWII. 

Oh, and we'll share one of Howard's elusive recordings from his Talking Giants album!

The presentation is open to the public and starts at 7:30p.m. at:

Christ Episcopal Church
2950 South University
Denver, CO

See you there!

You can learn more about the club at:  http://www.rockymtnrrclub.org/club.htm



Authors Speak about Howard Fogg's WWII and Art Careers

Thank you again, one and all, for the invitation to speak, for attending, and for the terrific articles about Howard!

May 6, 2015 Left Hand Valley Courier:

April 22, 2015 Left Hand Valley Courier:  Howard Fogg's Railroad Painting Career Remembered



Now & Then, A Lecture Series - The Niwot Historical Society - April 29, 2015

Foggy Book Trailers!

Trail Winds
by Janet Fogg

 

 

Fogg in the Cockpit

by Richard and Janet Fogg

Soliloquy
by Janet Fogg
   

 

 

 



Non-Fiction Collaboration

Why collaborate on a manuscript?  Is the sum truly greater than the parts?  In this case it was!

This week I’ll share lessons learned while collaborating with my husband Richard on Fogg in the Cockpit, a military history bestseller released world-wide by Casemate Publishing in 2011.

First I might mention that the book is based on the diary Richard’s father kept while flying Mustangs and Thunderbolts out of England during World War II. When Richard and I disagreed on an issue, because it is his father's diary I felt Richard’s opinion should carry more weight. As I’d recently seen my first novel published, and since I also spent more time on this book than Richard, he often tried to defer to me. Most small issues were resolved in this manner, but we did have periodic debates where one of us had to persuade the other to his or her way of thinking. Unfortunately, there were two issues we discussed a number of times with no resolution. We just didn’t agree, and ultimately, one of us simply acquiesced.

We recommend you discuss how you'll resolve a major difference of opinion before you start writing. Describe that process in a memo or letter agreement, or better yet, include it in your collaboration contract. As a side note, our publisher recently complimented us for “putting together such a clean package of text and photos,” so they didn’t stumble over either of our two problem-children. Whew!

Non-fiction lends itself to collaboration. Tasks can be allocated. Research, writing, tracking down sources and supporting documents or photos, requesting releases, editing, all of it is easy to share, more so than when writing fiction.

I started Fogg in the Cockpit by transcribing Howard Fogg’s 1943/44 diary and immediately realized what a fascinating document we had. Once the transcription was complete, Richard and I decided to create a book around Howard’s words. Richard researched significant events during the War that were concurrent with Howard’s service while I worked with the Historian from the 359th Fighter Group Association, Dartmouth College, and other sources to track down photos, maps, and reports about the 359th. Richard also tended to research technical material, such as compressibility or P-51 engine specifications, while I developed a mission map and verified geographic references. We shared efforts researching other supplementary material, including pilot terminology, military abbreviations, descriptions of the aircraft used by Allied and Axis powers, and so on.

We both drafted text for the supplementary material and we both edited our own work and each others. We were extremely fortunate to have an enormous number of reports and photos available from the Group Historian, and Richard and I spent days studying everything and debating what to include. Since then we’ve discovered that the Historian had a few other reports we were unaware of. While we might not have used them, I do regret not being aware of those documents until very recently. Lesson learned? Keep asking your sources what else they might have!

The week before our submittal deadline Richard double-checked facts we presented in the supplementary text while I edited based on the extremely detailed Author Guidelines from Casemate – both nit-picky, time consuming tasks. I also coordinated the 116 image releases while formatting the images electronically, as Richard drafted and refined the accompanying 15 pages of captions.

I should now mention where collaboration saved us. We had a working draft before sending out queries, but Casemate wanted a bigger book, and they wanted that bigger book submitted two months after we signed the contract.

We brushed up our original draft, verified facts, finalized images, and added 121 pages in a combination of new text and excerpts from the 1944 Group Historian's Reports - all in 53 days.

It’s good to have a partner!

What if you’re the “writer” partner collaborating with an expert in some obscure field? Or you've been asked to ghost-write a story? You need a contract that describes how you'll work together, who's responsible for what, how decisions will be made, how you'll share royalties or be paid, and who gets credit for what. Be clear before you start.

Next month, when I look at collaborating on a novel, I’ll include a list of points for you to discuss with your collaborator, as well as an example of a simple collaboration letter agreement.

By Janet Fogg

Janet is the author of Soliloquy, an award-winning historic romance, and co-author of the military history bestseller Fogg in the Cockpit.

(Originally posted on Chiseled in Rock in 2011)

 

Multi-Author Bookfair! November 12, 2011 at Barnes & Noble in Boulder, Colorado.

. .

Please join us at a bookfair to benefit Pikes Peak Writers!

Saturday, November 12, 2011
4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Barnes & Noble "Crossroads Commons"
2999 Pearl Street, Boulder CO

Richard and Janet Fogg will sign Fogg in the Cockpit

Laura E. Reeve will sign The Major Ariane Kedros Novels

Esri Allbritten will sign Chihuahua of the Baskervilles

Pikes Peak Writers is a national nonprofit that helps writers learn, connect and grow through workshops, resources, contests, scholarships, and one of the best writer's conferences in the country. To help PPW continue in their support of writers, Barnes & Noble is hosting this and other benefit bookfairs and signings.

If you shop at B&N during the benefit period, a portion of what you spend goes to PPW. It costs you nothing extra, and you can use your B&N member discount. So we hope you'll join us at the signing, but if you can't make it please consider shopping at BN.com/bookfairs between November 12th and 17th, and reference bookfair number #10553048.

For more info about this bookfair and the list of authors signing at five Colorado Barnes & Noble locations, visit: pikespeakwriters.com/html/book_signings.html.

Hope to see you at the bookfair!

Fogg in the Cockpit Book Signing at the Leanin' Tree Museum of Western Art on August 30, 2011

Thank you again, Julie and Karen, for organizing and hosting such a special event. You created a magical evening, one we shall never forget. And thank you as well to the Trumbles, who so generously shared their spectacular Museum of Western Art with all of us. ~ Dick and Janet Fogg

1,254 days from query to contract (but then again, who's counting?)

Fogg in the Cockpit was released on July 28, 2011.

Finally.

The journey to publication of this WWII military history book about my husband’s father, Captain Howard Fogg, seemed long and arduous. Was our journey abnormally difficult or fairly typical? I just don't know. What I do know is that I kept records of the query, rejection, and contract process, and thought I would share that information so you can judge for yourself.

My husband (Richard) and I began to work on this book in late 2004, and over the next two years we did a great deal of research and wrote text to interweave with the text from Howard’s diary and other document excerpts. We completed the first, 60,000 word manuscript draft in early 2007. We were so excited! Now it was time to send out queries!

1st Query: 03/24/07 to Talbot Fortune Agency – rejected

2nd Query: 04/02/07 to Dystel & Goderich Literary Management – rejected

3rd Query: 05/07/07 to Stackpole Books – no response

4th Query: 07/30/07 to Potomac Books – rejected

5th Query: 05/08/08 to University Press of New England – rejected

6th Query: 05/08/08 to Naval Institute Press – rejected

7th Query: 05/11/08 to Carlton Publishing Group – no response

8th Query: 05/11/08 to Burford Books
06/12/08 – Burford requested sample chapters
06/20/08 – sent sample chapters
06/21/08 – declined

9th Query: 05/11/08 to Westholme Publishing – no response

10th Query: 05/11/08 to Camroc Press
05/13/08 – Camroc requested sample chapters
06/20/08 – Camroc requested full manuscript
07/03/08 – declined and suggested we try a university press

11th Query: 05/18/08 to W.W. Norton & Company – no response

12th Query: 05/28/08 to Skyhorse Publishing – rejected

13th Query: 05/29/08 to Hellgate Press: No response for 21 months

14th Query: 05/30/08 to Schiffer Publishing – rejected

15th Query: 07/08/08 to Utah State University Press
07/09/08 – USU requested 2 copies of full manuscript
07/10/08 – mailed 2 copies - USU acknowledged receipt of manuscripts via email – no further response

16th Query: 7/25/08 to University Press of Kentucky – rejected

17th Re-query: 11/21/08 to Stackpole (referral from one of their authors) – rejected

18th Query: 03/09/09 to University of Oklahoma Press (referral from one of their authors)
03/16/09 – requested full
No further response despite several follow-up emails

Demoralized, we decided, “The hell with it, we’ll self-publish!”

Over the summer I read Lulu’s guidelines, registered with them, and requested an ISBN. Then we decided to try a couple of additional queries, but if we had no offer by the end of the year we would self-publish. This was our last salvo, so to speak.

19th Query: 05/01/09 to FPP Aviation
05/03/09 – requested full manuscript
05/05/09 – sent full manuscript

Who said silence is golden?

20th Query: December 29, 2009 to Norlights Press – rejected

21st Query: January 3, 2010 to Casemate Publishers

Back to the 19th Query that we sent 05/01/09 – 9-1/2 months later…
02/18/10 – email re: wants to make an offer
02/23/10 – met with publisher, received verbal contract offer, contract to follow
03/27/10 – we sent follow-up email re: status of contract – No response

Then everything happened at once.

03/29/10: Received charming response to 10th query we sent 21 months previously. In summary, our query and sample chapters had been misplaced during a move. Hellgate requested a full manuscript which we sent 03/30/10.

03/31/10: Received an email from Casemate (21st query) expressing interest. “We would be very interested to discuss this project further as we feel this is a very interesting story and perspective on the war.”

04/06/10: Casemate scheduled a conference call with us.

04/08/10: Received a verbal offer from Casemate contingent upon increasing word count from 60,000 to at least 75,000. (Minimum 75,000, maximum 125,000 words.)

04/09/10: Sent additional material to Casemate to show that we could, indeed, increase the word count.

04/13/10: Sent even more additional material.

04/13/10: Received an offer from Hellgate Press, the one that misplaced our query for 21 months.

Now what? Casemate was interested but we had a bird in the hand. Two, if you counted FPP, though we were now skeptical about them.

04/15/10: We let Hellgate know that we had an offer from Casemate. The Hellgate editor was terrific. He assured us his offer would remain while we decided who to go with. He complimented Casemate, said they were a great press and much larger than his. Could offer a color insert whereas he couldn’t.

Stewed and debated the pros and cons of the offers.

04/21/10: Let Casemate know that we had an offer from Hellgate.

Paranoia reigned. No word from Casemate.

05/13/10: Sent follow-up email to Casemate, inquiring about status of offer.

05/14/10: Casemate scheduled conference call to review contract terms.

05/25/10: Back to the 19th Query, FPP. Still no response to our follow-up emails or a voice mail, so we sent a letter and email withdrawing our manuscript.

05/25/10: Let Hellgate know that we were going to accept Casemate’s offer.

06/16/10: Still no contract draft from Casemate, sent follow-up email.

06/20/10: Sent additional material to Casemate with estimated new word count.

07/08/10: Still no contract draft from Casemate, sent follow-up email.

We were now considering going back to Hellgate.

07/26/10: Phoned Casemate and left a message re status of contract.

07/28/10: Casemate phoned us, explained the delay, and reinforced their interest in the manuscript. Reviewed terms, deadlines, and estimated publication date. They would need the bulked up manuscript by 11/01/10. Yikes! Could we have one more month, until 11/30/10?

09/01/10: Received contract. Deadline for submittal 11/01/10. Wait! What happened to 11/30/10!? Oh well, we can do it!

09/03/10: Mailed signed contract to Casemate! Time for champagne!

Pop!!!