A book doesn’t have to be a literary masterpiece to be worth reading and therefore worth publishing. We all enjoy reading posts on Forumosa, and there’s surely not a great deal here that would pass Wolf’s test.
For my part, I thoroughly enjoyed reading John Ross’s book, and would recommend it to anyone interested in and/or fond of Taiwan. Even quite a lot of the locals could no doubt learn a thing or two about themselves, their island and their history from reading it. It seems to me to be pretty much of a lottery whether a worthy book gets published or not. I’d say that Formosan Odyssey deserved to be picked up by a publisher, who could have given it that final professional editing to make it very good indeed.
I haven’t got round to buying Poagao’s book yet, but I will eventually (i.e., as soon as it catches my eye in a bookshop). I believe I understand and thoroughly respect his discreet silence on the sexual orientation issue. I’m not so sure that his target readership or this society as a whole would have been comfortable with anything else, and it would only have distracted attention from the main significance of his unique experience and the tales he tells about it.
Most people who write an autobiography or memoir don’t mention their heterosexuality. There is no reason why a gay person needs to mention their homosexuality.
I think a lot of the guys didn’t have girlfriends, or they didn’t talk about them much. Certainly nobody had a problem with me not having one myself. Sometimes guys asked me what I was going to do on leave, but I just told them the truth, that I was going to Taipei, crash at a friend’s house, see some movies, maybe go out drinking. That’s about all I had time for in any case. I got asked about foreign women once or twice, but since I didn’t know any at the time, I just said I didn’t know any.
[quote]We all enjoy reading posts on Forumosa, and there’s surely not a great deal here that would pass Wolf’s test.
[/quote]
I hardly think the expectations from an Internet forum are the same as for a novel. I think that the section about the crazed footbinding collector would have made for an interesting China Post article, but its inclusion in the novel left me stumped as to its relevance. Taiwan never had footbinding. Why is this section in the book? To show that some people in Taiwan are fanatical collectors of stuff? Isn’t this a book about Taiwan?
See what I mean: http://www.pinyin.info/books/formosan_odyssey/footbinding.html
And as far as personal stories, we all have them – some quite bizarre. A story should be part of the bigger picture of a travel book instead of an isolated incident (unless the book is a collection of whacked stories…I’m waiting for that one. We could probably collect them here, publish the book and give the money to help Gus pay for the site for several years. )
Finally, and I mean that, my armchair advice to future writers would be to make an outline and then discuss things before you start and as you progress with as many accomplished editors and old Taiwan hands as you can find.
As for the “chop,” I assume that is the face at the left. I don’t know how it got there, nor do I know who put it there. Am I being toyed with?
Indeed, it has more than once crossed my thoughts that a compilation of the best of Oriented/Segue/Forumosa would make a splendid book – and I’d be among the first to rush out and buy a copy for my bookshelves.
I was more thinking of opening a thread for submissions. The posts here, for the most part, are just that. They are not thought out stories.
The real idea would be for people to sit at their computers and hammer out their funny or amusing or dangerous stories or whatever and then hone them and then post them. There could be a designated editor pool for both structural ideas and text stuff.
But this is all pie in the sky.
Life is hard, so why don’t people give me quanxi for free?
I understand your point, Wix. However, I do believe that dates, relationships, trysts, and so on (heterosexual or homosexual) are often mentioned in many autobiographies or memoirs.
Again, I have not read the book. Thanks to Poagao for his post. From this post, it seems that realtionships–straight or gay–were not a common topic of discussion among the soldiers.
Once again, does anyone know what the policy of the military in Taiwan toward homosexuality is. Does one exist?
Once again, does anyone know what the policy of the military in Taiwan toward homosexuality is. Does one exist?[/quote]
It’s not a problem. Lots of homosexuals in the military. It’s a draft, fer godsakes! They would probably try to opt out by using the ‘gay’ excuse if not. I have a gay friend whose being drafted at this moment, in fact, even though he doesn’t rellish the idea. yet.
My ex husband and boyfriend both told me stories of homosexual situations that went on when they were in the army here. Seems to be rife, from what I hear. Surprised that Poagao didn’t encounter anything like this, or maybe he was just too much of a weirdo as it was being a whitie that he was immune to such things as killing dogs for stew, and homosexual come-ons from sgts and so forth.
I imagine Poagao’s experience would have been quite unique compared to local’s. Would be interested if a local whose actually served in military in Taiwan would comment on this. Do we have any???
If 15% of all males are that way inclined, then there should be at least a corresponding ratio among the conscripts – though I guess it could be rather dangerous to be too open about it, given the likely homophobia of some of the rough boys around them. Nevertheless, surely they’d be the last ones to want to evade the draft, and I suppose there’d be an even higher proportion who’d want to stay in and make it their career. Good luck to them, and I envy them their good fortune. If there were an equivalent institution in which I, as a heterosexual man, could be placed among scores of nubile young women brimming with health and sexual vitality, to live together in intimate proximity day and night, sharing the same sleeping quarters, showering together, and so on, I’d be in seventh heaven!
When I strolled through Taida Eslite on Sunday, there were five copies of the book rather prominently displayed on a table (between the Classic Chinese Novels and the Contemporary Chinese Literature shelves).
Is it right, Poagao? Did they do a second printing? That would mean that the first printing sold successfully, wouldn’t it?
You should check on that Paogoa, as you may be due some royalties. Publishers here are sharks: A royalty advance is often considered full-and-final payment.
alleycat, isn’t it true that MOST publishers there do NOT give out cash advances? Since you seem to work in that field, maybe you can tell us. I heard that all writers in Taiwan get paid after the book comes out, around 10% of the sales price. I never read or heard about anyone, even the famous JIMMY, getting an advance. Did Paogao get an advance BEFORE the book was published? He must have had some great connections there.
If his publishers did do a second printing of say 3000 copies, shouldn’t he get 10% or so of those sales? Or will they claim his ADVANCE has not been paid back yet? Depends what he got for the advance…
Alleycat, when you worked as a writer there, did you ever get an advance for your books or hear of people getting real ADvances? I thought all of ASia never gives advances, not Japan not Korea not China, not tradition there, only here in Canada, USA and Europa.
I did get a small advance when I signed the contract, and then after that I get royalties that surpass the advance in June and December of each year. That is, if there are any.
[quote=“iris”][quote=“Boss Hogg”]
The Lin Dao Ming movie.
The movie, the movie, the movie!!!
or do I have to start a new thread?[/quote]
Boss: There already is a thread on the movie :?[/quote]
Hey, umm all I have to say is, I heard the name on ICRT, not the name of the movie but Lin Dao Ming and …
[color=red]YOU TRY SEARCHING FOR THIS STUFF ON FORUMOSA WHEN YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT IT AT ALL. [/color]
I gave up on searches on Forumosa a loooooooooooonnnnnnnnnng time ago.
The title Lady X comes to Taipei made me think that it was another porn thread
Here are some figures to illustrate how the roylty system works. Let me first point out though that they are garnered from my experience in translation rights, the sale of a titles rights by a foreign rights holders (agents who represent authors, private individuals, and publishers) to a local publisher. However, the royalty system for this part of the industry is no different, I believe, from the usual author-publisher deal.
A royalty advance is an advance payment for expected percentage eranings due to the author based on the retail price. Usually, the percentage rate is graded like this:
So if a title sells at NT$200 a copy and all first printings are sold, then 5% of 600,000 (30,000) is earned by the author. This amount is the royalty advance.
If a second printing is undertaken, royalties (6% of the sale of copies 5-10k etc) are then owed by the publisher to the author. From experience, I can tell you that getting this money is an ardous business. No comprehensive sales figures are published anywhere in Taiwan or China, and even if a book were to become a bestseller, publishers will still lie about the number of copies sold.
Which brings to me why, after Iris having possibly seen a scond run, I advised Poagoa to check with his publisher.
I heard that in most Asian countries, Taiwan too, the author does not get an advance against royalties – although obviously Paogao’s case proves the exception – but rather they get paid 30 days after the date the book is published, and whatever the percentage they agreed to in their contract, 5%, 8%., 10%, whatever, they get the entire payment in one lump sum 30 days after the book was released, regardless of whether or not the book sells. If after a year, there are still 1500 unsold books in say a 3000 printing, the author still keeps the percentage fee for all 3000 books. Correct me if I am wrong. if true, it’s cool because here in Canada, author don’t get paid for unsold copies, ever.
In P’s case, since his books sells for NT$280, and he probably gets 10% if its a normal contract, then he gets NT$28 for each book and if they printed 3000 which is normal there, then he should have received circa NT$90,000 on May 1, since his book came out the first of April, if memory serves me right. AND if they gave him an advance of say NT$50,000, then he should have recieved the other NY$40,000 on May 1. If he didn’t, something is rotten in the state of Denmark, er, Taiwan.
Of course, this is his private business affair, so I don’t mean to pry and don’t need any anwers from Mr P. But if he wants to tell us, I am all ears. Was his company that published his book a respectable one there? Locust? Focus? i forget the name…
)
umm all I have to say is, I heard the name on ICRT, not the name of the movie but Lin Dao Ming and …
