And who is David Ritz?

Brother Ray - Ray Charles' Own Story was David Ritz's first published memoir. What a place for a writer to start! He worked tirelessly with Charles to give the world a glimpse into the life of the musical genius. The sadness associated with Ray's illness and death affected Ritz personally, as he recorded in the Last Days of Brother Ray and the Afterword, sections added to the publication of the original book.

David Ritz has co-authored several memoirs and autobiographies of musical celebrities including Etta James, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, Mable John (former Raelet) and the Neville Brothers.

Ritz's love for music was an asset in working with these legendary musicians. Unfortunately he has suffered the loss of some and was touched by the request to deliver the eulogy at David 'Fathead' Newman's memorial service in Dallas, where Ritz, Newman and Cooper grew up.

Ritz was a lifelong friend and fan of Leroy Cooper's music. I am honored that he will be writing the Foreword to my upcoming book. View his webiste at www.ritzwrites.com

Let it not go unmentioned that Ritz also co-wrote Major League Baseball's Gary Sheffied's book about his career. Ritz's most recent credit is Rickles' Book, which he co-authored with the enormously successful comedian, Don Rickles. This book rose to the top of the New York Times bestseller list in a hurry. Besides memoirs and autobiographies, Ritz is credited with co-writing several novels.

Unveiling of the Title of Leroy Cooper's Biography

After torturous deliberations, numerous surveys, pages and pages of working titles, I have finally, finally, come to a decision for the title of the book along with the cover art.

Writing, transcribing, and putting the contents into order turned into a unanticipated challenge. But it never occurred to me how difficult it would be to choose the exact title.

And now, for the big announcement, the cover text will read:

Leroy 'Hog' Cooper on Sax

Foreword by David Ritz
co-author of Brother Ray, Ray Charles Own Story

Leroy Cooper's Obit, Aug 31, 1928-Jan 15, 2009

Click on image to read obituary posted in Orlando Sentinel

Ghostwriters in the wind

There is a great distinction between a ghostwriter and a co-author. In my case, I was never hired to be a ghost (I'm not transparent and I'm still alive) which is good. On the other hand, there is a benefit to being a ghostwriter. Ghostwriters exchange their services for money -- up front before a project has begun. In addition to selling their services, they give up the right to use their name on the book cover or get any credit for what they've done.

I suppose if I were offered an up front payment that covered the cost of my time and expenses, plus compensated me for lost income during the course of the interviews, editing and writing process I might have considered accepting the job and taken no credit -- just money. However, my services included much more than simply interviewing and transcribing.

I spent countless weeks researching and corroborating stories. It occurred to me that there would be added value to interviewing my subject's friends and colleagues to add substance to the person that he was from the perspective of others who knew him. A complete discography needed to be provided and I had to verify everything on the list. I was fortunate to find an expert who could help with details and professional photographers who could provide excellent photos going back to 1975 during the peak of Cooper's career.

Putting everything in order, making sense out of disconnected memories, deciding what should go into the index...well I won't bore you with the specifics, but in retrospect, whatever payment I would have received up front would simply have covered my being a ghost. None of the other work would have been done. The result would have been a relatively short, one-dimensional transcription of memories. The memories are good, and they are entertaining but the additional material transforms what might have been a memoir into a well-rounded, full-length book, based upon conversations with Leroy Cooper about his life and the wonderful contributions from his old friends of whom he talked so fondly.

By the way, if anyone knows the origin of the term ghostwriter feel free to leave me a comment. I really don't think Caspar, as smart as he was, could do the work I'm doing.

Note: Most of you are too young to remember Jim Morrison's song, "Riders in the Wind" (ref. title to this post) so forgive my reference (but check out the song, now I can't stop singing it).

10 tips to a successful book release party

The key to a successful book release party is addressing your target market. My book is a memoir about a musician so people wandering through book stores are not likely to find my book more interesting than a new novel or a book on how to lose weight.

Instead, I'm planning to celebrate the release of my book at BB King's Blues Club in Orlando on a Sunday afternoon when the club would normally be empty. The club is not charging me because they hope to sell food and drinks to people who show up. The musicians will perform for free as a tribute to Leroy. So I have nothing to lose.

Here are some tips that might work for you:

1. Pick a day and time that might suit your genre; Sunday afternoons are good for most people
2. Choose a venue that serves food and will welcome new customers
3. Create a mailing list and contact people through meetup groups that relate to your genre
4. Put a notice at the local college, which isn't a bad place to hold your party, either
5. Get your potential buyers involved; example: for horror/vampire genre, have people paint their faces
6. Send a notice to any clubs or stores in your area that specialize in related products
7. Dress up like one of your characters and read his dialogue; invite an attendee to read another character's dialogue to interact with you; be dramatic
8. Contact everyone you know; your friends will buy your book because you wrote it so have them come to the party and celebrate with you!
9. Offer a drawing for a free book as a door prize or to someone who answers a trivia question relating to your genre
10. Advertise it as a party, not as a reading. Parties are fun; readings can be boring.

After the show, have the books on a table and sign them with a personal message. Hopefully this will prevent them from selling the used book to someone else after they read it.

Writing a memoir is like giving an exam

Beware: Extracting information from a subject for a memoir can cross the fine line into a question and answer session that doesn't reveal any character. Phrasing questions to elicit paragraphs not single word or simple sentences without background is the key.

Think about college exams. There are pages of multiple choice and then the grand finale: the essay question. The instructions say, "Answer in complete sentences" but people don't always read (or heed) the directions. Students often start out with a dependent clause such as, "Because the event led to..."

The key to a successful memoir is to start with the essay question and then ask the test questions to clarify the answers. Sounds like a piece of cake. You sit down with your subject fully prepared and the session begins. Try to think like your subject and anticipate the direction his answers will take.

When you can't specify the length of the answer your subject may start rambling. This puts the ghost writer/editor in a precarious position. If you stop him, you may miss some key memory that contains the story that will make your book a success. If you let him wander down the stream of consciousness the result will most likely cause the editor a great deal of work later on.

Assume you are working with an elderly person who has many years filled with experiences. If not, you you'd be doing an interview not writing a memoir. An event that happened last year leads back to a colorful memory that happened in childhood that in some way relates, at least in the mind of the speaker, to what he was saying. The task of putting things in order is very difficult in the end process because your reader hasn't made the connection clear enough for the reader to follow.

The challenge is to let the subject talk, interrupt him to ask "Do you remember what year that was?" or "What city were you in when that happened?" in order to get some reference points that will help you later on.

Without these bits of information you may find yourself asking that age old question: Which came first -- The chicken or the egg?

Here is a link to an interview that could have gone terribly wrong if the subject was not young and expressive. Imagine saying to a 78 year old man, "Please introduce yourself."
http://blog.schwindt-art.com/2009/07/14/artists-i-like-part-8-robin-maria-pedrero/