Lee Clukey

I learned I started writing when I was about ten, when I came across some stories I wrote while going through some old files.  I was surprised they were pretty good.  

I did a lot of technical writing in my career and enjoyed converting engineering gobbledygook into something non-engineers could understand.  I had an opportunity to get published while at a tech show.  An acquisitions editor asked me to write a book about the UNIX compute operating system.  I told him I knew nothing about UNIX and would not embarrass myself by trying to write a book about it.  I offered to give him names of people who could do the job for him.  He said he had names of experts, but he needed someone to write an entry level book.  He called several times before I agreed to accept an advance of $20000. That was in 1985.  I learned the publishing rights were sold to a European company and that it was published in French and Spanish.  The book is still available on Amazon, so they didn’t all wind up in the trash. 

 Now, a published author, I wanted to spread my wings and write novels.  I learned for every book a company published, they received at least 100000 unsolicited submissions.  When personal computers became affordable, it seemed everyone wanted to be a writer.  It got to a point where getting published has become a DIY business, requiring wannabe authors to have to learn how to create a website and do the marketing.  

After retiring I had time to clean up my photography website (RopdeLee.com) and start on a book website (ClukeyLee.com).  I was called by dozens of companies offering their services, but I felt until I had a product that would make some money it would not be prudent to spend thousands of dollars for someone to do who knew what.  I felt I needed to know how to do the job myself in order to understand what these folk were offering to do for me.  Story to be continued!!