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What Is This ‘Vito’ Thing Anyway?

2009 May 26
by DiG

Okay, so I’ve written a book about my life with my late cat, entitled Vito: The Cat Who Wouldn’t Purr.

Or as my tagline puts it…

A whimsical, funny and ultimately touching series of vignettes that narrates my journey from college to fatherhood with Vito, my rather mischievous and larger-than-life black alley cat.

The good news is that everyone who has read my manuscript so far has liked it.

A lot.

As in, hey, I feared your book would suck, but it was really, really good.

In fact, you can read their kind words right here on the website if you are so inclined.

The bad news is that I don’t know many people in the literary world.

So after some networking, I finally got two agents to read it (or at least got their readers to read it).

And they both said they liked it.

Unfortunately, they also said they didn’t love it enough to take it on.

Okay, I thought, they’re blowing smoke, trying not to hurt my feelings.

But when I talked with a few published authors, they told me that agents wouldn’t say that if they didn’t like the book.

So here I am trying to figure out what to do next.

And it hit me.

Why not publish the book on the web, a chapter at a time, and see if people like it.

And if perchance enough people really enjoy it, well maybe I can get a book deal out of the whole thing.

So if you have enjoyed the story so far, please check out Four Ways You Can Help.

And as my son Dante asked, “Wouldn’t it be really cool to see your book on a shelf at Borders?”

Yes, it would, Dante. Yes, it would.

Joel ‘DiG’ DiGiacomo…

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  1. Wendy Kaufman permalink
    July 8, 2009

    Hey Dig, I think if you pushed a bit more and really embellished the chapters, you would get more than a nibble. We have been working on publishing for a bit now, and we finally got some luck when Doug really added a ton of voice to one of his stories. These chapters make great outlines, but I am left wanting more. More of the connection you felt….more of the spark that Vito had…..more of how you recorded the special events of yore life by what HE did.
    Oh, your gonna kill me now, I know it.

  2. DiG permalink*
    July 8, 2009

    You raise an interesting point.

    I found what I liked most about the story is the brevity and vignette nature of the storytelling. I want the reader to be left wanting more. I want the reader to breeze through this whimsical journey with a minimum of fuss. Because at a certain point, the reader finds himself more invested in Vito and in the story than he realizes. Much the way we surprisingly come to be so emotionally invested in our pets.

    In fact, the book is considerable shorter than the first draft because I was intentionally trying to achieve a sumi-e effect in prose.

    Perhaps it’s the screenwriter in me.

    But these are good points… and ones that I will need to ponder.

    Anyone else?

  3. Wendy Kaufman permalink
    July 8, 2009

    Hmmm….then this book will need illustrations or beautiful photographs. You got any pics? I could believe in this if there was a nice prologue. It flys with me because I know you. I know some of the story. I have a story to pull from. Others, the general public will not. There is a great tale in these chapters. Don’t do the sumi-e thing unless there is the promise of more later….or as a companion piece. You are selling yourself short.

  4. DiG permalink*
    July 9, 2009

    The original plan was to match each chapter or vignette with a simple black and white illustration.

    I have found some wonderful illustrations in a limited edition French portfolio from 1933, but not enough for a whole book.

    There is also a British cat artist whose work I adore, but I haven’t been able to track her down.

    I may have to lock myself at an art table for a month and see if I can’t come up with at least the basics of what I see in my mind.

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