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Book-Broker: James Abraham Helps Aspiring Writers Tell Their Stories
by Malcolm J. Brenner
James Abraham’s life floats on a sea of words. Words propel Abraham, thrill him, nourish him and support him and his family. He lives surrounded by words and the books they fill, books that line the nooks and shelves of his Port Charlotte home, books that crowd the walls of the tiny garage, rising up around him like the turrets of a paper fortress.
Abraham treats words with love and respect, as befits the joy of his life and the source of his livelihood. As a newspaper reporter, he turned words loose on the injustice of American society. For much of his career, he crafted words as an editorial writer, giving public voice to the collective consciousness of newspapers and the entities that own them. It’s a trade that requires as clear and steady a vision as the chisel hand of a stonemason following a master architect’s plans.
During his 10 years as a book columnist, Abraham read voraciously and omnivorously. He ravished hundreds of books, some good, many mediocre, a few bad. Each one meant to have been appreciated, evaluated and filed away in the card catalogue of the labyrinthine library that is his mind. Talk to him on any subject, and he will soon mention a book about it that he’s read, probably two, and compare them to a third. Then he’ll analyze the publishing trends for future books on that topic and tell you how it could be done better.
Ask him where his love of words comes from and Abraham will unhesitatingly reply, his mother, Dorothy. He grew up in adversity in Baltimore, a city known for not being an easy place to live. “We were a very, very poor, single-parent household,” he recalled, “My parents split up when I was eight, and I had a very strong mother. She put something in me, a sense of confidence no one’s ever been able to take out.”
A year before he started school, Abraham asked his mother to teach him to write his name. She showed him. Then he asked her to write his three sisters’ names. I noticed they all had the same last name. I said, “Why is that? She said, “Because we’re a family.” “It was like, zing! I understood what words meant and what they conveyed. That was it.”
That love was polished in school and at Oberlin College, where Abraham majored in history. their subject too well. What is clear in their memories is obtuse to the reader. “James helped embellish a lot of my stories,” Sanella said. “I didn’t describe enough details. James filled in the necessary blanks.”
Nowadays, Abraham works on the other side of the printed page. He specializes in getting words out of the heads of aspiring authors and into the hands of eager readers. The so-called “point-on-demand” revolution makes Gutenbergs of us all, but there are many pitfalls along the route to Stephen King-dom. Abraham proudly shows the scars he’s accumulated over the years as the cautionary part of his sales pitch.
More than a consultant, less than a publisher, he calls himself “the book-broker.” Between the draft manuscript and the finished volume, he stands like a knight-errant in polished armor, a stout spell-checker and sharp pencil ever at the ready, guarding the neophyte author from the dragons, trolls and barbarians of the self-publishing world. Not to mention the gremlins that can creep
unnoticed into any written work. So far, he’s brought 15 authors’ manuscripts to print and served as a consultant for 3 more.
“As a book columnist, authors would approach me and ask me to read manuscripts, and I’d do it for free, because I was getting paid anyway,” Abraham recalled. That all came to an end in 2003 when he left the newspaper business. Abraham was inspired to strike out on his own when a local author he’d helped dedicated a book to him.
“I make the book for people,” Abraham explained. “I coach writers, ghost write when necessary and format the manuscript with picture placement, designs and layers. I deliver a whole book, like a turn-key operation.”
Abraham not only does it at a reasonable price, he makes friends along the way. His clients wax effusive when they describe what he’s done for them. “When I started trying to write, I didn’t know anything. I typed everything in caps,” said Roy Sanella, whose book, My Nine Lives, recounts a life lived close to the edge. “I had an editor, and she took eight months to edit half the book. Then I came across James. What a godsend! He’s not only intelligent, he’s the fastest typist I’ve ever seen.”
One problem any first-time authors have is that they know their subject too well. What is clear in their memories is obtuse to the reader. “James helped embellish a lot of my stories,” Sanella said. “I didn’t describe enough details. James filled in the necessary blanks.”
Naomi Pringle was an experienced broadcast journalist when she tried to write a novel about the dark undertones of the 1920’s Harlem Renaissance. “I thought I’d finished my manuscript at the time,” she said. “Little did I know it needed more editing. I had flashbacks within flashbacks within flashbacks. At our first meeting James took all my chapters and laid them out chronologically. He brings a knowledge, not only of journalism, but an incredible historical perspective to any subject.” While Pringle is seeking a publisher for her manuscript, she says she will self-publish with Abraham if she can’t find one.
Susan Shore’s book, Adventures in Sculpting, provided a different challenge. Instead of words, Abraham was confronted with scores of photos Shore had shot to illustrate her workbook about using a certain modeling compound. “I had it all written and the pictures shot, but I’m really wordy and I can’t use a computer,” Shore confided. She had sent it to one print-on-demand publisher, but at a mere 70 pages, they weren’t interested. By correcting Shore’s wordiness, Abraham actually shortened the book. He not only made it more readable, but gave her space to write about more topics and and add more illustrations. Published last November, “The book is selling well,” Shore said.
In his private life, Abraham is inspired by his wife, Ginger. The couple just celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary by renewing their vows. She supports him through the late nights, frequent author meetings, erratic cash flow and challenges of producing a competitive product at a sellable price. “It’s a struggle,” Abraham admitted. “My mind is compartmentalized, so I can work on two or three books at a time. But I go to sleep thinking plot lines.”
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