It Was 20 Years Ago Today...

It is hard to believe but 20 years ago today, my first book, Hike America Alabama, was released by a small publisher in Virginia, Beachway press. The book is now in its 4th edition thanks to all of you! The book has led to quite a nice little side-job in writing.

I'm constantly asked, how did it all begin? How did you get published? Well, that's an interesting story and one that had a roundabout trajectory and was a bit...odd.

I had been writing since high school with mixed success, penning articles and short stories submitting them to newspapers and magazines only to receive the dreaded, "Thanks, but..." rejection letter. Oh, and I amassed quite a few. They are all now neatly in binders filling my library. 

I also did plenty of writing during my radio career - copywriting, news copy, and my own comedy bits. How "Hike America Alabama" came to be actually started in the 90s when the Internet was still finding its footing and people would buy “CD ROMS” to get information. For example, you could get the entire Encyclopedia Britannica on a CD with articles, photos, audio, and video.

A friend of mine suggested that since my radio career had ended and I was now a software programmer that I should create my own CD ROM. He suggested doing one as a guide to collecting the Beatles since we were both fans of the band. It would be a combination price guide and how-to guide with audio, photos, videos, etc. So I did and “Beatlepedia” was born.

This was in October 1998. I marketed it myself and son-of-a-gun, it was a hit! With that success I began another project. I also enjoy listening to shortwave radio. I loved tuning the dial to pick up radio stations from the smallest countries in the world. 

I decided to create a new CD-ROM for SWL’ers (shortwave listeners) called “DXLog” that featured monthly station schedules, maps of transmitter locations, audio copies of interval signals, and lots of information on the stations themselves. It was also a hit winning rave reviews from several hobby magazines. 

So far, so good, right? I then decided to try one more CD-ROM. I would put my love of hiking and my experiences with the sport into a guide about section hiking the Appalachian Trail again with photos, videos, the works.  This time I wouldn’t publish it myself. I would submit it to publishers and let them get the word out.

Up to this time I had another hobby – rejection letter collecting. As is the case with many writers when it came to getting that first book published it was an uphill battle but I went ahead and submitted this new CD to publishers despite my track record.

 

I submitted the proposal to 20 publishers. Immediately my rejection letter collection grew by 19. The 20th publisher, a little company out of Virginia called Beachway Press, called me.

“Joe,” the voice crackled over the phone. “There is so much out there about the A.T. that we can’t use your project. But have you ever thought about writing a book about hiking in Alabama?”

“No,” was my answer. “But I am now.”

And with that the first edition of what was then called Hike America Alabama was born and was it ever an experience to write. GPS units were too expensive for me to buy so it was written the old fashioned way – measuring wheels, pedometers, compass, pencil, and topo maps. 

That first edition was released in October 2000 then re-released soon after when Falcon Books bought the small company. Falcon has a big audience for their titles and word got out to a gentlemen in California, I believe, who hand carved hiking sticks. He had a design for every state in the country and called them, "Hike America <insert state name here>". A law suit was threatened and the book was renamed "Hike Alabama".

The second edition of the book came out in 2003 and as I’ve said before, I wasn’t happy with it, and neither were many readers, for many reasons. Falcon soon after requested a 3rd edition which was released in 2007, giving me the chance to revamp the title. It was better but still not quite what I wanted it to be. 

 

Finally in 2014, I was offered the chance to write the 4th edition, which I did and it received nice reviews, back to where we started I hated that it was limited in how many trails could be included and that I had to do shorter hikes (by now, the knees had said, "What are you doing???"), but still, I like this edition as much as the first and from reading reviews, apparently many of you do.

Thank you again for purchasing Hiking Alabama all of these years. I hope you liked the latest edition and it serves you well. Cheers!