In my last post, for the fifth anniversary of my first book, I did a little reflecting on the sales history of
Walden on Wheels. This got me thinking about the book and decisions I made when publishing it. If there were two things I could do over, I might have requested a hardback edition and I might have included a photo insert. I never gave a photo insert a thought, perhaps because, back then, I had neither a good camera nor magazine-quality photos of my journey.
But having just gone through my old photo files, I see that I do indeed have a few worthwhile images that would have put faces to names. It's arguable whether photos help or hurt a book (I'm not sure where I stand, though I lean toward featuring photos), but if I did have a photo insert, the following photos would be included. Consider this the "photo insert" that never was:
Chapter Two: Cheechako
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| Paul and I at beginning of New York to Coldfoot, AK, roadtrip |
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| Life-long dream achieved: Drove to Alaska |
Chapter Three: Applicant
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| Graduating from SUNY at Buffalo with $32K in debt |
Chapter Four: Tour Guide
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| Tour guide in Coldfoot, rafting down Koyukuk River |
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| Coldfoot Camp trucker's cafe |
Chapter Five: Garbage Picker
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| Friend Josh comes up to Alaska for work. Here we are cleaning trash at Yukon River Camp |
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| Josh dominating Twelve-Mile Mountain in the Brooks Mountain Range |
Chapter Six: Night Cook
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| Doing some aurora guiding in Wiseman, Alaska. Photo credit: Ed |
Chapter Seven: Maintenance Worker
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| 1980 Chevy Suburban, home to the James character |
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| Jack Reakoff, Wiseman, Alaska, photo taken a few years later in 2011 |
Chapter Eight: Hitchhiker
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| Coldfoot, AK. Photo credit: Josh Pruyn |
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| Guy who drove me across British Columbia |
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| British Columbian teens |
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| Mexican immigrant who picked me up in Washington state |
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| Oregon to Salt Lake City ride |
Chapter Nine: Voyageur
Chapter Ten: Corpsmember
Chapter Eleven: Son
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| Hitchhiking from Mississippi to NY |
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| D.C. FDR Memorial |
Chapter Twelve: Ranger
Chapter Fourteen: Purchase
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| 1994 Ford Econoline featured on Craigslist for $1,500 |
Chapter Fifteen: Renovation
Chapter Sixteen: Acclimitization
Chapter Eighteen: My First Guest
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| Friend Chuck visits the van |
Chapter Twenty: Ranger
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| Gates of the Arctic NP. Photo Credit: Whitney Root. |
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| Gates of the Arctic NP. Photo Credit: Whitney Root. |
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| Gates of the Arctic NP. Photo Credit: Whitney Root. |
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| Gates of the Arctic NP. Photo Credit: Whitney Root. |
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| Gates of the Arctic NP. Photo Credit: Whitney Root. |
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| Gates of the Arctic NP. Photo Credit: Whitney Root. |
Chapter Twenty-One: Pilgrim
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| Walden Pond, MA. Photo Credit: Chuck Johnston |
Chapter Twenty-Two: Graduate
3 comments:
Love seeing the pics. My 2 cents on having a graphic/photo heavy publication - might be good for some books, but since a significant portion of your sales and marketing revolves around e-books...typically graphics and photos don't work real well with these devices. I use a Kindle Paperwhite and struggle to make sense of maps and graphs and such in the Kindle readers. I suppose that the price I pay for the convenience of an e-reader, but I do certainly enjoy seeing the pics on your blog.
Great book! Love seeing the pictures too. Any suggestions on how one would become a park ranger today?
Thanks,
Jake
These are great Ken. I just finished reading Walden on Wheels and really enjoyed it. It's interesting to see photos of the places and people described in the book.
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