29 Days to Publication!!

The publisher is releasing the book on September 1, one month ahead of schedule. So we're busy taking care of all the last minute details. We already have several book events scheduled:

Boston Book Launch #1

Sunday, October 7, 2012

2 pm

Dorchester Historical Society

195 Boston Street

Dorchester, MA   02125

Boston Book Launch #2

Wednesday, October 10

Berklee College of Music

Boston, MA

location details to follow

October 16

Fairfield University Bookstore

Fairfield, Conn

October 17

Abbot Public Library

Marblehead, Mass

Mary Hanna Howard is eagerly awaiting the book release. Here she is with her big brother Jake in the late 30's.

Fabulous book cover!

What brother?

Even Jake is not immune from Nigerian prince--or in this case Malaysian banker--scam/spam. I'm sure he'd be surprised to find out from this email that he had a brother with all that money, or that all members of his family perished in the tsunami disaster.

---

From: DR. RON CHEANG <dr.nchang@yahoo.com.my>
To: info@jakehanna.com
Sent: Sunday, July 8, 2012 8:32 AM
Subject: YOUR BROTHER

Good Day Friend ,

I am DR. RON CHEANG ,the personal bank manager to the late engr.Edward (snr) a national of your country,whom you share the same last name with.My late Client has a deposit of ($18.5MILLION) Eighteen Million And Five Hundred Thousand Dollar lodged in the bank here in Malaysia .

A wealthy business man who died as the result of a heart-related condition on march 12th 2005.his heart condition was due to the death of all the members of his family in the tsunami disaster|.:
           
FOR MORE INFOMATION VISIT THE WEB SITE
Contact me for more information.

Yours sincerely.
DR. RON CHEANG
Account Manager

Jake the Runner

Jake was a very good athlete in high school and ran on the track team. There's a funny story in the book about someone challenging him to a race, not realizing his specialty was the 50 yard dash. Here's a picture of the track team from the Dorchester High School for Boys 1949 yearbook. Jake is third from the right in the last row. 

Final Edits are Finished!

I'm happy to report that I've completed the final edits and the manuscript is now with the designer who is beginning her part of the production process.

We had a grand total of 189 contributors who shared their stories, memories and tributes to Jake. It's funny, touching, hilarious and has something for everyone.

Gar Whaley, my publisher, told me that he had two reactions after he read the manuscript. The first was that he was sorry he never met Jake Hanna. The second was that he now felt like he knew him. That's exactly the reaction I was hoping for, so I'm delighted he felt that way.

Exclaiming About Jake!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!

Are musicians excitable people? Or is is just writing about Jake that inspires them to fill their work with exclamation marks? I'm thinking it's probably a bit of both. I removed approximately 879 exclamation marks from the approximately 200 pages of the manuscript. Let's see, that's an average of 4.39 exclamations per page. Yup, sounds about right. But don't worry. I still left at least two per page :-)

The book is almost finished!

Yesterday I wandered through the book section of the Harvard Coop, indulging in one of my favorite pastimes: imagining which of the tables will feature my book. I've done this many times before, but this was the first time that I've had a publishing contract that would result in the book being sold there, or anywhere.  It was a very nice feeling!

I'm editing now, so this is the book I'm relaying on these days:

Yup, the good ole Chicago Manual of Style. Everything I ever wanted to know about editorial style and methods and lots more.


But it's exciting to have gotten this far. I have hundreds of stories from 165 contributors, a wonderful mix of humor, nostalgia, affection, and very warm memories. I never know what awaits each time I open my email folder or stop by the Post Office.

The manuscript should go to the publisher by the end of March and we're aiming for an October publication date.