please empty your brain below
Well you can always complete the book when you feel inspired to do so.
The fact that the publishers who approached you read your blog, shows how "famous" your blog has become.
I think tfl also read your blog, so who knows who else.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us over this project.

John | 21.04.11 - 8:21 a.m. | #

It does seem rather sad, but like you say, I'm sure you might do a book one day (and I'd definitely buy it), but if you do it should be in your own time rather than to deadlines and relentless summer weekend writing. When would you go on the trips we love reading about?

Tom @ Tired of London | Homepage | 21.04.11 - 8:24 a.m. | #

As long as you are happy with your decision that is all that matters.

I think you do have passion, as you must have some to keep up this blog with new content everyday. I think had this been your idea from the start and not something that somebody asked you to write it would have been different. It would have been your baby as it were. You can certainly write a compeling story as you have proved with these last three posts.

Barry | 21.04.11 - 8:30 a.m. | #

Hats off to you for walking away when it became a drag. And for telling us all about it!

I spent a good ten minutes yesterday checking on Amazon for books on London about to be released....there were a couple that could have been "yours" I thought but they were not in your name....now it all makes sense.

nIc | Homepage | 21.04.11 - 9:13 a.m. | #

Yes. I understand.

JonnyB | Homepage | 21.04.11 - 9:13 a.m. | #

I was expecting a 'spot-the-book I didn't write,' or 'here are the chapters that I did write,' ending...

Given that you received nothing financial and signed nothing from the publisher, have you considered putting what you've written online now, somewhere, to prove copyright, just in case Author 2 was given what you'd already written and submitted? Assuming you'd be bothered if you have been plagiarised ;)

Blue Witch | Homepage | 21.04.11 - 9:30 a.m. | #

there are two clear candidates on Amazon for "not yet released", titles. am i allowed to link to them?

geofftech | Homepage | 21.04.11 - 9:34 a.m. | #

What, dg on a bike? I think not....

Gordon | 21.04.11 - 9:38 a.m. | #

There's nothing quite the sense of liberation you get after telling a publisher you're ducking out of a book contract after years of having it hanging round your neck. Unfortunately, I think I might be about to sign another one. I've had to change publishers of course...

Sarah | Homepage | 21.04.11 - 9:43 a.m. | #

And in a Yellow Pages' advert in a parallel, but reverse universe...

"Do you have the 'Illustrated 2012 Olympic marathon route through Bow'?"

"You do! My name... It's D G Hartley."

Tolley | 21.04.11 - 9:45 a.m. | #

There's a book due for release on 5 May on a topic that DG spent a fair bit of time covering during 2010...

I suspect I shall be investing in a copy

will | 21.04.11 - 10:08 a.m. | #

I was thinking that exact same thing, will...

Dave | 21.04.11 - 10:38 a.m. | #

Well at least it was your decision to not carry on, and so long as you are happy with that decision; it's was the right decision.

Michael | 21.04.11 - 10:47 a.m. | #

I think you had the wrong publisher - sounds like a square peg in a round hole. If you look at your blog, there's a book in there already, it just needs a sensible editor to help you carve it out. And no need to worry about it already all being on line - thanks to Blogger, most of it's hidden anyway and besides, a lot of what you do is the sort of thing that would be great to hold in one's hand as well as read on a screen. I'm pretty sure 'Diamond Geezer's London Miscellany' would still be a goer, despite this particular attempt not quite working out.

disgruntled | Homepage | 21.04.11 - 11:07 a.m. | #

At least that other author came along. If they hadn't I suspect you'd have to "invent" one anyway to maintain the anonymity of the DG persona. Will keep an eye out for the book.

Geo_rich | 21.04.11 - 11:24 a.m. | #

Why would you, when in 2010 you've had the better one to read here - in dg-sized posts??

Gordon | 21.04.11 - 11:41 a.m. | #

Noooo - surely not!!! I just looked up book releases, 5 May 2011, and all I got was "Give Them Grace: Dazzling Your Kids with the Love of Jesus"
On a serious side, good to see that the going of separate ways was mutually agreeable.

RogerW | 21.04.11 - 12:38 p.m. | #

Have they passed your work on to the new author? I guess they can't, if you didn't ever sign anything then the copyright is still all yours, theoretically.

Joho | 21.04.11 - 12:42 p.m. | #

London's Lost Rivers?

| 21.04.11 - 1:11 p.m. | #

Regretfully, I understand your decision.

Given the regular and hilarious accounts of your refusal to have anything to do with PR, you quite clearly hate the sort of exposure which promoting a book gets you tied up in.

Roehamster | 21.04.11 - 1:23 p.m. | #

This has been a fantastic series of posts, but this final one in particular - well, I haven't read anything quite as honest and thoughtful in a long time.

An Unreliable Witness | Homepage | 21.04.11 - 1:53 p.m. | #

I don't understand now. Did I believe this all a little too readily?

Tom @ Tired of London | Homepage | 21.04.11 - 2:02 p.m. | #

I'm a little sad to hear there will be no magnum opus, however this is tempered by the fact that the book wouldn't have had those 'flippant, observational and personal' comments which give your writing its unique character. It sounds like the publisher was putting too many constraints around you in any case, not a pleasant way to work at all.

The IP rights to your work should remain with you (without signing the contract or receiving payment you haven't assigned them away) However, Bluewitch's suggestion is a good one, just in case there are questions about the way that the work that you did is used down the track.

Actually it might be interesting to do a 'compare and contrast, once Author 2's version hits the bookshelves.

Rose | Homepage | 21.04.11 - 3:16 p.m. | #

It's often harder to walk away from something than it is to stick through it and be miserable until the end. It can talk real courage to say "No, this isn't for me," and I applaud you, DG, for recognizing when something isn't working. Better to focus your efforts on what you love to do, rather than continue with unnecessary stress that can make yourself sick.

I do agree with the comment above that you *do* have a passion. Writing this blog for almost nine years now, on such a regular basis, with inventive topics and thorough research - that shows true passion. Clearly it's one that you don't even recognize as real work, as the things we love stem from deep interest do.

While it's sad not to have the "Official DG Book" on my shelf this spring, I'm certain that it will work out for you at some point. With the right topic, the right editor and the right time for you to write it. Until then, I'm still more than pleased to read your blog everyday!

Veronica | 21.04.11 - 4:32 p.m. | #

But there again, you do so love to wrong foot us...and you're so good at it.

Gladys | 22.04.11 - 12:51 a.m. | #

You certainly have a book in you; I look forward to the day you feel you can do it justice.

SELondoner | 22.04.11 - 12:57 a.m. | #

Yes, writing can be a drag, but I thought I'd feel smug about seeing my 'real' name on the spine of a book.

But didn't and don't, but on the other hand, it is something for the family to swap at Xmas.

Financially it isn't worth the time. I got an advance for the second edition but I won't get anything for a while because my 'advance' doesn't cover the sales.

Yeah, do what you want to do, DG. You don't have to please us.

But be pleased because you do.

Jakartass | Homepage | 22.04.11 - 12:23 p.m. | #

Comments were down yesterday so I couldn't post then, but I was thinking as I was reading, " what is there left, that DG hasn't already written about in his blog" so it all makes sense now!
Still, one day....!

CornishCockney | 22.04.11 - 8:21 p.m. | #

Welcome to the wonderful world of publishing. A tenuous gamble mixed in with loads of compromise... and more compromise, with only a promise of actual profit. The bit about the author being the #1 sales force is also spot on... so it's helpful if one has that foot-in-the-door forthright sales mentality.

So typical that they just swapped out another author. After all, great minds think alike.

I think a book about the vanished glories of London past would make a nice book. You've done lots of those in the DG blog... and they're always my favorites.

:0)

jon | Homepage | 24.04.11 - 6:03 p.m. | #

In this day and age of e-books, don't let those wonderful words go to waste - publish them! Amazon and Nook (Barnes and Noble) both appear to accept chapter-books, why not look at releasing your work in small chunks, and getting paid for it too!

DebF | 01.05.11 - 12:09 a.m. | #











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