Dear Marion,

Thank you for your letter with its recommendation of the Brooklyn
Rider's Almanac concert at Dartmouth. I didn't comply with your
request to forgard this information to Benjamin, because he's not in
New Hampshire at this time. The college had arranged for him to
take off two months to spend in volunteer work at Mount Sinai Hospital
in NYC. I haven't heard from him, but I must assume that he is 
suffering from some degree of culture shock, and I thought that
reminding him of a concert he would have to forego might make him
feel sad. If you would like to write to him, his is e-mail address is
Benjamin Meyer <Benjamin.J.Meyer.15@Dartmouth.edu>
He never answers my e-mails. Maybe you will have better luck.

For the past several days, I've been absorbed in editing the proofs of
volume 1 (448 pages) and volume 2 (330 pages) for my first novel whose
name I have changed from "Die Andere" to "Döhring", since it's more about
him than about her. I'm dealing with the Amazon.com publishing branch
which calls itself "CreateSpace", and appears to accept for publication
computer files regardless of their content or quality. Totally computerized.
Untouched by human hands or minds.

CreateSpace stipulates minimum prices for producing their books,
strictly "on demand".  For my first volume they specified a minimum list 
price of U.S. $10.34, GBP £8.60, and €9.92. I in turn have set sales prices
of U.S. $12.00 GBP £10.00, and €11.50. At these prices they will award me
royalties U.S. $1.00, GBP £0.84, and €0.95 for each volume sold.
For my second volume they specify a minimum list price of U.S. $7.82,
GBP £6.50, and €7.40. I in turn have set sales prices of U.S. $9.00
GBP £7.50, and €9.00. At these prices they will award me royalties
U.S. $0.71, GBP £0.60, and €0.96 for each volume sold. You, however,
should not send Amazon any of your money. I don't know why you would
want a copy, but if you did, tell me, and I'll get you one.

The only cost of this project to me is $25 per volume for what they call
"expanded distribution" to "Bookstores and Online Retailers",
"Libraries & Academic Institutions", and "CreateSpace Direct".
I don't know what it all means. All I know is that I needn't pay them
more than $50, and that they're out for money which they can obtain
(from me) only by promoting and selling my books.  I conclude
that I have nothing to lose.

All in all, the enterprise seems to me somewhat of a hoax,
since I know from experience that no one wants to read what I've written,
and it seems very unrealistic to suppose that any one would want to pay
for what they won't read even when they can get it for free.
On the other hand, Amazon.com stands to make a lot of money
if they can persuade potential readers to buy this stuff, -
and it certainly wouldn't be the first time they've succeeded
in selling something that's useless and worthless. We'll see what happens.

I am, however, impressed by the contrast between the Amazon publishing
enterprise and conventional vanity publishers, who promise the
would-be author the entirety of the proceeds of pie-in-the-sky sales 
which never occur, while charging a hefty sum for pretending that
the book they manufacture is worth reading.

Proof-reading 778 pages is quite a chore and will keep me very busy
for the next several days. Please forgive me for not writing more extensively
today, but I want to get back to the proof-reading so that I can get
it behind me. All our family are well. Margaret and I, of course,
are getting VERY old. I very much hope that you too are well. Please let me
know if this is not the case.

Jochen