After really good responses from readers in the Norwegian market, my publisher (Humanist Forlag) is looking for a US publiser as a partner to release my book to the English speaking market.
This is the only book on Scientology written by a person who has done all the secret levels, and who reveals them all. The book gives an inside account on how it is to be a public Scientologist, about my gains in Scientology, the challenges, weirdness, mysteries and crap.
There are plenty of books that is looking at Scientology from the outside. And lots of books written by former executives within the Church of Scientology. This book tells a story from the ranks of the public Scientologists – a 25-year journey from the bottom of The Bridge to Total Freedom and all the way to the highest secret level, OT 8. This could have been your story, or your brother’s or sister’s, or a friend’s.
People should know what they enter into when they walk through the doors of the church. The book is balanced and throughly relates both the good and the bad in the controversial religion. The information in this book deserves to be open and accessible to all English readers. An English version would spell the end of the secrecy and mystery surrounding the greatest cash cows for the church.
There has already been hundreds of people asking me to get the book out in English. And so I put this out here to see if readers might have interesting connections that could lead to an English version being published in the near future. Feel free to spread the word.
From a talk on my book and my 25 years in Scientology
Geir Isene - uncut 
Geir, Check with Jenna Miscavige. Maybe she has a connection you could explore.
Thanks, Dan. I will PM her.
Jipeeee. Great news!
Fantastic news! I wish you the best of luck with your publisher search Geir, and I hope to read the English version of your book someday in the near future!
Looking forward to your book very much Geir, you have a unique viewpoint on this subject.
I can’t get enough of the books by the critics and the ex’s! Everyone’s story is unique, complicated, and just mind-boggling. Is self-publishing an eBook an option with your publisher?
Geir, I was always honest with you. I cannot help with an US publisher. Of course, I can google, but this is not exactly help. You can google yourself. My small help for you is that I’ve read hundreds of books published in US (mainly from American Library in Bucharest). And I’ve noticed 2 things. You will decide if you’ll apply it or not.
1) A book as your’s is not a novel. It’s more like a documentary. It’s something very serious. Maybe you can add some photos inside your book (photos with you, photos with Sci Church buildings, with Sci executives, with some specific people, locations, events, etc). Readers will have an “anchor” to understand better the book, to follow the flow of your ideas. A description will always be better understood with photos. For instance, right now I read “Stalingrad”, the greatest battle from World War II. It’s written by Anthony Beevor, the famous British historian. In the middle there are a lot of photos. I can feel the difference, believe me.
2. The preface of the book, Geir. Think very careful, maybe you have to change it. American readers are not Europeans. The introduction is and always be the start of the book. It’s the mirror of the book and the impulse to read it may be different from one continent to another. I’m not joking. You’re book is the same, of course, but readers are different. Think about it. Make your book to be an…”American style”, not by content, but by image. You need an American “mirror” for your book, Geir.
I’m looking forward for good news about your book. And thanks again for being so kind with me, both you and Anette. You know what I mean.
The “make-out” series would make good illustrations!
Just a comment re: American readers being different from European readers. That is also true for Canadians, Australians, South Africans and others, although many of us are happy to read American-style books as long as the subject matter is of interest and the author is engaging – which I think will not be a problem. If you can find a publisher who has links in Europe and/or Australia/New Zealand, it will help with marketing.
I also think that your book will be different enough from other recently published books about Scientology, so that readers will be interested.
Good luck!
Thanks for the comment, Priscilla.
And welcome 🙂
Geir, what about the idea of publishing your book through amazon.com? It costs you nothing to do so. You just have to get it “print ready” per their specifications, and for a techie like you that should be a piece of cake. They print the book on order, so they lose nothing either, in terms of eventually having a bunch of unsold books sitting in a warehouse. Of course, they take a percentage of whatever sale price you ask but, as I’m sure you know, having your book published by a publisher is costly and quite a risky investment per what I’ve read. Very few books sell enough copies to even make up publishing costs – even books by world-famous people quite often. I am probably not telling you anything you don’t know, but consider also that even Marty, with his thousands of readers and high publicity (even if it’s only a matter of notoriety to some public) has indicated that he’s sold relatively few books – and not enough to warrant the time he invested,
If you do decide to publish and get your book in bookstores, I agree with Dragos about photos – great suggestion. You may not remember but as I recall I was the one who pointed out to you one time that when you add images of some sort to your blog posts it makes all the difference in appeal. And I also agree with Dragos about the importance of either a preface or a foreword. I personally have bought books based on nothing but the foreword. The best thing is to have someone write it who is well known, or whose experience or credentials would have some impact. Like maybe get that new-religions scholar there in Norway, James R. Lewis.
I would definitely look into Amazon because I think you can axtuallyget more exposure through them, than jusy about any other way. Plus, if you self-publish, for a price you can get your book exhibited at various national and international book shows. Some of these are for librarians, or are visited by library people searching for new books to carry in their systems. Also by Hollywood agents, believe it or not.
Lulu is a good publisher, but I suspect at this point Amazon would provide a broader reach.
I think Amazon is likely to eventually put most brick and mortar bookstores out of business. Borders is already gone, and the last biggie left in the USA is Barnes and Noble, but I think they will eventually go down too.
I think you’re right. I asked also my mother for an opinion. She’s teacher of English composition and worked all her life with publishers for her books and dictionaries. She told me “A big publisher is a big shark”. Maybe Amazon is a better option for United States. Maybe.