Quote from Alan Ray White: “I had been posting stories on Facebook about my life in the music business as a promoter, radio DJ, consultant, and more. I knew Angela Durden because for years she had been coming out to dance at my gigs. Naturally we were friends on Facebook and she was reading my posts. One day she said, ‘Alan, these are great stories well told.’ A very well-known radio DJ in the Atlanta market, Gary McKee, kept posting, ‘Alan, you need to turn these into a book!’ Well, sure. But how? Then my phone rang. It was Angela again. ‘Alan, we need to talk about those stories of yours.’ I can honestly say that Angela took my stories and turned them into a real book. Both she and Tom, Blue Room Books’ editor-in-chief, fact checked the hell out of it. They also got rid of redundancies. My sons are proud of the book and everybody who has purchased a copy (sometimes multiple copies as gifts) is excited to read it.”
How the book came to be:
Given the state of publishing these days, Blue Room Books knew that Alan had a snowball’s chance in Hades of ever getting his book accepted by a traditional publisher. Durden asked to see the entire collection of stories and after reading them realized these were not the typical, and ultimately boring, Music Business stories of drugs, women, and rock ‘n’ roll.
These stories of Alan’s were the background to the history making stars and events in the most exciting era in the Music Industry told with love, admiration, and a clear-eyed view of the men, women, and teenagers who had the hits. Both Angela and Tom were impressed.
But, the book needed:
- A very tight editing process
- Removing redundancies
- Fact checking (dates of release for songs, labels released on, spelling of band names, etc.)
- An interior design refresh with better pictures
- Cover design incorporating original artwork from a young artist
Blue Room Books let Alan know we wanted to publish his book and a deal was made. Immediately, editing and fact checking began with vigor. Once that was completed to BRB’s and the author’ satisfaction, final designing was done.
This process began in late October 2018 and was ready for release in February 2019.
Book specs: 6”x8” size. 404 pages. Table of contents. Foreword. Afterword. Citation index. Photography index. Black-and-white interior with photos and other graphics. Full-color cover (4/0).