The Road Not Taken

My Dad once asked a Filipino BPO exec why Indians were more successful (at that time) than Filipinos as far as outsourcing is concerned.  His reply?  He'd noticed that during tradeshows, the Indians would go around and press the flesh while the Pinoys were just hanging out at their booths.  

That anecdote reminded me of something that happened recently.  You see, I've been lobbying to get young adult (YA) literature made by Filipinos out there.  Infamously, my kids are voracious readers and it'd pain me seeing them not working on books put out by local writers.  

Why can't they be reading stories about kids their age through the eyes of the Filipino - why not our own Harry Potter, for example?  

On the side:  The number one overall best-seller at Fully Booked are children's books (no need for a Harvard study to figure this out:  they've the time, energy and their parents' money) and, yet, the all-time top local title is a non-fiction on the justice system.

Obviously, the publishers are not doing their homework, right?  

Getting back:  My aforementioned lobbying got me into a conversation with an upstart publisher and I'd convinced him enough that he asked for authors I could recommend.  I'd recalled one I'd written to and thought I'd hook up again and I'll share here a bit of our exchange:

Jay:  Hi, I'd pushed an upstart publisher to check into coming up with YA books and he seemed interested and he'd asked if I knew of any authors he can speak with about it.

I understand it's not your genre, but, hey thought you'd at least be interested to find out about it.  I've read a bit of what you do and it seems to me there's something there that could fill that niche. 

Author:  Thank you for thinking of me, but I'll pass for now.  Will keep this in mind though!

My initial thought:  If I'd asked JK Rowling the same question 19 years ago, am sure she'd not have said, "I'll pass for now." 

 

The difference, I think, is this:  Ms. Rowling was a divorced mother to a very young child and was very, very poor - she's described her economic status as being "poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless."

Of course, it's more complicated than that - a mixture of socio-economic reasons - but, I do know it's become inherent in the nature of other cultures to go and seize opportunities and be trailblazers.   

I'm reminded of that Robert Frost poem Kara picked out for an assignment: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference. 

At this point, we say goodbye to Lincoln who, himself, took the difficult road to keep the US united:

XIV.  Influence People Through Conversation and Storytelling

- Speak in simple and familiar strains with people, without any pretension of superiority.  Leave people with the feeling that they've known you all their lives.  

- Don't forget that humor is a major component of your ability to persuade people.  

- Remember that people are more easily influenced through the medium of a broad and humorous illustration than in any other way.  

- You will often avoid a long and useless discussion by others or a laborious explanation on your own part by a short story that illustrates your point of view. 

Written October 5, 2014