Breifings from a Doctor's Foxhole

[Colin Jordan]

My name is Colin Jordan, and I'm a fairly new member. I'm a retired physician, born in the UK and living now in Portland, OR, USA. I spent my career in University Hospitals as chief of infectious diseases at the University of Minnesota and at Oregon Health & Science University, doing research on herpes viruses for 35 years. and practicing a particularly intense brand of medicine. I recently had a medical memoir called "Briefings from a Doctor's Foxhole" published. The book hits hard, honest to its core. Once you figure out that practicing medicine is a lot like war at times , you need a strategy. You long to fight a just war against the unfathomable, incompetence, greed, or the next random injustice, but no plan suits every skirmish. In short, the book is about why it's so damned hard to practice medicine right. It has a website at http://DoctorsFoxhole.com which includes reviews from www.kirkusreviews.com and amazon.com though I think the video press release is a bit over the top! I'd appreciate hearing anyone's thoughts on the book and its promotion. It's good to be here. I look forward to getting to know you. Thank you, Colin. jordanmc@comcast.net.

I'm sorry to report as a newbie here that I've already gotten myself into trouble! I made a typo in the headline of my post for my book "Briefings from a Doctor's Foxhole," misspelling Briefings as Breifings. I can't fix it using the "edit" button. Can anyone help me? In addition, when I mentioned the reader reviews of the book at amazon.com, I failed to say that the reviews are only available on the US website of that name and not in the UK or France,
etc. Finally, and then I'll shut up and go away until I'm ready for prime time. The oral surgery went better today than I expected. I appreciate the concern that some of you sent my way.
Colin

 

[Marc Joan]

Welcome. I have a vaguely similar background, scientist not physician, mainly cancer research but used recombinant viruses a lot as research tools. Also had significant interests in infectious disease. Left the lab bench for the allure of industry. I'll have a look at your website, but I may not be the best person to do so, as I am not a great fan of the memoir; I see enough of real life and prefer my reading to transport me away from it!

 

[Colin Jordan]

Welcome. I have a vaguely similar background, scientist not physician, mainly cancer research but used recombinant viruses a lot as research tools. Also had significant interests in infectious disease. Left the lab bench for the allure of industry. I'll have a look at your website, but I may not be the best person to do so, as I am not a great fan of the memoir; I see enough of real life and prefer my reading to transport me away from it!

Thank you. I appreciate your interest and understand your background quite well. Your view of memoir understood as well! Let me know what you think. Are you in the UK?

 

[Marc Joan]

Thank you. I appreciate your interest and understand your background quite well. Your view of memoir understood as well! Let me know what you think. Are you in the UK?

Yup.

 

[Colin Jordan]

Yup.

I was born in Cheshire and have a first cousin who still lives there in Knutsford (near Chester). His brother took a PhD degree from the University of Leeds in pharmacology. He has worked for Sandoz (now Novartis) for many years in South Africa. I also have a half-sister in Norwich and a half-brother in Huntingdon (Cambs). Fractured family, mind you.

 

[Alistair Roberts]

Certainly an interesting and thorough review, once I found it. Congratulations on getting it printed.

 

[Carol Rose]

Welcome!

 

[AgentPete]

Hello Colin... and a very warm welcome to Litopia. A lot of medics gravitate towards writing... are you heading in a Robin Cook direction?

 

[Marc Joan]

As promised, I had a look at the website for your book. My reactions are as follows:

Neither the title nor the cover grabbed me, I am afraid. Rightly or wrongly, when I see books with that kind of cover, I assume that they will have the kind of content that doesn’t interest me. Of course, other people will have the opposite reaction, so you shouldn’t take this as any more than an expression of personal taste.

In the About the Book section, there is a spelling error in the first sentence, and the third sentence doesn’t seem to be a sentence. I know I am more pedantic than average, but that kind of thing would put me off straight away. In addition, after reading the About the Book section, I still didn’t really know what the book is about. Is it a description of practising medicine in a resource-limited environment such as a disaster zone or a rural region of an emerging economy? Is it a description of medical staff struggling against bureaucracy, regulations and financial constraints? Is it anecdotes of doctors dealing with patients who are difficult or unreasonable? Is it just a collection of stories or is there a theme, message or overall conclusion which binds everything together? All of the above? I just didn’t know. So that section wasn’t very helpful.

The Press Release was better in that it answered a lot of the above questions. I didn’t watch the video, because I don’t have the patience for that medium – I read faster than people speak. However, I did note that you published the book through SBPRA. This looks like a vanity press set-up, and seems to have a particular reputation: e.g. see here http://www.sfwa.org/other-resources/for-authors/writer-beware/alerts/ . Your book may be very good, but I am afraid that a vanity press source immediately sets off alarm bells, and I’d have to see good reviews from people I trust before buying it. Again, that is just my personal view, and many will not share it.

The Reviews section was much better. After reading this, I felt I knew what to expect from the book, and it actually does sound interesting. Perhaps even very interesting. I’d be happy, in principle, to read it; but the vanity press involvement still concerns me. I’d still want to see several independent reviews before parting with cash. It now also seems to me that the content of your book—which may well be thoughtful, interesting, even unique—really is not served well by the cover and title, which seem—to me—to be putting it in a completely different (wrong) genre to the one it belongs to.

So, in conclusion, you may have written a great book—the subject matter is certainly very promising--but it is being severely let down by marketing. This is only my personal opinion, and I am not an expert; I have no background in publishing or marketing, and my fiction publications are limited to a couple of short stories. So you may well be justified in ignoring everything that I say.

 

[Alistair Roberts]

Hm, well I don't have a problem with the cover myself. However, a vanity publisher is only out to bleed your cash, something we discussed not so long ago. The press release was frankly more about promoting SBPRA, and I dare say like all vanity publishers, they have no book store outlets or connections. Ergo, you have to push the publicity and find the sales yourself. Doesn't matter how good it is, and the reviews are pretty good, but are any of the individuals doing those reviews, famous people or working for some well know Newspaper etc., etc.? I'm, afraid Marc has looked at this more carefully than I did. Sorry to be a blanket mate! I'd suggest looking for a real agent, it's got to be worth the effort.

 

[Katie-Ellen]

Hello, Colin I read memoirs, and I'm very interested in general in the history of medicine, and infectious diseases.

Recent reads on these lines include: The Story of San Michele, Axel Munthe (MEMOIR: Axel Munthe was a psychiatrist. Amongst many other things, he talks about his involvement in Pasteur's effort to develop a vaccine against rabies with horrific and tragic consequences. They had to sneak in to the ward by night and euthanase their poor human guinea pigs, their suffering was so unspeakable)
The Medical Detective: John Snow; Cholera and the Mystery of the Broad Street Pump (HISTORY: the frightening pig headedness of the medical establishment, being attached like...er, leeches, to the idea that cholera was airborne, in the face of mounting evidence to the contrary)

Dipping in to the pages of your book on Amazon, the voice is warm and accessible; very likeable. The vid is so OTT it's funny Maybe that is OK and will help sales. It depends how you want the book to be seen. I'd be looking for the gravitas undoubtedly embedded in your story, though the need for gallows humour is something I totally get. A truly great physician would suffer very much indeed, if he or she couldn't find ways to defend himself against the shocks. So long as he or she doesn't do too good a job of self defending, that's completely relatable. (But medical students who misbehave with cadavers, I'd regard as criminally disrespectful.)

Best of luck with it, and many congratulations on the launch.

 

[Colin Jordan]

As promised, I had a look at the website for your book. My reactions are as follows:

Neither the title nor the cover grabbed me, I am afraid. Rightly or wrongly, when I see books with that kind of cover, I assume that they will have the kind of content that doesn’t interest me. Of course, other people will have the opposite reaction, so you shouldn’t take this as any more than an expression of personal taste.

In the About the Book section, there is a spelling error in the first sentence, and the third sentence doesn’t seem to be a sentence. I know I am more pedantic than average, but that kind of thing would put me off straight away. In addition, after reading the About the Book section, I still didn’t really know what the book is about. Is it a description of practising medicine in a resource-limited environment such as a disaster zone or a rural region of an emerging economy? Is it a description of medical staff struggling against bureaucracy, regulations and financial constraints? Is it anecdotes of doctors dealing with patients who are difficult or unreasonable? Is it just a collection of stories or is there a theme, message or overall conclusion which binds everything together? All of the above? I just didn’t know. So that section wasn’t very helpful.

The Press Release was better in that it answered a lot of the above questions. I didn’t watch the video, because I don’t have the patience for that medium – I read faster than people speak. However, I did note that you published the book through SBPRA. This looks like a vanity press set-up, and seems to have a particular reputation: e.g. see here http://www.sfwa.org/other-resources/for-authors/writer-beware/alerts/ . Your book may be very good, but I am afraid that a vanity press source immediately sets off alarm bells, and I’d have to see good reviews from people I trust before buying it. Again, that is just my personal view, and many will not share it.

The Reviews section was much better. After reading this, I felt I knew what to expect from the book, and it actually does sound interesting. Perhaps even very interesting. I’d be happy, in principle, to read it; but the vanity press involvement still concerns me. I’d still want to see several independent reviews before parting with cash. It now also seems to me that the content of your book—which may well be thoughtful, interesting, even unique—really is not served well by the cover and title, which seem—to me—to be putting it in a completely different (wrong) genre to the one it belongs to.

So, in conclusion, you may have written a great book—the subject matter is certainly very promising--but it is being severely let down by marketing. This is only my personal opinion, and I am not an expert; I have no background in publishing or marketing, and my fiction publications are limited to a couple of short stories. So you may well be justified in ignoring everything that I say.

Thank you very much for all your detailed efforts. I may be a while getting back to you because I'm having a major oral surgical procedure later this morning. I don't know if it matters to you, but SBPRA (through Author Marketing Ideas - AMI) was only involved in the marketing/promotion effort. The book was published through the Amazon/Create Space Independent Platform. More later - as soon as I'm able!

 

[Marc Joan]

Thank you very much for all your detailed efforts. I may be a while getting back to you because I'm having a major oral surgical procedure later this morning. I don't know if it matters to you, but SBPRA (through Author Marketing Ideas - AMI) was only involved in the marketing/promotion effort. The book was published through the Amazon/Create Space Independent Platform. More later - as soon as I'm able!

Yikes - good luck with that, and get better soon. Hope to see you back as soon as you are feeling more perky.

 

[Colin Jordan]

Hello, Colin I read memoirs, and I'm very interested in general in the history of medicine, and infectious diseases.

Recent reads on these lines include: The Story of San Michele, Axel Munthe (MEMOIR: Axel Munthe was a psychiatrist. Amongst many other things, he talks about his involvement in Pasteur's effort to develop a vaccine against rabies with horrific and tragic consequences. They had to sneak in to the ward by night and euthanase their poor human guinea pigs, their suffering was so unspeakable)
The Medical Detective: John Snow; Cholera and the Mystery of the Broad Street Pump (HISTORY: the frightening pig headedness of the medical establishment, being attached like...er, leeches, to the idea that cholera was airborne, in the face of mounting evidence to the contrary)

Dipping in to the pages of your book on Amazon, the voice is warm and accessible; very likeable. The vid is so OTT it's funny Maybe that is OK and will help sales. It depends how you want the book to be seen. I'd be looking for the gravitas undoubtedly embedded in your story, though the need for gallows humour is something I totally get. A truly great physician would suffer very much indeed, if he or she couldn't find ways to defend himself against the shocks. So long as he or she doesn't do too good a job of self defending, that's completely relatable. (But medical students who misbehave with cadavers, I'd regard as criminally disrespectful.)

Best of luck with it, and many congratulations on the launch.

Hi Katie and thanks so much for your thoughtful reply. The Broad Street Pump was required reading when I was an epidemic medical officer at the Centers for Disease Control in the early '70s in Atlanta as was Burton Rouche's Eleven Blue Men. Fantastic stuff! As I mentioned to someone else above, I'm having a major surgical procedure later this morning. I'll get back to you ASAP.

 

[Jennifer Stone]

Welcome to the Colony, i hope you recover quickly and without further incident

 

[Katie-Ellen]

Yikes, poor thing. All the very best for a quick and easy time of it, and smooth recovery.

 

[Colin Jordan]

Hello Colin... and a very warm welcome to Litopia. A lot of medics gravitate towards writing... are you heading in a Robin Cook direction?

Hi Pete: And thanks for the welcome. I think I'll like it here! I don't know in what direction I'm headed but probably more along the likes of AJ Cronin. Sorry to be tardy getting back. I had a major oral surgery procedure today.

 

[James Marinero]

Welcome Colin! Enjoy your time here - like many relatively new writers I'm still in the waiting room.