Six Mornings on Sanibel

Only two rules govern the books reviewed by this columnist. First, they must either be written by Florida authors or be about Florida. Second, they cannot be self published or published by a vanity press. Today, it is more difficult for a beginning or midlist author to be published than at any other time in our history. A number of reasons explain this phenomenon, but none have to do with the quality of the work submitted.

This situation has resulted in an explosion of small, independent publishers. And there are at least two types. The first is created by an individual who wants to publish quality (or at least commercial) fiction by new authors- excluding, for the most part, his or her own work. This publisher has an editorial staff that reads and evaluates manuscripts, pays advances (usually small) and royalties, and edits and calls for revisions of manuscripts until they reach an acceptable standard of proficiency. The second is the small press created by an author for the sole, specific purpose of publishing his or her own work.

Vanity presses aren't included here, but they are what their name implies. You hand them your manuscript, you pay X number of dollars, and they print your book and deliver the number of copies delineated in your contract. These folks are really glorified printers.

Having said that, we come to "Six Mornings on Sanibel," a novel self published by Charles Sobczak who created Indigo Press to publish his own books. This book is being reviewed because Sobczak has accomplished a noteworthy feat. Since its publication in late 1999, 21,000 copies have sold. Granted, he has a captive market in Sanibel residents and vacationers, that's still impressive.

Basically it's the story of Richard Evans, an overweight, disillusioned, emotionallydead divorce lawyer from Peoria who vacations on Sanibel with his wife and two spoiled sons. Evans, meets retired fishing guide, Carl Johnson, on a fishing pier and during the ensuing six-days, the men bond. Evans listens to Johnson's fishing stories- each with a message- and by the end of the week is a changed man.

Technically, the book is uneven. The prose is sometimes awkward and there are many violations of point of view. And a warning: if you are not a fishing addict, you may find yourself skipping pages because Sobczak goes into minute detail about fishing and the fish in the waters off Sanibel. But it's a good read.