The Story behind the Book: A Guide to Bliss (from the editor's perspective)

 


Shai Tubali approached us with the concept of a book about mind expansion, a topic he had been leading workshops on, after his first book with us, The Seven Wisdoms of Life, became popular and a finalist in the Book of the Year competition. As a publisher, having worked with him before, we knew what the tasks would be, including careful copyediting since English is not Shai's native language though he does a wonderful job of writing, i.e. producing literate text, which not all native speakers can do.

So, the production of this book was almost routine -- except for the title. Up until almost the day of publication, he and we, together, were searching for a title that would work: short, clear, consistent with content, and appealing. Originally, the title was longer: hard to file, hard to look up, and clear but at what cost. Then, we played with making a form of the title into a subtitle, and that worked. Now, though, we really needed a title. Bliss came up very quickly, but what about bliss and the book? After looking at some alternatives, it seemed that what Shai was doing was guiding people into having bliss in their lives; hence, A Guide to Bliss. Short and accurate. It is amazing how much easier it is to write something longer than to write something shorter. That goes for books, too!

For more posts about Shai and his books, click HERE.


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