Book writing process full of surprises and lingering mysteries
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- Published on Tuesday, December 13, 2016
By Tony Eu
Neepawa Banner/Neepawa Press
Rick Sparling’s new book might not be selling quite as well as his first, but it certainly has its share of interesting stories and surprises.
On Aug. 11, Rick Sparling released Amateur Hockey in Neepawa: A Scrapbook. Now, four months later, it’s time to take a look at how the book sold and what the writing experience was like.
“The overall response to the book has been positive, however the sales to date do not reflect that when compared to the first book about public school hockey in Neepawa,” Sparling shared. “Our to-date sales are about 60 copies, versus just over 100 with the school book,” he elaborated.
Sparling hypothesizes that the higher price could be one of the reasons for the lower sales. “The price point could be a deterrent, at $39.99 compared to $29.99 for the first book, even though this book has 732 pages versus 300 pages for the other one,” Sparling said.
For Sparling, his favourite part of the writing process was meeting with the people who supplied him with photos, stories and information. Some of the people he met with were old acquaintances who he hadn’t seen in years, others he was meeting for the first time, but all of them were a part of amateur hockey in Neepawa.
“The book launch at the Neepawa library in August capped it all off for me as it gave me the chance, along with three of my childhood friends who came with me, to re-visit Neepawa and mingle with the crowd there,” Sparling reflected.
Writing a book on decades’ worth of history, you’re bound to come across some surprising tidbits here and there. For Sparling, the most surprising thing he came across was the disappearance of several trophies. “I could not locate any of the championship trophies that were presented all through the 1940s, ‘50s and ‘60s,” Sparling said. “[They] just seemed to disappear when Hockey Manitoba took over from Manitoba Amateur Hockey Association,” he added.
The missing trophies are: the Clint Bennest Memorial Trophy from the Bantam BB division, the H. Mummery Memorial Trophy from the Bantam AB division, the T. Sexsmith Memorial Trophy from the Midget B division, the E.A. Gilroy Memorial Trophy from the Juvenile B division and the Dr. H.O. McDiarmid Shield, from the Intermediate A division.
“I phoned or e-mailed every rink in rural Manitoba to see if perhaps any of these trophies were featured in their showcases, to no avail,” Sparling shared.
If anyone knows the whereabouts of any of the trophies, Sparling wants to know. “If anyone should happen upon one of these missing trophies, please e-mail me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ,” he requested.
With a project like writing a book, there’s always more to do, always something to improve or change, but never enough time. When asked what changes he would make to the book now, if he could, Sparling replied, “I would have been more selective and limited the book to 500 pages.” In that same vein, he added, “I could have likely done two books instead of going 732 pages in one book,” explaining that, “A thicker book led to compromising the quality somewhat and some print was too small and difficult to read.”
Another negative aspect of the high page count was that it increased productions costs, leading to the $39.99 price tag.
If anyone is still interested in purchasing a copy of the book, it’s available at the Neepawa Banner office, located at 243 Hamilton St. or through McNally Robinson Booksellers in Winnipeg.
