How Son of My Father Found Its Name - The Story Behind a Book Title, and a Half-Forgotten Song

In 2022, I wrote a book called Son of My Father.

I remember the moment the title came to me. I was pacing around my home, thinking — searching for a phrase that might hold the whole story together. Titles can be elusive things, they are jotted down, forgotten, some look great, then they don’t. I had a handful of ideas, each discarded for one reason or another. 

None seemed to bring the chapters together in the way I wanted.

At one stage, I had an idea that I felt could really work — to open each chapter with a subheading drawn from a song of the time. A piece of music that had shaped not only my personal experiences, but also the atmosphere of the era I was writing about. I imagined each song acting as a lyrical thread connecting memory, mood, and meaning to the story.

Then reality intervened. Copyright.

Yes, “fair use” might have allowed me to borrow a few lines, but even that felt like a legal grey area. The deeper I looked, the more it became a potential minefield of permissions and costs. Reluctantly, I let the idea go.

Still, once music had entered the conversation, I couldn’t get it out of my head. Songs have a way of unlocking memory, and as I sifted through those from my past, one stood out: Son of My Father, a 1972 hit by Chicory Tip.

I can’t say the band were favourites of mine, nor that the song had any special place in my life at the time. I remember it being played on the radio and Top of the Pops, but I was more into music by T Rex, Slade, Sweet and ELO. Years later, the song — and something in its story — resonated. It felt as though it was an ideal title for the book.

Here’s the song:

I later discovered that the title had been used before — in books, in other contexts — but that didn’t matter. For me, it fit.

Because although my book isn’t solely about my relationship with my dad, he is the presence that runs through it. The man, the mystery. As he left my life almost fifty years ago now, the book is most of what I know about him.

Writing Son of My Father was, in part, an act of discovery — not just about the past, but about what remains when memory fades and imagination takes its place. 

Read more reflections like this here.

 

Image by Tibor Janosi Mozes from Pixabay

Son of My Father - Who Was My Dad? The Man I Never Really Knew

When I began writing Son of My Father, I realised how much of my dad’s story I never really knew. So much of who he was existed quietly in the background — unspoken, unseen. What I do remember, though, was his creative side.

From my memoir, Son of My Father

I know nothing about my dad’s childhood, his schooling, or whether he was academically bright or not. I don’t even know the name of the school that he went to. I’m not sure that I ever did. He probably left school with few if any qualifications. Questions like this were never the subject of conversation between us.

Son of My Father - The Funeral Service (an extract)

An extract from my memoir, Son of My Father.      

A very different time.

My Brother wrote the service for mam's funeral. He wrote the following.

“... when she was a young lady, it was the simple things like, helping her mam in the house, learning how to cook, wash and most importantly sew. Equally another happy time for her was her schooling, she was clever and bright and always managed to be in the top stream. It has been said that in other times she may have gone on to be a teacher.”

 It continues.

“From school she went into the factories (Freeman, Hardy and Willis) and later after becoming a mum turned to homeworking. The house always had Sewing Machines in it, Overlocks, Scissors, piles of leather, trim and fabric and things in the process of being put together. She was naturally creative and could turn any idea plucked from your imagination into a fully realised costume in hours.

She was soon promoted to sample machinist because basically she was the best in the trade.”

 

Her schooling was probably typical of that time for someone from her social background. Until her funeral, I was not aware of what she had achieved at school. She would have left school at around fifteen back then.

I Don't Have An Amazon Kindle - Can I Still Read Kindle E-Books? (Yes, You Can!)

You don’t need an Amazon Kindle device to enjoy Kindle books. Learn how to read Kindle e-books on your phone, tablet, computer, or web browser — all completely free and easy to set up.

No Kindle? No Problem!

Actually, I do have an Amazon Kindle — a very old one which once belonged to my mother. After she passed away, it was given to me in a box of old technology. I recall it was full of old mobile phones, calculators, various other devices, and a Kindle. I just thought it was a tablet, until I saw the name.

Once I figured out how to turn it on, I noticed that she had an extensive collection of mostly crime fiction books. She liked a good detective story. I did read a few chapters of my own book on the Kindle!

Having written a book, an e-book that is available on Amazon (The picture, top right of page), I sometimes get asked.“But I don’t even own a Kindle… How do I read it?”

It was a good question, one that, at the time, I didn’t have an answer to.

So, I looked it up.

The good news? I discovered that you don’t actually need a Kindle device to read Kindle e-books.

Amazon has made it easy to access Kindle books from almost any device — smartphone, tablet, laptop, or even straight from your web browser. These are the main alternative to Kindle device options.

1. Use the Free Kindle App on Any Device

Surprise, surprise, there is an app for it. The easiest way to read Kindle books without a Kindle is to download the free Kindle app. It’s available for iPhone and iPad (App Store), Android phones and tablets (Google Play) and Windows PCs and Macs.

Once installed, sign in with your Amazon account, and your Kindle library, showing the books you have bought or downloaded for free, will then appear.

2. Try Kindle Cloud Reader — Read in Your Browser

The Truth About Medium - Part Five - Let's Talk About Money

One of Medium’s biggest attractions for writers is the chance to earn money right away. You join the Medium Partner Program (MPP), write, publish, and with every read from a paying member, you earn a little something in return.

Exactly how much per read? Well, that’s the mystery.

There’s a formula used — some calculation involving views, reads, and “engagement.” I’ve tried to figure it out, but like many others, I never cracked the code. Only Medium and the algorithm have the answer to that.

Still, some writers were making good money on Medium. It felt like if you show up, engage, publish regularly, and build a loyal following, you too could join the platform’s top earners.

Then comes the reality check.

Where the Money Comes From

Let’s start with where the money for writers actually comes from. It’s drawn from the pool of funds that paying members contribute — the same members who subscribe through the MPP.

Here’s where things get tricky.

How many people join Medium to just read? And how many sign-up hoping to write and earn? We roughly know the number of members, but Medium doesn’t break it down. If most members are writers, not readers, then for every person making a decent monthly, "side-hustle" income — say $500 — hundreds of others would need to make almost nothing. The money doesn’t stretch far enough.

The reason is simple: the money writers earn comes largely from the same pot they pay into. If the membership is mostly writers, it is clear that most cannot get back more than their membership fee.

If Medium had millions of paying readers who didn’t write, the pot would be much bigger, and there’d be more to go around.

Medium’s Business Model

The Truth About Medium - Part four - A few stats

Medium tends not to release too many details of stats relating to the platform. The details provided here are based on finding numbers across the web. Many are probably out of date.

How many members does Medium have?

I read elsewhere that to find an up-to-date number of registered users on the platform, you should check the number of followers of the official Medium Staff account for news and updates.

As of writing, Medium has 108 million followers.

Does that mean 108 million active accounts? I would guess not. It probably includes inactive accounts, including those who were once members of the MPP.

The number of subscribers who pay to read content on Medium?

Figures that I found on the web:

• 2019: 400,000 paid subscribers

• 2021: 725,000 paid subscribers

• 2024: 1,000,000 paid subscribers

I asked GPT-4o for user stats.

Monthly Readers: Over 100 million.

Monthly Visitors: Approximately 45 million.

Monthly Payout to Writers: Over $2 million

I have read variations on that 100 million figure — up to 110 million. 

The numbers are important, because writers are paid from member reads. 

You have to be a member of the MPP to be paid.

The 100 million+ reads a month figure looks impressive, but writers do not get paid for non-member reads. And non-members only get three “free” articles/stories a month to read. It is also possible to provide a free read link with each story, but I’ve found that most writers don’t use this.

As a writer on Medium, it is the member reads that will pay you. 

Finding those readers is the difficult part.

The Truth About Medium - Part Three - Hopes and Dreams

So, I decided to try writing on Medium as a member of the MPP, just to see if things improved.

And they did — a little.

My first decision was to be accepted by a publication. There is a clear advantage to this, in that each publication has its own built-in audience — at least in theory.

When it comes to being accepted by a publication, there is a lot of choice. There are specialist and generalist publications in terms of what they will publish.

And with some, it is easier to be accepted than others. 

I tended to go for the publication(s) that had an “open door” policy. They generally accepted anyone who adhered to Medium’s rules. They would publish a story, unless it was really bad or poorly written.

All of my stories were accepted and published, and I began to get some views and reads.

The biggest surprise was that by the end of my first month, I qualified for a payment — $11.55. I had decided to only check at the end of the month, so I was happy with the result. 

I did not expect it at all.

Now, $11.55 is not a life-changing amount, but it was a start. One of the things that drew me to Medium was the possibility that over time you could build up a passive income. Old content qualified for payment for as long as you were a member. 

But, as time passed, reality set in.

The Truth About Medium - Part Two - I Decided to Join

When I first joined Medium, I was not a paid-up member. I decided to give the platform a try, and the free membership allowed me to do that.

I thought it would be a good idea to see what kind of response I got. How much of an audience would there be? It would give me a chance to see what it was like and then use the option to join the paid programme later.

At first, I decided to write one or two longer-format stories each week. After all, everything I had read indicated that it was long-format, personal stories that do well on the platform.

As advertised, the platform was easy to use. 

The only criticism I would make is that there is not a grammar or spell check option, but other blogging sites don’t have that either. I just had to use other available options.

I wrote my first story, posted it and waited.

In fact, I didn’t have to wait long before I got a response.