GREAT-BIG EXCITING NEWS HERE!
Ok, family and friends and super-cool people who read this blog (because reading this automatically makes you super-cool), I have very exciting news. Great, big exciting news.
I hope you will all want to share in it, and share it with your friends. And tell them to share it with their friends. You obviously come here to read my rants, musings, stories, and, well, blather. It seems that some of you even come here repeatedly, and with little in the way of financial reimbursement or blackmail from me. So, if you are here because you like my writing, I'm going to ask a big favor...
Please buy my book.
Yep, I said it. But, it sounds so cool, that I want to say it again, this time with feeling. MY BOOK!
I wrote it about two years ago. I finished it over the summer, and immediately did some internet searching, and found out how to go about sending it to literary agents. And then I waited. I got rejected. I waited some more. I sent it out to other agents. And then I waited. I got rejected. Lather, rinse, repeat, as necessary.
So, here I am two years later with this completed manuscript. Not the next great-American novel, but an entertaining read. The literary version of a chick-flick. An entertaining way to spend a few hours, especially with summer (finally) rolling in. I have great ideas rolling around in my head for book #2, which I'm trying to get down. But what to do with book #1?
So, I do some more internet research. (By the way, I completely love being able to find out all this stuff without ever leaving my house!) Then I find it...Nook Press. I can self-publish my book on Nook for free! And there's one for the Kindle too!
Shut the front door. This is a game changer. Who needs a literary agent ? (If you are a literary agent, are reading this, and are interested, call me!) I can do this by myself. I can self-publish. I upload my book. I find a cheap program to make a cover. I mess that up, and do it again, doubling my expenditures for the project, but still coming in under $10. And I enlist the help of some friends to read the book, looking for typos, bad grammar, and to see if it was worth putting out there. These friends, who are now listed as my editors, read the book and gave me feedback.
And then I hit the 'Publish' button.
Holy crap.
Here's the summary:
Maggie Miller is about to start her life in Boston. She's done with grad school and has a good job as a pediatric physical therapist. Maggie sees herself as plain and ordinary, nothing remarkable. She doesn't see that surviving a horrific car accident that killed her mother and brother as anything special. She's had bad taste in men and is jaded, and has decided to lay low while she focuses on her career. Matt Slavin is Maggie's best friend from college. He has an atrocious girlfriend, who hates Maggie for no reason. But he also has this good friend from home. Ryan Milan is a drop-dead gorgeous young attorney who, despite significant reservations, has relocated to Boston to start his career as a prosecutor. He is good at reading the people he's prosecuting, but cannot read women.Maggie and Ryan dance around each other, never sure of where the other stands. After months of push and pull, they finally realize that the other is actually interested. After finally getting together, they are pulled apart by Ryan's family tragedy, and he is unable to return to Maggie. Just when Maggie thinks she does not have the strength to rebuild again, she finds she no longer has that choice. And when they're finally reunited seven years later, Maggie's life is barely recognizable...
So, now I'm, in a totally dignified way, begging you to buy my book. Or, if you're in publishing, read my book and publish it in paper form. Tell your friends. Tell your family. Tell the person next to you in line at Starbucks. I don't have an agent, an editor, or any fancy publicity. This is it. Word of mouth. Social media.
Oh, and if you like it, please write a review. If you don't, I'm sorry I wasted your time and money, but please don't trash me. Thanks.
On sale now, for Kindle and nook.
I hope you will all want to share in it, and share it with your friends. And tell them to share it with their friends. You obviously come here to read my rants, musings, stories, and, well, blather. It seems that some of you even come here repeatedly, and with little in the way of financial reimbursement or blackmail from me. So, if you are here because you like my writing, I'm going to ask a big favor...
Please buy my book.
Yep, I said it. But, it sounds so cool, that I want to say it again, this time with feeling. MY BOOK!
I wrote it about two years ago. I finished it over the summer, and immediately did some internet searching, and found out how to go about sending it to literary agents. And then I waited. I got rejected. I waited some more. I sent it out to other agents. And then I waited. I got rejected. Lather, rinse, repeat, as necessary.
So, here I am two years later with this completed manuscript. Not the next great-American novel, but an entertaining read. The literary version of a chick-flick. An entertaining way to spend a few hours, especially with summer (finally) rolling in. I have great ideas rolling around in my head for book #2, which I'm trying to get down. But what to do with book #1?
So, I do some more internet research. (By the way, I completely love being able to find out all this stuff without ever leaving my house!) Then I find it...Nook Press. I can self-publish my book on Nook for free! And there's one for the Kindle too!
Shut the front door. This is a game changer. Who needs a literary agent ? (If you are a literary agent, are reading this, and are interested, call me!) I can do this by myself. I can self-publish. I upload my book. I find a cheap program to make a cover. I mess that up, and do it again, doubling my expenditures for the project, but still coming in under $10. And I enlist the help of some friends to read the book, looking for typos, bad grammar, and to see if it was worth putting out there. These friends, who are now listed as my editors, read the book and gave me feedback.
And then I hit the 'Publish' button.
Holy crap.
Here's the summary:
Maggie Miller is about to start her life in Boston. She's done with grad school and has a good job as a pediatric physical therapist. Maggie sees herself as plain and ordinary, nothing remarkable. She doesn't see that surviving a horrific car accident that killed her mother and brother as anything special. She's had bad taste in men and is jaded, and has decided to lay low while she focuses on her career. Matt Slavin is Maggie's best friend from college. He has an atrocious girlfriend, who hates Maggie for no reason. But he also has this good friend from home. Ryan Milan is a drop-dead gorgeous young attorney who, despite significant reservations, has relocated to Boston to start his career as a prosecutor. He is good at reading the people he's prosecuting, but cannot read women.Maggie and Ryan dance around each other, never sure of where the other stands. After months of push and pull, they finally realize that the other is actually interested. After finally getting together, they are pulled apart by Ryan's family tragedy, and he is unable to return to Maggie. Just when Maggie thinks she does not have the strength to rebuild again, she finds she no longer has that choice. And when they're finally reunited seven years later, Maggie's life is barely recognizable...
So, now I'm, in a totally dignified way, begging you to buy my book. Or, if you're in publishing, read my book and publish it in paper form. Tell your friends. Tell your family. Tell the person next to you in line at Starbucks. I don't have an agent, an editor, or any fancy publicity. This is it. Word of mouth. Social media.
Oh, and if you like it, please write a review. If you don't, I'm sorry I wasted your time and money, but please don't trash me. Thanks.
On sale now, for Kindle and nook.
Kate,
ReplyDeleteHey, Eric Devine. Grant sent me your link. Good for you for just going for it. Publishing is a crazy business and self-pubbing is infinitely different than it used to be. My two cents:
The Kindle link does not go directly to your book, so you should adjust that (no big deal).
However, the best thing you could do is provide a sample chapter or two, preferably on smashwords or via Nook Press (if they allow that-I have no clue). That way you can garner wider reader interest via the teaser, and you should be able to track the number of downloads of samples to sales.
Further, get on Goodreads as an author and run a giveaway. Then run another. It is currently one of the best ways to get buzz going over your work.
And always, enjoy.
Eric,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the encouragement and suggestions. There was an issue with Kindle, but I hope it is well on its way to being resolved, and will update the link accordingly (as was my plan, but I did not plan on it taking this long).
While I had hoped that this work would get signed and I would have the more typical experience that you're having, I'll take what I can get. I'm hoping that this is successful, because how people access books is shifting. Frankly, the only physical books (other than for my children) that I have purchased in the last year were Tap Out and Fellow Mortals by Dennis Mahoney.
Congratulations on your continued success and I can't wait to read Dare Me. And again, thank you for the advice.
-KRB