To Peddle a Story

Update:

I just updated Where's My Book? for the first time since creating the page.

As you can see, yours is very likely on the way or in my office waiting to be hand-delivered right now!

I just need addresses for one last fistful of folks.


To Make Contact . . .

------

Confession: Marketing is never been my brand of whiskey. Now that In Verse has been released into the wild in paperback form, and the Kindle Edition is set to release on April 1st, the challenge shifts to getting it noticed.

I believe it's a great story with the potential to sell, but "Read my book!" feels like "Hold my baby!" You never have to ask your mother twice, but its long-term success is out of her hands. Whether it flies or dies will depend on unbiased opinions and word-of-mouth. A story must prove itself worthy, one stranger at a time . . . or have enough cash and advertising prowess behind it to arrest or hoodwink the masses.

I don't have an agent or the means to fund a media blitz. So as I christen the double decker strugglebus that is self-promotion, I hope to garner some favorable reviews from strangers and possibly some awards that I can point to and say, "Look what she said! No! She's not even my sister!"

There are a lot of fiction contests out there that only accept novels published in the previous calendar year, which means it will be a while before my title is a contender in those arenas. In the meantime I aim to get creative. Going door to door like an old school encyclopedia or Hoover salesman is completely against my nature, but you never know what getting a free copy into the hands of a modern-day Midas might achieve.


By the way, I just noticed that the "Look Inside" feature for In Verse on Amazon is now available!

Dear Reader (An Overdue Update)

Dear Reader,


I really buckled down on letters in October and November. I was even behind on posting them for a little while. Since catching up, I've been releasing them here, one each week, in the order they were written and mailed. I apologize if you've had to wait for weeks to find your letter here, and finally make sense of what I scrawled out by hand.

Finishing up on letters allowed me to buckle down on the novel. I completed the final in-depth editing and formatting pass, designed the cover, figured out all of the hullabaloo that comes with the copyright and ISBN info page, and racked my brain for way too long over all of the self publishing avenues and options available.

I ultimately chose Kindle Direct Publishing to get the paperback into tangible form, ordered two proofs, and it escaped the world of screens and drives. It's a real book! I must say, it feels really good. I added a few pictures to the novel's dedicated page so you can see the current cover design.

There is still a lot of work to do. With Jenn's help I'll be undergoing a read-through of the proofs, and make the final final edits before taking the book to market. I hope to have it available to download to E-readers, as well as old-school paperback. Then there's getting noticed. I've always been better at writing than marketing, but in today's market you have to be proficient at both in order to rise above the thatch.

Lastly, if you are one of the recipients who I haven't directly spoken to in years, and you haven't touched base since receiving your letter, I would greatly appreciate it if you could make contact, just to confirm that I have your correct address. I don't want to buy you a copy if I'm not sure it will find you. I'm sure you understand.

As always, thank you,

Daniel