Thinking about self publishing!

I have been reevaluating my options for publication. I want to see my book in print but I can’t seem to find the right agent. I’m thinking about self publishing. I know that some people look down on that but it’s becoming more common than people think. I have been looking into it. and just because you self publish doesn’t mean that you won’t get onto the bookshelf in your local book store. You can have your books distributed by Ingram and they can get you into book stores. You can register on Amazon and Barnes and Noble websites.

There is a lot more work that you have to do as an author like marketing your own book. I’ve heard that it’s like running a small business. I have also heard about people starting off by self publishing their own books and then once they have a following they traditionally publish. It could be a way to get my start. besides it’s not like I spend every day writing and deadlines give me a headache. I want to be successful but I want my books to be original and I can’t imagine a new world as fast as other people can. I do have some feelers out so I’m hoping that something comes of that.

Don’t get me wrong I would love to self publish but I’m not getting my hopes up. I just don’t know if I’m looking in the wrong place for a champion of my book. That champion might just be me. No one is more passionate about it. I believe that it’s good enough to be published but I my be the one that has to do it just to show everyone else that passed what they are missing out on. I’m talking my time and learning about it so that I can do it right. I have a few tag lines for it and I’m hoping that I can use them at some point.

Just to give you an idea, here is my favorite tag line that I came up with, “The line between fiction and reality blurs when a podcast becomes a deadly game.”

I love that tag line. Well, I’m going to research this stuff a little while longer while I wait to see these feelers came back because you never know maybe a publisher will want to publish me. I’m hoping to hear back from them by the end of January. Meanwhile, I hope that everyone had a good Thanksgiving and I hope that you have a Merry Christmas. Happy Reading!

Back from the Conference!

Well, I went to the writers conference in Atlanta. My pitch meetings were productive even though they didn’t want any pages. I received two referrals and one “not for us.” The two referrals came as one told me that someone at her company would be a better fit. I was thankful for her input. She gave me some pointers about my query letter which I inputted. When I approached her after the award ceremony to find out why I couldn’t find her college she was gracious enough to understand that I’m hard of hearing and made sure that I got her name right.

The other referral that I received was for someone that I talked to the night before at the mixer and she already asked for some pages. I might have jumped the gun and sent her the query that night that she asked for them. My reasoning was because she gave me a link and I didn’t want to lose it so I went ahead and sent in the query. I hope that she understands why I did it.

There was someone else. She asked for some pages at the mixer. She told me that she wanted something with a podcast in it. I’m hoping that she enjoys what I have written. I sent it to her today. She was really nice and I’m hoping that she wants to publish my book. I guess we will see who wants more. All in all, it was a good weekend. I can’t wait for next years conference.

I’m getting ready to start another book. I’m hoping that I can keep up the momentum. I’m going to put everything that I have learned this last year and put it into my new book. They say you can write ten books and get the eleventh one published or you can write one book ten times and get it published. Well, I think I have written this book about ten times by now so we will see how it goes. Happy Reading!

Recovering from Hurricane Helene!

Hello everyone, I’m am now getting excited. My book is ready and the conference is almost here. Just another week and I will be driving down. What’s been going on. Well, Hurricane Helene came through here. We got lucky our tree out front was small so when it was all over there was nothing left but a stick coming out of the ground. My friend and I removed it and put sod in it’s place.

We lost power for a three days. It’s kind of funny. We lost power on Friday early about 5 am. Then we were able to get a generator on Saturday morning but we had to wait for it to come in. So, we went back the afternoon to pick it up. We had to get gas, therefore, we got home late and hooked everything up in the dark. Once we hooked up the refrigerator the cable that we had wouldn’t power it. It kept tripping the breaker. The next morning on Sunday we went and got a smaller refrigerator and everything worked. A few hours later the power came back on. But, at least we are now set up for next time. We even got the right cable for the bigger refrigerator.

The past two weeks my friend and I have been pressure washing and staining my fence. Apparently we are doing something right, A neighbor that I haven’t met before stopped by while we were working and asked for our card so that we could do her fence. Well, back to my book. I will definitely be taking my book ‘True Crime: Fact or Fiction’ with me to the conference. I’m looking forward to seeing friends that I met last year and catching up. Wish me luck. Happy Reading!

My book is now ready!

Hello everyone, I just finished editing my book today. Now I have True Crime: Fact or Fiction ready to put out there and find an agent. At least that’s what I’m calling it for now. I think I’m going to take it to this year’s fall writer’s conference in Atlanta first. I’m all registered for the conference. I have a Manuscript Critique and three pitches to get ready for.

I just sent in my submission for the manuscript critique today. I hope it goes through. I have a Chromebook and they wanted it in a word document. It can be tricky to get it to go through but I think I have it. I had to do the same thing when I sent it to my editor. The book wasn’t ready when I was looking for an agent before but I’m hoping now it will find me one.

I would say if I don’t find one that I will give up. That worked before when I found the love of my life. But, let’s face it, we all know that I will keep writing. I love it too much to give it up. There is nothing like the feeling that I get when I finish a story. I feel like I have added to someone else’s life. Even if it is just the characters in my books. Well, I have droned on long enough. Have a great day and like I always say…Happy Reading!

Having fun with the editing process!

Hello everyone, I received my book back from the editor and boy did he have some ideas. I’m excited about the rewrite. I feel the book is much better than it was before. I’m not saying that I have a finished product after all that was just the developmental edit. Now it’s back with my editor and he is going through it one more time. When I get it back this time I will have a finished product.

As for the other book, I’m going to go through it another time and do some rewriting before I send it in. I’m going to try to put what I have learned to good use first. Then I will send it in to be edited. I think that will be the best use of my money if I have even more ready for the editor. I want to make his job easier because that means that I have a better book.

I’m looking forward to this year’s conference. I’m going to have fun taking a book that has been edited to it this time. I think I won’t be as nervous knowing that my book is in better shape to be looked at by people that could hold my future writing career in their hands. The ting is I’m going too have to go through the editing process again hopefully when my book gets picked up. Here hope for better luck this year. I will be back before the conference. Happy Reading!

Time to Register for the Atlanta Writer’s Conference again.

Hello everyone,
Well, I have news on my publishing journey. I have now sent off one of my two books to a professional editor. It’s going into a developmental editing stage that will begin on July 4th. I will get it back on July 16th. Then once I fix all of those problems in goes into a line edit and a copy edit stage. Then I will send off my second book. The first book that I sent off was called True Crime; Fact or Fiction.

It’s about a podcaster that has a true crime podcast. He will tell stories that may or may not be true. He let’s his audience decide. Then he will divulge which it is. He reports on a cold case and uncovers some interesting facts. This gets the killer coming after his and he doesn’t care who gets in the way. Scott, the podcaster gets involved with the police and tries to solve the case before more people get hurt.

The second book is the one that I already told you about. I signed up for the Atlanta Writer’s Conference again this year. It’s not until November but it looks like the spots are filling up fast. I am looking forward to it. This year I’m taking True Crime; Fact or Fiction with me. I’m going to see if anyone is interested in that book. I think I can have the edits done by then. I’m hoping so anyway. Happy Reading!

I’m back from my staycation!

Hello all, I sorry that I haven’t written in a while. I have been busy with company from out of town. Let me tell you it was nice leaving my publishing journey from a couple of weeks. I went hiking and kayaking. I saw a lot of wild life. It was good to be outdoors. Oh, We went to Lexington, Sc to see the Budweiser Clydesdale Horses. They went for a walk down main street. Man are they tall. I stand 6’2” and I was on a curb, their backs were still taller than me. It was a great experience. Well now that my friend is back home, I am back on track.

I am getting frustrated with all of these rejections. I’m starting to wonder if I should try self-publishing. I don’t know if that might be the way to go for me or not. I hear it is how a lot of books get published to start off with. I wrote my first book, one which I know isn’t my best work, ‘Murder in the House in the Middle’. It’s a available through Novum Publishing. You can find it on Amazon if you want to see what I mean.

I know that these two other books are far better and I can’t seem to find the right agent or publisher. I keep thinking that if I could just get them out there then people could make up their own minds and whither they are good enough or not. I just need someone to take a chance on me. It would be nice to see my book in a book store somewhere. I feel a sense of accomplishment just from writing the books but it seems like a waste if no one reads them. Thank you listening to my rant. I will be in touch soon. Have a great day and happy reading.

Imagination is a beautiful thing!

Well, I have a couple of rejections from publishers but I will keep pushing through. Writing is such a hard thing to do. You spend a lot of time writing a book just to be told that it isn’t what they are looking for. When they are raelly telling you that it isn’t good enough for them. If it was it wouldn’t matter if they were looking for it or not they would want to represent you. If they thought they could make money off of you why wouldn’t they.

For me, I feel if someone would just take a chance on me that could help me polish my book in a way that they think it would shine the best then I could be successful. I am a little biased when it comes to my own book though. So, maybe it’s not good enough but that isn’t going to keep me from trying. I feel that my books are good enough so I’m going to keep going and see what I can accomplish. Besides, I write because it’s fun for me to put stories on paper not to make a buck.

So, if you like to write I encourage you to sit down with paper and pen or pencil, a typewriter, of a computer and write the stories down in your head that you have always thought of. Don’t let fear that you can’t do it stop you. The only one that matters when it comes to liking your story is you. You don’t have to show anyone if you don’t want to but the imagination is a beautiful thing I would hate to see it wasted because someone once told you that you were bad at it.

About the book!

You know it dawned on me that I have been telling you about my journey of getting published but I haven’t said anything about my book. I thought it might be nice for you to know what you are looking forward to reading. The book is called Murder on West Woods Trail. It starts off with a couple sitting by the fire at their camp ground. Then there is a man that discovers a crime scene with a woman dead.

There is a big investigation that covers around 8 months. There is a romance going on in the middle of it. Some exciting twists and turns. I don’t want to tell you the story here then you won’t read the book. I can tell you that This is a story about one man and how one decision can change the course of your life forever. You never now when that decision is going to take place.

I know in my life I can go back and see where I made decisions that changed my life for the better and for the worse. If I made one decision different I would have a whole different life than I do right now. But, I’m happy with the way that it turned out and I wouldn’t change anything. I am a man that I can be proud to be. Ity took me several decades but I’m finally doing what I love. This story is about one of those decisions that the main charater made and how his life chnged.

Starting to send out queries to independent publishers!

Well, I sent out several queries and I’ve had a few rejections. I’m going to start to send queries out to some independent publishers that I know about. I’m hoping that I can drum up some interest in my latest book. I have a feeling about this book though. I had a dream a couple of weeks ago that I had an offer for representation. Maybe an independent publisher is the way to go with this. If I could just get my foot in the door then I would be able to work with someone that is willing to take a chance and help me fine tune my work into something spectacular.

I just really want to find my book on a book shelf in a mainstream bookstore. It is a dream to have strangers read my book and recommend it to someone else. I want people to enjoy my writing and not just friends and family that might feel obligated to tell me it’s good when it’s not. I know that i can write well enough to get published i just don’t know if I’ve gotten there yet. Here’s hoping that I have arrived.

Started to Cold Query for my Book!

Well, I started to cold query for my book. I’m hoping that it won’t take to long to get someone interested in it. I have been dragging my feet do this because I was hoping that the publisher that I sent my pages to would get back to me. Right now I’m taking her silence as an answer. It may just not be right for her. I have been told that it’s really violent and some people can’t handle that. As a result of that I’m sending my book to agents that enjoy horror as well as mysteries. I’m thinking that they may be able to handle the violence in my books.

I sent out 3 queries today. I will send out more tomorrow. I figure if I don’t give up and I keep writing then eventually I will have someone that wants to represent my with one of my books. In between querying on this book, I have causally started to write another book. I’m not writing in it everyday but here and there. It will come together in the end. At this point I don’t even have the first chapter finished. I will keep you apprised of where I am with it as well as how my querying is going. Until we meet again in the wonderful world of fantasy, keep reading!

We made it through the holidays.

Hello, I made it through the holidays unscathed. I hope all of you did as well. It was a busy time. My wife’s best friend come to stay with us through Thanksgiving. It doesn’t bother me we get along great. My step-mother’s birthday fell on Thanksgiving this year so we didn’t celebrate Thanksgiving as much as we celebrated her birthday. It turned out to be a fun time. When the night was all over she seemed to be pleased with her celebration. Then I had my Army buddy come for a couple of weeks. We hung out and worked on home improvement projects and got ready for Christmas. My wife likes him just as much as I do.

That’s one of things that I love about our relationship. We both love each other’s friends so it’s not a problem when they come to visit. Christmas was a great day. We opened presents and she loved everything that I got her. Then we had people come over for Christmas dinner. We all had a good time. My wife cooked up a big meal and it was so good that everyone wanted to take some home. So we weren’t bogged down with leftovers. Everything was eaten within a couple of days.

I still haven’t heard from that publisher. I’m thinking about sending a nudge to see if she is still interested. I’m hoping that she is. It would be nice to get this one published. I’m hoping that it’s good enough and not to violent for her. One of the publishers that I went in to talk to at the conference said right off the bat that she didn’t do disturbing themes. So she was out. Then when I sent the agent the pages she said it was too violent for her. Now, I hoping for the last one. I’m waiting to hear from her before I start doing cold queries for this book. Here’s hoping that the new year brings me good news when it comes to my writing. I hope you all enjoy your reading time. Happy Reading!

I haven’t heard from the publisher yet!

Well, I haven’t heard from the publisher that I sent my book to. I have been trying to be patient and I’m getting a little anxious waiting to see what she thinks of my book. I’m hoping that she doesn’t pass on it like the agent did. I know that there is a market for it because I have had people read it that really enjoyed it. I just need to find the right publisher or agent for it. I figure that after 2 months I will send her a nudge to see if she has had time to look at it. I figured that she had several authors sending her their books after that conference.

I think this is the worse part of writing a book, the waiting! I hate waiting fro someone else to read and respond to my work. Everything that you can imagine goes through my head. Is it good enough, do I have any talent at all, should I even be attempting to publish a book. I feel like a fraud sometimes and I am faking writing a book. I want to make it as a writer. I think that it would be fun to make up stories and have other people read them for fun.

Well, all i can do is keep putting myself out there and one day I will find the right agent or publisher and I will get published. I am determined to keep trying until someone sees the value in my writing that people close to me sees, that i see. I just wish my dad and step-father were both here to see me trying to do this. I’m sure that they both would be proud of me and what I’m trying to do with my writing. My step-father was writing a book himself so I know that he would be proud. My dad was always proud of me. Well, I’m going to sign off for now. Happy reading!!!

Heard from the Agent

I heard from the agent that I sent my book to from the conference. She said that the plot and characters are intriguing but the violence and some of the themes put it a bit out of her wheelhouse. She passed on the book. I am still waiting to hear from the publisher that I submitted to, from the conference. I am hopeful that I will hear something positive from that. I am encouraged that there is a market for my book I just have to find it.

If the publisher doesn’t work out then I will go back to cold queries. I figure that the right person is out there somewhere. I will find them even if it takes a long time. I am not going to give up on my publishing dreams. That agent made me feel like there is a place for my book on the shelf. She toid me to find an agent that deals with violence and domestic suspense.

It appears that my journey has just begun. I will keep at it until my book finds a home. I am determined to find that home hopefully in the next year if not sooner. Only time will tell if this publisher that I am waiting on will come through. I am hoping for good news on that front within the next month if not then in time for my birthday in January. It would be a great 50th birthday present to find out that I’m being published. I will keep you posted on my journey as it unfolds. Happy reading!

Waiting for a response

I received an email from the agent that requested my material. I sent it in and she emailed me back and let me know that she received it. I thought that it was very thoughtful of her to take the time out of her busy day and let me know that. I thought it was very professional. I know that she likes a professional attitude because she said so at the conference that I met her at. She is really nice but professional. I just hope that she likes my writing. I hope she sees enough in my writing to work with me to make it good enough to send to a publisher. I know that she will find some mistakes. I tried to find every single one I even had other people go through it, but no body is perfect.

This is the first book that I’m getting feedback from an agent on other than cold queries on a different book. I’m expecting a response from a publisher too. I haven’t heard anything from her yet though. I’m sure she got my material I’mm just waiting to find out what she thinks of it. I’m hoping that they both like what they read and request more, perhaps the full manuscript. Well, here’s hoping that someone will take me on and either publish or represent my book. Until next time….

Sending off my first 50 pages

I came home from the conference and thought about sending in my first 50 pages to those that asked for them. I thought better of it. I have spent this week going through my book with a fine tooth comb and boy am I glad that I did. I had way too many mistakes in my manuscript. I looked as hard as I could to make it as good as I could for this publisher and agent.

I finally sent it in today. I hope that I can get a bite. I am teetering on this is going to get published and am I good enough to be published. I have written a few books now and I haven’t been able to get anywhere with at least the one that I have submitted. I will keep writing no matter how long it takes to be published. I’m just hoping this thsi is the one.

I think that I have come up with an idea to make this book a series if I can just get this first one published . I had a friend over today that helped me iron out some details for the new books I just want to know that this first book is being published before I write the rest of the series. If i need to move on I will. I know what you are thinking, I’m not putting all my eggs in this basket. I’m just giving the people that I met at the conference the first chance to publish the book before I contact anyone else.

I am looking forward to the adventure of the journey of publishing a book. I know that there will be times when I’m frustrated that I have to do another rewrite but it’s going to be fun in the long run. I know that I won’t change the experience for anything. As always I will keep you posted as things develop.

Atlanta Writer’s Conference

        I went to the Atlanta Writer’s conference this last weekend ( Nov. 3rd - 4th ). It was an eye opening experience. I met a lot of new people some I will keep in touch with. I pitched my book and I have an editor and an agent interested. It was nice being around fellow authors and seeing their publishing journeys. It’s nice to know that I’m not alone in this endeavor that I am undertaking. I feel like I am on a new journey in life that is going to take me into a wonderful career.

        It was a weekend to remember with the classes and pitches. there was a mixer where I met some interesting people. I was a little shy about approaching people at first but then I got up the courage to walk up to groups of people and start talking. Like my uncle said I have gone into combat twice this should be nothing by comparison.

        I will keep you posted on my publishing journey. I’m sure it will entail it’s own twists and turns, just like my books.