Big Night

Tonight will be my third book signing/meet & greet. But this event will be quite different; it will be held at Barnes & Noble. I’m thrilled by the prospect of my novel being exposed to a whole new potential audience. At the same time, I look forward to meeting some strangers who have already purchased the book.
     Had my book been able to be picked up by a major publisher, a good deal of the promotion work would have been done for me. The reality is no one ever read a single word of my novel. I sent out many queries to book publishers that responded with a form letter, and I wondered if they even read my query at all. A friend who is also a writer gave me a lead on an agent who represents my genre of fiction. Again, the same treatment. I can take, and welcome, criticism of my work. But to not even have the opportunity for anyone to read one word was quite disheartening. It was like trying to break down a brick wall with a plastic fork.
     Then at a friend’s party, I met Roy Space. He told me of a new form of publishing available at lulu.com. Unlike the vanity presses of old, in which an author puts up thousands of dollars to start, this online publishing venue lets you upload your content and cover and will provide you with a proof and ISBN number for a very small cost. It sounded intriguing to me, so I went right home and checked it out. Then I Googled for reviews of the service and found out Amazon.com had one called CreateSpace.com. I weighed the advantages of both, and after hearing rumblings that Amazon might buy lulu, I went with CreateSpace.
     My experience with CreateSpace has been extremely favorable. I couldn’t believe how soon after I submitted the copy that I had a paperback copy of my first novel in my hands! It was a thrilling moment.
The downside is that I have to do all the marketing myself.
     The response, so far, to my novel has been very good from a wide ranges of ages, teens to octogenarians. As you can see on the left side of this page, the book has crossed the border into Canada and the Atlantic to Ireland and Northern Ireland. Someday, I dream it will travel into bookstores across America. Right now it cannot unless I have a distributor (another one of those plastic fork/brick wall scenarios).
     For now, your opinions and word of mouth will help carry the tale of Maeve, Andy, Brídgeen and Fergal even farther. (By the way, the sequel is chugging along nicely.)
      So, can’t wait for the big night. Hope to see some of you there from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. at the Barnes & Noble in Vestal, NY. I have a special giveaway I think people will enjoy.