The cover of UNHINGED

Medallion Press just posted the cover they created for Unhinged, my detective thriller ebook coming out in May. I think it's pretty sweet.

Now the clock is really ticking. I'm trying to get all of my marketing ducks in a row; advertising, Facebook, the website, business cards and anything else that goes along with it.

I'm still trying to land an agent and kind of tapered off on going straight to publishers, so for all I know, this could be my one and only shot. If this thing gets going and word of mouth spreads, I think it will easier to convince an agent to take my work seriously.

I still have the Katrina project going and is coming out fantastic. I will surely blog on what my potential agent has to say about it.

In the meantime, I've got lots of creative marketing to do!

My First Published Novel Drawing Near

I recently received my edited manuscript from Medallion Press to accept or decline changes. For the most part, I trust the editing and they did a lot of polishing - about 8000 words worth. Some of it was large chunks of sex and other things not pertaining to the story, but what I still considered an entertaining part of the read.

Oh, well. I'm not going to argue fluff right now. I have visions of this ebook taking off by word of mouth and eventually, at some point, if I want extraneous information to remain in my manuscript because I think its interesting or fun, I'll fight for it. It's funny how many avid readers don't have the problems that real editors do with content.

Anyway, I'm happy to have changed what they wanted because they were right in most cases and I've learned a lot about excessive words, repeating words, and point of view. Writing this next book, I can see so many of these mistakes and am able to correct them now. This is the Katrina book I blogged about earlier. I have lots of new on that, which I will post soon.

It's Christmas Eve and busy. I'm editing UNHINGED, I'm writing TOXIC CITY, I'm wrapping gifts and reading numerous hard covers for a contest I agreed to judge for 'Best New Hardcover' for the International Thriller Writers. It's a fun, busy time.

To all my fans (ha ha) have a great (insert religious holiday belief)!

Ahead of publishing schedule!

I just received word from Medallion Press that my ebook pub date is being moved up to May 2011 instead of December 2011. That means I have less than a year to market and promote UNHINGED into being the most downloaded ebook ever!

Is it wrong to dream?

Writers use their imagination, so I can easily fantasize about word of mouth and the demand being so high for UNHINGED that it eventually goes to print and then becomes a movie. It reads as a movie.

In case you don’t know what UNHINGED is about, it’s about a New Orleans detective chasing down a serial killer that is murdering women from his past. One twist is that they find out who the killer is rather early and the other twist is that FBI is sabotaging the investigation because they don’t want this killer to be caught.

Anyway, the plans for its release has now changed and I have to get a move on. First thing? By an ebook reader.

Literary Speed Bumps

Okay, so I'm still getting published in ebook format, but not print - unless my sales are awesome and they chance their mind. In the meantime, I need an agent to try to sell my books to other publishers for me and the first step in doing something positive towards that goal was taken away from me this week.

I was accepted and paid in advance to go the PEN TO PRESS RETREAT in New Orleans, my hometown, where a small group of writers would get instruction on how to pitch to agents and editors from established well known authors and at the end of the retreat, we would get to pitch to these agents face to face.

I knew this was the way to go as the "query letter" is just so - so blah and generic and "one in a million" that they receive and reject.

The CEO of Medallion Press, the publisher that is supporting my upcoming ebook is a keynote speaker, so I was going to meet her. I was going to visit family and friends and my birthday falls on the Saturday of the last day of the retreat. New Orleans, my birthday, Saturday night - are you kidding! Anticipating this trip was probably the first time I had been this excited about anything since my wedding ten years ago.

Then, it happened, but I don't want to speak about it. If you remember when Lennon was shot, it was because the shooter wanted to be famous, so it came to be that the shooter's name was never to be spoken (although everyone still knows his name). I want to treat this situation like that. The person that screwed me will never be spoken of publicly.

But, you get the drift. I was screwed over and had to cancel my plans a week before I was to leave. Compared to some, I have no right to bitch as I lead a pretty good life, but even so, everyone has to deal with disappointment and those like me, the "bright side" people, will go on and continue to smile. As for the pessimists? I can't speak for them, as I don't know how that feels.

I will find another conference to attend and as for this retreat? There's always next year!

Finding a publisher does not mean finding an agent

Okay, so I got the call from Medallion Press to publish my first novel, which will be out in two years. After I the shock wore off, I thought to contact a few of the agents that I really wanted to represent me. You know, let them know that I was making things happen. I figured if my first book does well and Medallion accepts my second book, then an agent may be in order to tweak the contract.

I was a bit disappointed to learn that they didn’t care. I told them (in not so many words) that I had done half their work for them. I was going to have a published novel and they would be able to represent the rest of them. No dice. They wanted submissions, just as any unpublished writer would have to do.

I suppose it’s good business to want to believe in the work of the author they’re representing, but I’m entitled, right? Nope. Reality had set in. I need to have a real money-maker first or interest from a major publishing house.

After a few more weeks, it sunk in that the agents are doing the smart thing. There are as many one book authors as there are music groups with one CD you’ve never heard of. The risk is still there, along with their time and effort. I don’t blame them and I’m not offended, but after more than ten years of struggling and finally getting a publisher, it’s a bit discouraging to know that the battle isn’t over and then comes the marketing and getting the word out, which I’m learning, is the actual hard part.

But by the looks of things, I won’t need an agent for a long time.