So you wanna get published, right? So you think only a big house can get you anywhere worth getting, right? So, you think you need an agent first thing, right? I thought all these things and have the credentials to prove that Ive been on a literary journey: English major, Phi Beta Kappa, teacher, professor, MFA degree, literary journal editor, literary prize winner. But no big house and no agent.
Instead, I did what some may think is crazy. I went with a product development company that dabbled in publishing. But my book got out. And I went to work. I have an active public page that is linked to my account, a always under revision as new stuff happens and I write a where I try to post at least once a week.
Todays post that you are reading would have been this essay. But this site begged for it and its theirs. But later you may see this post on my . Go check out this: .
I dont tweet about my memoir (Re)Making Love: a sex after sixty story much, though some. I dont blog about my book much, but some: actually, I blogged the book while I lived itthats the first crazy-some-say thing I did before the product development company found meand that accounts for the banner of a blog that deals not with erotica but with literary thought, interviews and essays on writing and books.
Now youd think a book with this sordid, unconventional history wouldnt be doing very well, right? And, indeed, Im not getting rich. But is that what we artists are really about? Okay, a girl could hope but thats never been the goal: The work will out.
But get this: The small print in the visual of my book on Amazon says, #7 top rated in the Kindle store for Non-Fiction, Biographies & Memoirs, Arts &literature, Authors. The week before it was #5 behind The Diary of Anne Frank and Steven Kings On Writing.
And guess what: The book party at Upstairs on 7th (aka: How to buy a dress and get a book party) resulted in the promise of another book party by one of the women who came. Then I went to dinner with a banker-friend I know and told him what happened. He called his wife and is planning another book party in another dress shop and hell be providing the wine.
Is there a moral? Aint no good here at morals. But I will say this: If you put your heart and soul into your book and youve edited it like crazy with a cool eye, had others eyeball it and critique it, then find a reputable publisher and workyes that means youto sell one book at a time. Because like the memoir I wrote, its all personal.
PS: Another piece of good news: A new and much more experienced indie publisher has taken my memoir. Be sure to check out the second edition (more edits and a prologue) now from .
(Re)MAKING LOVE: a sex after sixty story, second edition, is available on , the , Barnes & Noble, the Nook, iBook, Sony ereader, the and in other electronic formats from .