This week’s blog will be a short one.

On Tuesday morning, this past week, I got a call from my maker, who had instructed my heart to turn leaden while I was sleeping. When I awoke out of a strange dream at 7:16 a.m., my chest, elbows to wrists, and my ability to think clearly felt like that good ole feller–that 2000 pound elephant–had settled in on all of them. I fooled around taking a hot shower, tried to get back into bed, finally cut through all my DENIAL and realized that I was being visited with a gen-u-wine heart attack.

Exercising the poorest of judgment, I threw on a pair of pants, a shirt, and slipped into my Chinese sneakers, grabbed my car keys (I didn’t want to upset the neighbors with early-morn sireens and lights) even though the ambulance building is a mere five blocks up the street. I nursed my old car around the building, started for the hospital, not considering what would happen if I passed out on the way there. Who would ever find me in time? Who would notice me slumped over the wheel or collapsed on the driver’s seat of my 1987 Plymouth Diplomat at that hour? (more…)

Let me first clarify what I’m talking about when I say “self-published” novel: I’m not referring to a novel produced by a packager of services such as BookSurge or iUniverse who will design, edit, provide a cover and offer some introductory promo services and distribution to anyone who pays them a set of fees to get published. Nor am I talking about the so-called “Vanity Press,” who will do much the same thing, yet with no real intention of promoting the book into the marketplace; Vanity Presses simply sell you a pile of finished books and hand over the thorny problems of storage, promotion, and sales. Either of such publishers must, in your behalf, send the assembled creative package on to either a digital or offset printing company. Selecting digital you’ll pay a higher unit cost per book, but you’ll limit the number of books printed to the demand from your web site, or to whatever books you may order for promotion or gifts to friends. Using an offset print run, you’ll end up with a pallet or so of books that you’ll need to store while you set up to distribute them yourself. (Note that many people confuse the term POD–a reference to the digital machine itself that does “on demand” printing for a “digital” print shop–with the first type of packager discussed above.) Whatever venue you select, it’s fair to state that you are self-published, even though all you’ve done is to provide your original manuscript to a packager, then accepted the responsibility of promoting and selling the books produced for you. (more…)

It started out as a simple phone call: “Would I like to have a couple of wind towers on my PA. mountain property? Some of your neighbors have already signed–how about you?” My answer was a firm no! “….Well how about the wires? You’d surely let us string some wires over your property?” My answer was, “What part of ‘no’ don’t you understand?” (more…)

“So you wanna be published, eh kid? One step closer and I’ll swat yuh with the last manuscript we rejected!..” That’s what I’d half-expected to hear had I ever wormed my way into some New York agent’s office…but the 47th query packet never left my desk.

After two years (46 packet mailings produced 46 rejection letters) I’d decided to go it alone and self-publish. Five agents had been mildly intrigued by my query letter, synopsis, and sample chapter. Yet never once did one of those 46 request the rest of my manuscript. Anyway, how hard could self-publishing be?… (more…)