Yesterday I was so bummed by the lack of book sales that I fought back by submitting my rock n roll epic, Rising Star, blindly to Christine Anderson Publishing, based in Virginia, which I spotted on Twitter. A half-hour later I had a reply. She'd read a few chapters and loved it. Turns out she's a Brooklyn girl, her dad Sicilian, a former bookie. I'd made a mistake in not researching her terms before submission. Had I known a fee was involved, I wouldn't have bothered. As far as I understand, it's $1000, refundable upon the sale of 250 copies, be they Kindle or print, within a four-year period. If I were just starting out, it would be a no-brainer. Her process seems similar to that of Water Forest Press, which produced my second novel, Adjustments, which came out great. Since my next three books had the great fortune to find small press publishers, I've become spoiled, only having to pay for copies. I've turned a small profit on A Hitch in Twilight and Killing, and probably will on Exchanges too, although the publisher hasn't paid me for the 14 copies that have sold online. If I went the fee route again, I'd hesitate to buy copies. I might wait, hoping 250 would sell, then ask for copies in lieu of the returned fee. I'd get ten free copies upon publication, but they would be gone in a week. The first 20 or so sales are easy. Only Close to the Edge, which came out in 2000, has sold more than 250 -- 355 at last count, but it had an eight year head start on the others. I wonder if I'm following a pipe dream thinking RS will be picked up and published at no cost to me. So far it has fallen on deaf ears. I wonder if my level is the self-published and self-promoted book, and if it's silly to think otherwise. I've had positive feedback from very few readers. I've had little luck getting people to rate the book at Amazon. Maybe that's telling. Maybe that means my work is not very good, and people are just too polite to say so. So I face a quandary. Christine, to whom I just spoke for 15 minutes on the phone, is sending me a blank contract to help me make up my mind. Right now my heart says yes, but my mind says no.
Why I hate the Yankees, part 999: They recently acquired pitcher Brandon McCarthy. His record for Arizona was 3-10, his ERA 5.01 - in a league without the DH! He is 4-0 with New York, ERA 2.08 - in a league with the DH! If anyone ever doubted God is a Bombers fan...
The floating book shop enjoyed a nice rebound from yesterday's debacle in Park Slope. My thanks to the kind folks who bought books.
Vic's 4th Novel: http://tinyurl.com/bszwlxh
Vic's 3rd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3
Vic's Website: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/
Vic's Short Story Collection (Print or Kindle): http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/6b86st6
Vic's 1st Novel: http://tiny.cc/94t5h
Vic's Horror Screenplay on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3
Vic's Rom-Com Screenplay on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/kny5llp
Vic’s Short Story on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/k95k3nx
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