It is my simple hope to use this as a casual, unobtrusive way to release this material to parties interested.  As of now the 22 slots have all been requested (cheers to everyone for that) but if you enjoy what you read please do get in touch with me via unburiedcomments@gmail.com.  I welcome any and all comments on the piece (positive, negative, or ambivalent) or general correspondence about matters literary.

Cheers,

Pablo D’Stair

—

this letter to Norman Court

Pablo D’Stair

thirteen

Spent the start of the day with checking out of my room, getting directions from the desk clerk to a storage place few blocks down, renting out a small storage unit, like half a closet, bit heavier in cost than a bus station locker but I couldn’t make myself easy with one of those.  Didn’t want to have to come back any time soon, so took out eight hundred dollars to get me by, told myself consider it all I had in the world and treat it accordingly, tracked down a commuter train got me well away by nightfall and took out a room a motel advertised weekly rates made the seven days equivalent to three nights regular, parking lot lined with tractor trailers and vans, place just down from a freeway entrance.

I walked to the end of the line of strip malls—mile, mile-and-a-half of nothing but them—bought myself a squat bottle of vodka someplace as I went, kept on a bit further getting myself warm with it, smoking cigarettes from fingers I couldn’t feel. Eventually I settled on a particular public telephone, out in front between a veterinarian office and a shoe store some shopping center closed down for the night, already.  Took my time arranging the coins I’d broke a ten for, set them on the shelf there used to a phonebook someone’d made off with for whatever reason. Took another swallow, dropped the coins down and dialed the numbers out.

Few rings in, guy answered I could tell he was in someplace public but could tell also that as soon as I’d said You left this number for me he’d excused himself, was moving out away from whoever he was with, sounded like in a restaurant.

-Trevor, he said, getting his breath, well there you are, was worried you wouldn’t get my number.

I knew who he was and more or less where, knew he was standing outside someplace just as cold as where I was, easy to picture. I hated he knew my name, or that he’d said it, anyway, obviously he knew it.

-Thought we’d settled on we weren’t seeing each other again, ever, now it’s been what a fortnight?

He laughed, a chuckle I could tell was out his nose, he must’ve been lighting a cigarette his own which reminded me to take a tap off mine before it went cold.

-That’s funny and you’re right, you’re right.  Though we’re not really seeing each other, right?  I don’t think really we’re going to ever have to, we just need to find out some way for you to pay me the money it seems you owe me.

I’d taken a mouth of vodka he’d been talking, took my time swallowing, the rise of what I’d downed before getting me loose, rocking while I spoke, uneven from on my toes, flat, on my heels.

-I owe you money now’s how you’ve figured it out?  That’s interesting.  Don’t have a math book on me, but counting things off my fingers I don’t come up with how that’s supposed to work out.

I’d emphatically raised my middle finger while rambling this out, really amused with myself, leaned against the brick and had another swallow, deciding not to bother with starting up another cigarette.

-Terrible thing’s happened, Trevor, unfortunately something though that we have to act accordingly about—not to say it wasn’t something’d crossed my mind was a possibility, though can’t say it was exactly expected—it seems Herman got bent out of shape with things so much he decided he’d go and shove a bullet right out through the top of his head.

I smiled, rubbing my neck, reached to the phone top to take my bottle back up from where I’d set it, surprised it had maybe just one more tilt left in it.

-That’s really quite a thing, something else, I guess, though like you say it’s not outside the realm of what to’ve expected might go happening someone reads a letter wrote all in detail like that and all the time it’s their own wife’s the one who wrote it.

-You’re absolutely right. Like I said, it had occurred to me, couldn’t say the news was so surprising to me, but what I must say did give me a bit of a startle was that Herman went ahead beforehand and shoved four other bullets right into Klia while she was relaxing in her evening bath.

I tapped my forehead on the side on the phone enclosure, closed my eyes hard enough I heard a kind of rumble in my ears, got the screw cap off the bottle with one hand, heard it hit the cement, swallowed what was left inside, looked at the empty a moment before dropping it, giving it a gentle kick out down the curb into the lot.

-That is pretty terrible, I see what you mean there. Though seems it doesn’t keep you feeling just tickled pink with yourself, the whole thing, right?  Same time, too, interesting all as it is, seems beside the point to I owe you some money, doesn’t it?

There was lengthy pause, maybe him finishing his cigarette, maybe waiting while someone passed.

-Trevor, just what is it you think you’ve been doing?

-Don’t see why I’d feel like answering you that, man—you want to know about doing things, go do them.

That gave him a kick or else he was good at fake laughing, really seemed I’d put a smile on his face.

-I honestly don’t think I’d even know how to begin doing things, not as industriously as you, for sure.  And look, not wanting to keep you on the phone too long and I’ve got to get back in here a minute—way it turns out is that what sounds pretty open and shut about Herman and his wife, one minute, gets complicated just the next when someone gets in touch with the police, thinks there might be more to the two of them going dead than appearances would indicate.

I didn’t want to listen, didn’t care, didn’t respond and he let it keep silent just long enough I got a beat breath out my nose before he went on to where I already knew it was he was driving.

-Guy named Norman Court, you might’ve heard of him, he seems to be convinced that someone blackmailed Klia off a couple thousand dollars, then did the same to him, on top, and so now that’s got everyone trying to be clever thinking Why would someone go and do that? and Isn’t it funny that’d be something happens right before this other thing?

-Yeah, yeah I said, rolling my head around my neck, as fascinating as all that is and of course we both know that you know it was me bled them off some money, that’s money not one bit of it is coming to you so I’m going to tell you just it’s been great chatting but then I think it’s time we say Goodnight.

-Trevor, you hang up and we haven’t decided to get square on this—where, when, and to what dollar amount—it is not going to go nice for you and I’m being missed at dinner so let’s get these finer points sorted out.

I hung up, vodka hitting me I’d not’ve said much coherent I had kept on the line, got around a corner and just couldn’t manage getting a cigarette lit up for my fingers, the steady pinch of breeze to the night.

Heard the payphone back behind me ringing, perked up, made my way back to it and took back the coins I’d set on the shelf, shoved them in my coat pocket, watched the receiver as the ring groaned, sounded like frozen tin cans clattering in a bag.

Felt soft and feverish, my palms actually hot, didn’t seem to be sweating when I touched them, just hot, points of heat all through me from the alcohol, I supposed.  Phone had stopped ringing, didn’t start again. I picked up the receiver, hummed along with the dial tone under my breath a second, set it down.

Pablo D’Stair is a writer of novels, shorts stories, and essays.  Founder of Brown Paper Publishing (which is closing its doors in 2012) and co-founder of KUBOA (an independent press launching July 2011) he also conducts the book-length dialogue series Predicate.  His four existential noir novellas (Kaspar Traulhaine, approximate; i poisoned you; twelve ELEVEN thirteen; man standing behind) will be re-issued through KUBOA as individual novella and in the collection they say the owl was a baker’s daughter: four existential noirs.

IndieBookMan Exclusive — Listen to Pablo D’Stair read chapter 13 of this letter to Norman Court:

Nano (National Novel Writing Month) from November 1st-30th. It’s the writing frenzy where you kick out a large number of words to hopefully finish a novel in record time. Many people start the challenge and end up with a sizeable number of pages by the end. Some are inspired to start writing for the first time. Others are inspired to finish something for the first time. Some, like me, find that writing at breakneck speed produces a lower quality of work that doesn’t reflect what is normally produced when writing within your own timing. Truth is, my natural timing is four months from start to finish. I tried to increase my speed and did it without much trouble. It increased by 3 weeks, and for me, that cooking time for a novel fits just right.

There are ways to make speed writing more effective. The overall goal, is to produce more in a shorter period of time. If you keep this up, who knows, speed writing may become a habit.

Prepare for it

When you set out to write a novel in a short period of time, outlining is your friend. Take a week to write a detailed outline of the story. It will help to work out most of the kinks before you even sit down to write. Create character profiles of the main characters and review outline before the start of your writing marathon.

Plan it

If you are going to focus on spitting out as many words as possible a day, then plan it. Block out your writing time for the month. Figure out when you are most productive. Is it in the morning, at night or midday? Make a rule – no sleep unless you have kicked out a minimum of a certain amount of words. Make sure you schedule extra time for working out of corners or temporary writer’s blocks. Make your schedule somewhat flexible so that you don’t get burned out and give up.

Write it

With a printout of your outline next to you and a bullet list of your character profile – start the race. Follow your outline. If you want to go rogue, go ahead, write until the roadblock. If you reach a road block – write anything, take some time off to think on it, then re-work your outline and get back to it. Whatever you do – don’t stop writing. Remember, you will always have to edit it.

Don’t look back

Whatever you do, don’t read over what you’ve written until you are finished. That is an easy way to get distracted. Remember, you’ll have to edit the thing many times before your piece of art is perfected. Just write forward, don’t make corrections, don’t read over it, just push forward and write.

By LM Preston, author of Explorer X – Alpha and THE PACK, www.phenomenalonepress.com , http://lmpreston.blogspot.com/

Many writers begin writing for the joy of the writing experience. They have no true idea of where the end of the road leads to. It is believed that getting published is the answer to it all. Then the cold hard reality of going from writer, to salesperson hits them when they have to write their first Query Letter. After they snag an agent with the query letter, then they have to write a synopsis of their book. After the synopsis has been requested, the agent may ask for a partial then a copy of the full manuscript for review. During this process, the author’s submission may be rejected.

From Finishing that first Novel to getting an agent

After you get the agent, there may be more changes requested. The agent will shop your book and the sordid process of rejection continues. Publishers have their own tastes and your agent is competing against others to get your work considered. With acceptance by the publisher, you may have to do a rewrite of your synopsis and parts of your book to meet their criteria

Whoop! Your published – now what?

This is where it all truly begins. You are no longer just a writer who creates stories; you now are responsible for helping in any way to sell your book. This means, if you are not a people person, you will have to make adjustments or in the end – you may lose it all. At this point you have to tweak and repair your manuscript for the editor and work on a marketing plan. You have to prove yourself worthy to continue through the process if you want to stay on with the publisher. This is where you go from writer to marketing person, to speaker, to promoter, to cold caller, to beggar.

What a writer does after getting published

- Work on Marketing Plan
o You have to give viable input and put work into creation of your own marketing plan and the marketing plan of your publisher. Why? Because if you don’t sell books, they’ll drop you and move on.

- Get out there and network
o You have to set up your own platform and grow your list of possible book buyers. Why? So you can solidify yourself as not just a writer, but a part of the publishing team that is putting out big bucks to promote your stuff. If you don’t grow this then, they’ll drop you and move on.

- Agree to do book signings, virtual tours, promote yourself
o If you are not a people person, then take a toast master’s class. Learn to reach out to people. You also have to be willing to support your publisher in these events.

o Book signings are not just a sit there and the book sells itself event. You have to work to sell as many books as possible for each bookstore – otherwise, they won’t invite you back or purchase more of your books. Why? Because it’s about sales – profits for your publisher and profits for the bookstore.

o Virtual Tours are about more networking and writing. Yep, writing – a lot – to support the bloggers that you visit during your virtual tours. It requires follow-up and organization while you write to support the audience of that bloggers site. These bloggers do this for free, so you want to always be gracious – even when they give you a bad book review.

Keep writing great books

In order to keep your products on the shelves and keep your publisher buying your work, you have to keep writing great stuff. Otherwise, you’ll be dropped just short of a year and would’ve only earned your advance.

The myth that you get paid a lot as an author

Many authors think that they will be millionaires. If they write that one great book, they’ll be able to quit their day job. That is so not the norm. Most writers only earn out their advance. When they do get royalties, they aren’t that big. Also, don’t forget, that as a writer you spend time and money promoting yourself. Most writers use up their advance to better promote their book so that their sales numbers go up to the point where the publisher wants to keep them on board.

The nutshell

Writing the book is just the beginning. If you don’t see yourself as a salesperson trying to sell a product, then your fantasy dream of the life of a writer will be burst. The reality of it is that a published author is their biggest promoter and investor. If you don’t have the inclination to forge your own success in your career of an author, then you won’t gain the success you seek.
publish, write, book signing, lm preston, the pack, blog tour, virtual tour, fiction, novel, book, action, adventure, young adult, lit agents, publisher

By LM Preston, author of Explorer X – Alpha and THE PACK, www.phenomenalonepress.com , http://lmpreston.blogspot.com/

I once participated in a Sci-Fi critique group, where one of the authors asked about World Building. Our leader never expanded on this topic. When this topic was bought up, I pondered what I did when I build the many worlds I create for my books.

I believe everyone has their own methods. However, here are some of mine that help me throughout the process.

EXPOSE YOURSELF TO EARTH AND ITS WONDERS

I love to travel, as I have mentioned many times before. Traveling and exposing yourself to different wonders of our world can be a catalyst for the creation of your new world.

STUDY THE WORLD AROUND YOU

If traveling is not possible, or even if it is, take time to study and observe your surroundings. Things that may not seem interesting initially can become an integral part of the world you create. When you are walking or touring areas, take your time, allow your imagination to go beyond the obvious and ask yourself many questions. For example, when I am flying in an airplane, I ask myself several questions like: What if the clouds were black, blue, grey?, What if the sun was white? Or lower to the ground? What if the plants had fingers? Push yourself to expand on the world around you.

RESEARCH AND MAKE NOTE

I do a lot of research on the internet. Truth be told, I don’t do a lot of reading, I just look at pictures. I tend to look at pictures for a long time, and sit back and see if it fits into my world.

I note what extremes I want my world to have.

I note what rules my world should have.

I note what kind of species could live in that world.

How would a human sustain this environment?

Should I create something artificial in order to allow my humans to live here?

DRAW IT OUT

I draw out parts of my world or cut out pictures of places or things that fit in the world I am starting to create.

DECIDE WHAT TO REVEAL ABOUT YOUR WORLD

I tend to create this elaborate world, and then I take out a lot of the microscopic pieces that I believe the reader can fill in. However, I give the backdrop in the world the reader creates. I note the rules for that world, its species, animals and weaknesses.

USE OTHER RESOURCES AND BUILD UPON THEM

Research other mythological worlds, and change them, pervert them or and enhance them to fit your characters needs.

FILL IN THE RULES

Address the main guidepost of your world. How is it powered? Is it advanced? Is it rugged? What’s the climate? What does the land look like? Does it has a sun or moon? Are there animals there? What are the major species?

HOW DOES YOUR CHARACTER FIT IN?

Note how your character fits into this world? Are they from here? Do they visit? How do they survive? Communicate with the species on this planet?

When I world build it comes natural to me, because I’ve always loved science and like to spend time pondering its wonders. However, taking notes, going exploring, drawing it out, and making DA RULES has helped me greatly in creating the worlds in my novels.

By LM Preston, author of Explorer X – Alpha and THE PACK, www.phenomenalonepress.com , http://lmpreston.blogspot.com/

It is never nice to cast aspersions on an entire industry but these days, industry seems to be synonymous with perpetrator.

And we hear stories or have had our own experiences with the traditional industry decision makers that sound more like the double speak of a totalitarian government than the informed and meaningful thoughts a supposed purveyor of intellectual properties would be expected to make.

As opposed to; We cannot publish your book because a) you are unknown and b) the ending of your story is too depressing there are alternatives to this scenario that exist today and need to be considered.

For one thing, everyone starts out basically unknown as a writer. Until your first essay, book, poem is published no one but those friends with whom you share your work know about you as a writer.

Second, if a story is well told, and by that I mean if the editor, reader, agent or whomever is making these inane comments is able to truly hold their heads up as a gatekeeper, then the first question should be, is the story well told?

If the answer is yes, then the next question would be, am I as a purveyor of intellectual property in a position to make this story available to people who like what I like?

I will go into this topic in greater depth soon, but let me finish this opening salvo against the traditional publishing industry by just acknowledging that none of them have any purpose whatsoever other than making money.

I am not opposed to making money but I am also not opposed to helping those who have good stories to tell and want to either learn how to market for themselves or to use companies who can show them how to do that get their stories read.

But and this is the huge caveat all writers, myself included, must learn: If you are going to scorn the business of publishing and just want to be a celebrity then you will be treated as such possible fodder by the traditional publishing companies. But if you want to be a writer who has good stories to tell and has truly studied your craft, then you need to learn how to be responsible for what you have created and make it available as best you can.

This is my latest crusade for writers. I believe in storytelling but I also believe learning how to get people interested in your story is part of the story itself.
Chow for now.

Deborah Emin is the Publisher of Sullivan Street Press, www.sullivanstreetpress.com

I meet. And I gather their stories so I can report them back. Now that I am blogging here as well, the reports will be posted here too.

But do me a favor and let me know if there are any questions you might have as to what people think about the new book world and its current state of evolution.

Let me know if you have books you would like us to carry with us.

Let me know if this is the sort of work you too would like to do.

For more info about what the Itinerant Book Show is go to www.sullivanstreetpress.com
and there you will find a full description along with the calendar of events.

Many thanks.

Deborah Emin is the Publisher of Sullivan Street Press, www.sullivanstreetpress.com

Wow, getting published. What does that mean? I ask that because getting published means different things to different people. First of all if you love writing, and you do it for the shear pleasure of the art, then publishing can happen for you. You just have to have an open mind, tough skin, and love your art. If you write because you want to be the next big author, who rakes in millions of dollars for your first book, then I am about to hit you over the head with a cold block of reality. That is like hitting the lotto, so if you don’t write because you love it, you are in for lots of frustration.

The steps to becoming published are completely from my point of view, and realize that there are lots of other sources out there and different ways to become published, just make sure that you are open to all.

FINISH THE DARNED THING!

First you need to finish your book. If you are planning on writing Young Adult fiction, start writing in 12-point courier font, double spaced. Aim for around 69K-77K words. Writers are unique people, and everyone has their own time table. However, if you want to get published, and this is your first time pursuing getting published YOU NEED TO FINISH YOUR MANUSCRIPT.

EDIT IT YOURSELF FIRST – AT LEAST 4 TIMES

Before you send your baby out to the world, you need to beautify it. After you wrote it, start writing a new manuscript, take a break from it. I mean it – step away from your newborn masterpiece for at least two weeks. Then print it out (I like to get mine printed in 6×9 book format at a local printer – like Staples) and read it, mark it up in red, and correct it. Please, please, please repeat this at least 3 more times, before you send it off to your BETA READERS they will greatly appreciate it.

FIND GINEA PIGS – BETA READERS TO READ IT

Ok, find people you trust to read your work. If you can try to find any friends, family, or colleagues that are willing to review it for you. Then join a critique group, check out some writers website that offer reviews of your work (www.absolutewrite.com is my favorite) or a class that will allow you to present your work for review, as well as read works. Put on your armor and don’t be sensitive (I know it will be hard). Note all the feedback, and keep what is useful while discarding comments that may be just a matter of the reader’s personal taste.

EDIT IT AGAIN WHILE UTILIZING FEEDBACK FROM BETAS

You must edit it again. Realizing that your manuscript is a work of art, it must be improved, tightened, and clean up to look as though it is a finish work. Make sure your plot sticks, your grammatical errors are cleared away, and your work reads like a published work of art.

LEARN THE PUBLISHING BUSINESS

You have got to research, research, read and research again the publishing business. You must decide WHAT YOU WANT to do with your work.

- Whether you want a Large Publishing House to manage your work?

- A small publishing house to manage your book?

- What type of Agent you want?

- What type of book you wrote? YA? Fiction? Chic Lit? Sci-Fi?

- Whether your book is specific to your work, or a knowledge area?

- Whether you want to publish the book yourself?

DECIDE ON WHAT YOU WANT FROM WRITING

Some people feel that getting with a huge publisher is the final stamp of approval. However, there are lots of people who just want to write and share their story, and they don’t care if they make millions of dollars from it. So, I say that to make you think deeply about what you want to do with your work. There is one author that published chapters of her book via her blog, and another who published free chapters of his book as a free podcast. They were happy with their choices, because they just loved to write and wanted to share their story.

However, I must say, before you give your work away, please try to pursue getting a Literary Agent, and then landing a traditional publishing company to manage your work. If that doesn’t work in your personal time limit, get creative, plow your own path, and do what in the end will make you and only you happy. Remember: if you plow your own path, do your research, map out what success is to you, and at the very least you will learn from your experiences.

WRITE A QUERY LETTER TO SEND TO AGENTS

This is where only the strong survive. The query letter, or as I say ‘Sales Letter’ that you send to Literary Agents to sale them on the idea of representing you and your book is harder to write than your book. I suggest taking a query writing class, going to author websites and look at examples, or going to author websites and getting their feedback on your letter. The author websites offer free advice, guidance and support. Again, I say be strong, because at this stage – only the strong survive.

QUERY LETTER READY? SALE THAT BABY!

Be prepared for a lot of rejection. So suck it up! Got on your armor? Remember, it’s a sales game! Toughen up and never say die! After you have fine tuned and cleaned up your query letter, send it out to agents that represent your genre. Mail out at least five a week, and keep a list of agents that respond and agents that don’t. If you get to about twenty rejection letters, you may want to revise your query letter before sending it out again. Keep querying, until you get signed by an agent.

NO AGENT IS BITING? SALE DIRECTLY TO PUBLISHER.

Then look up publishers that don’t require that you have an agent in order to submit your manuscript. There are several books, websites and writers organizations that have this information available. My first offer for publishing came from a small publisher who didn’t require agent only submissions.

STILL NO BITES?

Keep writing, while you continue to submit your first work. Also, re-evaluate the different publishing options available to you. Attend Author Conferences in order to mingle with publishers, agents, and other authors. Join writer’s association and personally meet writer’s that may have trailed a different path as you have. Re-evaluate what you want from your writing. Pursue contest, writing for magazines, anthologies or create and blaze your own path to publication.

KEEP WRITING!

Always keep writing. Do this in order to improve, have more products to sell, and to grow as an author.

By LM Preston, author of Explorer X – Alpha and THE PACK, www.phenomenalonepress.com , http://lmpreston.blogspot.com/

Yet today’s traditional publisher does not seem to value this wealth or perhaps does not understand it. Much of it is going out of print.

Out of this travesty a new form of publishing is taking place. Part of it is the resurgence of the self-published author who reclaims his or her work and puts it back in circulation as an e-book.

This is the health and future of our culture. It is going to generate sales for the out of print author and make us much more keenly aware of what we are in the process of losing if we allow the traditional publishers to stay in charge of who gets published.

How many of us have heard the awful words from a well-respected publisher that they would like to publish our work but, and this is a huge moment of truth they think they are pronouncing, there is no market for what we write?

My answer to them is they are fools and clowns masquerading as publishers. The role of the publisher is to find that market, to be inventive and creative in opening up the audience for a vast array of work that needs to be read.

When and if you hear a publisher say those nasty words to you, do not despair. It is truly their loss, your gain and you can find and will find the best way to have the work published. They just won’t be able to seduce you with that awful soul destroying hope that you can cash in on casino publishing and your book too will make millions.

We are really the majority here, we indie folks.

What do you think about that?

Deborah Emin is the Publisher of Sullivan Street Press, www.sullivanstreetpress.com

So here is just a quick question that can be answered with a comment or just a yes or no answer.

What do readers of this site think of publishers re-issuing out of print books? I do not mean just any out of print books but those that had something important to say whether fiction or nonfiction and that dumped by their former publishers for lack of sales.

This is a really important idea that is going to become more and more relevant as the larger, merged houses have to get much smaller due to their own fiscal mismanagement.

We would all benefit from your answers and I will not say more because I do not want to skew the results. But answers to this question are always welcome. Please, therefore, reply, often and early.

Deborah Emin is the Publisher of Sullivan Street Press, www.sullivanstreetpress.com

It all began as a challenge from my husband. He challenged me to write a sci-fi novel that he’d want to read. After some thought I came up with the idea of my book Explorer X – Alpha. It took me three months to write it, and about six months of sending it to beta readers, critique groups, and finally trying to sell it.

I went through several months – okay almost a year – of sending out queries and getting rejected. I take rejection well for the most part, because engineers always have to work then rework an idea that has been critiqued. However, I must be honest – I was getting frustrated. I still didn’t give up and got an offer from a small publisher. I was this publisher’s third and only young adult author. After receiving the contract, and looking at some of the proposals they made regarding representing my work, I regretfully declined their offer. I knew that my book was part of a four book series and that I would write many more books for this publisher, but I didn’t want to give my work away to someone that wasn’t going to properly promote it.

Now, here I was a woman that had beaten the odds so many times to finally meet with another brick wall. Then I discussed this frustration with my husband. I told him that now I have the writing bug, I can’t stop. That my one and only desire was to share my books with others, and making money doing it would just be gravy. He looked at me and said, “I’ve been in sales and marketing for over twenty years. I’ve had other successful businesses. I can push product better than them. Give me a chance to show you how it’s done.” At that point on, knowing him as I do, I told him sure.

He searched out companies that would support his needs as a budding new publisher, and created a business plan with a marketing plan for his publishing company. Researching a staff he bought on an editor and artist for the release of the first book. He created a book marketing plan for his first debut novel and a platform for his first author. He assured me that since I write three books a year that he suggest that he publish a MG book and YA book each year and that his company’s platform would be YA. He had built this awesome marketing campaign and promised me that in three years I would be happy that I chose to work with him as my publisher. I already was. He also set a budget for marketing and promotion for each book that he planned to release his first year, and trust me – it was a tight budget. He made it work.

He recruited an events coordinator (whom he paid strictly on a commission basis) and interns that wanted to learn the publishing business to work with him on setting up events and my tours. Then he set aside four hours each week to cold call and visit bookstores. He is training my oldest son to do this as a way of teaching our kids how to run a business. I must say teenagers are extremely innovative and full of energy when given the chance to have a voice.

My kids helped create a web presence for me. The kids that had beta read my books for me have also become my champions. They posted on their blogs and social networking sites what they loved about my stories and pointed their friends to Phenomenal One Press’s website. I started to get support from local venues that liked my teaching experience and my overwhelming desire to show kids that they were empowered.

This journey has just begun. My original thoughts on becoming an author have changed greatly now that I work closely with someone who has a strong sales background and great hope for my work. My only choice now is to succeed. With perseverance and creativity, I have. Will I be rich? I already am, because I hadn’t even thought this far when I first began. I’ve accomplished more than I could have ever imagined and the ride so far has been a rush. Being rich means different things to different people, to me it means living a life fulfilled.

By LM Preston, author of Explorer X – Alpha and THE PACK, www.phenomenalonepress.com , http://lmpreston.blogspot.com/