As I enter 2012, planning to kick my promotional strategies in gear for the New Year, I have to reflect on the joys of self-publishing, and also to request a favor of any of you who have read one of my books and liked it.
First of all, I could be wasting away, sending out queries and receiving rejection after rejection from one agent after another. I have spent some amount of time doing just that, so I know the drill. Some agents accept queries via email, affording them the luxury of rejecting an author in a nano-second, making me wonder if they even read the material at all. Others have very nice stationery cards they send, supposedly to soften the blow with a touch of elegance, as opposed to the traditional form letter. All of these approaches are accompanied by a generic statement that reads something like, "Your work is not what I'm looking for right now."
Instead of subjecting myself to this slow and tedious torture, I decided in 2010 to go it on my own and self-publish the manuscript of The One. Instead of dealing with more rejection, I was gratified to learn that many of you liked it, and liked it so much you wanted to know what happened next. Thus, Second Time's a Charm was born, and then Three Gifts had to follow for the same reasons. The act of self-publishing has allowed me to work at my own pace, free of pressure from a publisher who'd like me to write it their way, or would choose the cover without my input, or worse yet, deciding I wasn't worth the risk after all, and giving me the boot! The way I've chosen to proceed has kept my love of writing alive, and has allowed me to connect on a personal level with my readers, who I usually meet one on one, or in a conversation over the internet through this website. It makes me wonder if Johnny Appleseed felt this grateful every time he watched someone bite into a crisp, ripe red delicious! In all, it hasn't been a bad road. And I'm still waiting to meet that one person who can help me crack this thing wide open and take my book sales to the next level. Killing the time thinking of who to cast in the movies is not a bad way to wait out a red light!
So, as to the favor I'd like to ask, I'd like you to consider writing a review on Amazon, or Barnes and Noble, or on your favorite blog. Send a shout out to all your Facebook friends, or tweet away about these books. It doesn't matter how many bookstore shelves these copies occupy; if nobody knows about them, nobody buys them. I need to get people talking about these books. If you are in a book club, consider discussing one of these books. If you are a member of a women's group, or a boys' club that needs a good story about a young male role model, pick The One. My husband called it a handbook for the way a guy should treat a girl. So there you go! Maybe our boys should be reading this, even more so than our girls.
Thank you again for reading my books. Thank you for your support!
Mary
