Getting back to self-publishing

 I thought I had it made being picked up by The Wild Rose Press for my New Adult, Romance, Cinnamon & Sugar. I did do much better sales-wise than I did with my previous books which I self-published.

After enjoying The Queen's Gambit, both as a novel and limited Netflix series I decided to write a story with chess as the theme. Since I'm also a chess master it should be easy to show the real world of tournament and match chess. It was, but when I presented it to The Wild Rose Press they turned it down because they objected to me using real chess players' names in the body of the work and it the ms. also has a small period of time in which Covid influences the story.

So I sent out queries and so far not positive responses. I'm antsy to get this story about a young black girl in a poor neighborhood, who lost her daddy and remembers the chess they shared out to the public.

So back at square one, I bought ISBN's from Bowker, found suitable front and back cover shots, and got my copyright.

Next, I decided to submit to both Amazon and IngramSpark to do my print on Demand services. IngramSpark gets the book into bookstores and Libraries as well as everywhere else and Amazon has a strong hold on the online sales via Kindle. Of course, I'll reach out to Barnes & Noble via Nook as well.

I write all this to save you time if you are thinking about self-publishing. I have chosen the best paths. You can email me anytime if you want to discuss this. I'm at rwrichard@ymail.com.

p.s. Since I am having the story professionally edited (highly recommended) I will try a small number of literary agents before I self-publish. Yes, all that I wrote cost money but if you believe in your story and think it has merit to the readers then at the very least, satisfaction will come from knowing you didn't cut corners. Next stop marketing and more spending...

The new Bachelorette

ABC writes:

After joining Matt James' season as a [very] late arrival, Michelle [Young] immediately stole The Bachelor's attention, along with the hearts of millions of Americans who fell in love with her captivating smile and charming sense of humor. A former Division 1 basketball player from Minnesota, the 28-year-old kindergarten [4^th & 5^th now] teacher now focuses on preparing her students to be the next generation of community leaders.

Michelle has big dreams for the future and says she wants a man by her side that is supportive and driven to make the world a better place [and treats her as a complete equal]. She is looking for the Superman to her Superwoman and is ready to find a love with whom she can start a family of her own.

Bob writes: Yes, and Michelle finished as runner up in Matt’s season. The moment she arrived on Matt’s season I told everyone she was my favorite. Not because she was the most beautiful. No, maybe she’s a 7 or 8 out of 10 (although her eyes are amazing.] It was her big heart that blew me away. I guess I’m a sucker for an elementary school teacher. So I await the premiere of The Bachelorette on ABC Tuesday, the 19^th, 2021. And I’ll go so far as to say she will be my favorite bachelorette. That’s saying a lot with the likes of Tayshia Adams, Ashley Hebert, and others as fond memories. I say others because I tend to forget particulars.

Call me a sap

I had a simple thought, and there are many where that came from. I walk with my wife everyday, and yesterday I observed the beauty of the trees and how they offer shelter to the birds. The birds in turn go about spreading seeds. Every living thing has a job(s) to do and all the jobs are about helping themselves and the other, be it animal, human, or vegetation.

And why? Imo, we are heading to perfection. We may never get there but things are evolving. We may fail but there are other planets. It is as if surely this experiment called life that the Creator started an infinite time ago must completely glorify and justify the purpose. It seems that on this planet only humans can consciously think these thoughts or alternative explanations. Why fight it? It sure beats nothingness. This striving toward perfection will, IMO, ceaselessly be strived to and in one form or another we will always witness and help. Call it heaven or reincarnation.

So do your part. Be a sap or sapling.

Oh, how to turn this into romance writing? It’s a job and a way of giving back the talents the Creator gave us. You are selected by yourself and currently powers beyond your full understanding to spread the seed. Love is the seed that helps all living things progress.

Erotica versus romance

A friend of mine sent a New York Times article on an Erotica (An Erotica Pioneer Goes from Hero to villain for dozens of authors)  author who was having legal trouble with her publisher. I wrote back:

Apparently, I have reached the limit of free articles and I haven't even started yet (of maybe a long time ago)... Anyway, I found the article under PressNewsAgency. Also NYT was there too but I dare not go there, lol. I read it, yay.

Now for my critique. First of all, thank you for this article. The reporter got most of it right. Naturally when you don't really know the industries a good reporter gathers disparate facts and at some point moves on because it's his/her job to continue onto another assignment. So, first off Erotica has a different purpose and shouldn't be lumped in with romance. Romance is about love. Erotica is about sex. They're separate genres. Also the reporter lumped all small, medium and independent presses into one category. A category of scammers. I got published through the Wild Rose Press a highly respected and 100% ethical publisher. They were attracted to my interracial story, which I mostly write.

Lately I have veered from romance. My latest, The Chess Master, is a story about a little girl who lost her daddy and struggles with reality, as she 'talks' to him every night. I might try a mystery, magical realism, or sci fi. I just don't know yet. How about you? what are you doing with the written word?

BTW, RWA (Romance Writers of America) is sort of imploding thanks to lingering Trumpists (IMO) who bring their virulent form of racism to the forums. They toasted me about Cinnamon & Sugar, really a sweet story. The RWA has tried to fix this problem but it struggles on. So I'm probably not going to renew in 2022, not necessarily because of their struggles but because I may be moving on to other genres as mentioned..

I hope all is well with you,

Bob