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...

KEY WORDS

WORDS CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE

Last week I wrote about how a young woman used certain key words to make an alpha male fall instantly in love with her (on their first date). Of course, her words were accompanied with body and facial language, heart and emotion. I also said I'd fall for her well-thought-out approach too, provided there was chemistry.

Yesterday, at the RWASD meeting, Penny Sansevieri presented, among other things, the importance of key words in helping potential readers find your novel. This lesson is critically important in today's publishing world.

Okay, here comes the boring or shameless self promotion part which you can skip by going right to the video. I don't write this blog to sell my books. I write to entertain and inform. If you want to buy my book, I promise I won't stop you. LOL. I decided to not only use a "normal" description of my new novel, Autumn Breeze, which is posted on Amazon, but will add key words to the bottom of the description. This is, as far as I know, not done! I'll let you know if this increases sales. I'm putting my proposed add-on to the description below the video.

Here's the promo for A Novel Romance, A Hallmark Channel movie first released last week. I feature it because it's a romance and it's about a writer. Also, it highlights the struggle to say what you mean. Imagine a (boring) novel/movie, in which the hero or heroine is so quick on their feet, they immediately solve problems created by the incomplete use of the English language. I'd bet, especially in comedies, that a majority of problems are created by poorly thought out and therefore incomplete verbal communications. The irony in this movie centers around a writer. I.e. a hero whose proper use of words is his critical path to success in his art and his love.

A Novel Romance, Hallmark, Trailer 2015:

P.s. I enjoyed the movie.







A different way to handle Key Words by putting them in the description:
Rather than go on with more information that might spoil the plot or story, the author offers the following words or phrases that describe major and minor themes occurring in this novel. Regarding the girl’s, detective’s and spy’s internal stories we have literary romance, teenage love stories and angst, coming of age, young adult, family, friendship, college, scholarship, multicultural, multiracial, interracial, immigration, Caribbean, marriage, wedding, adoption. Regarding the external plot we have 9/11, mystery, thriller, intrigue, suspense, spy, assassins, police procedural, terrorists, terrorism, military, war, cloak and dagger, mass murder, political, anti-terrorism taskforce, CIA, NSA, NCS, Homeland Security, and martial arts. And as catch alls for various plot twists, we have contemporary romance, wealthy, literature, American, ghosts, paranormal. And then, New York City, Manhattan, Brooklyn and Trinidad. Let’s not forget Rudy Giuliani and the ever popular historical 21^st century.



My new book and its description can be seen at:
http://www.amazon.com/Autumn-Breeze-Carlos-RW-Richard/dp/0980080487/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1421613702&sr=1-3&keywords=autumn+breeze