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This is what an author does in Canada in their spare time.

My new novella, Never So Alone, is now available for presale on Amazon to be delivered January 23. Click here.

OR

You can download it immediately free from Net Galley here.

Enjoy the adventures of FBI Special Agent Nathan Harris (before he meets Marcie Kane in the thriller collection) as his undercover mission in Canada goes horribly wrong.

My new novella, Never So Alone, which is about to be released, is my 6th books so I’ve been down the publishing road a few times. I thought I would share a few thoughts for those considering publishing a book or for others who just have some interest.

There are three  options available: traditional, self publishing and a hybrid of the two. The best option depends on your writing goals. Is it a career? A hobby? No matter what it is, it’s every author’s dream to be traditionally published by a big publishing house, have their book promoted and sit back and watch as millions of dollars in royalties roll in. There are definitely benefits, such as widespread distribution, marketing and mainstream exposure and the credibility that comes with all that. There is also a downside.

Just be aware that it’s rare that a traditional publisher will publish an unknown author and it’s almost always preceded by finding an agent and more rejection letters than you can count. IF it does happen, the reality is that unless you are a big name author or your book is the best the publisher has ever laid eyes on, your work could languish near the bottom of the pile for a long time before it sees the light of day. The publisher may pay an advance, which comes out of your royalties, and the percentage of royalties you will receive on sales is markedly lower as a result (remember the publisher wants to make money from your book). Your book may not look the same either when it is published. You may be asked to make a number of changes before it goes to print.

The second option is self publishing.  This is the easiest and quickest route to follow and the one that pays the most royalties. You need a good cover, a good book description, an editor and a quality book if you want people to keep buying. You are totally in control and because of that, you will spend a lot of time marketing your book. Your royalties are yours to keep. Marketing is a lot of work and you will lose all the benefits of traditional publishing.

A third option is hybrid publishing. With this option, you get some of the benefits of traditional publishing, including distribution and the publishing house brand on your book, which might help with mainstream promotion. You are still required to do much of the marketing.  The author shares the upfront costs with the publisher (editing, cover design, formatting). The cost to the author may or may not be as significant as self publishing. The author’s share of royalties is somewhere between self publishing and traditional. The publisher wants to recoup their share of the upfront costs plus they want to make some money on sales.

My personal experience has been with all three options to a certain extent. I’ve followed my own advice and sent out a handful of queries to agents and got a handful of rejections from those who responded.  My goals are different at this stage in my life so admittedly, I didn’t spend a lot of time on it. I published one of my books initially with a hybrid publisher and my experience was not the best. The value added by this particular publisher wasn’t apparent to me so I got my rights back and self published the book. Still, I found a hybrid publisher recently that came highly recommended and that seemed to have high quality standards. They accepted my manuscript and they spent a lot of time answering my questions. I think they would have been a good fit for me, but I was already down the road of self publishing Remote Access(the book was edited and formatting done) so the timing wasn’t right.

In the end, I have chosen the self publishing route for all my books. It fits my goals and I don’t mind the marketing aspect. For my thrillers, I’ve hired a marketing guru who has been pretty successful in promoting the e-books. I do book signings and my own promotion for my print copies.

My suggestion is to assess your goals and the pros and cons and choose the option that works best for you.  At least go into it with your eyes open. I still believe authors owe it to themselves to try to find an agent to pursue  their dream. You never know, you could have a bestseller on your hands. Check out Query Tracker as a first step to finding  an agent. If the hybrid solution is best for you, make sure you pick one that will do what they say they are going  to do. Do your due diligence. There are many vanity publishers who will publish anything for a price and do nothing for you. Avoid them! If you decide self publishing is best for you, be prepared to do your promotion and make sure your book is the best it can be.

No matter which route you choose, be proud of your published work.

I’m excited to announce that a new novella will be released early in 2019. For those who may not be familiar with the term, a novella is longer than a short story but shorter than a novel.

It features FBI Special Agent Nathan Harris and it’s called Never So Alone. Those who are familiar with the Marcie Kane Thriller Collection will know that Nathan is introduced in Book 2 – A Perilous Question, but this book takes place prior to that.

Here’s the blurb:

A massive explosion levels a barn near a quiet picturesque town on the Canadian prairies.  Nathan Harris, an FBI Special Agent on a joint operation with the RCMP narrowly escapes while working undercover to find the people behind an illegal drug lab. The blast is no accident. But why? Have the people he’s working with discovered his identity? Did someone at the highest level of authority betray him? His investigation points to a similar operation in the U.S., but if he follows the lead, who can he trust? Meanwhile, his relationship at home is on the rocks. He has never felt so alone. Despite the danger, the questions must be answered before he can know the truth.

Here’s the cool part:

I’m offering the first 25 people who respond to this email the opportunity to read an advance copy and participate in the cover design. 

WHAT DO I GET?

The first 25 people responding will receive in return:

• A PDF version of the book. It should be ready in 2-3 weeks.
• An opportunity to vote on the cover. Three options will be available for review
• A signed copy of the published book when it’s released with an inscription of your choice.

WHAT’S THE CATCH?

There’s always a trick, right? Of course there is. Nothing is free in this world. All I would like you to do is complete an honest review of the book and post it on Amazon the week the book is published. The review can be as short or long as you like. It would be even more amazing if you could share the book on social media the week it’s published, but only if you’re comfortable doing that.

ANY OTHER TRICKS?

Well, yes, but blame it on Amazon. They have strict policies that must be adhered to, so please abide by them. The two that apply are:

• To be allowed to review a book, you must have purchased at least $50 worth of product from Amazon at some point, and,
• If you are a relative or close friend, you are not eligible. Even though a relative or close friend might be more critical, Amazon automatically deems you to be biased. So, relatives and close friends, you know who you are and sorry, but you’re disqualified. Oh, what the heck, if you promise to share the book on social media, I’ll send you the covers and an advance copy as well.

OKAY, I’M IN

If you’re interested, comment HERE and tell me you’re in. I’ll send the PDF and covers to vote on when they’re ready, and let you know the publication date. When you’ve posted the review, you can send me your address and I’ll forward the free signed print copy of the book.

I look forward to hearing from you.

I’m doing the craft sale shows in the next couple of weeks. Come out and do some Christmas shopping at St Mark’s Catholic School, Manotick, Ontario  on November 10 from 10 – 4 and November  11 from 10 – 3. On November 17, I’ll be at Cairine Wilson School in Orleans, Ontario from 9 – 3 . A new one has just been added. I’ll be at the Queensway Carleton Hospital in Ottawa, Ontario. Hospital from 1 – 4

Hope  to see you there.

Fans of the Marcie Kane Thriller Collection will know that FBI Agent Nathan Harris was introduced in Book 2, A Perilous Question, and shows up again in Remote Access. I’m currently working on a novella, which will predate Nathan’s introduction to Marcie.

In this new short thriller, Nathan will go undercover in an attempt to find the head of a meth ring. His work will take him to a small town in the prairies of Manitoba, Canada before he follows the trail to North Dakota.

Keep watching these pages for updates on progress and when you can expect to get your copy.

Thanks to everyone who came out to my book signing yesterday and to Indigospirit, Place d’Orleans, for hosting it. It was a busy day.

Kudos to the people in the store and in retail in general who are on their feet all day. A few hours did me in!

I had the pleasure of speaking about all things writing at Algonquin College on Thursday night. It was an interesting group and I ended up speaking for so long, I lost my voice.

The students were very attentive and had some great questions. Obviously, being students, most probably don’t have a lot of money to pursue their dream, but I got the impression that those who wanted to publish a book were determined to do it. At least one had already produced a children’s book.

It was a wonderful experience and I’m quite sure some bestsellers will be coming out of that group in the not-too-distant future. I wish them well.