Come See Me at My Author Talk!

In conjunction with the Friends of Southborough Library, the wonderful folks at my town library have extended a special invitation for me to share my insights at their highly anticipated annual event.

On June 12th, at 7 p.m., please join me at the Southborough Library for a half-hour talk on the art of writing, publishing, marketing, and (hopefully) selling a book.

I’ll discuss the entire process, from ideation to writing a million drafts, to publishing through Amazon and other services, and then shouting from the rooftops about your book.

I’ve created a Facebook Event for the night and would love it if you could RSVP there.

After my talk, I’ll be answering questions and selling and signing copies of all four of my books. I hope to see you there!

Happy Tenth Anniversary, “A Sour Chord” – Big Sale Celebration!

Let’s flash back together. It’s May of 2014. I’m about to click publish on Amazon for my very first book, A Sour Chord. Up until that moment, the only person I’d told I’d written a book was my now wife, Megan. And even then I’d only told her a couple of months beforehand. I don’t know why I kept it a secret, but I did. Other than Megan, my editor, Austin, was the only person to know this book existed.

That day was filled with anxiety, fear, imposter syndrome, and, most importantly, hope. I don’t know what I planned to get out of writing that book, but I knew I wanted to. And now, ten years later, I’m here celebrating its anniversary. I published that book ten years ago next month, though I’d written the short story that was its foundation—a play, of sorts, really—way back in 1999. It’s been a journey, and I’m grateful to have you all with me.

Here we are, today, together, celebrating this work. And what better way to celebrate than to get my books into your eager little hands, no? From April 22nd through May 22nd, all paperbacks in my online store are $10, and hardcovers are just $15. But you need to order them from this special link. If you go right to the books themselves, the special pricing isn’t going to be there. So be sure to click that link.

And, as always, I wanted to say thank you. For those of you who’ve just stumbled onto my work, welcome. For those of you who’ve been here since the beginning, thank you for your support, kind words, encouragement, and nagging me to keep writing when I feel defeated or unsuccessful. I won’t delve into how hard it is to be an independent, self-published author, but I will say that it’s more work than I could have ever anticipated. If you’d told me ten years ago that writing the book(s) is the easiest part of the process, I may have reconsidered doing it.

All Sold Out!

On Wednesday of last week, I posted this silly photo to a Facebook group for book lovers.

The caption was something to the effect of “oh, poor me, what a horrible problem I have in having to sign these books and write witty and unique inscriptions. Woe is me. Send help,”

Completely in jest, I obviously wouldn’t offer it as an option on my site if I didn’t mind signing and inscribing books.

I had no intention of trying to sell any books.

But I did. As soon as the first person asked where they could get a signed copy and I posted the link to my website, the orders started pouring in. My email was dinging all night, overnight, and into the morning.

I’m very thankful that my experience as a web developer lead me down the path of building some “buy other books and save” functionality into my site, because it worked. People were buying two and even all three of my books, saving 15% on all of them. I also offered free shipping over $25, but realized, once I did the math, that I was losing money on that deal, so I upped the free shipping to $35.

I sold out of every copy I’d pre-ordered of Dudley road, in both hardcover and paperback.
I sold out of every copy I had on hand of My Last Days, in both hardcover and paperback.
I haven’t even gotten the first-time-in-print copies of A Sour Chord yet, but I sold out of that whole batch, as well.

So I ordered more. Unfortunately, Amazon takes about 12-14 days to print and deliver them.

And I sold out of all of those, as well. In all three books.

So I ordered more.

This cycled repeated 5 more times during last week. I’d order more, they’d sell out. I put up a notice on the site saying that all books were out of stock until the end of the month, and while that slowed sales down some, it didn’t seem to deter everyone, as the orders have still come piling in.

I’m so humbled, for a number of reasons.

First, complete strangers not only bought my work, but they wanted me to personalize a signature to them. Strangers who’ve never heard of me before took a chance just based on my book covers, as well as my descriptions.

I also did something I’ve never done in the almost 10 years since I published my first book; I made a profit on the whole endeavor. There’s so much cost that goes into publishing a book yourself that folks don’t think of, but it adds up. The artwork for the cover, editing (is the biggest cost, by far), the book trailer I had made, the books themselves, the boxes to ship in, shipping costs. The list goes on and on. But, as of today, I’ve earned more than I’ve spent. It’s not much more than I’ve spent, but it’s in the black for the first time. And while I don’t do this for the money, it certainly doesn’t hurt to motivate me for the next book (which, for the record, I’ve already begun planning out!)

Others have bought directly from Amazon, including the Kindle version, which has been wonderful, as well.

I’ve gotten more reviews through an Advanced Reader service I signed up for that my first two books combined, and while they’re not all five stars (you can’t be perfect all the time, right?), this one in particular really made me so happy:

The book ‘Dudley Road’ was intelligently written. Each chapter commanding your attention and ensuring that you kept turning page after page. It had the right amount of creepy without being over the top scary, the right amount of suspense and mystery.
Overall, Dudley Road is a masterpiece and if you are a fan of mystery with a little horror, this is the book for you.

“Intelligently written” and “masterpiece” for a silly ghost story. How? Why? What? Is this real life? I’m printing and framing it.

I’m sure this level of sales won’t continue forever, and that’s fine. I spent about 2 hours every day last week signing and packing books. It’s exhausting, but so rewarding. A big time author I know and am friendly with signs and ships books himself with the help of his manager. He posts photos of him with literal palettes full of books and I don’t understand the how of it all. It’s crazy pants.

So, if you’re reading this and you’re one of the folks from The Book Lounge Facebook Group who ended up here from my silly little post, thank you so much for your support. I really hope you enjoy my book(s) that you bought and come back for more the next time.

I’m so grateful and humbled and appreciative of everything that’s happened this week.*

* except for losing my wallet yesterday. I am not appreciative of my doofusness.

A Sour Chord now available in print!

It’s been almost a decade since I released A Sour Chord. When I did, I published it only as a digital book. Primarily because I had no idea how to do anything but a digital book.

Fast forward to today, where I fully understand printing and everything that goes along with it.

So, I’m happy to announce that A Sour Chord will finally be available in both paperback and hardcover in early April.

I know some of you, over the years, have reached out asking for a physical copy because, like me, you prefer holding an actual book to holding a Kindle. So, now’s your chance to grab your copy!

You can order your paperback and hardcover here or you can build a bundle of my books that you’re interested in and save 15% on your entire order here.