I just got a letter of acceptance for the first novel in my “For Rent” mystery series!
It was picked up by Writers-Exchange, an international English-language publisher based in Australia. They are primarily an e-publisher (which is where most of the money is at for authors these days!) but they also do print runs for books that hit reasonable e-pub sales goals. They’ve been in the e-pubbing business since 2000 and have released over 300 titles to date. Since they were an early adopter of e-publishing, they have forged solid working relationships with Amazon.com, Barnes&Noble, Apple and all the other major e-publishing outlets in the USA, UK, Europe and Australia.
So that’s a large marketing network that I’ll get plugged directly into! Plus, since they stay up on all the formatting requirements for the various electronic readers (Kindle, Nook, Apple, etc.) that frees me up to concentrate on writing.
I think “For Rent: Dangerous Paradise” will have wide appeal in a global (read “non-New York centric”) marketplace because Venice Beach, where the first book in the series is set, is internationally famous and loved by Brits, Aussies, Kiwis and Americans.
Following my main protagonist to Las Vegas in the sequel won’t hurt either!
There’s no advance, but like I said they handle all the formatting for the different platforms (Kindle, Nook, Apple, .mobi, etc.) and they have over ten years of experience marketing books in digital format.
I LOVE THAT because that means I don’t have to re-invent a wheel that has already been invented, tested, polished and perfected!
Based on their standard contract, which I’m still waiting for, my royalty is going to be a bit more than the standard author royalty paid by NY publishing dinosaurs, I mean houses. Sure, e-books sell for a fraction of hardcovers, but overhead is low for everyone involved in the creation and distribution. Plus, e-books are selling at much more volume than traditional hardcovers and paperbacks so I’m very excited to venture into cyberspace with an experienced ally.
A huge shout-out to my friend Wendy Merrill of J.W. Merrill Real Estate (www.merrillreinc.com) for introducing me to Bob Beers who took a look at my manuscript and recommended me to his editor at Writers-Exchange. Bob has been e-pubbing since 1998 and has two pretty cool fantasy series BTW, “The Milward Chronicles” and “The Tony Mandolin Series” which is sort of like Sam Spade meets “Lord of the Rings” set in modern day San Francisco. Check out his blog here: http://fogcityfiles.wordpress.com/
I don’t have a final contract yet, or an exact estimate on when my book will be available on the Kindle, Nook, etc., but I hope it will be relatively soon because according to Bob and Dennis Griffin, another writer friend who is published by Writers-Exchange, they typically get things rolling pretty fast.
It’s a good thing I’ve already started the sequel to “For Rent: Dangerous Paradise”! Tentatively titled, “For Rent: Neon Paradise” it leaves Venice Beach and finds spunky young journalist Dana Santoyo embroiled in the lives of a whole new cast of weird and wonderful neighbors. Living in a week-to-week motel located just off the famous Las Vegas Strip, Dana will encounter new friends, new enemies, another ghost story and another deadly mystery as she works towards her goal of becoming a network news anchor.
Assuming FRDP is released this summer, I hope to have a novella that explores the full back story of the ghosts in the apartment building out by September and then the Vegas-based sequel out by Christmas 2012.
So that’s my big news. Thank you all for your support during the extra long creative process of getting the first novel in this For Rent series finished and out the door.
Stay tuned for when “Dangerous Paradise” becomes available on your favorite electronic technology!
Now I’ve got to go chill some champagne! :- )