And so it begins

It would be fair for me to say I'm a little bit clueless right now. Not a feeling I enjoy, as I generally consider myself a fairly smart guy and knowledgeable in more than a few areas. What's more, I've written several novels now, albeit many of them are of questionable quality. Others, not so questionable - they just plain sucked.

But now what? I've had three books accepted for publishing, yet none have come out yet and I'm not convinced that the publisher is going to do much for me. It's just an ebook site, after all. I retain full rights to my work so I figured I would actively pursue self-publishing as well so I can (hopefully) generate some sales and use that as a lure to attract an agent or a more established / traditional publishing house.

Exposing my soul to the world here, I realize I'm in over my head. Treading water, as a term, may not even apply to me. Nevertheless, I am stubborn and motivated, and I plan to keep treading until I succeed. From what I've been able to garner thus far I need some sort of a press release - I've signed up at multiple PR sites already. The free ones, sadly, as even a shoestring budget would be a luxury for me. Likewise, I also recognize a need to have reviews done on my book(s). How to go about getting those reviews, on the other hand, seems a leap from theory to action I have yet to find the means to accomplish.

I expect little in the way of recognition or interaction from this blog. I've blogged in the past and found little or no responses to it, thus my reluctance to engage. Nevertheless, this seems a much more lively place than my last attempt.

Or perhaps the dearth of interest comes from my topics. I can understand that readily enough; why would I want to spend my time reading about somebody else's problems or life? If they offered me something useful, be it knowledge or a free stereo, then I might be more inclined to read and respond. Sadly, I've got no free stereos to part with. We'll see what I can do with the knowledge, but the next trick is to tie what I might talk about into my books. For example, I have loads of information I could share regarding nutrition and weightlifting (specifically powerlifting, including competitions), but tying that to my first book, Voidhawk (a sword and sorcery type of fantasy novel based in space), is unlikely, at best.

But I still got the title in, so I'll call that round a victory. Now we'll have to see what else I can come up with the next time around!

For anyone daring to read this far, I thank you for your time and patience - I hope it was not wasted!