Soon 2019 will be upon us, but 2018 has been an interesting year. My fist foray into the world of self publishing (with the indispensable help of Joe Perrone at Escarpment Press) has been an eye-opener. I decided to self publish, not because I thought Silent Warriors was unworthy of the attention of a regular publishing Company, but because I’m rather up in years and frankly didn’t want to expend the time and effort to attract and locate an agent, and then find, and negotiate a deal, with a publisher. Amazon makes self publishing easy and attractive, but, again, it takes time and some expertise. Despite a PhD in Engineering (Civil) I was frankly challenged when it came to the mechanics of it all. But Joe Perrone did all that work for a reasonable fee, and let me get on with what I set out to do to begin with: write!
Well, it turns out, not quite. An author wants people to actually read his work. Sure, there’s the self satisfaction of actually having written something – but, beyond a gut feeling, how do you know if your work is actually worth reading? Okay, so now Silent Warriors is out there, how do you actually get people to read it? In a word: promotion. Joe has been a help here as well, but most of the promoting gig has been up to me. Believe me, it’s learning process! But the word does appear to be getting out, because the book sales have been slow, but steady. A couple of 5-star reviews on Amazon have helped a great deal, and several readers have taken the time to email me and tell me they enjoyed the book. So now I’m asking: if you enjoyed the read, please, please, get back on Amazon and say so!
Thanks! -Gene