My Book About the Vietnam War is Getting Delayed

I'm putting together a book about stories of individuals during the Vietnam War.  The original focus of the book was supposed to be South Vietnamese soldiers.  I then started learning the stories of some American soldiers and went those have to be reported.  And more recently I've learned of stories of civilians, in particular the boat people who tried to escape after the North Vietnamese took over.

As I've been learning these stories I've begun feeling a responsibility as an American and as a human being to put together this book.  It's not a book about the politics or whether or not the war was right or wrong, it's about the lives involved in the conflict, what they experienced, and how it affected them.  I really think people need to read about these things.

It's been hard for me to continue sometimes, however.  While I had great hopes for writing nonfiction and getting it out there to the public, after Two Gun's poor sales, my confidence has waned considerably.  It's not the story or the writing; everyone who talks about it loves it.  But despite their enthusiasm for the book, it's barely made any money.  I literally have to go out to Rotary Clubs and tell everyone the story before people buy it.

Added to this is the fact that I've learned over the past year or so that series are what bring in readers to independent books.  You give them the first one for free, get them on a mailing list, then sell them the rest.  You also get it into a niche audience toward which you can direct all your energy.

So I just don't have a huge amount of hope for the success of this book, or any other book that isn't part of a series.  I feel like I need to put more of my time and energy into Relic Worlds.  But this one is too important.

The reason for the Vietnam book's delay is not because of this discouragement.  I am doing it.  However, while I was in Lincoln, I made a bunch more connections, and I want to make sure to collect as many stories and do as much research as I can before putting it together.  When I do, I'll be going through InkShares.  I'll be very interested to see how that goes.

My Book Tour Through The Midwest

I recently returned from a book tour I took through the several states in the center of the country.  They included Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Texas.

I was mostly speaking at Rotaries, which I've quickly learned are the best resource for public speaking about my nonfiction books.  Rotaries need new speakers every week, so they are often happy to hear from an author who has an interesting story to tell.  It's as helpful for them as it is helpful for the author.

I knew I would be traveling to Nebraska for a few weeks, so I wanted to fill my schedule as much as possible to make the trip worthwhile.  I also knew I would be going down to Texas for the Alamo City Comic Convention, so I filled as much time there as possible.

I started by going to the Rotary Club Finder: https://www.rotary.org/en/search/club-finder

Here you can enter the region and get a list of all the rotaries in that area.  I got their email addresses and wrote to all of them, telling them a quick summary of Two Gun Hart, including the website for the book, and saying when I'll be in the area and that I would like to speak at their club.  I also found the local libraries and made a similar offer.  From the responses I was able to make a schedule of appearances.  There would be 12 in all, 10 rotaries and 2 libraries, plus the convention, which is a different subject because that involves my book series Relic Worlds.

I stayed with my family in Lincoln, Nebraska and set out from there to speak in Omaha, Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri.  At these events a little under half of the people bought books, and there were usually about 15 to 20 attendees, so it was decent amounts of money.  In Texas it was hit or miss, either only one or two bought, or almost everyone bought.  Ultimately it turned out to be about the same number.

Basically, the conclusion I came to was that the sales were decent, but when you took into account the amount of time I spent arranging the talks, the flights, the car rental and gas, at best I came close to breaking even.  These were really talks to spread the word.  The problem with this is it's hard to measure it's effectiveness.  Worst of all, people forget things you told them after they leave.

So the best suggestion came from my uncle in Texas who said I should have flyers or bookmarks made up that say the name of this book and other books.  The people who bought books get to see there are others to purchase online, and those who did not buy get flyers to take with them to remind them where to buy them later.

I wish I had thought of that before, but I'll have it in mind now in future events.

In the Final Stretch to Release

I missed a week of describing my promotional efforts because I've been so busy getting everything done for the big, last push.  I'm in the final stretch now, just over a week before the book releases.  I've always known that March 1st to release day would be a huge time filled with a lot of work, and I'm now there.  I had hoped to be able to record it in this blog, but when you're author, publisher, promoter, distributor, etc., you have to make priorities.

The big issue is the fact that this is a merging point between pre-release promotions release promotions, and post-release promotions.  I cannot push back anything that needs to happen before release, and I need to promote things that are timely with the release.  Plus, I need to do post-release promotions on a schedule.  So everything gets jammed into this one period of time without any room for adjustment.

Additionally, all distribution has to happen now.  Many places won't consider the book once it's already been released, and if other places have already started selling it.  Therefore, most distribution has to happen at the same time.  I've been setting this up for a long time, but some elements were not ready until recently, or they got pushed back due to other things that needed to get done, like reviews.

It's finally getting under control, and I'm wrapping up the majority of promotions for Two Gun Hart.  I had to have most things done a couple weeks before release, so the week before will include mostly just contacting some news organizations, and telling the public about the release; so I'll be able to take some time to describe in greater detail what I did to promote and distribute this book since I won't be too busy doing it.

I'll be starting these blogs tomorrow, and will release them each day for the next couple weeks.  I might forget some details, but hopefully it will be enough to help anyone who might read this in the future.

Three Weeks Until Release

I missed blogging last week because I've been so swamped trying to get work done.  I even took time off my day job to try to do everything.

Part of what made me so busy was that I was promoting Relic Worlds as well, which is supposed to be more during the second half of the year, but there was an event last week where I wanted to present it.  Los Angeles's biggest game convention, Orccon, took place February 13-16.  I put on a miniatures game of Relic Worlds where I had a large table in the main room.  We had a banner at the table, books, and bookmarks to show it off.  Jamie (my girlfriend) and Rachel (a friend and soon-to-be neighbor) played the Dark Agents versus the pirates.  Artifacts were scattered around the table, as well as mundane items, traps, and monsters.  This was a way to show off the concept of the series to everyone who passed by, and gamers are a big part of our audience, so it seemed like a good fit.  I also put on a role playing game where the players got to be the pirates from the series, and their actions would affect the spinoff storyline about the pirates that I'm doing.

The effect of both of these were underwhelming.  The miniatures game would have worked better if I'd had the book trailer running, which I forgot to do.  Also, we need bigger settings to attract people's attention.  As for the role playing game, the area was run by a bunch of kids who screwed up where the game was to take place, so no one played.  It was just as well, though; only one person signed up, so that didn't really work out.

All that preparation took time away from setting up Two Gun Hart, which is going into the final stretch.  Now I'm putting everything into that.  I made some fixes to the hardcover and ordered some to take to the local bookstores.  They came in just last night.  I found a small problem in the formatting of the chapters.  It's not a big deal, so I will be taking these to the local bookstores, and I'm trying to make the fixes on Ingram Spark before anyone orders them.  (This has to be done quickly, as I made sell sheets and mailed them out, and paid $60 to have the book added to the Ingram Spark catalog.)

I will also be emailing bookstores this week to let them know about the book's availability.  However, I'm putting that off for a couple days while I get the book fixed on Ingram.  Right now the upload seems to be stuck, so hopefully that will get fixed soon here.  I still have several copies I need to send to bloggers, news outlets, and reviewers.  The time is getting very short for this, however.

I'm also setting up talks at bookstores and libraries.  Most places have been turning me down, saying that signings and appearances don't usually get many people.  I think they're being short-sighted in two ways.  First, just having a signing and appearance is an excuse for radio and newspaper promotions.  Even if no one comes to the signing, there's an excuse for marketing and free promotions.  Second, in this particular case you have a story related to something everyone's heard about, but with lots of new information.  True crime buffs and anyone familiar with Capone is going to want to see and especially interact with his nephew, and learn about this long-lost brother.  They should be seeing this as an exception, but most are not, at least in LA and, of all places, Chicago.

Corey Hart has set up a talk with the Sons of Italy in Salt Lake City.  I also have an appearance at the Burbank Library, and several in Nebraska.  It's amazing how Nebraskans seem to be a little smarter when it comes to these things, or at least less short-sighted.

Sent Books to to NPR/PBS

Today I mailed a whole slew of books to various places.  They were mostly to public television and radio locations throughout the country based on lists I had made.

I started by looking up station information in specific states:  Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois. New York, South Dakota, Idaho, and Washington.  These were all places where Richard Hart lived.  I also included California as that's where I live, and media outlets are more likely to do a story on you if you're a local.  Once I had my list of stations, I went through the website of each one, searching for the contact person to send a book to.  This would usually be programming, or sometimes a producer.  I would always look to see if there was a specific show that handled books, and sometimes I even called to ask if the station did any specials on books.  When a station looked like they only aired programming from other locations, I didn't bother with them, as I've already sent books to the main NPR and PBS production locations.

Once I had the contact information, I looked to see which seemed better, email or mail.  Email is cheaper and easier, and you get an answer without a financial investment, but it's also easier to ignore or not notice when there are hundreds of emails going to some of these locations every day.  It's also easier to say no to someone when all you see is an email IF you even get it.  It's harder when you see a nice book that came for free which has an interesting topic right there on the cover.  So I categorized many of the names on the list.  The ones that were the most important, such as Chicago's public station, and the local LA affiliate, I just automatically got the name and address so I could mail a book.  Some of the smaller ones, and some which seem to prefer doing things electronically got an email with links to the Bandwagon website.

The books that I mailed mostly went with media kits.  Even though I made the media kits to go to stations that weren't getting books, the most important locations got them in addition to the books for two reasons:  First, because they're PBS/NPR, the most likely places to feature books and therefore worth the extra effort.  Second, because at a lot of these places there will be book critics considering doing book reviews, and news departments which might do stories on Richard Hart or the Capone family.

The most important package to go out today was one to The Daily Show.  I managed to get the name of the woman in charge of booking guests, so I packaged up a media kit, a letter, and a book.  This one being a bit more important, I made sure to get a hard cover version of it made since this was so important, and typically you see John Stewart handling the hard cover rather than the paper back.

All of these places could have learned about it through the press release I sent out, but being PBS/NPR locations that regularly talk about books, I wanted to make sure I got in their faces.  So far the emails haven't had much of a response.  Let's hope the mailings have better luck.

I did a number of other things this week that aren't coming to mind right now.  The trouble with me reporting all this is that I work almost nonstop from morning through late into the night.  Many of the things I do just get done and they're not even done being wiped from my plate when I'm on to the next thing.  I almost need someone with a camera over my shoulder to show what I do, as I have no time to write them down, or to hold a camera and show people.

Although I did start one channel.  After seeing a whole bunch of bloggers and Youtubers refusing to review or even look at self-published works, (even though they are self-published,) I became infuriated, and wanted to do something about it.  I also have been aware that i need to stop making excuses and start losing weight.  (My girlfriend doesn't let me forget.)  So I decided to combine the two and I am doing a monthly Youtube program where I pick one independently published work and I read it while I'm out on walks.  At the beginning of the month, I pick the book and weigh myself, and at the end I review the book and weigh myself again.  Here is the first full episode.

Bloggers Who Have Forgotten Their Roots

As I’ve tried to get my books spoken about and reviewed by bloggers, I’ve come across the same problem so many times:  Signs on the blogging websites that say they will not take any self-published books.  They review or write only about traditionally published books.

I’ve got a little piece of news for all you bloggers who say that.  YOU ARE SELF PUBLISHED!!!!

Yes, that’s right.  As you’re sitting there behind your keyboard all holier than thou, taking only the “legitimately” published books, you are forgetting that one basic fact.  You are not in a magazine, a periodical, or any other “legitimate,” or “traditionally” published manuscript.  You are SELF-FUCKING-PUBLISHED!!!

I have been rejected by magazines, radio stations, and television stations.  While I’m disappointed, I’m not surprised and I don’t hold it against them.  They have a world of their own, and they want to stick to it.  I hope they’ll open themselves up to us independents, (and some of them have,) but if they don’t, they’re merely sticking to their kind.

You bloggers who won’t talk about or review self-published works are downright hypocrites.

If we have to be traditionally published to be good enough for you, why shouldn’t you have to be traditionally published in a magazine in order to be good enough for us?

I have made a determination, and I call on everyone to do the same.  Whenever I look at blogs, even if I’m not in any way considering sending my books to them, I take a look at their submission policy.  If the blogger refuses to have anything to do with self-published works, either for stories, reviews, or whatever, I tag that blog and never return.  I also make it a point to tell people not to go to that blog.

Now, to be clear, this is not the same as being personally rejected by a blog.  If there’s a blog which rejects me, but they take independently published works, I’ll strive to rise to their level and hope they’ll accept me in the future.  I’ll even recommend the site.

But if you reject self-published, independently published books and you’re a blogger, then I’m sorry, but I only read traditionally published magazines.

I’ve Decided to Independently Publish Two Gun Hart

It’s now official.  I will be independently publishing Two Gun Hart, the story of Al Capone’s long lost brother who was a Prohibition officer in Nebraska.  I was very torn about this, seeing positives in both traditional publishing and independently publishing.  The decision was ultimately decided for me by others.

I had been weighing the benefits of both decisions for a while.  Traditional publishing gets one into traditional bookstores, and provides a lot of publicity.  I was hoping not only to get publicity for this, but to make the connections I could use for independently published books later.  The benefits of independently publishing would include having control over it and making sure it’s done correctly.  Plus, I will not have to wait for several years to get it out there, which could prove important as I want to make sure it’s released while certain members of the family are still with us.

I wanted to at least see my options.  Publishers refuse to look at it without an agent, so I looked around, gathered information, got connections through friends, etc., and sent it out to more than 50 agents.  I waited for each to get back to me.  A few did.  Several told me they would do it if it was about Al rather than Richard.  A couple were more blatant.  They said they don’t want to do a story about an Italian American unless he’s a gangster.  These racist statements really showed me where their interests were.

Finally, I got my last rejection.  I could go after others.  There are agents out there that don’t advertise being interested in this sort of story, but I don’t see the point of trying that.  It’s strange, because every person I show this idea to is blown away by it.  The agents are the only ones who don’t get it.  It’s their loss, but it’s also sort of the public’s loss, as it will be harder for me to promote it on my own.

I have determined to go for pre-sales.  When one does that, every sale that is made over several months counts as sales in a single day.  That makes it more likely to reach a top seller list.  Every interview I go on and every place I speak, I will be telling about this book, encouraging people to go out right away and buy this as an e-book.  As long as everyone who wants it buys at that time, we’ll have a chance, and the regular publishers will simply have to stand back and watch as they see the sales that could have been theirs.  They will complain, as usual, about how e-books are unfairly taking from them, and they long for the “good old days,” but it’s their own damn fault.

A Big Decision to Make

After a couple weeks of not posting, this week I’m going to post something similar to what I wrote a while ago.  The reason for this is less laziness, (though I am a bit lazy right now,) and more because it’s a very serious decision I need to make.

After approaching more than 50 agents to try to get an upcoming book published through a traditional publisher, I had finally given up and was willing to accept that this book would be published independently as well.  I had been wanting to do this one traditionally so that I could connect with a lot of places that I couldn’t connect with on my own.  But now it was looking like it would be added to my collection of independently published books, and was making plans.

Then one single agent wrote to me and showed some interest.  I’m not sure how interested they are, as their emails have seemed pretty indifferent, but they’ve at least been wanting to take a look at more and more of the book.  So I’ve been sending it to them bit by bit.  I have meanwhile been making plans to independently publish it, so now I’m left with a dilemma.  If they say they want to represent me, should I accept it and go with them, or should I go independently anyway.  Here are the pluses and minuses of each.

Traditional Publishing:

Positives – There are two basic positives to publishing traditionally.  First, the publishers provide promotions.  Second, they get your book into places you can’t get them; namely bookstores.  They have connections at all of these places and send out regular catalogues from which materials are ordered.  These are too numerous for us to do on our own, and when we do contact them, they usually turns us down because we’re not traditional publishers.  This is true both of bookstores and promotional places, such as television and radio stations.

Negatives – To get to a publisher, you have to first sign with an agent.  While you do research on an agent and try to get one you can trust, it’s difficult to know for certain until you’ve already signed with them whether they’re going to do right by you, and by that time it’s too late to turn around and do it yourself.  There’s also no guarantee they’ll actually send it to publishers.  They could just sit on your book because it competed with one of their other books, and they didn’t want it out there in the market, or they might change their mind and not do anything with it for whatever reason.  Then there’s the possibility that even though they do pitch it to publishers, the publishers decide they don’t want it, and then you’re completely stuck, because the agent still has exclusive rights of the book, but it’s not getting published.  And in the end, either the agent or the publisher could decide that you need to revise it in ways you don’t want to revise it, and if you don’t, they still have the rights to it, and you’re not getting published.  And then, even if it is published, it could take two years or more to actually get onto the shelves.

Independent Publishing:

                Positives – Full control.  This is especially important with this piece because it’s about a family that really wants to make sure their ancestor is well represented.  Also, there are multiple places that might want to make this into a movie, and if I get it published soon, they might be serious about that.  If I wait too long, they might lose interest.

                Negatives – A lot of people close their doors to independent publishing.  It’s not right, but they do it.  Many bookstores won’t carry it; even independent bookstores, (go figure.)  As for promotions, many, many radio and TV stations won’t cover you.  Even many blogs, which are independently published themselves, won’t cover your book.  And even those radio and TV stations that criticize corporations and claim to support independent artists, (like the Colbert Report,) won’t even consider independently published books.

So there you go.  That’s my dilemma.  I don’t know which direction I’m going to go.