Hey all!
Just a quick update on where we are with How to Get Fired!, my new book which is published but which nobody can buy yet, unless you order it from this website, which you’ll already know if you’re reading this blog, so I don’t really need to be telling you. But I did. Ha!
Anyway, in the last few months I have established a publishing company (Big Pow! Books), found a printer, found a distributor, and registered for ISBNs, barcodes, and all the other fun stuff that comes with figuring everything out as you go. Turns out, most of this stuff isn’t hard – it just costs money, which I will theoretically make back once How to Get Fired! becomes the most popular book in the entire world, a feat which is likely impossible since the book contains neither wizards nor vampires. I think the next book I write will be about a vampire-wizard, or a wizard-vampire; I haven’t made up my mind.
The process of finding a distributor is generally the most important, and thus most difficult, part of dealing with books. I submitted to about eight, got rejected by two or three outright, but actually ended up having four or five express an interest. I think the key is having a decent business and marketing plan, doing a bit of research to show that your book might be different than the others on the market, and having something tangible to show them.
At any rate, the book’s official release date is going to be April 1. So, now it’s time to turn to publicity, the delicate art of paying somebody to tell you how great you’re going to be. Finding a publicist is seriously the easiest thing in the world; the hardest thing is knowing whether or not the person you hire will do anything worth paying for. Jury’s out – we’ll see what happens, but I’ll keep you posted.
To sum up: if any of you are thinking about publishing a book and would like to know more about the whole process, feel free to email me any time, and I’ll tell you everything I know. I can’t say yet whether my efforts are going to pay off, but it’ll be an interesting ride either way.
