The Future is Magical
First of all, I have to tell you that I’m over at Paranormal Haven today with a guest post, Straddling the Line. They’re also doing a giveaway of two copies of Monster in My Closet, so if you don’t have it yet, go enter!
At times, it’s been a little frustrating that my book isn’t currently in a print format. I can’t do events at bookstores, since I can’t make the store any money by selling copies there. Hastings and Barnes & Noble sell it on their websites, but that doesn’t help the individual stores, and it also doesn’t guarantee a sale. I don’t like being a salesman, but I understand the idea that you have to make the sale then and there, or people will forget the minute they walk out the door.
My mom can’t wave the book around at her friends. I can’t walk into the grocery store and find my novel on an end cap. And yeah, not everybody has a Kindle, Nook, or iPad, so sales are lost to the non-digital folks.
But there’s an element to this digital-first thing that I didn’t think about: Digital is global. Translation rights are different, just like print rights. Those get sold separately. But the English version? It can go anywhere.
I overlooked this fact until I found a review a few days ago that was so overwhelmingly wonderful, I sat staring at it in disbelief. And it came from Romania. Romania, you guys. That’s incredible. You can read the whole thing, if you like, right here: Roxteo’s Review. You have to scroll all the way down for the English version, unless you can read Romanian. Here’s a small quote for you:
 I have the feeling that no matter what I’d say about the book couldn’t express how much I actually liked it. I think that if my list of unread books wouldn’t be so big, I would start again the novel right away. In fact, during the time I was reading Monster in my Closet I got back at the beginning of the book and read again and again some fragments.  Not because I didn’t understand something or because I forgot something, but because I loved them too much.
If I had gone with a traditional publisher, my book might never have reached this person. So, do I regret going with a digital-first publisher? Not on your life.
There have actually been some other really wonderful reviews, too. I don’t want to clutter up the blog with them, so soon we’ll have another tab up there with some excerpts and links, in case you’re interested in such things, or in case you still haven’t decided whether you’ll like the book enough to read it.
This has been a phenomenal ride so far, and the book’s only been out for five days.  The future looks magical from where I’m standing.
Have a great weekend. See you real soon!
I just realized the copy I pre-ordered has finally arrived! Whoosh!
🙂 I hope you enjoy it! Don’t be too critical of my portrayal of Sausalito and its city council. I did my best, but I took a lot of liberties.
Omg, you can’t imagine how happy you just made me!! This is the first time I’m receiving feedback from an author and…what a feedback! 😀 Thank you so much! I’m so excited that you read my review, that it mattered to you and that you found it nice enough to write about it. I can only say again that I believe you made an amazing job with your book. I read about 2 books/week (for the last 15 years, I think ^_^) so I’m not impressed just about any novel. Congratulations! I can’t wait to read the sequels 🙂 And I hope you’ll have the chance to have the printed edition of Monster in the Closet in your hands as soon as possible.
I wish you good luck and inspiration! Thank you again! Have a nice weekend!
Roxtao, thank you so much for coming by. Your review really touched me, and it reminded me why I wanted to be a writer in the first place. I’ll get back to work on the next books, knowing that to someone so far away as Romania, it matters. Have a wonderful weekend!
You can certainly count me as a huge fan! I’m really, really happy that through my review I was able to offer you a tiny piece of joy 🙂 Hugs from Romania!
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