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.
