Mike Jastrzebski's Blog, page 46

Waiting on weather

 

What would Travis think? Bahia Mar 2013

by Christine Kling

Okay, I know there are worse places to be stuck waiting on weather in March than Fort Lauderdale, land of Bahia Mar and the infamous Busted Flush. A couple of days ago, I had to up anchor and head down to the fuel dock to take on diesel and water. On the return trip, as I was waiting for the Las Olas Bridge’s scheduled opening, I took the photo above of Bahia Mar, now land of the monster motor yachts. I wondered what Travis and Meyer would think of the place today. John D. MacDonald might agree with me that there are some nicer places to be about now.

But no matter how much I want to get across to the Bahamas, the fact is I am stuck here waiting on weather. I am currently anchored out in the Middle River not too far from Mike and Mary aboard Rough Draft. In fact, there are currently seven boats here in the anchorage and six out of seven are waiting for a weather window to sail across to the Bahamas. Every week or so, it looks like we’ll be able to leave after the current cold front passes through. We intend to leave at nightfall and sail overnight across the Gulf Stream and eventually anchor at Mangrove Cay on the Bahama Banks. The next day we’ll hopefully make it to Allans-Pensicola or Foxtown and then on to Green Turtle Cay. The thing is, we need a 3-day window, minimum. It’s roughly 175 nautical miles.

The Yorkshire Terror expresses his opinion of cold mornings

So, it will look good a week out, and then as it gets closer, the window will shrink and the period of moderate winds lasts only a day or two and another cold front comes blasting through clocking the winds around back into the north. North winds are a serious problem when you’re trying to cross the Gulf Stream, as wind against current produces some nasty seas. The other problem with north winds is they bring northern temperatures and we have too many nights with the temperature plunging down into the 40′s.  Now I understand that you folks in the north might think we’re sissies to whine about that, but you need to understand that on a boat this is a damp cold and we have no heat at night. I manage to get up in the morning and light the propane heater, but Barney, the Yorkshire Terror won’t come out from under the covers until the temperature in the cabin reaches 60 degrees.

Waiting requires patience, and this is an essential quality for sailors and writers. Taking the leap too soon can have disastrous consequences. Whether launching a voyage or a book, one of the factors that often influences disastrous early launches is peer pressure. We have a tendency to tell our friends what we’re doing. “Yeah, I’m sailing for the Bahamas,” you say and then you run into those folks at the supermarket two weeks later and they say, “What? You’re still here? I thought you were leaving.”

The same thing happens to writers. When they first tell their friends they’re writing a book, everyone jokes about bestsellers and movie deals. Two years later they’re rolling their eyes and looking at you like you’ve lost your mind when you say you are still working on the book. I can attest to that since I spent 7 years writing my first book and 5 years on my fifth book. When it comes to dealing with eye rolls and wise cracks, my thick skin is nearly bullet-proof.

So, if next week I’m still blogging from Fort Lauderdale, you’ll know that I am patiently waiting for my weather window and spending my days adding to the word count on book #6. And while this might not be the place I want to be right now, it certainly is entertaining. I mean where else could you take a video like this with the Yorkshire Terror expressing his dismay at a Rocketman flying around your boat? I think even Travis McGee would have chuckled at this sight.

Fair winds!

Christine

p.s. Thanks so much to everyone who helped out by downloading our free books last week. Thanks to you all I’ve sold more than 100 copies of Wreckers’ Key since Monday, and I’ve bought loads of school supplies for Every Child Counts. Each of the other writers will be making a cash donation. You guys are the best!

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Bridging time…

The New York metropolitan area is one of bridges and tunnels. They’re fixtures to the land and waterscape of the region. And the truth is, around here, we have more than our share of downright iconic bridges. The Brooklyn Bridge. The George Washington Bridge. The 59th Street. Tri-Borough (Yeah, I know they call it the RFK, but it’ll still always be the Tri-Borough.) The Tappan Zee. They show up in movies, tv, commercials, advertising and even fine art, some of it over a century old.  And from the water, they’re a constant, as much a part of the skyline as the Palisades Cliffs and the Empire State Building.

I’ve always been fascinated by the history of these architectural wonders. It started with the Brooklyn Bridge – years ago I found myself drawn into David McCullough’s The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge. Politics, scandal, romance, family loyalty – they all played a part in bringing this gothic wonder into being, in a time when horse and buggy/block and tackle/shovels and sweat were the only means of construction, which makes it even more wondrous that this bridge still stands tall and strong over 125 years later.

More recently, I’ve  come to discover I’m working in the footprint of another amazing bridge, so to speak. Though the Tappan Zee Bridge is eleven nautical miles south of Haverstraw Marina, it turns out that the marina owes its existence to the three mile span. In the newsreel video below, at 1:31, you can see the basin that ultimately became the Haverstraw Marina.

But all that engineering for the future seemed to fall short, and the Tappan Zee will never see a centenial celebration like the Brooklyn Bridge. In fact, after years of debate and deliberation, it appears that things are moving ahead on the all-new Tappan Zee Bridge.

 

It should be interesting to watch this newest chapter of history on the Hudson waterfront unfold, and I wonder what changes it will leave on the surrounding landscape.

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Buy a book, help a child

By Mike Jastrzebski

First, those of us who blog at Write on the Water would like to thank all of our readers out there who shared our site on Facebook. Friday’s post had more hits than any other in our three year history.

As Christine stated in her blog last Friday the four of us who participated in this givaway are giving a portion of our sales over the next week to Every Child Counts.

If you did not have a chance to download one of the free books, you can still help by purchasing one of the books listed below and we will send a percentage of our sales to the school. If you have already purchased the books or do not wish to do so, you can go to the school’s website, Every Child Counts, and leave a donation. Buy a book or send a donation, it will all help the school. Also it will help if you share this post on Facebook or tweet about it.

You can get more information about the school by going to Every Child Counts, or by checking out Christine’s Friday post. Just remember the books are no longer free.

This exciting sequel to Key Lime Blues has it all !

A sexy relative who wants to teach Wes Darling the meaning of kissin’ cousins, a priceless centuries old manuscript, a three hundred pound redneck, and an ex-spy who thinks murder is a justifiable means of support are just a few of the things awaiting Wes when he sails into the Dog River in search of answers about the father he never knew.

Dog River Blues blends the mystique of the liveaboard boating lifestyle and the colorful characters and vagabonds who live, work, and sometimes commit murder on our nation’s waterways. This is one voyage to Mobile, Alabama you don’t want to miss. Download  HERE.

Key West begins to look the the Wild West as Murphy and his ragtag team of friends gets involved with stopping a drug shipment from arriving on the island. Soon corrupt city and federal officials work with a mercenary in charge of a Colombian drug smuggling team to get Murphy at any cost. Murphy’s friend, the local chief of police is looking for him to, to explain the violence that seems to continually lead back to Murphy. Murphy’s black-bag friend, Norm, shows up to help and enlists some members JIATF, a federal agency responsible for tracking drug traffickers. The climatic end begins off the Bahamian island of Cay Sal with the drug shipment arrival via a Albatross seaplane and finally ends in the fishing shacks of Stock Island, Key West’s working class neighborhood. Download HERE.

 

“Single Deadly is a fast read that blends sunken treasure, deep-sea diving, fast boats and a cast of characters that run from bad guys to real bad guys to really really bad guys. (And that doesn’t even count the shark.)” Author Frank Cook.

Urban sets the story on the waters of Cape Cod and Buzzards Bay and gives the reader a rewarding blend of adventure, seaside escapism, and maritime history. Fans of Clive Cussler, Peter Benchley, and Randy Wayne White will find a new hero in Steve Decatur. Download HERE.

In the 1800s, Key West was built by wrecking skippers who in feats of derring-do raced to shipping disasters to save valuable cargos from the ocean depths. Today, as too many boats chase too few wrecks, salvage has turned into a cutthroat corporate enterprise. Seychelle Sullivan, who pilots a tug her father built by hand, is unable and unwilling to compete. She is overwhelmed by issues of love, trust, motherhood, career, and family. But when a friend is killed, Seychelle begins to suspect a chilling scenario: that modern-day wreckers are causing yachts to crash onto the reefs–and killing off whoever gets in the way. In this fourth book of this series, Seychelle navigates the dangerous shoals and channels of the case and her life, unaware that a greater danger is looming: a murderous human storm designed perfectly for her. Download HERE.

Want to help us out even more? Click on Like and share this on Facebook, repost this on your blog, tweet about it, and tell your friends.

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Help us help these kids by downloading 4 free books!

Students in Marsh Harbor at Every Child Counts – a special school for special needs kids

by Christine Kling

Today here at Write on the Water we are asking you to help us help those kids in the photo above. Those of us who have self-published books are doing a special Kindle book giveaway for the next three days that should increase our sales next week. If we can get enough people to download our free books, we’ll end up on some of the bestseller lists next week and hopefully sell a boatload of books. Then all four of us, Mike Jastrzebski, Michael Haskins, John Urban and I will donate a percentage of our earnings next week to Every Child Counts.

Last June when I was in Marsh Harbor in the Bahamas, I learned about this school for special needs children called Every Child Counts. My sister, Cindy Gray, is a special education teacher, and I have spent many years working in public schools, so I know that in the US, we attempt to meet the needs of all children in our public schools. This is not the case in all countries, however.

Several years ago, Lyn Major and her husband started this school for children with physical and learning disabilities. Here is how Lyn explains the history and mission of Every Child Counts on their website:

I hope you will take the time to visit their website and check out the beautiful faces of the 105 full-time students who have varying exceptionalities including Autism, Down Syndrome, deaf, no speech, Cerebral Palsy, cognitive difficulties and a host of neurological processing difficulties. The work Lyn and her staff are doing makes a world of difference to these kids and we hope that by bringing their efforts to the attention of our readers and fans, we can make a small difference in their lives too.

So how can you help? Easy! Just download the free ebooks.  You will be helping to increase our donation to the school. You say you don’t have a Kindle? You can read Kindle books on a computer, a smart phone or a tablet with the apps you will find here. So here are the books, and we hope you’ll click away.

This exciting sequel to Key Lime Blues has it all !

A sexy relative who wants to teach Wes Darling the meaning of kissin’ cousins, a priceless centuries old manuscript, a three hundred pound redneck, and an ex-spy who thinks murder is a justifiable means of support are just a few of the things awaiting Wes when he sails into the Dog River in search of answers about the father he never knew.

Dog River Blues blends the mystique of the liveaboard boating lifestyle and the colorful characters and vagabonds who live, work, and sometimes commit murder on our nation’s waterways. This is one voyage to Mobile, Alabama you don’t want to miss.  Download free March 1-3 HERE.

 Key West begins to look the the Wild West as Murphy and his ragtag team of friends gets involved with stopping a drug shipment from arriving on the island. Soon corrupt city and federal officials work with a mercenary in charge of a Colombian drug smuggling team to get Murphy at any cost. Murphy’s friend, the local chief of police is looking for him to, to explain the violence that seems to continually lead back to Murphy. Murphy’s black-bag friend, Norm, shows up to help and enlists some members JIATF, a federal agency responsible for tracking drug traffickers. The climatic end begins off the Bahamian island of Cay Sal with the drug shipment arrival via a Albatross seaplane and finally ends in the fishing shacks of Stock Island, Key West’s working class neighborhood.  Download free March 1-3 HERE.

 

“Single Deadly is a fast read that blends sunken treasure, deep-sea diving, fast boats and a cast of characters that run from bad guys to real bad guys to really really bad guys. (And that doesn’t even count the shark.)” Author Frank Cook.

Urban sets the story on the waters of Cape Cod and Buzzards Bay and gives the reader a rewarding blend of adventure, seaside escapism, and maritime history. Fans of Clive Cussler, Peter Benchley, and Randy Wayne White will find a new hero in Steve Decatur. Download free March 1-3 HERE.

In the 1800s, Key West was built by wrecking skippers who in feats of derring-do raced to shipping disasters to save valuable cargos from the ocean depths. Today, as too many boats chase too few wrecks, salvage has turned into a cutthroat corporate enterprise. Seychelle Sullivan, who pilots a tug her father built by hand, is unable and unwilling to compete. She is overwhelmed by issues of love, trust, motherhood, career, and family. But when a friend is killed, Seychelle begins to suspect a chilling scenario: that modern-day wreckers are causing yachts to crash onto the reefs–and killing off whoever gets in the way. In this fourth book of this series,  Seychelle navigates the dangerous shoals and channels of the case and her life, unaware that a greater danger is looming: a murderous human storm designed perfectly for her. Download free March 1-3 HERE.

Want to help us out even more? Click on Like and share this on Facebook, repost this on your blog, tweet about it, and tell your friends.

Fair winds!

Christine

 

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Am I a rotten parent?

I’m shopping for a baby monitor, which seems to be cause for some curious looks and concerned questions. But rest assured there are no diapers or baby bottles in my immediate future. No, I crossed that bridge many years ago, which is why I’m way behind on the current technology and why I’m asking a whole lot of questions in the baby supply superstores. And those questions are why I’m getting even more strange looks from the kind but confused sales people.

You see, I want maximum range. The ‘babies’ in question that I want to monitor are my four-footed kids, Loki and Rex, and I’d like to take them to work with me once the boat is in the water. I figure I can drop them aboard, then head over to the office, and take them for walks during lunch and breaks. The thing is, the Haverstraw Marina is BIG. One thousand slips spread across sixty acres big. In fact, the docks are separated into the south docks, the west docks, and the north docks, each with their own parking lots and amenities. The south side is a jumping place, closest to the main offices, the pool, restaurant and bar, ship’s store and more. On the opposite end of the cove, both geographically and atmospherically, the north side is known as the ‘quiet’ side, and that’s where I’ll be docking. But I want to be sure my furry crew members both behave in my absence, and from the office to the north side is a few minutes ride, either by car or dinghy. Rex had always been a good boat dog, though Loki has never been aboard. A baby monitor seems like a possible solution. I’ll be able to keep a watch and listen on them.

Explaining this has led to some odd and skeptical looks from sales people. I’m not sure one sales-woman believed me, and I suspect she came away certain I was actually making up some strange story to cover the fact that I’m the worst parent ever. Perhaps, but I have two fuzzy kids I’ve been promising to take to the boat after she’s afloat, and I intend to keep that promise, but I also want to keep an eye on them. I’m sure there may be other solutions to monitoring my babies. So if any one has any ideas or suggestions, I’d love to hear what you think.

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On Assignment: Jost Van Dyke

By John Urban

Jost Van Dyke, a four-and-a-half square mile rise on the northern edge of  Caribbean Sea.  An island that receives an armada of sailors and day boaters who descend upon waterfront establishments such as the Soggy Dollar Bar (home of the “Painkiller” rum drink), and Foxy’s (where Carib beer gets washed down with a fish, chicken, and ribs buffet).

Jost is the smallest of the four main islands that make up the British Virgin Islands.  Unlike nearby Tortola, paved roads and expanded electricity are relatively new here – welcome advancements for residents, but factors that will put pressure on construction and development.

A few hundred people live on this island, which is more known for its water’s edge than its land mass. But what of the future for an island such as Jost Van Dyke?

You don’t have to look beyond our own homelands to understand the push and pull of economic development versus preservation. We are, after all, the creatures who polluted the rivers of the northeast, the ones who turned the great estuary of the Hudson River into the tainted waters of the Meadowlands, and the very same people who still tear at our interior lands.  And on the other side of these forces of development, our own views on preservation often lead to land taxes and public takings that increase property values at a rate that displaces locals leaving behind seasonal playgrounds for the affluent.

And even if we held the answers to the ideal model for development, isn’t the goal of preserving a local community undermined, by definition, if change is driven from the outside? So one might wonder as to how this will play out on this small island that sits just north of Tortola and the US Virgin Islands.

A group of people on Jost saw an opportunity to get at this question, not by decree, but by example.  A not-for-profit organization called the Jost Van Dykes Preservation Society was formed to advance youth leadership on the island through environmental education and research. The group’s first project is the construction of a 32-foot sloop (the Endeavour II), inspired by the “Tortola Boats” that once ran goods and supplies between Jost and its nearby sister island.

(The Endeavour II under construction)

As of the date of this post, the Endeavour II hull and deck are complete, its inboard diesel is installed, and a full-time shipwright is at work laying the cabin floor.  And the island’s young people have participated, as well, putting in more than a thousand hours of combined labor and instruction as they take a role seeing this project move to completion.

The Endeavour II is being built to create historical and environmental awareness while increasing youth access to sail training. And if you were to ask Preservation board members Foxy Callwood or Bruce Donath, they’d tell you that as much as anything, the Endeavour II is about letting young islanders see that they can combine on a community project that advances the island while calling upon its history and natural resources.

If you are anchoring-in for a Painkiller at the Soggy Dollar or staying for dinner and entertainment at Foxy’s, be sure to stop by to see how construction is coming along on the Endeavour II.  Or if you’re not in the area, check things out at Jvdps.org. And if you’re coming here sometime down the line, look for the Endeavor under sail – she’ll be telling you something about the island’s history, and its future.

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God told me to do it, but he called me stupid!

Did I mention that the title of the new book is TO BEAT THE DEVIL? Seems I was the only one that liked KEY WEST LATITUDE. I have too much going on in my head to remember if I did or not.

I guesssed, a year ago this month, that the book would be about 200 pages, good enough for an eBook, or so I thought.

I believe, as a writer, I get ideas, and like a farmer, I plant them and, like the farmer, hope tomatoes come up where I put tomato plants and a story develops from where the idea was planted.

I planted this idea a year ago, as I said, and it grew as words began to fill the blank screen of my laptop. Somewhere along the line, I lost control! An incident changed direction of where the chapter was going and that changed the next chapter I had in mind and that . . . well, hopefully, you get the point.

Last week a man that has read my books and wanted to meet me, knew I usually spend Friday happy hour at the Smokin’ Tuna, North of Havana, Cigar Social Club. He visits the Keys from Pennsylvania a few times a year and follows my antics on FaceBook. He showed up Friday and we had a good time, but he made a point of wanting a new book in the series to read.

When I woke on Saturday to write, I thought a lot about what happened Friday night. I knew I was weeks away from the ending, if I followed the timeline I had. Then God spoke to me, something He doesn’t do too often! “Move the time line closer to where you are in the book, stupid!” Well, I think it was God, but did he have to call me stupid?

Anyway, with the guiding hand of providence, I moved the timeline, tossed aside some incidents that would’ve kept the book moving and figure the 200-page idea will be this side of 350 pages! So, please excuse me while I go follow providence.

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Rockin’ and Rollin’

By Mike Jastrzebski

I’ve posted about the anchorage we’ve been staying at for the last couple of weeks, but one thing I haven’t mentioned is how much rockin’ and rollin’ the boat endures. This little area of the Middle River is posted for water skiing. The signs say 35 mph limit for single engine boats towing skiers, but most of the boaters who pass by, and on the weekends there are a lot of them, seem to stop reading after 35 mph. Some of the water skiers seem to think it’s fun to get as close as possible to the boats at anchor, and large party boats pass by so close we can almost touch the sides of the boats.

Then there’s the wind tossing us around. It’s been blowing fairly consistently over the last few weeks. Not uncomfortably so, light and steady, but we have had a couple of nights when the wind gusts have hit 20 to 25 knots, with more of the same expected over the next week or so. Which brings me to Elvis.

No, not Elvis the phobic psychic who’s appeared in both of my Wes Darling mysteries, Key Lime Blues and Dog River Blues, but the King of Rockin’ and Rollin’, Elvis Presley.

So how did Elvis get into this post? It seems that all that rockin’ and rollin’ on the water plays havoc with our TV antenna so we’ve been watching Elvis movies for the last few nights on DVD. Some have been good and some bad, but they’ve all been entertaining, at least to the audience they were intended for, young girls in love with Elvis.

As a writer I can appreciate this. I would love to have an audience, young or old, male or female, who loved me no matter what I write, but I don’t. So I have to remind myself as I start work on my new book that what my audience wants is an entertaining book, but they also want a good book, and I’m going to do my best not to let them down. I’ll count on the readers out there to let me know if I fail or succeed, after all that’s what reviews are for and Amazon makes it easy for every reader to share their opinion, so feel free to let me know what you think at any time.

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Word of Mouth

by Christine Kling

This past Tuesday, the Thomas & Mercer edition of Circle of Bones was released into the wilds of Amazonia. They published a Kindle edition, a trade paperback and an audiobook. I have never felt this sure that a book was the best I could squeeze out of this brain of mine, and I sit here tonight wondering if there is any genuine thing I can do to help get this book into the hands of more readers.

I have been hearing lots of talk lately about this word “meritocracy” as concerns books. The idea is that good books will win out, no matter whether they are self-published, traditionally published or just trying to find their way out of a drawer. Books of merit will find their audience. And the way this happens, according to this theory, is through word of mouth. So, this “word of mouth” is often referred to as the holy grail of the book business.

Word of mouth is generated when people are so moved by a book that they must talk about it. They become loyal fans and ardent supporters of the book.

Some folks claim that only “great” books can generate the word of mouth that makes them best sellers. This is certainly true of books like Tinkers by Paul Harding that was rejected by dozens of publishers but when finally published by a small press that paid the author an advance of $1000 and gave it an initial 3500 copy print run then went on to win the Pulitzer Prize. And it is true of A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole, the book that was published posthumously 11 years after the young author committed suidice and it, too, went on to win the Pulitzer.

But I think that most people will agree that many, if not most best sellers are not really great books. From the Fifty Shades of Grey books to Twilight to the DaVinci Code, we can all agree these are not “great” books. However, they have something that makes people talk about them and pass the word on to their friends. There are many writers (some who can barely stand upright due to the chips on their shoulders) who will claim these bestsellers were “made” by huge marketing campaigns, but for every book for which this worked, there are many others that got the huge marketing push and yet never reached bestsellerdom and never earned out their multimillion dollar advances. If big publishers really could create these mega-bestsellers, I’m certain they would do it more often.

In his book Hit Lit: Cracking the Code of the Twentieth Century’s Biggest Bestsellers, James W. Hall identified twelve features that mega-bestsellers have had in common, and his book is a fascinating attempt to deconstruct what makes these books the ones that generate this word of mouth. Lest anyone think that this book provides writers with a recipe for a bestseller, Jim warns readers “So call it the yeast or call it the magic powder that catalyzes these inert ingredients – this last recurring feature is key. It is the author’s honest passion that breathes life into Scarlett and Scout and Mitch and dear old Professor Langdon.”

When you get right down to it, the online system of reader reviews found on sites like Amazon, Nook, Goodreads, et al is trying to generate this type of word of mouth. Authors today hope to use social media sites like Twitter and Facebook and the hundreds of other social networking places to gin up lots of talk about their books. The thing is, I think people, readers especially, are smarter than that. You can’t game word of mouth by talking about your own book any more than you can fake the magic powder Jim Hall refers to above.

My friend and fellow author, Kristy Montee, who with her her sister writes books under the name PJ Parrish, shared a Forbes article about Amazon customers via email today. The article’s author, Sue Charmane Anderson, is quoting from a presentation given at the Digital Media Strategies conference based on a study of why Amazon customers make the purchases they do. . They claim that “… statistics show that only a piddling 10 percent of Amazon book choices are made because of its ‘bought this/also bought’ recommendation engine. Bestseller and top 100 lists influence 17 percent of book choices, with 12 percent down to promotions, deals, or low prices. Only 3 percent came through browsing categories. Planned search by author or topic, however, makes up a whopping 48 percent of all book choices.”

This reinforces the idea that buyers hear about a book via word of mouth and then go search for it in the bookstore of their choice. With all the digital tools at our fingertips, it’s still just people talking that sells books.

And that brings me back to my original question–

Is there any way I can help generate more word of mouth?

And I’ve found my answer–

Only by writing the best books I can write.

Fair winds!

Christine

 

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Re: Digitally Empowered Author blog:

By Joyce Holland

Outside of the fact that I love the way Christine writes, her blogs are always full of details I want to file away, or things I want to talk to other writers about. I doubt there is any subject more talked about right now then self-publishing and ebooks.

I meet regularly with a group of published writers, one of whom, Vicki Hinze, is so knowledgeable regarding the business end of things that I usually ask her what certain editors are looking for right now. And I’m the agent! Anyway, the last time we met the subject was self-publishing. She’s one of the hybrids. We all know a hybrid has publishing credentials and often a following, so they have a better shot at making a success at self-publishing. Vicki and another author taught a one day workshop for Emerald Coast Writers last year. Their best piece of advice was to hire a cover artist. Nothing shouts self-published louder than a lousy cover. I have to admit, when I go into a bookstore, I buy books because of their covers, and, of course, the blurb on the back. And name recognition. Sorry.

As for all the new books coming out—because anyone can be a publisher—I think that tsunami will soon crest. Let’s face it, having a computer doesn’t make you write well. Until I closed to submissions recently, I often received more than 50 queries and/or manuscripts per week. Out of those, I accepted roughly one every three months, and some of those on spec. Now consider what happens if all those authors decide to self-publish after being rejected over and over. Unfortunately, that’s happening. If they are poorly written, people won’t come back for more even if these authors give their books away. And pretty soon, readers will return to publishing houses that cull material before they print it. Finding great books to read isn’t easy, but printing bad ones is a breeze. BTW, have you noticed how many of the big houses are opening eBook lines? If you’re going to ride the self-published wave, you better hurry because people will tire of reading material that used to leap from the slush pile into the circular file. If you’re good, you will be noticed. We all know what really sells books—word of mouth. I think one of the best ways to get that ball rolling is to get your friends and fans to read your book and post kudos on www.Goodreads.com

Here’s a picture of the replica Nina as she passed behind my house last  week (Fort Walton Beach, Florida)

Joyce Holland Literary Agent D4EO Literary Agency 850 243-6570
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