This is going to be a quick post because after having my first book launch this past weekend, I think I figured out the secret to having a good one and selling a lot of books. Don’t have your book launch at a bookstore. Sure this seems counterintuitive, but have you ever walked into a book store and saw an author doing a book signing? … Continue reading How to Have a Successful Debut Book Launch and Signing
After months of sitting on Amazon’s Hot New Releases in the Surfing and Costa Rica categories, today is the official release date of Native Moments. All three versions are now avaialble on Amazon: Paperback, Kindle and Audio. If you subscribe to this blog using your email address, you’ll be entered to win a free audio version of Native Moments. Also, in a few days I’ll … Continue reading 09/15/16 – The Day I Became a Published Author
For some reason every time I see Pensacola in a book I’m reading, a sense of hometown pride swells in me. For instance, I’m currently reading Tom Robbins’s Another Roadside Attraction and came across this line on page 61: “Despite his silly grin. He was accepted for pilot’s training and was graduated from the Pensacola air school, third in his class.” This line is from Barry … Continue reading Seeing Your Hometown in Novels
An advanced copy of Native Moments finally arrived in Tamarindo, Costa Rica, the setting for the majority of the story. Jose, a dental assistant there, saw one of my posts on Instagram and asked how he could read the book. I told him it wasn’t available yet, but that I did have a few advance copies if he would be willing to write a review. … Continue reading Native Moments in Tamarindo
I’m working on collecting my three days of notes to tell people about my first experience at Book Expo America and hopefully give some insight into what writers can expect by attending, but for now I’m just bragging about my publication on the kickass website theinertia.com. If your unfamiliar with it, it’s a great website for surfing news. I was stoked they accepted an excerpt … Continue reading Not a follow up to Book Expo America; just another shameless bragging post
Maybe a better question to start this conversation would be “did the picaresque novel ever have a place in American literature?” The picaresque novel is defined in the Oxford dictionary as “relating to an episodic style of fiction dealing with the adventures of a rough and dishonest but appealing hero.” When I think of the picaresque the first story that comes to mind is Don … Continue reading Does the Picaresque Novel Still Have a Place in American Literature?
I finished the 150 pages of edit suggestions from editor #1. I agreed with about 99% of them. Amazing what I missed. I thought I knew every word of that manuscript. I left out words, misspelled words, misused words and had some jumbled sentences that she helped me clarify. On top of her suggestions, I had some really great and brutally honest feedback from a respected … Continue reading First Round of Edits are Finished.
Nic Schuck 