Thanks. I’ve added the link to next Friday’s Roundup on WordPress, as I think this is where it will get the most attention rather than on my Facebook or Pinterest sites.

Feel free to use the share buttons under the post. 🙂

Thanks Bryan. Yes. Cleo will be killing zombies for awhile once I get the ball rolling. I don’t have them all finished but as I’m writing any story in any genre I like to think 2 steps ahead I like to see into my character’s future. I see if there is anything down the road for them. If/when I find it it becomes the next book. I have an outline (usually 1-20 handwritten pages) that tell the entire summary of the next book. So then when I get to that book I just have to expand the story. And I usually do that by handwriting my entire first draft.

Thanks Mark. I will.

Whichever way you look at it, bad sales on a self-published title will become a scar upon your name for publishers that are risk-averse in considering an author’s work/track record. That works against you. In a business full of people who can say ‘no’ with only a handful of people who can say ‘yes,’ why would you give them any reason to say no? My suggestion is to go into battle like a Spartan wearing red. Spartans wore red so that their enemies could not see them bleeding on the battlefield. Hopefully you can think of this in the spirit of reinvention. It worked for Bob Dylan (his real name is Robert Allen Zimmerman), or look at how many times David Bowie and Madonna have reinvented themselves! If you’re a fan of Lady Gage, she’ll reinvent herself several times in changing costumes within one concert! Stephen King used to write under the name of Richard Bachman and those books never sold. Once he became the author we all know and love as Stephen King, he went back and changed the name on those books. Suddenly there were bestsellers! Go figure…

Mark,
I understand what you meant by it being easier to reinvent oneself with nonfiction, but I don’t understand what you meant by the second part of your statement. Will it work against me as far as approaching a traditional publisher if one book did not do well?

It’s easier to reinvent oneself with nonfiction as it is subject-driven, but typically the same would apply in the instance you described.

Mark,
Another question. If I leave the book alone and try to get a traditional publisher for another book I’m writing, will that publisher be looking at other books I have out there? Will this book shadow others to come?

That’s not a bad idea, along with the change of author name if you decide to go that route.