Friends, Romans, Countrymen...Lend Me a Dollar (Or A Review)!

Well, not exactly lend, but you get the point...

As I have finally made progress is completing Unwritten, so I can finally get Stories from the Forester: Volume One ready for public consumption, I've had to make some tough choices, mostly economic.

That, of course, means, the end of Dilemma being free. The PDF, like the Kindle version, is now 99 cents and in on sale at Lulu.com. That's the bad news. Then again, it may not be if you're one of the people who were good enough to download a copy.

For those people, I have another mission. Please post your reviews on the Dilemma Amazon page and the Lulu.com page. And no, I don't care if you think it was the worst piece of garbage you've ever read. As far as I'm concerned, there's no such thing as bad publicity!

So, go ahead. You know you could use the diversion!

An Old Friend's New Project

I known Eddy Webb since my days at the old Hawthorne Academy, the school for gifted kids in Lorain, and we were good friend over the years. He's the one who got me into role-playing games (Pre-World of Warcraft, pre-computer, actually!), and we shared a great interest in technology.

Then, like most of my childhood friendships, after I went to college, we parted ways and lost touch with each other.

However, about a year ago, I came across some offerings by White Wolf on Lulu, and sure enough, the man behind their efforts? Eddy. So, I decided to drop him a line. And since it's been a while, I had to let him know I wasn't this crazy random person.

In any event, it seems that we both share another interest - writing, though I know Eddy definitely had a head-start on me. And it shows with his newest effort, and I think it's going to be a intriguing marriage of fiction writing and social media.

The Whitechapel Project, as it's been called, is a serialized horror novella slated to begin on August 5th. Not only will it feature regular updates to the fiction text, Eddy plans to also release each episode as a podcast. What's more, he'll get public opinion on how the story should proceed.

While serialized fiction is as old as the medium itself, The Whitechapel Project is probably the most ambitious and innovative idea I've seen in quite a long time. So, with that, I wish my old friend Eddy Webb luck and will definitely be one of those tuned in for each episode!

A Sign of Summer - Flagrant Foul Book Promotion!

You thought I gave up, didn't you?

Of course not. After all, we are talking about Flagrant Foul...

And, as such, in what seems to be the Promotion That Never Ends, it is, like it was last summer, time to start getting out there and putting the word out. This, of course, is the eternal drawback of a book that's not only self-published, but evidently non-selling.

Perhaps a discount can entice you?

How about 10 percent? You'll get it if you buy Flagrant Foul now and use the discount code JULYCONTEST10 at checkout.

Oh, and, of course, all reviews are graciously accepted, which, you can add on the book site.

And no, all proceeds will not go to me. All proceeds will go towards Lulu's Expanded Distribution package, a $49.95 value. Evidently, I'll be needing that to get Flagrant Foul added to the Indiebound, Barnes & Noble, Borders and Books-A-Million databases. That might help me a bit.

My Book is Available? Really? Where?

Before you keep reading, go ahead and search for Flagrant Foul on any other book site besides Amazon...

Now, if you found it somewhere else, you clearly have been eyesight than I do.

For months, since I slapped an ISBN on the Foul as part of Published by Lulu, I at least figured that the cycle would have come around where it would be all over the place.

And then I came to a startling discovery.

One of the indie bookstores I follow on Twitter pointed out that it wasn't on their database, Indiebound. That led me to check around to some of the other stores.

Barnes & Noble? No.

Borders? No.

Books-A-Million? No.

While I don't doubt there's a way to try and get Flagrant Foul onto their site and the Indiebound database, I have yet to find it. Most sites like this don't necessarily come with a step-by-step instruction manual. And the question I sent to Indiebound has, at current, gone unanswered.

So, what's the deal? I can't believe that only showing up on Amazon is my penance for not having the $99.95 to shell out for my own ISBN.

Can it?

Need Help? Just Ask...

Like all things, book marketing takes work, planning, and a little bit of luck doesn't hurt.

Also, relying on the kindness of your fellow writers is a good plan as well.

All you have to do is ask...

This has worked for me in a number of instances. For those Questers who have been reading for a while, you've no doubt read up on my appearance on book review sites, like Shannon Yarbrough's Lulu Book Review and Metha Metharom's Book Review site. Plus, you'll recall my appearance on Pete Klein's BlogTalkRadio show, plus my Lulu.com interview.

How did that all happen? Just by asking.

Understand, of course, that not all requests will be granted or even heard, for that matter. It's a crap-shoot, to be sure. And I've had my fair share of rejection, though, as Questers who have certainly tried to gain the attention of agents and publishers alike, you know that rejection's an occupational hazard.

But even if you don't get everyone to say yes, just a couple can go a long way for you to accomplish your goal!

And it keeps on coming.

Lulu.com Author Interview

This is what we call an interesting turn in the road...

Lulu.com Author Interview: Bob McDonald | Lulu Blog

This is also one of those occasions where spending an inordinate amount of time on Twitter will eventually net some feedback. A simple tweet reply to Lulu.com's Dan London was all it took.

And this was only the second-most interesting thing I saw on Twitter today. I also found out that Shaquille O'Neal's on Twitter no. Really, it's him!

The Quest Has Ended...For Now...

After careful deliberation, I finally took the plunge and got the Published by Lulu distribution package for Flagrant Foul. As always, I wonder why I take so long to do what's right in front of me.

So, if you visit Lulu.com, you can get a copy of Flagrant Foul for $25.99, plus shipping. However, if you visit the Stories from the Forester site, http://www.flagrantfoul.com, you can buy a copy for $19.99, with free shipping!

What does this all mean? Will this spell the end of Quest for an ISBN? Not really. After all, there are other Quests to be had. Not to mention, if I'm going to get anyone to buy this edition of Flagrant Foul, I'm going to have to market the hell out of it! And for free! No easy feat, especially in these economic times.

We'll be seeing you on the blog tour circuit, and best you believe with basketball season here, it's a good time for it!

Writing Rule No. 1 - Keep On Writing

All Questers probably have this in their memory banks already, but it does bear repeating.

Just keep writing.

And it doesn't really matter where. And it also doesn't matter if you're getting paid or not, though I'm sure some money would be nice (Yes, I saw Almost Famous recently). And, if you are writing pieces for blogs, you may get noticed even more. The Lulu Blog has a good story about blog promotion that's worth a read.

But the most important thing for Questers is this - No matter if you're writing to the masses, putting the finishing touches on your next book or even scribbling a short story that only you will ever see, you're still writing. You're still practicing your craft.

I'm sure I don't have to tell you that writing is a labor of love. We aspire to make it our full-time profession because we love doing it so much. And if it doesn't happen, we can always take comfort in the fact that nobody can tell us we can't write anymore.

That's what I'm doing right now. Despite not really getting too far with Flagrant Foul or Dilemma at the moment, it hasn't stopped me from pressing on with the next book, Unwritten. It also hasn't stopped me from posting more Quest entries, or even the new blog I am working on, the Crossroads Career Transition Blog.

And it shouldn't stop you. In fact, I'm sure it hasn't stopped you.

After All That???

Now that it's the beginning of August, I must take personal stock in how the Quest is going.

Um, not so good...

Sales so far:

Flagrant Foul (from lulu.com): 0
Dilemma (from lulu.com): 0
Dilemma (from Mobipocket/Amazon): 0
Average daily hits on http://www.flagrantfoul.com/ (Main site, not the Quest): 1.17

So, I take this to mean one of three things. Either...

A. I'm not applying myself.
B. My books really are crap.
C. This is a tough, tough racket to break into.

For the time being, I'm going to choose Answer C, and press on. And instead of moping, I'm going to just turn it over to you guys. How has your Quest been going? What's your experience been like so far. I've got a couple of different Quest reports posted already. Come join in! I know I'm not the only one!

The Gaping Hole...On The Cover

As if watching the last month or so drift away weren't enough, revisiting the cover of Dilemma, the book I've chosen to used to take advantage of the Published by Lulu distribution package, has been a struggle?

The problem? Getting that center picture right. So far, two tries, and two strikes.

I think I may some professional help on this one.

Paging Dr. Yarbrough...

Get Back in Line!

As I'm patiently waiting for my proof copy of Dilemma to show up at my doorstep, I am often brought back to the original question of why this book got in front of the ISBN line instead of Flagrant Foul, which is the basis of the Quest. As I've posted previously, I thought it to be a test of what an ISBN could do to increase exposure (Paraphrasing, of course).

But now, maybe that's not the real reason...

While the Quest, along with every other bit of promotion (radio, reviews, etc.), is primarily dedicated to Flagrant Foul, Dilemma remains, in fact, the first story in the Forester rotation. And as such, there is ample justification as to why it is already available on Amazon as a Kindle Book, along with the aforementioned Published by Lulu venture.

Regardless, the Quest will continue, now for both books. The question that remains, of course, will be which one will come out of the gates of popularity first?

The Bowker Stamp of Approval

Shortly after my previous post, I received a message from a representative from R.R. Bowker, which is, of course, the the agency that distributes ISBNs in the U.S. In short, he provided some very useful information, including a link (Click here) of all the Bowker-authorized companies. Lulu is definitely one of them.

This, of course, tells me a couple of things. First, and most importantly, regardless of the option (in this case being selecting the Published By Lulu service), I made the right choice by sticking with Lulu. Secondly, folks are actually reading this thing!

So, thanks to Bowker for the information, and I hope to hear even more in the future!

A Quest Test - Dilemma - Published by Lulu

As some of you are aware, Lulu.com recently announced that they will now be offering their Published by Lulu Distribution Service free of charge. My guess is that this was likely a reaction to the fact that Amazon's Createspace was doing the same thing. In a nutshell, the Published by Lulu service allows users to have an ISBN, with Lulu as the named publisher.

While this sounds quite appealing to me, since, after all, this is what my Quest is all about, I'm a little leery of the deal. This is undoubtedly the mindset of many out there. So, instead of arbitrarily dropping Flagrant Foul into this program, I'm going to test it out with another story of mine.

For those scoring at home, I have been offering the first story from the Forester series, Dilemma, as an e-book, not only through Lulu.com, but also through Mobipocket and Amazon for their new Kindle device. To be honest, I had never intended Dilemma to be a standalone book, rather one of two stories that I was going to enventually package together in one volume (In case you were wondering, I'm about a quarter of the way through writing the second story, Unwritten. Stay tuned!).

However, with this new development, what's the harm in seeing what comes of it? So, after re-formatting the Word file and re-designing the front and back cover, the print edition of Dilemma will be on my doorstep later on this week for me to look over and approve.

So, we'll see how it goes!

The Quest Begins!

As I've explained already, I am working on trying to sell enough copies of my book, Flagrant Foul, to cover the costs of buying the Published by You distribution package from Lulu, at a retail price of $99.95.

So, I humbly ask of you, my visitor, a couple of things...

1. Donations are not needed. I have a product to sell, and you can find it at the http://www.flagrantfoul.com or the Flagrant Foul book page.
2. If you want to read an electronic version of the book, I'd be more than happy to give it to you. Drop me a line and I'll send you a PDF! All I ask is you tell me what you think!

Those are my requests. Let the games begin!