On our walk home after school, we would float our little paper creations in the raging river (rain-filled gutters) excitedly watching to see whose boat would sail the best and travel the farthest. Sticks in hand, we'd run alongside our vessels; at the ready in case our boats needed assistance navigating a leaf pile or avoiding a treacherous storm drain.
The boat builders.
Author posing pious while Vince wonders if his First Communion certificate came with any cash.
At long last, Delta Legend is finally a real book you can hold. It feels like I just placed my little paperback boat into the stream and I'm eager to see how far it will travel. For now, it's available through the button here on my blog, as well as on the Delta Legend website. Also through Amazon, of course. But soon it will be available in a few Bay Area and Sacramento Delta Area independent bookstores and other retailers. I'll list them just as soon as they are on the shelves.
The arrival of the paperback is the beginning of a grassroots movement that will be interesting to watch. Not just for me as an author, but for other screenwriters who are presently turning their specs into novels. Also for those bloggers and fans who were among the first to embrace and promote Delta Legend back when it was only an ebook struggling to stand out in the massive sea of self-published authors.
So yeah, it took me WAY longer than I thought to bring the book into the physical world.
But I was determined to make it as good as any traditionally published book out there— even if it killed me.
Of course, I'll still be making the most of social media, but there's now a more personal component to the grassroots marketing campaign that's underway. It involves meeting people face-to-face, speaking about the book, and doing readings. I experienced this a bit when I was finishing the novel and did some readings. I'm looking forward to getting back to that. Only now, many of the people I meet will have the book in hand. I have been asked to sign someone's Kindle before, and it's just wrong.
While I'm grateful for every opportunity social media marketing has afforded (I've connected with some awesome book bloggers and readers) there's something deeply satisfying about connecting with people in person.
So many of you have signed up to be a part of this grassroots movement, it's amazing—complete strangers, who having read the book, eagerly pick up their own stick to help keep my little paperback boat steadily rolling along.
When someone you know recommends a book they think you'll love—there's no better advertising in the world. That's what people are doing for Delta Legend and I am eternally grateful.
Me with my stunt double. It was far too dangerous for me to "play dead" considering how much work I have ahead. Special thanks to my dear friend, Connie, for a hilarious photo shoot.
