Alan R Marble

I've had a little time to think about the self-publishing route, some time to sleep on it, and I've decided to make the plunge.  Steps are now being taken to that end, and with any luck we'll have the book ready to go in time for the holidays this year!  The manuscript is being adjusted and formatted for publication as a 6" x 9" paperback, a pretty standard size in the industry.  What's lacking (and what I don't have the capacity to do) is design and create cover art for the novel.  It seems likely that I'm going to have to commission an artist to do it for me, but hopefully that won't take too terribly long.

I've also decided to go ahead and give Kickstarter a go.  I believe that there's a good shot to get the initial funding we need to make the release go smoothly and, hopefully, give us a little boost in terms of attention and potential.

I am also going to start making better use of the Facebook and Twitter feeds.  I know that there aren't many followers just yet but since I'm going down this road of self-publishing I'm going to have to make the most of social networking.  Time to make the most of it!  So keep an eye out for more exciting news soon.

There are going to be some changes to the site in the near future, as we look to highlight The Silver Token a little more directly.  It will likely be moving to a permanent home on our own severs rather than hosted here at Blogspot.  We might also be moving over to Wordpress for a little more control, and while that might have an impact on some of the old comments not moving over, it shouldn't be a big deal.

All right, now on to some big changes with the novel.  Those of you who have been following on Facebook will have noticed a little talk about the possibility of going for a self-publishing route for the novel.  It's been three months since I started approaching agents about the manuscript and so far no bites, just a parade of polite, if impersonal, rejection letters.  I understand agents are busy and have a lot to wade through in terms of submissions, and as a result a lot of the success hinges on that query letter rather than the manuscript itself.
Perhaps I haven't written a good query letter.  Perhaps I've simply approached the wrong agents.

Whichever is the case, I am not really willing to let the manuscript linger due to query letter misfires or simply getting lost in the grind of the modern publishing world.  Self publishing is no walk in the park, to be sure, and there's certainly no guarantee of success (in fact most self-published authors will be lucky to sell more than a few dozen copies).  The onus is on me and my small network of friends and family to get the word out.  Still, it can be done.  It gives me more control over the process, and guarantees I don't simply lose interest and just never get started.

There are still a few considerations, of course, such as commissioning cover art for the published book.  I'm also strongly considering some kind of pre-order sale of signed copies to help generate a little seed revenue for the project; I'm also considering whether or not to take the plunge and give Kickstarter (www.kickstarter.com) a try to generate even more revenue for potential marketing and the like, but the jury is still out on that.

A final decision hasn't yet been made, but stay tuned!  I'm looking to get a little more use out of this site now, too.