As some of you may know, but most of you don’t, The Blood That Bonds just spent a year in submission over at St. Martins Press. The editor to whom I had sent it recently got back to me, and they unfortunately won’t be buying the book – the basic gist was “you can certainly write, but it was a little dark for me.” So that’s a bit of a bummer, but I’m not angry or anything … this is how the print industry works; you have to find the right editor and publisher for your work, and it can be a difficult and time-consuming process just to get your voice heard over the crowd, let alone by the right people.
I’m not giving up on my dream of print publication for The Blood That Bonds, or my other work. I’ve wanted to have a book published since I was eleven years old, and there’s no reason to stop trying until it happens or I’m dead. However, I’ve decided to use the skills I possess that other authors perhaps don’t in order to help the people who might want to read it, find it. There are a lot of people out there who’ve written a vampire book … but how many of them are professional web designers and developers with over a decade of experience? Probably not too many. Why not leverage those abilities to take a route less-traveled to getting the book out there and noticed?
Which is why I registered TheBloodThatBonds.com and have spent my free time creating an entire website to promote the upcoming free release of the novel, in eBook formats (PDF, Kindle, iPhone and more), to whomever wants it. The site’s not quite done yet and is still locked down under a username and password, which is why I didn’t link it, but it’s very close to finished and I anticipate it will launch in mid-August. I’m really excited about this project, as I think it’s a chance to get my writing out to a much wider audience than it’s previously seen (I’ll be doing heavy promotion of the site and the book, trying to get blogs and sites all over the internet to link it, review it, etc). Hopefully some of that audience will be people with ties to the print industry who might want to publish the book in print … but if not, hey, at least people will be reading, and that’s the goal, right?
It’s time to get this thing out there. :)
I’m just a random reader that you don’t know, but I’m so pleased that you’re not planning to give up!
There’s so much in the way of facile, poorly conceived vampire fiction around, particularly at the moment, but this stands out like a rare gem amongst the lesser books and as well as being beautifully written, it’s also a cracking good read.
You will find a publisher. Best of luck with the search!
My husband downloaded it on my nook and i came across it. I am halfway through it and i just cannot stop reading it! It is the best book i have read in a very long time. I am an avid reader and wanted to say thank you! Thank you for getting your work out there. I do hope there is a sequel because the world you created is not only believable but causes your readers to fall in love with these characters. Eagerly awaiting a sequel, M-