Publishing advice and new partners
This has been an interesting week for Save My Dreams. First, Cheryl and I had the pleasure of sharing dinner with Aaron Shepard and his wife, Anne. Aaron is the author of Aiming At Amazon (subtitled: The NEW Business of Self Publishing, or A Successful Self Publisher Tells How to Publish Books and Double Your Profit (or More) With Print on Demand and Book Marketing on Amazon.com). You’ll have to read the book to discover why it has such an unwieldy subtitle. Suffice it to say that the extra words have a lot to do with winning more googling attention.
I had read Aaron’s book and visited his web pages many times before discovering that he lives in Olympia, barely a mile from my home. After I sent him an introductory e-mail he invited Cheryl and me over to his apartment for a pizza dinner hosted by Anne. We shared good conversation, talked about Anne’s new book, discussed the memoir about my mother, and compared differences between Aaron’s book and other self-publishing books on the market. We even discussed publishing through Lulu.com, a topic which I promise to write more on later. Everything was fine until, to my embarrassment, my cell phone went off twice during our conversations (the welcomed burden of fatherhood and grandfatherhood). Next time I’m in a similar situation I’ll be sure to turn the phone off.
The other news this week is that Save My Dreams is finishing up negotiations to publish an innovative science-fiction novel. I’ll write more on that after copies of the contract have been signed and exchanged. I discovered the novel as a free e-book a few years ago, and after reading it, I contacted the author and offered to proofread and make minor edits to the book. The author is now ready to take it into print through Save My Dreams, informing me that he has finished a second book, and he’s writing a third to complete the trilogy. I can hardly wait to read the final installment in the series.
Another recent contact has been with a talented graphic artist from Texas who has shown interest in helping to provide artwork for the sci-fi project. Cheryl and I are very excited about the possibilities of creating a great group of partners including authors, editors, artists, and other business associates. Goals can be achieved with higher excellence when people band together as a team.