That's one way to put it. Where's my book? That's another.
For those of you who have already received your ordered novel - Congratulations! You are in the minority. I, the author, am in the majority. Go figure!
Not sure why I expected everything to be smooth sailing once Emrysia Awakening went to press. It certainly wasn't up to that point! Let me back track and bring everyone up to speed..... if you're interested in the self publishing process read on, but if you don't want to be discouraged skip the next paragraph!
I wrote the initial manuscript for this first volume of the Emrysia series nearly ten years ago. I've been editing and trying to pitch to agents and publishers ever since. The agent I finally secured ended up having too much going on in her own life to fully participate in representing my book, which I found out after about three years of non movement. Last year, I decided to self publish since only agented authors have a shot at the big houses, and I didn't want to go through that whole process again. I handed over my 99.9% error free submission to the publisher around Eastertime with assurances it would take maybe two months on the outside until I held the final product in my hand. After over three months I started to hound the publisher. Then my husband got involved. My first electronic proof arrived the day before we went on vacation, loaded with odd line and page breaks and glitchlike add-ins caused by file restructuring. It was left up to me to find and fix these errors. Though I did this on a digital copy, those changes were never implemented before the hard copy proof finally made it into my hands. Two marked up hard copy proofs and numerous email exchanges and live meetings later and we were just about there. My manuscript was officially "approved" for publication near the end of October. That should have meant going to press the next day. I made my big announcement!....and then waited. (For those of you who have given birth, you know how long those last weeks can be!) Finally, almost out of the blue, the Amazon listing appeared! I believe it was the next day that my books actually arrived - you know, the copies authors keep on hand to sell and sign at readings, etc.? Except, mine came in with poor print quality - too little ink or something - they were just plain hard to read. I kept one for posterity, but it made for a less than auspicious launch. Then, I got a call from one of my book reviewers whose comments grace the back cover. Could I change a word so that it didn't appear as if he were sole Editor at the Greenville Press? No big deal, I assured him since it was, after all, print on demand. Hadn't the publisher and I just sent inferior product back to the printer, and wouldn't they want to make it up to me by waiving the resubmittal fee and reprinting a.s.a.p.? Well....a very long story, but as I mentioned earlier, I still don't have my books. So, for those of you who managed to get yours - kudos! I hope I get a chance to sign them for you if I see you. But so much for being on the shelves for Christmas shoppers. And now Amazon is saying 3 - 5 weeks for delivery, and Barnes & Noble only has Awakening available on Nook at the moment.
Okay, so now I'm done whining (or if you really like that sort of thing, visit my other blog http://imustbeoffmyrocker.blogspot.com/2011/08/whine-lots.html .
I've got unfinished business to which I must attend.
In case you still want to read Emrysia Awakening - and I really hope you do! - here are some options:
Ask for it at your local bookstore. It doesn't have to be an Expressnet distributor - any bookstore can order it for you. That said, for whatever reason the powers that be have listed the title as Awakening rather than Emrysia Awakening, probably something to do with the cover design. At some point I'll get all of this cleared up, but for now, ask for it both ways. And hey, if you get one of these earlier copies, maybe it'll be worth more some day!
You can still order from Amazon. Hopefully soon on Kindle.
You can get the Nook Book from Barnes & Noble. Hopefully soon in paperback again.
(Note* It's probably always gonna be in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy section. Weed through - there's a lot of questionable books titled Awakening, but trust me, mine's not like that!)
You can wait and buy yours later - but don't! The more people ask for it, the more demand they create will put pressure on the printer, publisher, and bookstores to have it available to become the worldwide phenomenon that it should be!
You can spread the word. I'd be eternally grateful.
But you can't get it from me, sorry. I'm still experiencing technical difficulties.
(Case in point: I tried to add original cartoons to this post and the screen froze up every time! So visit my other blog - you'll find them there...)
