I’m pleased to announce that the Raven ebook is available for pre-order on Amazon now, and both ebook and paperback will be released on May 20! Now it’s time to start building some momentum to attract readers, and you can help!
Hey everyone,
It has been a long time since I posted any updates about my book. Let me fill you in on what’s been going on. For a while it was my goal to publish Raven through traditional channels. So it was my task to send out query letters to agents, in hopes that one of them would pick up the book and take it to a publisher. To be honest, I ran out of energy for that, and never had much luck with it. I let things sit for a while, but over the holidays I picked things up again. I got the book ready to self-publish! I learned more than I wanted to know about ISBNs and pricing, formatted for different media, prepared the cover art, and did some test prints. Here’s a test print of the paperback version:
Everything is now lined up and ready to publish on Kindle Direct and Ingram, as an e-book and a paperback. I could actually push a button today and the book would be self-published. But one does not simply push the “publish” button and get attention for a book.
Remember that my goal, and yours, is not just to write a book, it’s to inspire young readers to imagine themselves in software roles. And for that, we need readers! To try to bring more of an audience, we’ve got to bring in attention, especially that of influential reviewers. So my next task is to send out pre-release copies of the book to as many reviewers as I can attract the attention of, and to get them to read and review the book. I’ve got work to do!
But I also know I need to be realistic. We need to get this book out – no more delays. Raven is going to get published, reviews or not! So I’ve set a release date*: May 20, 2020! And I’m pleased to announce that the e-book is available for pre-order on Amazon right now! (pre-order link) The ebook will be $0.99 and the paperback will be $10.50, which is as close as I can get to giving the book away for free right now. For those of you who ordered paperback copies of the book from my Kickstarter or from Celery, I’ll be shipping your copies of the book within a week of the release date. Once again I’d like to say THANK YOU for your support and your patience on this project!
So, how can you help further? First off, if you know of any reviewers who might be interested in a near-future computer thriller for young adults, let me know! Do you read any book reviews? Where would this book fit? Second, start getting the word out to your network. If you know any young folks who might enjoy this book, and might do well with a dose of “you can do it!” reinforcement, let them know to check it out! And third, if you have other ideas for ways we could bring in some attention to this book, let me know! How will middle-school or high-school readers, or their parents, or their teachers or librarians find it? Help me make some plans!
What comes next after that? I’ll still be working after the release date, to continue to build momentum and attention. And I’ve definitely got some ideas for Book 2! But, first things first, let’s get Raven out the door.
Thanks, as always, for your patience and support. We’re in the home stretch now!
Sue
* Recently on Twitter/Facebook I said May 5, but I realized that’s Cinco de Mayo. I’ve decided to move it closer to “Wumpus Day,” for those who know what that is, so I can give out freshly-minted copies to students there. Plus 5/20/2020 has a bit of a ring to it!
