One of the wishes of many indie authors (myself included, if I'm going to be honest and quit trying to be funny) is to be taken seriously. Most authors work hard at improving their craft -- regardless of how we choose to publish. We want to give our reader our best -- stories they'll remember, characters they'll love and a world they can get lost in until the final page is read.
And, we want to be recognized for our efforts. We want to be seen as "legitimate."
Readers help us out by looking for more of our books, writing reviews and telling their friends.
But, often times the degrees of separation are such that reaching new readers and convincing them your work is worthy is like whistling in the wind.
Yes, there are contest to enter, and we authors flock to these -- not just for the accolades, but so we have another opportunity to stand out from the ever-increasing crowd of published works and catch the eyes of new readers.
None of this is easy. If you're an author you know all about the degree of difficulty. Hey, even the Russian judge would give us all 10s for the effort we put into marketing.
So, when something comes along that helps in our quest to find readers AND to have that stamp of Legitimacy I, for one, am all over it. I submit, wait and pray to the god of book marketing. I also make sacrifices, but we won't get into that......
And, guess what?
I can now proudly display the seal at the top of my anywhere I choose (I'm thinking of even having it embroidered on a baseball cap) -- except, apparently, the body of this blog because of some weird software issue.
Both Death by a Dark Horse and BushWhacked have been accepted into the Library Journal's curated SELF-e collection! That means both books are featured selections and will be shared with libraries all over the country. Talk about a long reach! I am delighted, no, jazzed beyond belief to have this opportunity to reach new readers. Many many thanks are due to the wonderful folks at Library Journal who have recognized that indie authors have worthy books to share and deserve readership.
