THE VIDEO BLOGS ARE UP!!

Announcing Hobbcat2012 on Youtube. Go to Youtube and join Hobbcat2012 to see my video blogs. Get further information about self publishing and writing from me via video. Click the link below and check them out.

http://youtu.be/PR3HpykzvoU


Next blog coming next week.

PART TWO: COMPANY, OWNERSHIP & PRINTING

If you are ready to move to the next phase of self publishing, these next few steps are essential. You might be asking yourself why I would mention starting a company when we’re talking about writing your own book. Well, if you’re going to self publish, you’re going to want to establish a name for yourself via a company. Also, many printing companies only provide services to those with tax id numbers. But take a look at some of the next steps you want to take.

Since you are self-publishing, you want to establish a brand name. This brand name will be key for your fans that will come to know your work. Establish a company name and make sure it’s not taken by someone else. Try to avoid using your name for the company. Be creative but not silly that way people take you seriously. For example my company name, Hobbcat, was named after my house cat.

You may also decide if you want to become and Incorporation or an LLC. Before you make that final decision, be sure you do your homework on the difference between the two. Most people go with the LLC because it’s easier to deal with for tax reasons. Incorporations require much more attention to detail. You will want to find out your state tax laws and how you need to file. Do not make this decision lightly or you will pay for it down the line. You can either check with your state website or Legal Zoom about the differences.

Next you will need to get ISBN (International Standard Book Number) numbers and barcodes for your books. This is that 13 digit number you find with the barcodes and inside the copyright page of the book. Why do you need to buy this number is you are going to self publish?

Let’s go back to IUniverse. Remember when I told you I went to them first to self publish my book because I was considered the self publisher and retained my rights? That was only half right. I will explain.

When you publish with them, you retain your copyright which means you keep ownership of the book. But the ISBN is assigned to you by them. That number is owned by the company, IUniverse, thus making them the publisher, not you. That means you cannot duplicate that book with that ISBN number anywhere because you don’t have that right. If you own your own ISBN, then you are the publisher. It is linked to you. You need that number to sell in bookstores and abroad. Without it, you won’t be able to get it in the stores.

The Barcodes contain the price that you set for your book. How do you determine how much to set the price for? It all depends on you. Really, it does. As the publisher you set the price. Keep in mind what you’re spending to put the book together and printing costs. If you’re not sure how much to price your book for, my advice is to go to the book store and look at the shelves. Hard cover books often cost much more than soft cover book. One reason for this is both shipping and printing costs. The heavier the book, the more you will pay across the board. Soft cover book vary in size and price so depending on what size you want to print, you should adjust your price accordingly. Again, go to the bookstores and check out the shelves and see what prices have been set on the books. Remember now; think about your printing costs and how much you want to take in.

PRINTING: There was a time when printing was done in bulk. Traditional Printing, as it is called, is still done. But for the most part self published authors tend to avoid bulk printing unless it’s necessary. It used to be that if you took your book to a printer to have copies done you had to print a minimum amount of copies. Anywhere from 200 to 1000 and then you had to store them someplace.

There isn’t anything wrong with traditional printing. If you have only one title having five hundred copies of the same book on hand for when you are doing speaking engagements or signings is always a good idea. However if you are a self publishing author with multiple titles you may not want to have five hundred of the same titles sitting around you home. You may not even have room for it all. So what can you do in that case?

Well printing has changed. Now a day you don’t have to do traditional printing. There are a lot of companies offering what is called print on demand. They are offering discounts for ordering in bulk and even shipping directly to other addresses per your request. It is more cost effective for the self published author to go this route unless you prefer to have thousands of copies of your book on hand.

So what is print on demand?

Print on Demand (POD) is a printing service by which books are printed in the amount they are requested. As opposed to having to order a set amount of books, you can choose to print only what you need. You can order one book or a hundred. I have found this process to be the best for me especially since I have multiple titles under my name. Since I also don’t sell too many books out of my home, I can always order what I need for events.

For example, if I am going to be at a book fair or a convention and I know that certain titles will sell better than others, I can order up just enough of the best sellers to have on the table.

When you are ready to print, you should look into Lightning Source as a way to go. They not only offer good prices on POD but they when you sign up with them they will list your books on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. It’s always a plus to have your work listed on these sites.

If you are willing to put in the time and the money to follow the above steps, you are halfway there to self publishing your own book. If not, that’s okay. But you still need to follow that editing step before you send a manuscript out to a publishing house. The cleaner your work is, the better it will be received.

PART ONE: PUTTING YOUR BOOK TOGETHER

Like any business, it costs money to be a self publisher. Regardless to the fact that we are in the age of Kindle, Nook, E-Reading where uploading a book for you to these services are free, you still need money to self publish. Book covers are still needed, editing services are a must and you will need to purchase sample copies of your books to make sure everything is done right. If you plan to print books, either traditional printing or print on demand, you need to buy copies of your books to sell. You should research how much it will cost to do all of this. If you choose to skimp on quality, you will get what you pay for. Here are some essential steps.

Drafts: Before anything you will end up writing several drafts of your book. Take your time. A book does not need to be rushed. Since we are talking self publishing here and you are not on a publisher’s deadline, you have time to get things together. When you are done with your draft, re-read it and make corrections. Look for as many mistakes that you can find. Give it to someone else to read and let a fresh set of eyes look for mistakes. Do this and make as many rewrites as you can before you send it to an editor. The fewer mistakes you have in the manuscript, the easier you make it for the editor to concentrate on editing the structure of the story.

Editing takes place after writing the final draft of your book. You need to find someone to do a good copy edit which means they will not only work on grammar and spelling but story structure as well. A really good editor will give you some great tips on how to make you work stronger and more appealing to your readers.

Do your homework and make sure you get a reputable editor. Although we live in a time where going online to look for our needs in the norm, you will want to do more than surf the web for an editor. Talk with other writers who have success with them. Get recommendations. Do not just trust testimonials on editor websites, be proactive and try and reach out to the clients they serviced. There are some good editors out there but there are a lot of shams out there as well.

Editors are not cheap. The most disheartening thing for a writer is to pay a lot of money for a service and it turns out to be terribly done. I fell victim to this. I had two books that I paid a lot of money to be edited by professional editors I found online. Six months after they were on the market, readers and former editors informed me that my books were filled with mistakes. Keep in mind that even top selling authors books from major publishing houses sometimes have mistakes in them. But there were so many mistakes in mine that the books had to be recalled. I had to suspend working on new work and spend months fixing them.

When that editor is done, you give it to someone else to proof read and make corrections. Then you get a proof reader to proofread that. Regardless to the fact that I proofread it before giving the final payment, I missed things. If you are a writer and do not have editing experience or know what to look for, you will not pick up on these; as is my case. I am not a former English teacher or editor and I can find the basic errors. But a really good editor will find the mistakes. But even they miss things so it’s always better to get another set of knowledgeable eyes to look over your work. I will have another blog just on this situation coming soon.

Copyright your work and make sure you copyright your work through Washington DC copyright office. Although you are considered the sole owner of a piece the second you put pen to paper, for legal reasons, you want to be on file with them. www.copyright.gov There are several different stories out there about poor man’s copyright, the most notable is mailing the documents to yourself and not opening it. Whether this is a myth or not, you don’t want to leave anything to chance. The fee to copyright is a small price to pay to ensure ownership. It will take a few weeks to get the official; document back for your work but you can continue to move forward on the rest of your duties.

Book Covers are very important and would be the next thing you want to do. Prices on these will vary and depending on the quality of what you want, can be worth the price. You will often hear people say go to a book store and look at the books and see how your genre covers are done. I will add one more to that; go and look at movie posters too. Ever notice that after a book becomes a movie, that movie poster will appear as the new cover? Movie posters can provide further in inspiration for your covers. Can you do a book cover yourself? Sure, if you have a friend who does great work who can do it for little or nothing. If you are an artist yourself and can do it, by all means take that route. But remember the cover catches the eye like a movie poster. Poor or very generic looking covers will shun potential readers. No matter how well the story is inside, the cover is important. When I published my first book, A Gamble of Faith, I used the cover art from the playbill of the stage play. It was a very wonderful drawing and I thought that it would go over well with readers. I took the book to a writer’s conference and a book reviewer took one look at it and said “You need to get rid of that cover.” I asked why and he told me that because it was a drawing, it looked more like a book for teens than a book for my target audience which was adults. He told me that it looked childish (this was not a knock against the artist in anyway) and that no adult would buy it. I did explain that I kept it because people were familiar with the art and he said “That’s understandable if you were just selling the book at the play, but this is the book business. No one will buy it.” I took his advice and found a professional book cover artist to do a fresh cover based on the story.

The professional book cover artist took time to create something that matched the book. He talked with me and ran off ideas. With the new cover, I did see a change in sales. More people came to my table at the book fairs to get a closer look than they did before.

Book Layout will be the next thing you have to do. That’s the inside of the book. Font size, spacing, page numbering all have to be clean and straight. Next to editing, this too needs to be proof read so that you don’t send a book to print with. When you are done with your manuscript, apply for an LCCN number from the Library of Congress. You can file for one at www.pcn.loc.gov . The number is free and takes a few days to get. Once you have the number place it on the interior of the book where you put your copyright and ISBN number. You will have to send them a copy of the book for their records. I will address those in a minute.

So once you have done these things, it means you’re ready to print and sell right? Not just yet. Remember, it’s a business. You have a few more things to do that will add to your costs.

IS SELF PUBLISHING RIGHT FOR YOU? INTRODUCTION

I am often asked by writers if it’s a good idea to just go ahead and self publish their own material. Rather than try and get a publishing house to publish their work. The answer to that all depends on whether or not you are willing to do the kind of leg work to be a self published author. I can only speak from my experience as to the choice a person should make. I will share that with you now. First you have to understand what self publishing means. Self Publishing is publishing. Publishing is a business. So when you hear someone say I’m a self published author it means they are in the publishing business for themselves. They are not doing books for multiple authors, just their own work. So essentially they are doing everything a traditional publisher would do and more.

As a self-published author your work doesn’t end when you have finished the manuscript. It’s actually beginning. You will be putting the entire book together, from cover to cover. Overseeing every detail for your book. It’s going to take up a lot of time. So you need to educate yourself on the things that you will need before you put the book to bed. It requires time, money, patience and perseverance. Once you decide to publish the book on your own, you now have stepped into a world that requires your full attention. It’s not an undertaking you go into lightly.
If you have no desire, beyond just writing, to do the leg work it will take to get your books out there, stick with sending your manuscript out to publishing houses and/or agents.

But if you want to go forward with it, allow me to help you get on your way with some pointers and lessons I learned along the way. Let’s start from the beginning.


When I decided to self publish in 2004, I had no idea what I was in for.

My first novel A Gamble of Faith was based on a play I wrote. I took the advice of a former classmate of mine to publish through IUniverse. At the time, IUniverse was the way everyone who self published was going.

Several things attracted me to them. They touted that you are the self published author. You retain all the rights to your work. They took care of it all, the cover, layout, printing and a direct link to Barnes and Nobles after your book was printed. You also got print on demand which also meant that I would only have to print the amount I needed, not 1000 copies up front like you would have to with a regular printer. What aspiring writer wouldn’t pass up a deal to be on Barnes and Nobles? I would be selling thousands in no time. So I went with them, got the book done, sent a blast out to friends and family and waited. I was under the assumption that all I had to do is get the book to print, get the word out and I was on my way.

Boy was I wrong. I saw barely saw any money come in other than the copies I sold at the plays performances I was still doing. What went wrong?
I had published a book with no plan. No idea of who to sell to, where to sell, no marketing concepts (other than selling at plays) and pretty much not clue as to what to do. That was my first mistake, not having a plan.

A trip to a writer’s conference taught me a few other things I was completely unaware of. I would have to start all over again if I wanted to do it right. Just because the book is on the Barnes and Nobles list didn’t mean it was going to sell. I had to get out there and talk to bookstores, go to book fairs and make appearances to get the book known. I was in business whether I knew it or not. The business of selling a book and myself.

Putting Pen to Paper: Getting Started on the Path to Writing

I am at a signing or convention. Someone will walk up to me, tell me they have a story they have always wanted to write. It’s a really good story they feel will make a good book. The only problem is that they have no idea how to go about writing it. They tell me their issues with writing and want to know how I am able to sit and write an entire novel. Here are some of the things I am told and how I respond.

“I just don’t have the discipline to sit and write.”- Okay, you want to write a book. You have the story in your head but you don’t have the discipline to sit down and spend a few hours a day to write. Well here is the bottom line, if you don’t have discipline, you can’t be a novelist. You can disagree with me all you want but this goes for anything you pursue in life. You have to have discipline to be a writer. The book is not going to write itself because you will it to do so.
First and foremost, writing is not only work, its hard work. I cannot stress this enough. Authors enjoy writing but the process takes awhile. When you pick up a book from the bookstore and take it home, does it ever cross your mind how much time and effort is put into a novel? Every single word on the page was thought out by the author then edited many times before reaching your hands. Authors spend many hours in front of their computers and/or notebooks fleshing out stories. It takes time and patience to do this, especially in a series.

I often hear people ask “Why does it take so long for my favorite writer to put the next part of the series out? All he/she has to do is write. It shouldn’t take that long.” News flash, just like you go to work from 9 to 5 and labor, so do writers. Yes, writing maybe the only thing we do for a living (if many of us are lucky to do that) but it is still work. Some stories require months of research. Others take longer because of a pace the writer maybe working at. Sometimes, a writer may have more than one series they are working on and tend to work on what is speaking to them at the time.

“But I just can’t sit in silence and write.” - Who says you have to sit in silence? Every writer is unique in their own way. Some writers can sit in silence for hours and work. Others listen to music that inspires their work. I like to work in a place where there are distractions (i.e. work, bar, television playing). It keeps my brain active and distractions force me to focus on my story. You have to find what works for you. Once you do, you can find your rhythm


“Do I need to write an outline before I can start writing a novel?” – There is only one time I don’t write an outline and that’s when I am doing a short story. An outline is very important and necessary when writing a novel. You might have an idea for a great story but you’re going have to break it down into chapters. By outlining each chapter beforehand it helps you make the story flow better. This also gives you the chance to design the characters better by working out their back story and strengthening your plot.

Writers will tell you that a story has a nasty habit of going where it wants to go, not where you tell it. So you may start out coming up with a story and heading down one path then all of a sudden something unplanned happens and you end up going in a different direction. By having an outline written and following that, you can determine just how far off course you can go. You might find yourself coming up with a completely better story than you first came up with.

“How many hours do I need to work on my novel?” – This goes back to discipline. You should devote how many hours you feel your work deserves. I personally devote about three hours in the evening to writing and leave Saturdays and Sundays up in the air. Even a writer needs to take a day off from the voices in their head.

Even if it’s not a major piece, I am always writing something in that time frame. Just to keep the creative juices flowing.
Come up with a time frame that works for you and use it. You can write in the morning, during your lunchtime, break the time up into different points of the day. But use that time to the fullest.

"Do you need to do research if you are writing a fiction novel?" - I do. It does help to make your story more believable if you have facts tied into it. Some writers like to put fictitious characters in real world settings. A good example of that is historical fiction. John “Jack” Aubrey is one such character. The famous character from the Patrick O’Brian books (Master and Commander, Far Side of the World) commands ships on the high seas during the Napoleonic War. Though he never existed, most of his naval battles and adventures are drawn from actual Royal Navy history.

I spent five years reading about angels for my book The Dead Syndicate. Learning about their powers, their weapons, what they look like. It helped me to build a world around them that was believable.

With horror stories, I watched a lot of the Discovery Channel and followed up reading up of various animals and insect that became characters in my stories. In my book Anthorrorgy, the story called Vampsquito is based on some research I did on mosquitoes. Knowing the habits of mosquitoes and what makes them annoying to people helped make the story more realistic. That helped me to create the monster that terrorizes a town.

Even though its fiction, it still has to be believable to the reader.

“Should I go to school for writing or take a class?” – There is nothing wrong in furthering your education. Sometimes just taking a simple class can help you tighten your technique; build upon your story structure and how to create an effective plot. It all depends on what you feel you will need help with in order to make you a stronger writer. It’s not a requirement that you go to school to be a writer but every little bit does help.

“Can I just write my entire book by hand? Do I need to type it because I don’t know how to type?” – I know what you’re thinking and the answer is yes; someone actually has asked me about that. You can write the draft of a novel anyway you feel comfortable. But if you plan to print or even try and sell your manuscript, you better learn how to type. Even if you have to do it hunt and peck style, it has to be typed. No one will read it in a hand written form.
Your manuscript will go through a lot of drafts before its ready to be put out on the market in any form (publishing house or self-published) and it will be 100x’s easier to retype the work on a computer than hand writing the pages.

“I don’t have the patience to sit and write for hours.” – I put this statement last because I'm usually very blunt about answering it. It's not to be mean but I take writing very seriously. This statement is a tad bit different than the discipline one. Whereas you find it hard to sit and focus on what you have to do to write, this means you lose interest quickly and just stop doing it. There is nothing wrong with taking a break to recharge your batteries to keep going. But if being out with friends is more important or playing that video game is a must and seems better than sitting for how ever long you need to write, you’re not ready to be a writer. I tell people flat out you either do it or you don’t. Writing, whether a career or hobby, does require a level of devotion. If you can't give it the attention it needs, writing may not be for you.

Overall,if you have a passion for writing, sit and write. It's that simple. Writing is like any other venture in life. It requires time and focus. Give it that and the return will be great.

Next up I will talk about self-publishing and give tips on going down that road.

Do you have any questions about writing? Let me know how I can help.

Message from Marc L Abbott

Good Evening,

I first want to thank all of you who have supported me and my work these past seven years. The journey so far has been an eventful one.

After seven years, I have decided shut down Hobbcat Publishing Inc. It was not an easy decision to make but something I had to do. My books will still be available and my revised editions will be launched through Hobbcat LLC. Under the new company I will be broaden my work through theater and film as well as books. A new undertaking I am excited to begin.

I have learned a great deal in those seven years and I want to share that with you. Over the next few months my posts will be filled with information on self publishing, tips on being a better writer, mistakes to avoid and announcements of my new work. I look forward to your feed back and I hope that my future posts help inspire, educate and prepare you on your future endeavors as a writer.

Marc L Abbott
Hobbcat LLC

DEAD SYNDICATE ISSUES

For those who brought the errors to my attention regarding The Dead Syndicate I want to let you know that the book was sent to an editor.

A-1 Editing Services, which I found online and hired to edit my tome, is the company that edited the manuscript. I published the final edit that was emailed to me by the editor who was supposed to do a full edit including grammar, spelling and structure. I felt it was my duty to let you all know who the editor was as you have now seen the level of work they do.

I have had another editor rework the book and I am currently working to get a proper copy put out for 2012 before the launch of Hobbcat LLC. I have pulled the book from Kindle for the time being and will be pulling the print copy as well.

I apologize for giving you a subpar product and promise that for the coming New Year, and beyond, that no more of my books will be published without proper post edit review.

ANTHORROGY BEING PULLED

To my readers.It has been recently brought to my attention that Anthorrogy sufferes from serious editing problems. Rest assured I would not have released this work if I had known this.

Therefore I am pulling the book from both Kindle and print until they are corrected. I am sorry for any disappointment you have with my work. it is important that you receive the best quality work.

Once I have corrected these issues I will let you all know.

Again, I am sorry for the issues you have had with this piece and I hope to have it back up again soon.

Marc L Abbott

WRITING TIP: DIALOGUE

One of the hardest parts of a story for some writers is dialogue. How much to use, when to use it and most importantly; what to say. Normally dialogue is infused as the story unfolds around a series of sequences and descriptions. But I found a way that can make it easy.

Many people have often commented that my work reads and sounds like a movie. You want to know a secret? They read that way because much of my work started out in script form. That’s right, at one time I aspired to be a screenwriter and wrote a lot of scripts in college.

In fact, A Gamble of Faith and The Hooky Party, started out as scripts before I turned them into books. I spent hours writing dialogue for characters and immersed myself in their conversations. I didn’t really have to worry too much about being very descriptive like I do in a book, so I would gloss over the rest of the script. Creating brief details with the scene descriptions and shot designs, dialogue got most of the attention.

When I decided to write the books, I simply used the scripts as the skeletons and filled in everything around the dialogue. So for example, in the Hooky Party screenplay, I briefly describe the locker area as being “a corner section of the hall with blue and brown lockers”. After that I get into the dialogue. For the book, I expanded on the locker area by being more descriptive about the lockers themselves, who hangs out there, their importance to the characters that are in the area and why they are the color they are. That description is not important in a screenplay and if in fact some of that is relevant, a character can be given a couple of lines to mention it. In the book, that detail allows the reader to visualize the place as they read. All I had to do with the dialogue after that is make small revision to it or, in most cases, never touched it.

Writing your stories out in script form before the novel is a great way to concentrate on your characters voices. It also enables you to build better scenery around it. Little nuances like the description of leaves blowing in the wind, textures of faces or items, and even action or romance sequences can get the just attention they need instead of you worrying about getting everything down at one time.

So on your next project, try writing your work out as a script first and get involved with your characters dialogue. You just might find that everything else will fall into place.

EBooks: The Self Published Authors Perspective

Recently, I have been getting messages and articles sent to me informing me about the new trend; Ebooks. Much of this information is given to me to convince me that ebooks are now the way to go and why I should let go of print publishing. Yes, I still print books and I will not stop printing books until printing goes the way of the 8 Track and Laserdisk. I am a firm believer that printing will not actually die out but it will take a backseat to ebooks. I mean, let’s face it, you can read the newspaper online for free but people still like to buy it, grab the free copies and even have it delivered. Book Fairs are still very popular and people flood them to get their hands on famous and local favorite books. So printing's not down and out just yet.

With that said, I have been intrigued by the ebook. Many people swear by them and love he convenience of them. No more paperback or hardcover books to carry around. Now it’s all about ereaders and tablets. You can even buy books to read on your phone. They have certainly come a long way from reading them on your computer. I certainly see the appeal and I will be the first to admit that I own one and, from time to time, downloaded a book or two. Yes, even an old print lover like me finds the ebook and ereader a great tool to enjoy.

The steady appeal I have been noticing isn’t so much the idea of books disappearing, but the advent that now anyone or everyone can now publish their works to sell to consumers nearly worldwide. Writers no longer need to go to traditional publishing houses to try and get signed to book deals. Pretty soon authors will forgo setup sites like Xlibris and IUniverse for the opportunity to call their own shots in pricing and sales distribution.

This is especially the case with Kindle and their Self-publish with us program which offers writers up to 70% of their profit of sales. No writer today could ask for a better deal than that. The deal sounds even sweeter when reports pop up of authors making close to millions of dollars in ebook sales alone. But as I always say, the Hollywood side of the story always sounds better.

I call it the Hollywood side because the end result always sounds so glamorous. The over night sensation who is outselling established authors or that writer who appeared from nowhere and is now a phenom in sales and fans. It does happen but this is not the norm for many writers. One rule still applies, whether print or ebook, anyone deciding to go forward as a self published author has to work very hard at it. Understand that the “e” in ebooks doesn’t stand for easy. It’s not an easy way out from conventional publishing, just a different way to publish. Hard work is still necessary.

As a self published author with my own label, I have thought a lot about the effects of ebooks. True printing isn’t down and out, and it may never be, but one thing history has taught us is that you have to move with the times. So I decided to look at how self publishing benefits from the ebook. It has its pros and cons, as you will read what I have written below. But understand, though, my points come from the inside looking out, not vice-versa. But both sides are important to look at.


AFFORDABILITY: If you have ever self published a book, you know that a great deal of money is spent in the process. Everything from editors to cover artists to layout; it can get pretty pricey. Ebooks cut out a small portion of this. You no longer need to hire someone to lay out the book as files are transferred onto a digital platform. HTML coding does the rest. If you are cover savvy, you can design and upload your own cover rather than hire someone to do it. Also, in most cases, you don’t need an ISBN number to assign to your book. I noticed this with Kindle and anyone who has had to buy those blocks of numbers know, that’s a major cost you save on as well as bar codes.

PRINT NO MORE: Ereaders make it so you no longer have to print and store copies of books at home. There was a time where if you printed your book with a conventional printer you had to order thousands of copies of books for the printer to do business with you. That was a requirement. Then along came Print on Demand which meant that you could print only the amount you needed or wanted at a time. You only need 50 books, that’s all you had to print. Of course shipping charges and applicable taxes were added in, but it was better than bulk purchasing. Now, with Ebooks, you don’t need to print at all. A considerable price that is lifted off your shoulders.

REACHING THE MASSES: The biggest concern of a self published author is getting your book into the bookstores and on the shelf. Whether it is the big chain stores or your local mom and pop, getting your book out there for all to see has been the number one priority. With Ebooks, there is no worry of getting on the shelf. With Kindle, your book is posted right on Amazon for millions of readers to see. The same goes for Nook as you will be posted to Barnes and Noble.

INSTANT CONSUMER GRATIFICATION: Ereaders now allow readers to get their ebooks instantly anytime and anywhere. Instead of making trips to the store, they can by from home, at the office or any wifi hotspot.

A GREAT TOOL: Now just because Ebooks have become popular, doesn’t mean you should immediately stop offering your print books to the masses. Ereaders are a hot item but there are still many who still prefer to buy print books. Also, print books are a great selling and marketing tool at conventions and fairs. Readers like to browse, thumb through the pages and get a sense of how much reading they will get out of your book. An Ebook can be your added bonus for the consumer that may not be 100% sure they want to take a chance on buying your paperbacks. Ebooks are a great alternative.

MARKETING EBOOKS NOT EASY: If you read about the million dollar sellers, many of them have sold so many Ebooks because they have a heavy blog or weblit fan base. You must understand that or you will be gravely disappointed with your sales. Ebooks, like print books, do not sell themselves and just because you made the book affordable doesn’t mean the world will come flocking. You have to market yourself. As I said before, they are a great tool. That being said, they are not the easiest things to market at conventions or fairs. I have yet to see a person pull out a Kindle at a book fair and say “Here is my book.” Build author pages on Amazon, keep an active website going offering the ebook versions for sale on them. But above all, build a fan base online. Those are the people who surf to learn more about you and your work and will buy. Build Facebook fan pages, link them to Twitter and keep people coming back to want your work.

PRICING: While I like the fact that you can make 70% from ebooks (an yes, three of my titles are available on ebooks) consumers are not going to pay full price for your book. What does that mean? Along with the ease of acquiring titles and the ability to carry many titles in an ereader, the consumer likes a bargain. They do not expect to pay the same price for your book on an ereader as they do in the store. And here is where many believe publishing companies are going to get hit hardest the most. Most readers rather not pay more than $5 for an ebook (average price for paperback goes from $9.99 - $15.00 Hardcovers are always more).

The fact is, many of the titles that sell really well fall into the $.99 - $3.00 range for ebooks. Since printing costs are non existent, setting a high price for an ebook makes it less appealing. So does this mean that setting a low price for your book compromises your integrity as a self published author? That is a question only you can answer. Even at fairs, I never charged cover price for my books because I knew the consumer liked a good deal. Keep that in mind when you look to price your ebooks. Will you make money with such low prices? Go back and see what I said about marketing. How you market yourself will determine if you will sell well or not. Remember, if you want to see those hefty returns they write about in some articles you have to sell a lot of ebooks.

PHYSICAL PRODUCT NOT AVAILABLE: If there is one con I have with ebooks, it’s that they are not physical books. Now one would say simply; that’s the whole point. And to that I say, “You have to be an author to understand.” One of the best and most self gratifying things for many self published authors is to be able to sign their work for a fan. I’m not talking some digital signature, I mean your own. You cannot do that with an ebook. The only real setback I see in the ereader/ebook world.

In all, I feel that ebook is staking its claim well in the literary market. Much like audio books have, and still do. It is a new tool on the block that will advance in its own way and its own time. While I will flow with the tides of time, I still like to crack open a paperback too.

Happy reading everyone.

Marc L Abbott

FEBRUARY 2011 UPDATE

Hello one and all. We are in the second month of the year and this is the first post update for the New Year.

I have been very, very busy getting things up and running for the New Year and trust me you will not be disappointed.

First I want to thank all of you who have been purchasing my work on Kindle. i hope to have all my titles there by the end of the year. It seems that A Gamble of Faith has become a very hot title amoung my book on Kindle so for all of you who have been reading it, I have big news.

The stage play version of A Gamble of Faith will be back this spring. We are in rehearsals at the momen tand hope to have a show up by May. I will keep you posted on the progress and when to expect to see it up and running.

There are changes coming to my website soon. I will no longer be selling books through the company but each book will have a link to where you can purchase those and their Kindle counter parts. Also the Dead Syndicate book review will be available soon as well.

My new novel The Dead Syndicate is out at bookstores. It won't be available for Kindle for a while so don't wait, order your copy today at your retail bookstores. If you live in the NY/NJ/CT area I will be at this years Lunacon in Rye, NY selling and discussing The Dead Syndicate. Lunacon is running March 18th-20th and you can learn more about it at http://2011.lunacon.org/

My long anticipated childrens book will be out late April/early May entitled Etienne and the Stardust Express.

Two new horror stories will be available for Kindle in September.

So get ready for a very active year from Hobbcat Publishing. I'll be back soon for Lunacon announcements.

Be well!

OCTOBER UPDATE

Happy October,

I’d first like to thank all of you who came out to the Brooklyn Book Fair last month. I was great seeing old faces and meeting new ones. There is a lot to announce so without further adieu lets go down the line.

After 18 years and countless rewrites, the first book in my Dead Syndicate series made its debut at the Brooklyn Book Fair. The Dead Syndicate: Trial of the Archnemesis, which chronicles a fallen angels’ fight in the war between good and evil, is available now in limited run. The book officially launches at the end of the month just in time for Halloween. You can check out the blurb in the bookstore on the Hobbcat website. Those of you who have Anthorrorgy and have read The Diary of the Archnemesis already know the troubles Archnemesis Clide is facing, this first book will take you further down his dark path. So if you haven’t gotten a copy of Anthorrorgy yet, this will be the perfect time to purchase a copy.

Many readers have asked me when will I make some of my books available for the popular eReaders. In the beginning I had my doubts about the devices but I caved in a bought one for myself. After a smooth test drive of the product I made the decision make my work available. So I am excited to announce that The Hooky Party, my most popular novel and first book published under Hobbcat Publishing Inc., made its debut on Kindle last month. If you have any of the Kindle eReaders , you can purchase the book for ½ off the cover price at the Kindle store on Amazon. The other novels will follow in months to come. By next year, all of my titles will be available for all eReaders. So stop by the Kindle store and get your copy of The Hooky Party and don’t forget to tell a friend.

A Gamble of Faith is in the works again to be brought to the stage. I am working with a new producer and in talks of bringing the stage play back in the New York area and possibly further. The play is due to go up early 2011 and may go on the road as the year progresses so I will keep you posted on that.

I will be adding a new section to my website soon called Shorts! which will feature a short story, poem or excerpts from upcoming larger works of mine. Right now I am putting together a small collection that will change from month to month. Availability for download to eReaders will also be made available for a small price. How small, well you won’t break the bank I promise you.

That’s all for now. Stay tuned for the next set of announcements during the month of October.

Until next time!

AUGUST UPDATE

The Brooklyn Book Fair is just a few weeks away and Hobbcat Publishing is going to be there. Join us this year as celebrate the launch of my new novel The Dead Syndicate: Trial of the Archnemesis. This book has been a labor of love for me for the last 18 years and finally it is out for you to enjoy. This is book one in a four part series so you’ll want to get your hands on this and get started. For those of you who read Anthorrorgy, you are familiar with the last story Diary of the Archnemesis. This story gives you a brief background of the main character in The Dead Syndicate. For those of you who have not read Anthorrorgy, here’s as good a reason as any to get yourself a copy.

Also, this year at the fair, we will be having our first ever Hobbcat Raffle. Lucky winners will get an autograph copy of a book of their choice and one grand prize winner will get a complete set of four books. That’s all four titles (A Gamble of Faith, The Hooky Party, Anthorrorgy, The Dead Syndicate) for one very low price. So the raffle tickets will be as follows:

Three red tickets for $5. The winner will have their choice of any one title.

One blue ticket for $10. The winner will win a collection of all four titles.

Times for the drawing will be announced at the fair along with the rules.

So come on out on Sunday September 12 from 10am – 6pm to the Brooklyn Book Fair located behind Brooklyn’s Borough Hall. For more information go to http://www.brooklynbookfestival.org/BrooklynBookFestival/festival.html

We’re also asking our readers to let us know if you want to see our titles made available for E-Readers. We would like to provide our work to all who are using the devices.

Hope to see you all at the fair!

Anthorrorgy and the Rebirth of A Gamble of Faith - Part 3

I have always loved horror and I have my father to thank for that. Though my mother would later tell me later that my father was actually afraid of horror movies (he left her sitting in the Exorcist in 1972 because it frightened him so bad), he had a very enchanting way of making horror sound captivating. He would tell me, with a deep voice, about Dracula and his castle. How a cursed man can turn into a werewolf and the terrible things the Invisible Man did to his victims. And to accent these terror tales we would watch the old Universal horror movies together on Saturday nights on PBS on a 13 inch black and white TV he kept in his den.

So imagine his suprise when he started to see the “modern” monsters of horror gracing my wall. As much as he hated seeing Freddy, Jason, Pinhead and Michael Meyers on my wall and in my video library, he continued to fuel me with the likes of King, Barker, and Straub by buying me their books for my literary library. My mother didn’t help the matter much by providing me with a book of Edgar Allen Poe’s collective works.

The books were my favorite because I could envision the sequences in my mind (hence the anger I spewed whenever a beloved book was turned into a bad movie) and I was always up on whatever my favorite authors were printing. When I knew for certain I was going to be a writer, I knew I wanted to write horror for sure.

Though writing in general is not easy, certain genres I found were more difficult than others. Horror is one of the more difficult. It’s not just the style that makes it difficult, the subject matter as well is hard to. It’s not easy to scare an reader. Many of the classic monsters that we have grown up with have changed so much that they have lost their appeal. Vampires, for example, have come to the point where the reader now sympathizes with the monster rather than fear it. What used to destroy them we are now told are myths (the myth has myths) and that they are now misunderstood creatures of the night. Trying to revert back to the classic image now is nearly impossible.

So I sat down and started to think of different kinds of stories to tell. I made a list of things that scare me, conventional monsters and monsters in nature (i.e. plants and animals) that either maim or kill.

Once I had enough on the list I began to weed out the ones that would not make a strong story. There were just some creatures that just would go over well in a horror story; the ones that you could believe would come after you in the dark. I kept the traditional ones like vampires, werewolves and ghosts. Then I added spiders, mosquitoes and plants along with a couple of aliens and a demon. I threw in a couple of surprises just to spice it up and when I was done I began writing.
Many of the stories had already been fleshed out prior to the list. They were stories I had already begun so I added them to the list in order to focus on finishing them. Now my mind works in a very strange way. By that I mean that while I was finishing one story I had started writing two others. So I would have three word windows open on my computer and I would switch back and forth from story to story as ideas for each came to me. This didn’t speed up the process but it did keep me on top of things.

While doing the stories, I started to think about a name for the book. I had first considered using one of the story titles followed by “and other stories of horror and suspense” but that had been used too many times before. I needed an original name, something that snapped and was very different.

I love to play with words (if you read Gamble you know what I mean) and I did that very thing with this book. Since I knew I was writing an anthology of horror stories, I decided to mesh the two words (horror and anthology) together to form one. Removing “olo” and replacing it with the word horror, I came up with Anthorrorgy. Pronouncing it, some people found, was difficult so how I explained it was like this: You say it the same way you would say anthology except you have the word horror in the middle (ie. An – thor –rorgy). It takes some getting used to but once you get it, you understand it.

Once I had the name, I started thinking about the cover. I wanted something really disturbing but not gross for the cover. I spent a lot of time looking at covers for horror novels and many of them weren’t really that eye catching. It seemed that as long as the authors name was large and yelling out at the reader, that’s all it took. The cover art was very subtle and maybe hinted on what was inside, but for the most part they didn’t seem to be big attention grabbers.

I then turned to the fantasy novels for some help and noticed that almost every cover had either some kind of action sequence or battle ready character that drew the reader in. I liked that concept so I decided that was one way to go.

But a lot of those covers were drawn. The artwork was impeccable and eye catching. I had been told that artwork, in terms of the kind of fiction I was doing, was not the best idea for a cover. But I knew that it would have to do for what I was thinking about for the cover. I had developed a very distinct idea in my head about what I wanted at that point and no photographer was going to be able to capture it.
The idea came from two of the stories in the book; The Pheromone Incident and Five by Seven. Both stories were unsettling in the fact that the people in them were suffering great deals of pain at the hands of some creature. So I wanted to showcase someone in great pain, but which of the two creatures to showcase was the question.

I went with the one I knew everyone could identify with and that was the spider. But I was particular about the kind of spider it would be. I chose the Australian Funnel Web Spider, one of the worlds deadliest spiders, as my “model”. The idea was to show it crawling out of a person’s mouth as their screaming in agony while their eyes were stitched closed. Knowing no one in the world would voluntarily put one in their mouth for a photo shoot, I had to find someone who could bring the concept to life.
At the time, I was part of a lightsber stage combat crew called NY Jedi. The group was comprised of many different artists, musicians and writers who all had a soft spot for performing and lightsaber lore. In this group I met an artist named Tara Lopez who was working on a comic strip she was pushing to the public. On her website, I found wonderful sketches and designs but what caught my eye was a style of “living art”. It’s where the art work looked almost alive. Peoples features were distinct and simply amazing.

I approached her with the idea of doing a book cover and she was excited about it until she heard the idea. She literally cringed because, as I found out, spiders were not her thing. I knew from that response I had a great cover coming. I gathered pictures of the spider in its most menacing poses and gave them to her and left her to do her work.

I went back to writing and editing the stories. When I was done I had fourteen stories I felt would work well in the book. But as I did a reread of each one, I started to discover that some of them just didn’t fit right. They were all good but there were some that I could use for a different book at a later date so I removed them. Then I decided to take a page from The Twilight Zone and write an introduction for each one. But after I put the chosen few together, the introductions seemed to be a bit much. They felt forced rather than adding something special as I intended them to. So upon working on the fourth draft, I got rid of the introductions and left the stories alone.

Next was to put them order. I had read that Stephen King, for his anthology of stories in Everything’s Eventual, used a deck of cards to help him decide the order for his stories. I went in order of when the stories were created. So the oldest and more seasoned stories came first then the newer stories followed. The final story in the book, however, was chosen specifically because it was a precursor to a series I had been working on for several years.

Satisfied with the order, I did one more edit before I got the cover from Tara and put the book together. I sent the book to the printer and had twenty copies printed right away. I sent one to the book reviewer and the others I handed out as review copies. That turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

One reviewer called me and said that he and his wife found errors running rapid through the book. That is probably the worse thing a writer can hear. He sent me a list of the pages I needed to look at and I went back to work correcting the stories. While working on the corrections, I discovered another minor setback; a story that did not fit with the others. The whole situation began to frustrate me so I walked away from the book for a week so that I could gather my thoughts.

I ended up taking off two weeks then I picked the book up again and got back to work. With a fresh set of eyes, I was able to find the errors and clean the manuscript up. Then I removed the story Ms. Elliston and put it to the side to use in another collection. I passed the revised edition onto an editor who made sure the mistakes were corrected then I prepped the book for print.

As I awaited the book to be reprinted, I began looking into redoing A Gamble of Faith with a new cover and a new description on the back. I contacted IUniverse to see if I could send a new cover in and they told me in order to change the cover, I needed to pay the same processing fee I did when I set the book up. I thought that was a bit much seeing as how the interior of the book was not changing. But it was further explained that they would have to issue me a new ISBN number on the new cover and that constituted as a new set up.

I took a few days to think about it and came to the conclusion that if I was going to pay to have the book redone under IUniverse, I might as well move the title under Hobbcat Publishing where I could have the freedom to do what I needed and it would be easier to manage. So I wrote a letter to IUniverse telling them that I wanted to discontinue my novel with them and that the book had been picked up by another publishing company.

While awaiting an answer from them, I began rewriting A Gamble of Faith. My original manuscript had been lost when my computer crashed and I had to begin again from scratch. Using one of the IUniverse copies I began working on copying the story over and adding a few new details to the story.

Anthorrorgy, meanwhile, made it to print and was released in May followed by a book review featured in the New York Amsterdam News. I put together a release party for the book which had a strong turnout and soon after I went back to working on A Gamble of Faith.

I went back to Marion Designs for the cover again. I knew that I wanted to keep the same theme as the original cover but I didn’t want to carbon copy it using models. I gave them a few ideas to work with and settled on a design that kept the card game feel. Whereas the original artistic cover captured nearly all the characters on the front, the new cover only encompassed three of the characters during a pivotal moment in the game.

The layout was the next phase and that outcome was surprising to say the least. When I first published the book with IUniverse, the print was small and page count was around 170 pages. This time around, the book length was 270 pages with the print size slightly larger. For the exception of a few additions, the manuscript was pretty much the same one I had originally wrote. So I had to ask myself why the original Gamble was so much thinner and smaller than this revised edition. Putting the two side by side I was able to see the difference in font seizes, page size and spacing. In the end I didn’t worry about what the book used to be, only that it was now the book it should have been all along and I was pleased with it.

A Gamble of Faith was re-released in June, a month after Anthorrorgy made its debut. I didn’t do as heavy of a release with Gamble since it technically wasn’t a new title. I did have a small release party for it which allowed people who had not read it to finally get a copy.

With the launch of two books, I went on to the Brooklyn Book Fair in September. Anthorrorgy, with its frightening cover and blurb from the Amsterdam News, drew readers right away. Those who were disturbed by the cover turned their sights to A Gamble of Faith and The Hooky Party for more light hearted reading. Sales went well for Hobbcat Publishing, Inc. and a week later I was back to work on A Gamble of Faith again. This time, I was working on revising the play.

The Hooky Party and the Birth of Hobbcat Publishing, Inc.- Part 2 of The Writers Journey

The Hooky Party was my second book and, technically, my first self published novel. Like Gamble, it was based on a screenplay I had started working on with my childhood buddy Michael Barksdale. Originally we had started with a bevy of different ideas and events that developed into the concept. But after years of not being able to make the screenplay come together fully, we abandoned it and it became another idea that never got fleshed out.

I got the idea of turning it into a novel when I stumbled across the old script three years after it’s rough draft was done. Rereading it with a fresh set of eyes I started to see how to mold and shape the story better. Being able to fill in the gaps through a novel rather than tip toe around parts due to screenplay time constraints was very refreshing. Initially there was no real story behind Hooky Party other than some guys cutting school to throw one. But the novel gave me a chance to create an entire plot behind it all. So rather than just have a story about kids cutting school, I developed an entire reason behind it.

Using the names of people I knew to help me focus on the characters better, the story of teen rebellion, love and friendship slowly unfolded. Two teen friends decide to throw the Hooky Party after their new tough-as-nails principal cancels the long awaited and much beloved Senior Cut Day. Underlining that plot is a story about taking responsibility for ones own actions; a lesson the two friends learn when their party doesn’t go as planned. The intention was to make this more about a life lesson than just about rambunctious teens going wild.

In the beginning, I intended the story to be a trip down memory lane for people of my generation. I made references to things that were familiar to my growing up in New York as well as setting the story in the early nineties. I even created characters that nearly everyone could relate to (ie. The kids that steals tater tots from people, the underclassmen that liked hanging out with the older crowd and student that kissed up to the principle). But As I neared the completion of the story, I realized that the story could easily appeal to today’s youth.

But that was going to be a hard sell. I observed that many teens I saw reading books on the train were reading some very adult books. Urban Fiction (a label given to many of today’s African American books whose stories focus on or are driven by the street, sex and some violence) was a big draw for them. Very few were reading classics or even were immersed in the popular teen vampire/romance/drama stories. Was it even possible for this story to get through to them or would they even consider reading it?

I realized after looking over it that there were no stories like this out there for young adults. True, most young adults read mature subject matter, but rarely do they read something that they can really relate to in fiction. The story, a coming of age story with a lesson in taking responsibility for one’s own actions, seemed like a good fit for many of today’s teens but would they want it? That was a question I wouldn’t know for sure until I put it out there.

The novel took seven months to complete. Since this was my second novel, and I had learned so much from my initial outing with Gamble, I put a lot behind this project. I also did things a little different.

With Gamble, I edited the book myself. This time, with Hooky Party, I sought out an editor to properly go through the book and make the corrections that were needed. Granted I didn’t have a great deal of mistakes in Gamble, but it was a shorter book. This one was more intricate and detailed so I needed a second set of eyes for it. I had the entire book checked for grammar, spelling, story structure and redundancy. When I got the manuscript back and double checked it, I decided that this time I would go through a traditional publishing house.

With help from the editor, I had a query letter drawn up and I proceeded to send out copies of it to publishing houses that would take unsolicited material. As they made their way to their destinations, I sent a second set of letters out to agents, looking for representation. I knew two things going into the letter writing campaign. The first was that it would be some time before I heard anything back. The second was that many of them would come back as rejections. It was very rare for one to get picked up right away but I remained hopeful.

Within three weeks, the first round of letters came back from publishing houses with the usual “thanks but no thanks” kinds of answers. I wasn’t surprised by this and took them in stride. By the forth week, I started to get letters back from a handful of agents who wanted to see the manuscript. I packaged up several of them and shipped them out immediately.

Within a month I started to get letters back from them saying that they were passing on representation. While the rejection wasn’t too surprising, the statements following the initial rejection was. “Although the manuscript was a good read, we are not sure who to target this story to. The demographic is unclear.” One agent even stated that it seemed too difficult to even market. I was both confused and taken aback by this.

For starters, the majority of the characters in the story are high school students. Many of them are African American and Hispanic. The story is set in a high school and its about high school hi- jinx. It seemed pretty obvious to me who the demographic were. I also stated it’s a coming of age story as well. It didn’t seem confusing to me who would want to read it.

It was never made clear to me why anyone didn’t think they could move the book. Even minority companies declined the novel. If it wasn’t the writing, then what was it about the book people felt they couldn’t sell it? I never received an answer to that question and I was just left with a batch of rejection letters.

After sending out close to 50 letters and landing not a single deal, Hooky Party was destined to end up with its screenplay counter part; collecting dust in a drawer. I was left with one option and that was to publish it myself. I had enlisted the help of an artist to do a cover for me but after several months of waiting and not getting anything back, I was pretty much stuck. I had considered going back with IUniverse but at the same time, Gamble wasn’t doing too well either. As I contemplated on what to do, I received an email from Gotham Writers Workshop (I was on their mailing list) that the Center of Independent Publishers was hosting a seminar and workshop on self publishing. I figured I had nothing to loose so I enrolled in the workshop and spent my entire Saturday going to panels and learning what it meant to be a self published author.

I discovered that my decision not to go back to IUniverse was correct and in a way, the fact that my cover never got done was a blessing.

One of the panelists took a look at Gamble and told we everything that was wrong with the book. From the artist drawn cover down to the font size and pricing. Then I found out why I was not touted as an self published author. There was something on the book itself that did not belong to me but rather to the IUniverse that signified that they were the publisher, not me.

The ISBN number on the barcode had been issued to me by IUniverse. Because I didn’t buy the number myself and it was provided to me by them; it meant that they were the publisher, not me. I had to own that number and it could not be bought from them. I had to buy it under my own company name or my own. But it was strongly advised that I have a company, which I didn’t have. I also found out that there were companies out there that did book covers. I had always been under the assumption that only publishing houses issued covers. It never dawned on me to look for a company to do that. Then there was the matter of finding a printer to print the books, pricing the book and marketing. None of this had ever crossed my mind, but it didn’t sound terribly difficult to do as long as I knew where to go for what I needed.

So for nearly nine hours I listened, learned, took advice and gathered as much research material as I could. Then I went back home and for several days I did homework.

The first thing I had to do was find out how to get incorporated. I was told to check out Legal Zoom where I could have incorporations done online. On the site they offered to research the name I had chosen for my company to make sure it wasn’t already taken. I chose the name Hobbcat for the company because I had used the name before as a trademark which had long since been cancelled. Once the name was approved I went through the steps of setting it up as incorporation. The entire process took only a few weeks to have done.

My next step was getting the ISBN numbers for the company. Following the directions I got from one of the panel discussions, I went to the website where I bought 25 numbers along with some barcodes. I assigned the first number to The Hooky Party then put it to the side while I went looking for a book cover designer.
Marion Designs was my choice for cover design. The experience wasn’t what I had expected. When they replied to my email about working with me, they wanted to know what I had in mind for the cover. Granted I had thought about some ideas but I figured that the company was going to just come up with ideas on their own. But they involved me in the process and I was happy to pass along some of my ideas. They even helped me to design my company logo.

Approximately one month later I had a finished cover complete with bar code, ISBN numbers and an eye catching font design. All that was left was to do was have it printed. But I didn’t immediately have a printer to work with. I knew that I wanted to print books like I did with IUniverse which was by small volume. Many printers wanted me to order and print large quantities which would mean I would have to make room in my apartment for thousands of books. Marion Designs told me about a company that did what is called Print On Demand which allowed me to order only the amount I needed. The company was called Lightning Source. Not only were they a good place for me to print but they also work with Barnes and Noble and Amazon so when my novel was finished and approved, it was listed on their sites.

Ten months after its initial completion, The Hooky Party was finally published and was the first book released under Hobbcat Publishing , Inc.
Soon after its release, I wanted to run an ad for it in The New York Amsterdam News. I was advised that instead of an ad, to have the book reviewed. I was a little apprehensive at first because a review can swing both ways. A good one would give it life. A bad one could stop it dead in its tracks. It was a 50/50 chance I had to take.

In August of that year, reviewer Glenn Townes wrote a solid review of the book which helped kick off sales. By September, The Hooky Party, made its official debut at the Brooklyn Book Fair and nearly sold out before the day was over.

Once I knew exactly what self publishing entailed, I decided I would work to bring A Gable of Faith over from IUniverse into Hobbcat’s fold. Unfortunately, a computer crash destroyed the manuscript and I was forced to start over from scratch using the novel I had in my possession. While working on that, I started putting together the finishing touches on my third book.

A Gamble of Faith: Journey from Concept to Stage to Book- Part 1 of The Writers Journey

A Gamble of Faith was a story that was spawned from two different things; a concept story and a tragic event in my life.

The concept behind the story was originally one I created for a freshman class I was taking in college back in 1990. In that story; a gangster who had just escaped being killed by a rival, runs into the devil at a diner. There, he is forced to play the devil in a game of 21 with the prize being his soul should he win. The story was received well by my professor and my classmates alike. I liked the story so much I attempted to film it as part of a project for a class. But in my attempt to transfer it to screen, I discovered it was lacking substance. With only three characters in the entire story there wasn’t much there to build on. Telling it was easy when spoken. Visually it didn’t work. So I abandoned script, not looking at it for close to nine years. Then in 1999 I picked it back up shortly after tragedy struck my family.

On a chilly night in February of that year my mother came home to find my father, Milton, dead from a heart attack in the kitchen. I was living across town at the time and had to rush home to console her. Though I had faced death in the family many times before, losing him was unlike anything I had ever experienced before. It was completely unexpected and very confusing in that I always felt, better yet I should say believed, that he would ALWAYS be around. I remember thinking that the whole thing was some kind of surreal dream and that at any moment I would wake up and things would be the way they should be. But life went on, we buried him and no sooner was he buried did the anger inside me come to a boiling point. That anger went in one direction and I focused it on the only individual I could. The one who took him from us; God. Forget medical conditions or anything like that, I blamed God totally for this act.

I will admit I felt a bit guilty for doing that, since I knew that death was just a part of life. A moment in time everyone will eventually face. But grief doesn’t know rationality and blaming God was something that I couldn't help but do. I found myself asking that question, "Why God? Why did you take him? Why are you punishing me and my family?" I played it over and over in my mind and from my lips until one day I realized I wasn’t going to get an answer. It was something I had to accept and live with. And I wasn't the only one asking or saying that. Stepping back and seeing and hearing the rest of my family’s response to it, I realized that it wasn't a question to be guilty of asking. And though you know that there will be no answer to it, just being able to say it brought about a level of acceptance to the fact that he was gone. Still, being human, I wondered why it happened at all and I would say I was angrier that I couldn't get that answer from any source.

In the wake of things, I started cleaning up my files and found buried deep in a file cabinet “The Hood and The Devil” the original script based on that story I told almost a decade ago in college. I sat down and read it several times and when I was done I had this question gnawing at brain, "What would I say to God if he walked into a room and sat down across from me and asked me how I felt about my father passing?" At the time I was not sure why this particular story made me ask that question but it did.

Thinking back, it might have had something to do with the fact that the main character in the script “cheated” death by inches only to have his faith be tested by the devil. Could a person, in the wake of death, find the courage to carry on and change the person they are through simple faith and believing in themselves? I sat down and wrote out a series of questions and then tried to guess what God would say. I later applied some of those questions to the life of the thug in the story and discovered that they didn’t fit the characters persona. So I changed him to just an every day Joe and when I did that, I found there was a brand new story to tell with a greater amount of substance to go into it than before.

Now I never intended the story to be anything more than that; a story. A classic tale of good vs. evil set in the wake of one mans tragedy. The fact that everyone, at one point in their lives, faced loosing someone was something I knew people could relate to. And that feeling of betrayal when a person dies was defiantly something I knew people would understand. Couple that with the people around you that share that experience in their own way and Gamble was born. The risk I took was including God in the story. The idea was not to intrude on people's belief systems but rather include the one individual you would not think would show up; given the events in the story. I wasn’t trying to preach or force a point of view either. That was part of the reason God’s partner was finally included. That and he was very essential in throwing off the reader.

It took a year to turn the screenplay into a stage play. I got the idea in late 2000 after seeing a buddy of mine at the time, performing in a play he too wrote and directed. I first tried to go through the small production company that bankrolled his production. I had read on the playbill that they were looking for new stories to produce and I figured it was the best way to get my work out there. But after scheduling several meetings with the head of the company and constantly having to reschedule them at the last minute due to "conflicts" on their end, I became agitated and gave up.

But after talking to my buddy about the process and what he went through, I realized that all I needed was a good cast, a stage to rent out, some meager props and advertisement. All of these things I was familiar with from college and working on some independent film projects around the city. After having worked in the industry for ten years at that point, and coming off a run on the show Law and Order, I had connections in places where I could get the things I needed. What I didn't have a lot of, which was the key element, was money for the theater rental.

I did what so many had done before me which was take a credit card and pay for the rental of the theater. I made sure that I priced the tickets so that I could make both a small profit and pay the bills. Then I began rehearsals in the summer of 2002 for a fall release of the show.

The show opened at the Producers Club in New York City in October of 2002. Promotions for the show mostly went out to family and friends, encouraging them to bring a friend. When I first did the play it was on a double billing with the show Duppy which was the name of the show my friend Ron Haynie wrote, directed and starred in. The show did moderately well for its first two nights. While I was content that the first two shows went well, I was excited when I discovered that a pastor of a church, who was in the audience, requested that I perform the show at his church as a fundraiser.

That was the beginning of a two year run where the cast and myself performed the show for several churches around New York City as a fundraiser for them. In that time the show saw several cast changes happen followed by a revision to the show's opening sequence. That came after several audience members commented on the slow start of the show and felt it could get a bigger boost.

The show did get its share of critics. While many loved the show for its message and its uplifting tone, there were some who felt the portrayal of God was not a positive one. The fact that I had him playing poker and placing bets left a bad taste with many people. A line in the shows final sequence between God and the devil caused a bit of controversy regarding its meaning as well. I did my best to reiterate that it was a work of fiction and that it was never meant to offend but I learned that when people a married to a belief, there isn’t much you can say to sway them. So I took the punches and chalked it up as a learning experience on how to deal with critics.

There was one suggestion, however, I did get vocal about and that was the use of special effects in the show. There were some who felt I should have used special effects to highlight the devils coming and going. There was even the suggestion of adding some form of pyrotechnics and creating some sort of huge battle sequence between them. Though it was in big demand that I do that, I stuck to my guns and refused. I explained that special effects had no place in a story like this. One of the appeals of the show was the fact that the events of the story were actually happening. The audience gets pulled into the drama. The moment smoke and fire erupts, the audience becomes detached from the drama and start to focus on the next visual surprise. They would completely miss the subtleties of the actual story and that’s where the twists and turns are. I always remind people that up until the shocking revelation, no one knows what is really happening. Special effects would certainly give it away.

Gamble, as a play, did moderately well. I was content with the success of it and hadn’t really planned to much more with it until 2004. After one performance, several audience members who had seen the show multiple times, came to me and wanted to know if there was a novel version of the play which they could read and pass on to friends who missed the show. The question caught me off guard as that I had never thought about writing a book. They pointed out that there were things in the story that they would have liked to know more about and that a book would be the best way to address them. When I thought about it from that stand point, I agreed.

I spend the next three months transposing the script into a novel. It gave me the chance to add certain bits of information that I couldn’t put on stage due to both time and money. Characters like Eddie, the best friend who dies of a deadly disease, were able to have a voice and help push the story along and give new insight to the characters involved.

When the book was done and edited, I was going to shop the manuscript around to publishing houses. But I was swayed from doing that when I was told about self publishing. A college classmate of mine had self published his book and was finding success. He told me that I could control everything from how the book looked to the revenues all on my own without the worry of someone screwing me over. It did sound intriguing and safe so I took his advice.

He then put me on to a company called IUniverse, which specialized in working with self published authors in terms of getting them started with printing, covers and publishing. I went to their website and started the process of getting A Gamble of Faith published.

A Gamble of Faith was released in May 2004 and debuted at the Harlem Book Fair. The 137 page novel was graced with the cover that was originally on the playbill for the show which was done by Demetrius Bullock who also starred in the show. The book was subsequently sold at the remaining performances until the play closed in May of 2006.


Though the novel sold well at the shows, it did not sell too well in book stores. Lack of marketing caused it to be over looked by readers. As I moved forward in trying to understand how to make things better sale wise for the book, I learned a great deal more about self publishing and just what that meant to be self-published.

A GAMBLE OF FAITH BOOK SIGNING JULY 24th 8pm @ THE ASPEN LOUNGE- NYC

Hobbcat Publishing, Inc. in association with OTT Entertainment announces the signing event of the summer. Come out and meet Brooklyn based author Marc L Abbott as he signs copies of the release of another exciting novel.

A GAMBLE OF FAITH, the inspirational story that spawned the successful play, is back in an exciting novel. It's the story of one man struggling with his faith as the forces of heaven and hell converge on him at a poker game. Filled with humor, drama, and a shocking twist tha'ts sure to surprise readers, this newly revised version of Marc Abbott's classic story is a must read, not only of the summer, but of the year.

Marc L Abbott will be on hand to sign copies of this new version for a special release price. You don't want to miss out on your chance to get this new novel.

And if you missed the ANTHORRORGY signing event and have been waiting for your chance to get a copy, the wait is over! A limited quantity of Anthorrorgy will be on sale as well. You don't want to miss out on reading the novel that Glenn Townes of The Amsterdam News called "a riveting and frightening event."

So grab a friend and come on out on Friday, July 24th to the Aspen Lounge located at 30 West 22nd Street between 5th and 6th Avenue. The event is from 8pm to 10:30. Hope to see you there!!

For more information contact us at hobbcatpublishing@yahoo.com

A GAMBLE OF FAITH IS BACK

Hello everyone. I just wanted to let you know that A Gamble of Faith is back! New cover, revised story and a new length, this is edition is better than the original. Keep an eye out here and on my Facebook page and also follow me on twitter under hobbcatpublish and I will let you know when it will be available for purchase through me and Barnes and Nobles. And keep an eye out for the book signing that will be in New York City in July.

Happy Reading!

Thanks for listening to the Urban Literary Review Interview

I wanted to take a moment out to thank all of you who tuned into the Urban Literary Review Interview last night. Special thank you to Martin for having me on. I really enjoyed sharing my information with everyone.

If you missed it, you can still go to their website and listen to it. www.blogtalkradio.com/urbanliteraryreview is the link. Just click on there and look for the Marc Abbott interview.

Thanks again to all of you for your support.

Urban Literary Review Interview Rescheduled to Thursday November 20th at 9pm

Hey Everyone,

Please be advised that the interview with the Urban Literary Review which was to take place tonight has been cancelled.

The show has been moved to Thursday November 20th at 9pm. So tune in tomorrow night at 9pm to hear me talk about my new book and Hobbcat Publishing, Inc.

www.blogtalkradio.com/urbanliteraryreview is the link for the show tomorrow night at 9pm people not near a computer can listen via the phone 347-215-8932.