Eat Tuna Bagel, Publish Book, Take Nap

I spent most of this morning finishing up the formatting for THE MARRIAGE PACT for Amazon Kindle. It's sort of mind boggling how quickly someone who is reasonably adept at computers can start to feel very old. Five or even three years ago, I would've rated myself somewhere around the 80th percentile when it comes to knowledge of and ability to navigate basic technology. Today, however... Well, let's just say many of the relevant e-publishing websites don't have answers to my questions in their forums because, what idiot wouldn't know that?

When I came to a stopping point, my family and I celebrated with our weekend tradition of visiting our favorite deli for some yummy bagels. We got home about half an hour ago, and Monkey is not yet asleep in his crib for an afternoon nap, but I have already uploaded the book for publishing. That fast.

Six months of writing and editing, a few weeks of trying to comprehend the mechanics of converting a word processing document to an ebook, and then 15 minutes to upload and click 'publish.' It's sort of an astonishing process.

I am starting with publication for Kindle, and then I'll move to other ebook formats and paperback in the next couple of weeks. The book is not yet completely perfect, and this is causing me some mild anxiety, but I've worked very hard editing it and had lots of great help, so it is far more readable than it was when I last updated. One cool thing about self-publishing is that I can make changes with relative ease moving forward (so, yes, you should let me know about the typo you spotted on page 39 if you're an early reader).

It takes the amazon system about 24 hours to make the book available for purchase, so I'll keep everyone posted. In the meantime, here is the dust jacket summary for those who may be interested in reading:

Marci Thompson always knew what life would be like by her 30^th birthday. A large but cozy suburban home shared with a charming husband and two brilliant children. A celebrated career as an established writer, complete with wall-to-wall mahogany shelves and a summer book tour. A life full of adventure with her friends and family by her side.

Instead, Marci lives alone in 480 square feet of converted motel space next to a punk rock band, hundreds of miles from her friends and family. She works in a temporary accounting assignment that has somehow stretched from two weeks into nine months. And the only bright spot in her life, not to mention the only sex she’s had in two years, is an illicit affair with her married boss, Doug. Thirty is not at all what it is cracked up to be.

Then the reappearance of a cocktail napkin she hasn’t seen in a decade opens a long-forgotten door, and Marci’s life gets complicated, fast. The lines between right and wrong, fantasy and reality, heartache and happiness are all about to get very blurry, as Marci faces the most difficult choices of her life.

So, obviously, this falls under the genre of 'contemporary women's fiction.' But I will say that a few of my alpha readers were men who confessed to enjoying it, too. And just so you know, it's a grown up book - there's some explicit language and sexual content. YUM!

I'll try to update the blog when the book is available in various formats. You can also stay in the loop by "liking" my Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/MJPullenbooks.

As a side note, there's some debate among writers and emerging writers about whether self-publishing is a "legitimate" way to get started, or if DIY publishing is the kiss of death for a new author. Some people say it's a great way to build an audience and get your work out there where it can be noticed by publishers, others say it ruins your reputation forever.

I can't speak to that with any authority, but I will say that writing a novel -- even light summer reading -- is darn hard work. I'm not sure how motivated I would have felt to keep at it over the last half-year if I'd thought that the only thing waiting for me at the end of the process was a slew of rejection letters from agents and publishers. It's nice to know I can sink or swim on my own. And instead of spending the next several months trying to convince someone in power that this book is worth reading, I can get to work on the sequel instead!

In the meantime, it is time for me to take a well-earned nap.

PS - If any agents or publishers are reading this, I didn't mean any of that stuff about sinking and swimming on my own. I need you desperately. Call me?