We’ve got distribution!

So things are really starting to pick up speed around here. With the books already in print and scheduled to be delivered to me in July, and as the marketing campaign is almost ready for its official launch, I received some encouraging news on Tuesday. Turns out Biblio Distribution has agreed to distribute Solstice ^_^

While there are many pros and cons with using a distributor (one of the main cons being the percentage they take, which is higher than what bookstores and wholesalers will take), there’s no denying one simple fact. How else am I going to get a bookstore in, say, San Francisco to purchase a few copies of Solstice? Like Dan Poynter says, let a distributor handle the big chain bookstores, so you can focus more on niche markets and independent sales. It’s like outsourcing a big, and messy, part of your fulfillment process.

So I’m pretty excited to now have a distributor who’ll help me get the book into actual bookstores (although I still hope most people will buy it directly from my web site, hint hint! ^^). To me, it feels like Solstice is now a completely legitimate endeavor with some strong backing (first Acid Mothers Temple agreeing to let me use their song, now a national distributor that works with all the big names in the bookstore and wholesale industries). My girlfriend and friends have argued that Solstice was always a legitimate project, but at least it’s starting to feel that way for me.

Of course, I still have to do my part to promote the book. Having a distributor will be nice, but unless I promote Solstice, they’re not going to get any orders from bookstores. The trailer, I hope, will be key in doing this. So far, everyone who’s seen a sneak peek of it has said it is awesome, and creepy! I can hardly wait to officially launch it. I figure its launch will be a good indicator of potential interest in the book. Because it’s one thing to have friends and significant others say good things about your work. It’s a completely different thing to have perfect strangers say them ^^;

As if I don’t have enough to do, I’m also plodding away with my next novel. Already starting Chapter 5, and having a ton of fun writing it. See, unlike Solstice (a happy, apocalyptic tale ^^), the new novel is a comedic satire. I guess it’s a much welcome, and needed, distraction from the rigors of managing a self-publishing venture.

Going to work with my webmaster (or is it, webmistress? ^^) on updating my web site. In anticipation of the marketing campaign, I want to bolster my main site, make it more robust, add in an “author page,” things like that. I also need to connect with my fellow Latino/a authors, because so far I’ve been very insular about all this, and there’s a large network of Latino/a authors out there that I need to start connecting with.

This is, in many ways, all very odd for me. See, I’ve always been a fairly low-key, humble person. I’ve never been one to do shameless self-promotion, but in this business, it really seems that you have no choice but to be shamelessly self-promoting. Maybe even have a bit of an ego. While I’d rather not develop the ego, I guess I have to quickly learn how to promote myself and my work. Oh well.