Monica Valentinelli: Author, Game Designer and Consultant

Posted on March 13, 2008 - by Monica Valentinelli

Upcoming Online Book Announcement: My Violet War Series

As I’ve mentioned in other posts about how publishing has changed for novelists, there are several authors who are now going the route of self-publishing. Well? Very shortly I’m going to be delving into new territory, taking inspiration from other authors like David Wellington and Gregory Solis. Blending the writer’s resources that Matt recommended like ePublishing 101 and POD people with knowledge I’ve earned through my day job, I’m not only going to see if this method will work for me, but also how.

Just as every book is different, not every writer may follow the same path. For this series, I know I’m taking a big risk because it’s completely removed from anything I’ve written before.

Updates about the project will be posted on this blog and my reasons for doing that are really two-fold. One, I’d like to wrap in what my learnings are to offer you my take. And two, even though this is an experimental type of fiction for me, my goal is to one day sell a work and donate a reasonable amount to an established charity like other authors have done in the past.

In all honesty, I simply “don’t know” what will happen with this series or even whether or not I’ll be successful. If there is one thing I’ve learned, that I constantly try to express in this blog and in my talks, however, is the concept that if you don’t “put yourself out there” your work may stagnant or worse — you could fall into a writer’s depression.

There are a lot of potential take-a-ways to learn from this experience: Am I a novelist? Can I write “urban fantasy?” Is it possible to build enough buzz for my work for a publisher to take that chance? Will I need an editor sooner rather than later? How is marketing online feasible, scalable and/or translatable to hoofing it at conventions?

So stay tuned and I invite you to learn right alongside me as I venture off into uncharted territory for my work.

Related posts:

1. Book Trailer for Argentum, My Online Serial Novel
2. My New Guest Series at Apex: Creating an Alien Language
3. Announcement: Change to Blog Design
4. A Freelancer’s Service Announcement: Please Write your Emails
5. New on the SFWA Blog: Online Reputation vs. Writer’s Platform