Today is March 7th, 2017. That means it is exactly ten years since I published my very first novel, Fallen.
Ten years ago, the self-publishing landscape was very different. This was in the BK days—Before Kindle. Back then, there were only three options to publish your book. One was the traditional route. Another was to pay a printer for a run of books out of pocket and pray you could sell them. The third was paying a vanity press to do the second for you.
But around this time, a fourth option became available—print-on-demand. One outfit in particular, Lulu.com, offered to do it for no upfront costs. Instead, they’d get paid whenever someone ordered a copy. If you wanted to be available for people to order through bookstores and websites, you had to pay around $30 for distribution.
I chose the latter and Fallen was born. I’ve learned a lot in that time, both as an author and a publisher, and Fallen is still a pretty imperfect book. But it was my first and it’s one I’m still proud of.
So, to celebrate ten years of publishing, I’ve decided to give all of you the gift. From today until March 11th, Fallen will be available for free on the Amazon US store. You get to read my first novel for free!
Here’s to another ten (hopefully more successful) years of publishing!