The Fourth Age - Now the World Knows

No more excuses.  I started this journey over five years ago, at least formally.  The story was born thirty-five years ago.  It just took me this long to write it all down.  To this point the only people who've known about this series have been friends and coworkers.  A few have been very supportive, for which I'm eternally thankful, and it was an effort to get the story in their hands which led to self-publishing.

Earlier this week I decided to let the world in on the story.  You can see the press release here.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/DavidGerspach/TheFourthAge/prweb12506807.htm

I still don't see the ebook format on Barne's and Noble, but you can pick it up on both Lulu and Amazon.  The print format is available in several outlets, but as previously discussed the pricing rules are not consumer (or author) friendly for sites outside of Lulu.  Barnes and Noble have discounted the print version a few dollars (thank you), but Lulu is still far and away the best place to buy the print version.  I intend to keep it that way.

So, the press release is out there.  I'm told it was sent to 30,000 interested email addresses.  If you do a google search you can see it out there in a few places.  It's kind of fun, but it's also kind of scary.  What happens now?  I have no idea.  I'm trying to prepare for all sorts of outcomes.  I don't expect everyone to like the book.  To the contrary, I'm ready for critics who may refer to it as the worst piece of garbage ever written.  That doesn't scare me.  I love the story and I started out just writing this for me.  It's the most epic story I've ever read or seen.  That's not going to change.  I know my friend's comments have ranged from they like it to they love it.  I've received some critical input, which I've taken to heart, but the story is still the story I wanted to tell.  I'm happy about that.

Certainly, one possible outcome is deathly silence.  What happens if thirty thousand people shrug their shoulders and say "next"?  It's possible.  I guess in that case I'm no worse off than I am today.  But I'm still left wondering if people would like or hate the story if they actually read it.

And then what if some people read it and actually like it.  That's actually the most scary outcome...and the most exciting.  At that point I really don't know what happens next.

Regardless, I've started the process to publish the next volume, Dark Passages.  To me its important to get the next volume out there quickly in case there is any interest.  I want people to know that this is not a story that they will need to wait years to get the next chapter.  How quickly future volumes follow will kind of depend upon interest.  Self-publishing just for yourself is cheap.  It only cost time.  But if you want to present your book in a professional format and do a press release, it's not free.  I won't get into costs here, but will need to sell about 1000 copies of the book to break even.  For potential self-publishers out there, keep that in mind.

I encourage anyone out there with a story to tell it, in whatever format you're comfortable.  Dream big (and don't stop dreaming), but understand that there's still a big luck factor involved.  With work, you can put yourself in a good position.  Fate will decide the rest.  Come to think of it, that kind of applies to many characters in story.  Until later...