I haven’t posted to my blog for several months now. You may be wondering what happened to me. No, I wasn’t abducted by aliens or trapped on an un-dockable cruise ship (sorry Bonnie) or put into the witness protection program and forced to serve out the rest of my life in an igloo. (Although that last one is actually a pretty good approximation of what it feels like to live in Minnesota right now.) Truth be told, I’ve pretty much been a recluse inside the house, except for an exciting long-weekend trip to Pittsburg, Kansas that no doubt will be immortalized in a song or a short story someday.

I’ve been keeping busy with the release and marketing of my second novel, White as Snow, which was self-published in paperback in December and an ebook format in early January. Visit my website at www.PeteSimonsAuthor.com for more information, if you haven’t already been completely bored to tears by my constant references to it on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and now Instagram (follow me at Pete_Simons2).

You may also have noticed that many of my earlier postings on this blog have been deleted. That is due to some recent comments by a literary agent, who strongly suggested that authors not make drafts of their work available to the public, for a number of good reasons that I won’t go into. (Hint: several reasons were based upon the fact that early drafts tend to suck, which I really couldn’t argue with.) From now on, I’ll only be posting material here that I have no intention of ever publishing. (But I’ll try not to let it suck, so I hope you’ll keep reading!)

So, yeah, that implies that I’m planning to publish some of the stuff that I’ve deleted. I’ve been working hard on my third book, which will be called Uncooperative Characters. It will be a collection of twenty-four short stories, some of which (but not all!) appeared on this blog as earlier drafts. I’ve fixed them up so they no longer suck. Or suck as much, I suppose. I’m now looking for a literary agent to represent the book.

I recently pitched my work in three separate Zoom meetings with literary agents, two of whom seemed sincerely interested, even enthusiastic, dare I say it. I’ve submitted written queries to them and several others. We’ll see what happens. If I fail to find an agent, I’ll probably self-publish the book in the fall. But if I’m successful, it will likely go through several more agent-driven revisions, a process of pitching the work to professional publishing houses, several more publisher-driven revisions, the development of a marketing plan, and finally a market release sometime in 2022 or even later. So don’t hold your breath.

Marketing books is my least favorite part of being an author. It takes a lot of time and effort, and it’s very difficult to gain traction when you don’t have a big advertising budget and can’t get into the bookstores (which not many people are visiting right now anyway, I suppose). So here’s how you can help me if you’re so inclined:

1) If you’ve read the book, please give me an honest review on Goodreads, Barnes & Noble, and/or Amazon.

2) If you liked the book, tell your friends! If you didn’t, mum’s the word.

3) Please consider forwarding/reposting any of my Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and Instagram posts to your friends and contacts.

4) You might want to rent a large billboard next to a major highway and display a picture of my book along with your personal recommendation. Just a thought.

5) Wish me luck. Preferably by utilizing a large billboard next to a major highway.

Thanks.

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Pete Simons