The Return of "The Adventures of Guy"

I'm just popping in to update y'all on the status of my first book, THE ADVENTURES OF GUY ... WRITTEN BY A GUY (PROBABLY). If you've been paying attention to my Tweets, you'll know my five year contract with my publisher expired on Dec 31. They offered to renew, but, well, I decided to take the rights back.

The reason I wanted it back is because of Joe Konrath's posts about putting books out yourself on Kindle. That wasn't where I wanted it to end up, because eventually I'll finish the third Adventures of Guy (70% done right now) and by then, maybe I can try to sell the three books as a trilogy. Or not. Just thinking.

But until then, my plan was to put it on Kindle on Jan 1, and keep it out there to support THE NEXT ADVENTURES OF GUY, which is still on contract with my publisher.

But my 100 day Caveman Story project got in the way. So I postponed it until the beginning of March, and kept busy with my new project.

Then I received an email from my publisher, telling me I had to remove all electronic images of the book from my website and other promotional sites. I looked through my contract for wordage that said I couldn't keep the image for historical purposes, found nothing, but they still insisted I remove the images.

This forced my hand, so I got to work, and got it done last Saturday. The whole thing, kit and kaboodle. I did the paper book through Amazon's publishing partner, Create Space, and after I review the proof copy, I'll put it on Kindle. So my plan is to still 'officially' re-release it March 1, but I think it will be available before then.

Here are some of the positives about doing it this way:

1) I can get author copies for way cheaper than through my publisher.
2) I can offer the book for reduced price (I plan on the Kindle price being three dollars, that's half what it cost through my publisher).
3) It also gives me flexibility to consider other stuff later. If one of my books 'takes off,' I can re-release it through a traditional publisher.

The negatives:

1) The perceived notion that it's self-published. Well, it is, kind of. But it was originally traditionally published. The Guy books have received incredible reviews, and they will survive comparison quality-wise and entertainment-wise with any book.
2) Unless I work out a way to use Lightning Source, they won't be easily available for bookstore signings. I'll work on that issue.

Anyway, I'm glad I took the rights back, and I'm looking forward to seeing where we go. I did this cover myself, so no one can tell me what to do with it. (So there).

Norm

www.normcowie.com