Agent's Second Progress Report

I recently received my second 30-day update from my agent detailing the progress made on selling my book to a major publishing house. Of eleven (11) recipients, only one had "Passed" on the offer by the time the first progress report came out (Passed means that the publisher has decided not to pursue this book at this time). This progress report (Report #2), four have passed leaving me with seven (7) possible publishing companies. While seven (7) is a good number, it does hurt my confidence a good bit. You would think that the book would be so good that companies would snatch it up in a heartbeat. Of course, it is a limited genre. Gay books are not exactly mainstream material and so have limited earning potential. Despite the unpromising progress report, book sales here on my website have picked up and are surprisingly promising. Keep buying, boys; and thank you.

Recipient 1 Penguin Putnam - The Berkley Publishing Group
Response Status In Follow-up

Recipient 2 St Martins Press - MacMillan
Response Status Passed

Recipient 3 Kensington Publishing
Response Status In Follow-up

Recipient 4 Time Warner - Warner Books
Response Status Passed

Recipient 5 HarperCollins - HarperCollins
Response Status In Follow-up

Recipient 6 Random House - Doubleday Broadway
Response Status Passed

Recipient 7 Random House - Bantam Dell
Response Status In Follow-up

Recipient 8 Simon & Schuster - Scribner
Response Status Passed

Recipient 9 Avalon Publishing - Carroll & Graf
Response Status In Follow-up

Recipient 10 St Martins Press - Thomas Dunne Books
Response Status In Follow-up

Recipient 11 Penguin Group - Dutton Adult Trade
Response Status In Followup

Noah Reilly, author

"Out on Deep Water"

http://www.novels-by-noah.com/

	Looking for a lighter read?/strong> Click to Save on Gay & Lesbian Magazines!

New Website, New Ad Campaign

After having been available for a little more than six months now, the Novels-by-Noah website (http://www.Novels-by-Noah.com) has been revamped, upgraded and is being newly marketed to the world. While the domain name has not changed, the navigation along with the page layout and page design has been. The new site aims to be more visitor/reader friendly as well as more friendly to the online search engines. The most notable differences for visitors are the consistency between pages for the header, footer and left-margin. Also, links are now available on every page that allow visitors to proceed to the purchase pages for paperback copies of "Out on Deep Water" or to eBook copies. These links are located conveniently at the top, left and bottom of each page.

A brand new ad campaign has been launched as well. Microsoft's AdCenter is now distributing a highly targeted ad at select websites and search results. The ad (featured below) is aimed specifically at gay readers looking for gay romance novels. Previous ad campaigns on Microsoft's AdCenter and Google's AdWords had not garnered the desired results or book sales that had been intended. After careful review, the shortfalls in those ad campaigns most likely were attributed to poor ad placement and poor ad composition.

Ad Copy:
A New Gay Romance Novel

"Out on Deep Water" by Noah Reilly is now available.

http://www.novels-by-noah.com/

The new website was published on April 4th, 2008. The new ad campaign on Microsoft AdCenter was launched the same day.

"Out on Deep Water"

Buy your copy now.

Buy a Paperback Copy

Buy an eBook

Agent's Progress

I recently received my first 30-day update from my agent detailing the progress made on selling my book to a major publishing house. Of eleven (11) recipients, only one has "Passed" on the offer (Passed means that the publisher has decided not to pursue this book at this time). The other ten (10) have not yet responded and are listed as "In Follow-Up". My agent tells me that this is typical and that response times usually take more than thirty (30) days. All that I can do is take a deep breath and wait for the next report. Below are the publishing houses to which my agent mailed offer letters.

Recipient 1 Penguin Putnam - The Berkley Publishing Group
Response Status In Follow-up

Recipient 2 St Martins Press - MacMillan
Response Status In Follow-up

Recipient 3 Kensington Publishing
Response Status In Follow-up

Recipient 4 Time Warner - Warner Books
Response Status Passed

Recipient 5 HarperCollins - HarperCollins
Response Status In Follow-up

Recipient 6 Random House - Doubleday Broadway
Response Status In Follow-up

Recipient 7 Random House - Bantam Dell
Response Status In Follow-up

Recipient 8 Simon & Schuster - Scribner
Response Status In Follow-up

Recipient 9 Avalon Publishing - Carroll & Graf
Response Status In Follow-up

Recipient 10 St Martins Press - Thomas Dunne Books
Response Status In Follow-up

Recipient 11 Penguin Group - Dutton Adult Trade
Response Status In Followup


Noah Reilly, author
"Out on Deep Water"
http://www.novels-by-noah.com/



"Out on Deep Water"
Buy your copy now.
Buy a Paperback Copy
Buy an eBook

Maybe it is the Cost?

Tomorrow, I fly to Seattle for the week. It is all work but not book related. Before I fly across the country though, I had an idea about how to generate more sales. I reduced the price of my book to less than ten dollars ($10.00). Over the Christmas holidays, I had offered the book at about seventeen dollars ($17.00). Perhaps even that was too high. On my online bookstore, I launched a promotion for the lower price that will last through the end of February. We will see if that helps book sales in any way. I will keep you posted (blogged).

Also, I have signed on with my agent to launch an aggressive marketing plan. This 'Aggressive Marketing Plan' cost me a little less than two hundred dollars ($200.00), but that is not a large amount of money to pay if it gets me a BIG publishing contract. If it garners no interest though (i.e. no money), I will be ditching my agent and looking elsewhere. Again, check back later to see how this goes... wish me luck.

Noah Reilly, author
"Out on Deep Water"
http://www.novels-by-noah.com/


"Out on Deep Water"
Buy your copy now.
Buy a Paperback Copy
Buy an eBook

I NEED TRAFFIC!

Despite discounted prices for my new novel, "Out on Deep Water", for the holidays, I have not seen any change in the dismal sales numbers. Web site traffic (http://www.Novels-by-Noah.com) has slowed to a near standstill. I am obviously missing something on Internet advertising. I have started researching web sites that specialize in building site traffic for me. I thought that I could do it alone, but maybe it takes more than one person can do or maybe I just do not know what the right things to do are. Either way, I know that what I am doing currently is not working. I need traffic; and right now, I do not have it.

One of my big marketing plans was to have gay cruise sites link to my book site. I thought for sure that people booking gay-oriented cruises would be an ideal market to also buy my book which revolves around two gay guys that take a cruise together from New Orleans, across the Gulf of Mexico, to Belize and Grand Cayman and Cozumel and then back to New Orleans after sailing for seven days and nights. Unfortunately, getting my web site linked or listed on these gay-oriented travel web sites has proven to be practically impossible. These sites sell travel deals. They do not care about gay fiction novels. I do not think that I have had even one site list my site on their site.

Another of my big marketing plans was to have gay bookstores sell my book either in their stores or on their web sites. Apparently, the industry makes it very difficult for self-published novels to make it anywhere near the shelves or even their virtual shelves. Even though I emailed and contacted gay-oriented bookstores all across the United States and Canada, I got zero results. None of them was interested. None of them wanted my book. Most only accepted books from certain suppliers. All of them wanted deep, deep discounts... of course, I never even really got as far as having to worry about how much of a discount I would offer them.

I am at a point now where I am wondering if it is even a viable option that I go forward and push this book and pursue a literary career. Admittedly, this is my first novel. Sure, there is a learning curve. Sure, I need to build up an audience... what does it take though to do these things? I really can not say that I am committed enough to writing to worry about this apparent struggle for stardom. I think that it may just come down to pure luck - that the right person in the right position will read my book (or at least see it) and sign a contract with me rocketing me to fame and fortune. After all, isn't that the way it should work anyway?

Noah Reilly, author
"Out on Deep Water"
http://www.Novels-by-Noah.com


"Out on Deep Water"
Buy your copy now.
Buy a Paperback Copy
Buy an eBook

Going on Another Cruise

It is December 14, 2007... my last day of work for 2007 (at least with my day job). Coincidentally, I am working in Tampa for this week; and also leaving on my next cruise from downtown Tampa this coming Monday. It is the second annual cruise trip that I have taken with my friends. We did a four day cruise last year from New Orleans. This will be only my third cruise since I started cruising back in 2005... that seems such a long time ago.

That cruise back in 2005 was also the basis for my novel, "Out on Deep Water". The cruise from last year was going to serve as the basis for my second novel, but writing on that one has been sidetracked by my day job and my real estate deals and promoting my first novel. I am thinking about taking this cruise and taking the time to dive back into that second novel. I already have many, many pages put into it already. I just have to get 'back on the horse' and start typing. I will either do that or take time to add to some of the other books that I have started. There are about five that might eventually make it to the printing house.

My last blog entry was very depressing. I was going through a very depressing time. There were a lot of heartaches chipping away at my usually upbeat personality and character. Those heartaches are less now or at least I am managing them slightly better.

I am still working hard at finding ways to increase traffic to my web site (http://www.Novels-by-Noah.com), but that seems to be an uphill battle. I blog. I invite comments. I link to other sites. I request links from other sites. I use metatags. I list with search engines. I email.

I believe all of these things need to be done plus a lot of other ways too that I have yet to get around to. It does take a team to do this. I will have to start enlisting help from friends or college kids that want to co-op for free. If you read this and you are interested, email me (noah@novels-by-noah.com) with the subject line "I can help".

I will keep you posted as soon as I return from the cruise. Until then, Merry Christmas!

Noah Reilly, author
"Out on Deep Water"
http://www.Novels-by-Noah.com

noah@novels-by-noah.com

...

"Out on Deep Water"
Buy your copy now.
Buy a Paperback Copy
Buy an eBook

Distractions and Discouragement

My last post about marketing of my new novel, "Out on Deep Water", was on the eleventh of November. It is now the eigth of December - almost a month. My marketing efforts have yielded few vegetables, much less fruit. Sales have practically stopped completely. I did have a recent eBook, but those are already discounted so much it is pitiful. If I did not have my day job, I would completely fall into the starving artist category.

Yes, it is very disheartening to work so hard on a word of art which I feel is worthy of recognition; but instead have it flounder on the virtual book shelves of the world... not just a small town bookstore, but the world. I have practically the entire world as a market - yet, I can not get readers to buy the book.

I have even discounted the paperback book price on my web site for the holidays. Even this has yielded no new sales. I still have half of the original order from the printing house on hold. At this point, I see little use it requesting them be shipped as there are no orders to fill.

This is obviously a depressing time for this little author.

As for distractions, I am swamped with work from my day job and my other endeavors. Of all of these non-writing endeavors (and there are about five others), only my full-time day job provides income... sorely needed income. Distractions with no income - wonderful.

Noah Reilly
"Out on Deep Water"
http://www.novels-by-noah.com/


"Out on Deep Water"
Buy your copy now.
Buy a Paperback Copy
Buy an eBook

Marketing, Marketing, Marketing (Location, Location, Location)

Regardless of how outgoing and social you are, you are not going to sell any books if no one knows about it or about you. You have got to advertise. I have been doing this relentlessly for months now. It is an on-going and never-ending endeavor. I have been doing most of this myself (at least it seems that I am doing it by myself). I have contracted with an agent to try to sell my book to a major publishing house, but this contract is only on a commission basis so they get no money unless they sell the book. It is going on three months, and I have seen no results from them. Now I hear that the book business is terribly slow in jumping on a new work... this is probably a bunch of crap. I think I just need to find the right person with whom to sleep. In the meantime, however, I am pounding the keyboard all over the Internet.

What am I doing, you might ask. Let me tell you what I have been doing to market my novel, "Out on Deep Water", which can be bought online (http://www.novels-by-noah.com/). I have a fine web site online fully furnished with online credit card processing plus a media content center, about the author details, graphics of the book cover, plus tons of more details. Plus, I have more online content with sites on MySpace.com (http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=222011017); I have created this great blog site, filling it with wonderful content detailing my adventure into writing and publishing; I have created an eBook copy of my novel and offered it online (http://www.mobipocket.com/en/eBooks/BookDetails.asp?BookID=64354&Origine=3380); I have contacted gay book clubs across the country to see if they are interested in using my novel as a topic (I would even talk to them in interviews); I have issued press releases on PRLeap.com (http://www.prleap.com/pr/101220/); I have listed my novel online Windows.Live.Expo (http://expo.live.com/ViewListing.aspx?lId=6540624); I have listed my novel on CraigsList.com... and I have been doing this relentlessly (I may have already said that...).

The benefits are starting to payoff. I have seen an increase in the number of eBooks that are selling. I think this might be because I reduced the price to match other similar books on the eBook site. As such, I recently reduced the price of the paperback copy by more than 15% and continued the 'no shipping fees in the U.S.' offer - shipping is not that much... I just need to move some books to 1.) make money and 2.) feel like this book is not for nothing.

It is already 11pm here, and I have to go to bed shortly. If you have not read my book, buy a copy - either paperback or eBook (http://www.novels-by-noah.com/). Thanks for reading though, and I hope I was entertaining and perhaps even insightful. If you are writing or publishing or pushing a novel, good luck; and I would love to hear from you.

Good night, all. Sleep well.

Noah Reilly, author
"Out on Deep Water"
http://www.novels-by-noah.com/


"Out on Deep Water"
Buy your copy now.
Buy a Paperback Copy
Buy an eBook

Writing, Writing, Writing

Once I had finished the novel (or at least finished the story), I then had to go back through the entire text and edit my work. That took a long, long time - months. I first read back through it in Microsoft Word. This was a long process because I still had to balance this with work and family and friends and such. Spell Checker worked great, but spell checker does not catch everything. "Ther" could be replaced automatically with "there" while it might have needed to only be "the". There were a lot of these types of errors that I had to go back and catch; and I did not hire someone to do this for me. I had to go through every line of text and do it myself.

Once I felt that I had done as much online (in Microsoft Word) as I could, I went back and printed all of the pages to paper. At this point, I went back over every page and caught more errors that I had not caught while reviewing the digital copy. There were even plot problems that caught on the printed copy that I had not even thought about while reviewing the digital copy. If you are reviewing your work, a printed copy is absolutely necessary. You just tend to notice more when the work is on paper in front of you.

Once I had finished all of the updates on paper, I then had to go back to the digital copy in Microsoft Word and update all of the changes there. It is cool also that I now have a marked-up copy of the original printed pages that I keep as a momento (maybe one day it will worth more than the printed books... it could happen).

Even going through this process, there are still errors that I did not catch before I sent it to the printing house. Hiring a professional to review and catch my errors might have been worth the expense, and I may do this on my future novels. It was probably nerves that kept me from showing the work to someone else for fear of having them judge it before I even got it printed and bound.


"Out on Deep Water"
Buy your copy now.
Buy a Paperback Copy
Buy an eBook

Almost a Year of Writing and Re-writing

Writing the novel (which is at 242 pages) took about a year. I still had my full-time job during this process (and still have that same job, by the way) so I had to juggle work and writing and family and friends and whatever else during this whole time.

The writing was never an easily scheduled approach. I do travel a lot with my job though (I usually fly out on Sundays and back home on Friday nights) so I had a lot of time in the air to pull out my laptop and type.

Of course, if you've started this process yourself, you know that a large part of writing takes inspiration. You have to 'feel' like writing. It is something that you can not force. You have to have the urge to sit down and put a story together. Well, for this book, I had plenty of inspiration. It was like I could hardly wait to put the next paragraph in print. I think writers can try to force themselves to write a story; but if it is not in their heart, the story will fall short and flounder.

I suppose I got to the last chapter around October of 2006. Of course, that was not the end of the writing process. There was much more to be typed...


"Out on Deep Water"
Buy your copy now.
Buy a Paperback Copy
Buy an eBook

Writing the Book

This novel started back in December, 2005. I took a cruise with a friend of mine. It was a seven day cruise from Galveston, Texas to Grand Cayman, Belize, Costa Maya, Cozumel and then back to Galveston. It was a great trip. We had a blast. Plus, it covered New Year's Eve so we spent New Year's Eve that year in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico under a full (or almost full) moon. I had no idea at the time or at any time during the cruise; but as soon as I got back home after the cruise and started telling people about the things that Richie and I did on the cruise, I quickly realized that I should put the story into print. People would say, "You need to write a book," when I was telling them everything that we did. After a few of these, I decided that they were right. I should put it in print.

So to start you off, you need a story to tell - either a real one or one that you make up. Either way, you have to have inspiration to get you started and motivation to keep you going.


"Out on Deep Water"
Buy your copy now.
Buy a Paperback Copy
Buy an eBook

For Immediate Release

Welcome. I have just received my first round of printed books from my printing house. My novel, "Out on Deep Water", started about two years ago. The journey to finish the manuscript and actually get it printed has been a long one. I think surely there must be many people out there in the same situation where they have written a book and think that it is good enough to print and sell. Perhaps I can impart a little of what I have learned over the past two years. Maybe it will save someone a few extra steps, heartaches, burdens.

This is my intro. I'll start posting the good stuff tomorrow.

Noah Reilly
http://www.novels-by-noah.com/


"Out on Deep Water"
Buy your copy now.
Buy a Paperback Copy
Buy an eBook