Man plans, God laughs. The Yiddish proverb rings true yet again. No sooner had I planned the launch of Finn's next installment, then a family crisis prompted me to put off publication until the new year. For those of you who know our family personally, thank you for your prayers, we seem to be out of the woods.
In retrospect, I see I was rushing things along, what with the prolonged search for a suitable cover image throwing off the schedule. I'd been totally spoiled by my previous illustrator's immediate grasp of what the project needed and speedy turnaround times. How I miss you, Amy Lohman!
But perhaps the delay was just what I needed. I can send out more advance reader copies and solicit more reviews, although I cannot hope for better than that which Greg Taylor of Killer Pizza fame and my younger devoted readers have already provided.
In a further twist, I spoke about Finn's Car to a literary agent -- a talent agent for writers--at this year's Florida Writers Conference and she asked for a sample of the manuscript! For you writers in the audience, you know what a big deal this is. Not anywhere near a book deal, but a confirmation that maybe, possibly your story has commercial value.
I'd gotten quite chummy with the idea of indie publishing. It had worked for Finn's Ship and this time Finn's editing and pre-launch marketing have been much better executed, thanks to CanAm Auhor Services.
Does traditional publishing await Finn after all?
As usual, God will have the last laugh.
