From Self Publishing to Traditional and Why.

As you may already know, I’ve been working on my last draft to my first book in a trilogy series, A Christian Mafia.  Book one is called The Medallion.  I have been praying on whether I should self-publish this book or go with a publisher and I have finally decided.  As the title will tell you, I have chosen to go with a publisher.  The publisher I chose to go with is CrossBooks, which is a division of Lifeway Christian Bookstores.

Why have I chosen to become the self publishing traitor that I so do not want to become?  Am I letting down so many who chose the self publishing way of life?  Am I making the wrong choice?  No.  This is by far the best thing I could do right now for me and my book because of my current situation.  What is my current situation?  Well, let me tell you.

I am a disabled veteran who needs yet another spine surgery.  My back is killing me and it is extremely painful every single day.  Still, I press on and continue to write even though it puts me in a most painful position for my back.  I continue to press on knowing that this book isn’t going to sell itself once I’m done.  I know that the only way I can get it into the hands of the right readers, the readers that will actually read this book and not skim through it, is to market it.  And how am I going to market it in this state?  Well, that’s simple.  I can’t.  I have already tried to market the book that I self-published and it was slowly killing me.  To be very blunt, it is not worth it, definitely not worth it just to say I did it myself.  Oh, yes, granted, I have all the time in the world because of my disabilities.  I don’t work, I am at home, I now have my own laptop and iPad.  But even then, I don’t have a desk or a chair to sit in.  Most of the time, I sit on the floor, laying my laptop on a footstool or I type the traditional way…on my lap.  No matter the way I type, I will still be in pain.  I think even if I had a desk with a $ 1000.00 chair, I would still be in pain.  A chair will not make my disks grow back.

So, in saying all that, getting help from a company is needed at this point.  I really don’t care about the money, if I make hundreds or thousands on the book.  What I do care about is that people will read it.  I want people to read this book.  If it was up to me, I would just give it away, but obviously, I can’t afford to do that.  My desire is to share the gift that God has given me with the rest of the world, particularly those that are meant to read it.  This isn’t a book that’s just for Christians, nor is it a book just for non-Christians.  It is simply a book that anyone can read and feel satisfied that they had just read a good book.  Am I tooting my own horn, not at all.  But I have read enough books to know which ones are good and which ones are not so good.  Okay, Bad.  There, I said it.  Yes, there are bad books out there.  Books that are not worth reading and I hate to admit that because reading is such a valuable use of time, though many don’t agree.  I want people to read this book and afterwards have no regrets on the time spent reading it.  I want them to walk away satisfied.  Sharing just that simple action with the world means…well, the world to me.

I wish I was able to self-publish this book.  I really admire those that take this approach and whether successful or not, they put their blood, sweat, and tears to create something out of nothing.  I don’t feel too bad about my first book, surprisingly, it is doing pretty good for a poetry book.  I have sold more copies than I thought would ever sell.  Plus, it was really written for my sister and my brother and at first, I had no intention of publishing it.  But I felt that it would be wrong not to make it available to those that are dealing with some sort of suffering, and in the end, aren’t we all?

I will write more about what The Medallion consists of.  I will also be asking for reviewers before the book is published.  I would love to get your opinion!  Please leave a comment below if you are interested!  I thank all my readers for being so patient with me, especially with my blogging.  I love you all.  Until next time…

Cover Reveal!!!

 

 

What you see above is what my awesome cover artist, Adam Wayne, created for me.  If you would like his information, let me know and I will pass it on to you.  He took my words and created exactly what I explained, what I had in my mind.  It is amazing how people can do this, take what you envisioned and put it on paper for you to see.

 

The person you see on the cover is James.  He was born homeless continues to live a life out on the streets of New York.  But since he was just a child, he had a very close connection with God.  He was called at a very young age to carry out a mission, one that will require patience, perseverance, and most of all, protection.  But he is not the one being protected, he is the one protecting another, an eighteen year old atheist girl, Trinity, who will soon know her calling: to share the word of God with the boss of the Italian Mafia.  The Medallion you see in his hand was blessed by God to deliver the protection they will need to carry out this mission, this journey, this trial.  It seems impossible to penetrate the Mafia, especially as a young girl, barely a woman.  But with God, nothing is impossible.

My Second Book Signing!!!

My second book signing was amazing.  I barely have words to describe the experience, but I will try my best.  Let’s start off by saying that this time, I was on time!  Oh yeah!

My husband dropped me off and had to go to work because they called him in on his day off.  So, I was on my own for the first couple hours.  It is always slow in the morning when you first get to the Veteran’s hospital for vendors because everyone is trying to get to work on time.  It’s usually during lunch, which was around the same time my hubby made it back, when people make their way to the kiosks.  I was so glad he was able to come so I could go to the bathroom and get coffee without worrying about my stuff just sitting there in the atrium.  He is a big help when it comes to my book signings.

I was blessed once again to talk to numerous disabled veterans.  One of which was the Veteran I talked about in my last post, John.  He looked so much better!  He truly blessed me with his presence.  I thought I was going to cry when I saw him.  He was dressed so nicely and was getting ready to get his 20-30 stitches out of his arm and get measured for prosthetic legs.  He had a smile on his face and talked to me about how my book was touching him and how it was changing his life.  I assured him it was God, and thanked God for everything.  He, I must say, was definitely the highlight of my day.  I hope I get to see him the next time I go there.

The next thing I will share with you is when several people asked me how I got my book published.  They explained how they felt God moving them to do something with their writing but didn’t know how to go about starting up something.  I told them what I did and gave them the information to CreateSpace where you can publish for free and I got these looks like they had tears in their eyes and they couldn’t believe what they were hearing…for free?  Yes, I explained to them that they would have to, of course, purchase books to sell after publishing, but we both knew that God had brought us together for a purpose.  When you meet someone, whether it be someone new or someone you’ve known for a while, God always has an agenda behind the meeting.  It is wonderful to be a witness to His agenda.

One guy who was there polishing shoes came to me and was inspired by what I was doing, so inspired, that he went and got a few poems of his own to share with me.  Then he brought this beautiful work of art…which I wanted to buy so bad but he wasn’t selling at the time, just to share with me how God is using him.  It was truly amazing to see all the different people who came from different walks of life and how one simple thing as pain can bring you together for God’s glory.

The last experience is about a guy who was reminiscing about when he was a kid during World War 2.  He lived in southern Ireland and recalled hearing something falling from the sky.  He thought as a kid, that it was a car approaching because during that time, everyone would stop and look at the automobiles.  But what he actually heard was a bomb coming in his direction.  Thank God his older sister was there to take cover and the bomb barely missed the two of them.  He went on to tell us the whole story of what happened from there.  This, my friends…to have a veteran share with you such a personal story about their life is truly a work of God.  Only He (God) knows how long he was holding that in and needed to tell somebody about that.

Like I said in my last book signing post, I wish I could just give my books away for free, which I am really considering, at least at the VA hospitals.  And those experiences are the reasons why.

To learn more about Mentality Listens either in paperback or in Kindle edition, visit Amazon.com.  You may also visit Goodreads.com if you would like to see separate ratings for that site that are not on Amazon.com.

FREE KINDLE E-BOOK!

Mentality Listens Available for Free!

Hello all!

Today I had my second book signing and it was awesome!  But that’s another post…Lol.  I would like to let everyone know that I am giving away free copies of my e-book for two days straight!  This is for tomorrow, Tuesday, May 15th – Wednesday, May 16th!  This special event will start tonight at midnight and will end on Wednesday at 11:59 PM.

Please take advantage of this special offer to get a copy of MENTALITY LISTENS HERE!!!  All I ask is that after reading the book, you leave a review on the Amazon site.  I would really appreciate your time to do this for me.

I hope you enjoy MENTALITY LISTENS!  Feel free to leave a comment below as well.  😉

 

– Venus Angelica Perez

Excerpt from my Upcoming Novel – Part Two

Part Two

The Medallion Excerpt

“Hey, what are you…” Semyon quickly interrupt him and grabbed his jaw.

“Usually, we would question you at your house, but since I’m such a nice guy, we are taking you somewhere where no young women will get hurt. You understand?” Semyon asked. Yefram stayed quiet and let them guide him to the car.

Semyon drove to a nearby grocery store that was closed for the night. The parking lot was empty. He drove around the dark side of the dumpsters out of the view of the cameras. They all got out of the car. The two guys were holding Yefram by the arms.

“What’s this all about?” Yefram asked. He was angry. There wasn’t any sign of fear in him.

“I need some information from you. Number one. Who is this guy?” Semyon asked as he showed Yefram the picture. He folded the part that had his picture.

Yefram took a good look at the picture. “Why are you asking me about him?” one of the guys that was holding him used his other hand to punch him in the stomach. Yefram got the wind knocked out of him.

“I am asking the questions here, do you understand? Now, it seems like you know him. So, I will ask you one more time. Who is this guy? What is his name?” Semyon asked.

“His name is Lestan,” Yefram said. He was struggling to stand up. He was fifty-eight years old, so a punch in the stomach was a real shock to his body.

“Good, good. Now we’re gettin somewhere. Number two. Where is this guy, Lestan? And may I remind you that there’s more where that pain came from, my friend…much much more,” Semyon warned.

“Last time I spoke to him, he was hanging out on Tremont Avenue in the Bronx, but that was almost a year ago,” Yefram explained. He was worried his information may not be accurate because of the lapse of time.

Semyon remembered that the Cougar narrowed the phone number to the Bronx. What this guy was saying was lining up. He better keep on questioning him. “Very good. Number three. Who does he hang out with in Tremont?”

“He spends most of his time with Pac Man. That’s why I stopped talking to him. I got five kids, three of them still in school. I don’t want no trouble. Please…” Yefram knew that he had a very small chance of getting out of this alive.

“Pat him down,” Semyon said to the guys. They checked his pockets and patted him down. He had his wallet on him and his cell phone. Semyon checked his cell phone for Lestan’s number. It wasn’t there. There was nothing in his wallet concerning Lestan as well. He gave both items back to Yefram.

It looks like you put me in a good mood, Yefram. I like deals. I’m going to make you a deal. You keep your ears open about anything and everything. Then we are going to check up on you. You tell us what you know and you can live. How does that sound?

“Good, good, that sounds good, sir. Thank you, thank you.” Yefram put is two hands together and thanked Semyon.

“Now remember, we can hear everything that goes on in your life, so you gotta tell us the truth next time we come around. And don’t try to leave the area. That’s the worst, most disrespectful thing you can do. Understand?”

“Yes, yes. I understand. I won’t go anywhere, I’ll keep my ears and eyes opened and my mouth shut,” Yefram said.

“Very good. Let’s go.” Semyon left Yefram in the parking lot. He and his two guys headed straight to Tremont Avenue. As Yefram was walking home, he thought about what happened and what he told them about Lestan. He thought about calling the police or calling the FBI. He thought about the last time he talked to Lestan and the last things he said to him. But he also thought about his family, his three girls and his two boys. And what it came down to was protecting the life of his wife and kids. He didn’t care about his life, but he knew the Mafia. And he knew they don’t stop at you. Oh no. When they get revenge, they go for your whole family. Living in a Russian community for so long in Brooklyn, he saw it happen far too many times. That’s why he moved out here. No, he will do exactly what he said he would do. Keep his ears and eyes open and his mouth shut. Then he’ll be able to think about seeing his three younger kids going off to college.

I hope you enjoyed the excerpt from my upcoming Novel, The Medallion.  Please leave some feedback and let me know what you think.