News about PART I & PART II of the PENITENT . . .

First Decent Snowfall of the 2016–17 Winter Season. (Photo by A. Keith Carreiro, January 2017.)

January 2017 is now here! I have tried taking advantage of the intersession break between the fall and spring semesters by spending time on marketing and promoting the Penitent – Part I.

There are currently six reviews on Amazon for my first novel, the Penitent – Part I.  I am excited about them because they are all five–out–of–five star ratings.  I know that I cannot expect every review to be great, but these results so far are wonderful and humbling at the same time.

Six five-star reviews on Amazon so far! (Screenshot by A. Keith Carreiro, January 2017.)

Over the next three months, I am hoping to do as many presentations that I can about this novel, as well as the chapter, “Crisis of Conscience: War and Peace at UMO”, I wrote for Stephen King’s nonfiction book Hearts in Suspension.

I have my first presentation scheduled for Wednesday, January 25, 2017, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Swansea Public Library.  I think it is totally appropriate and well omened to start off promoting this series in the town where I live and in which I was raised.

I will be talking about the process it took to write these two very different stories, one being metaphysical and visionary fiction while the other is historical nonfiction. I will also be discussing the various literary aspects regarding the two publications and look forward to answering participants’ questions about these areas of writing. Self–publishing is now more easily available and affordable to people due to the exponential advantages made in technology thereby enabling writers of all ages and walks of life the opportunities of getting their work in print. I will be talking about this facet of writing as well.

I have also started preparing the manuscript for the Penitent – Part II.  The manuscript has been carefully prepared and readied for submission to CreateSpace, which is an on–demand publishing platform. As it is a subsidiary of Amazon, it offers the additional advantage of being paired with the world’s number one online retailer.

Screenshot of one of the manuscript pages from Chapter Two (A. Keith Carreiro, January 2017).

I have learned that CreateSpace offers services at the best rates that I can find in the industry, which translates to better pricing for me in regards to potential sales.  I have selected CreateSpace to convert my manuscript for Part II into eBook and paperback versions. I hope to release it on April 1^st of this year. The staff that will be assigned to help me will also obtain a Library of Congress Control Number [LCCN], which is a unique identification number that the Library of Congress assigns to titles prior to their publication.

While the winter weather we have been experiencing has been like a see–saw, going from minus four degree ^F to fifty–seven degrees ^F, I have been steadily making progress on preparing the way to getting Part II released.

The five keywords I have about Part II are listed below:

1. Fantasy

2. Science Fiction

3. Medieval Story set in the Future

4. Speculative Fiction Thriller

5. Allegory of a 26^th Century Warrior

Instead of listing it by category or genre

Vinca major, AKA bigleaf, large, greater or blue periwinkle, is blooming in December! (Photo by A. Keith Carreiro, December 2016.)

FIC009020    FICTION / Fantasy / Epic

FIC028010    FICTION / Science Fiction / Action & Adventure

as I did with Part I, I have refined the classification to

FIC039000    FICTION / Visionary & Metaphysical.

Incorporated as a not–for–profit corporation in February of 1976, the Book Industry Study Group, Inc. [BISG], is a U.S. trade association known for its work concerning policy, technical standards and research related to books and similar products. BISG developed the Book Industry Subject and Category [BISAC] standards, of which three of them in fiction are listed above.

I picked this specific genre because I believe it is the closest category that I could find that comes close to categorizing the story. It also is not as huge those belonging to fantasy or science fiction. This rating is important because placing it in the visionary and metaphysical realm of book classification lessens the number of authors whose works in fantasy and science fiction are competing with me.

As I now have some limited experience in going through the stages of self–publishing a book, I saved $249.00 in Marketing Copy Essentials on CreateSpace, which is creating, in part, the metadata for Part II, which information is used by Amazon to help sell the book.

The tagline for the story is limited to 30 words. Mine is 29, and I have listed it as follows:

Can a young woman, raised in the purity of a wilderness hermitage, war successfully against the fury and power of evil? A hauntingly beautiful and startling tale of wonder.

I am almost at the point where I will be expanding my website to include a page for the second book in the series, as well as create a section for upcoming events.  I need

A watercolor entitled “Harrisville Pond” created by Hollis Machala (June 2012). Permission and courtesy of the artist.

to get my act together more in scheduling presentations at bookstores, libraries, schools and universities. Patience is a difficult reality for me to practice.

I have written a draft of 200 words for the book description, which requires a maximum word count of that exact number, and one of 150 words for another at that length, too. I will wait to put that on the website rather than here in this posting.

One of the most exciting aspects of working on the next book is in collaborating with Hollis Machala, who is my book cover illustrator and designer. She has been an invaluable help to me because I just cannot seem to wrap my head around the technical details of getting a cover image done, as well as the spine and back cover for it! Her visual work has a stunning quality to it that is perfect for what I am trying to convey to readers about the story.

If you are able to make it to my presentation at the Swansea Public Library on January 25^th, I look forward to seeing you there . . .

“Artists and the View“, a watercolor created by Hollis Machala. Permission and courtesy of the artist.

Related Links:

Hollis Machala’s website: http://hollismachala.com/

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

© 14 January 2017 by A. Keith Carreiro

For information about my series, The Immortality Wars, please go to my home page: https://immortalitywars.com/