recycled « Robin Writes

Naturally, the first thing I did after finishing REDUCED was to send it to a few beta readers. I also queried half a dozen agents. And heard zip.

So, after making a few tweaks as per my readers’ suggestions, I simply published the book.

I really had no plan. I wrote it, yay, I wrote A BOOK! And I was done. I used CreateSpace, picked a cover template (but used my own photo), and I was good to go!

And then someone said, well, great, but what happened next?

Next? How should *I* know??

So I sat down to write REUSED. But this time, I had a plan. Sort of.

A couple days in, I got stuck. And then more stuck (stucker?). So I gazed around my office, trying to find something to do to avoid writing this book.

And then it hit me—I’d publish OTHER people’s books! Really, how hard could it be? I’d fielded so many questions about my CS experience, so yeah, that’s it. Start a publishing house.

So I did. Rocking Horse Publishing.

I planned to release 6 books in 2013, including the one I was writing and was stuck on—I wasn’t even sure I’d get any submissions.

I got one. Then another. Then a virtual flood of manuscripts.

RHP published 12 books that year; we did 17 this year, and have 14 scheduled for 2015, so far.

REUSED? Oh, yeah—after I got done with the flurry of starting the publishing house, I sat down and wrote non-stop for four weeks. REUSED came out in December 2012.

And then someone said, well, great, but what happened next?

Crap.

So I scheduled RECYCLED to come out in March 2013. I had nothin’. Zip. Postponed the launch.

July arrived, suddenly and without warning somehow, and I had promised my fans, er, fan, or well, something like that, that the book would ABSOLUTELY be available in July.

Finally, I sat down to write. Three weeks later, RECYCLED saw the light of day.

Whew. A trilogy. I DID IT!

And then someone said, well, great, but what happened next?

Darn. Repeat. Oh, yeah—REPEAT! That’s it!

Coming in March 2015 . . .

Say THAT three times fast—I dare ya!

My first radio gig was back in the ‘70s. I was “caller number” whatever and had to sing the Big Mac song. Scored a Big Mac, too. Awesome, right?

My second one was this morning. At 6:00. Yawn.

See, I’ve been plugging . . . er, promoting . . . um, talking about, yeah, that’s it, RECYCLED! Which is probably how I sounded on WTBQ this morning.

The interview was supposed to last about 10 minutes—it felt like it, for sure, but was really only three. I called two minutes ahead of the scheduled time, as requested, stated my name, and waited, listening to the program.

Then I was on.

They asked me what kind of book, and I said dystopian. There was some patter about the word, as both DJs said they’d never heard of that and asked for a definition . . . they asked what RECYCLED was about, and I mentioned it was third in a series and this is what happens; they asked about the main character, and they asked how I came up with the idea. You know, the salsa story. And mentioned my website.

And that was it.

So now I know, since I have two more coming up next week; different stations of course. Whew. Glad this one’s over—hopefully I’ll feel more prepared. And, too, the next one is PST, and in the afternoon too!