On the Edge, Ready to Leap!

Where are you? Halfway through your first novel? Finalizing a query? Waiting to hear back from a literary agent? Numbed by a hundred rejections? Holding on to the hope that the editor to whom your agent just subbed will love your manuscript?

Where am I? I've been there. Two literary agents have represented my novels. A third is currently reading my latest work, trying to decide whether or not to represent me. I've had editors at major houses praise my writing and pass around my manuscript. But to no avail--"Excellent writing but can't find a niche for this one."

I've decided not to sit still and wait any longer. I refuse to allow my last represented novel to rust in the junkyard of books-that-almost-made-it. I'm standing on the precipice of self-publishing ready to leap.

When I was seventeen I scaled a steep hillside and stood on a crag overlooking the green-gray depths of a strip-pit pond in eastern Ohio. After several minutes of steeling my nerves, I jumped. The water was cold, deep, and dark. But it felt good to jump.

Next week I head to the Outer Banks. I'm taking 200 copies of my self-published novel, Murder at Whalehead, with me. Bookstores have ordered copies, signings have been and are being scheduled, and a review will soon appear in Island Breeze, an Outer Banks publication.

Here I go. I'm jumping. I'm in mid-air . . .

Come with me and see if I make a big splash, sink, thrash around awhile, or swim to the other side.

Here are some links to my novel:

CLICK HERE to view video trailer
Link to front cover: CLICK HERE (Click on cover to enlarge)
Link to back cover: CLICK HERE (Click on cover to enlarge)
Link to first eleven chapters: CLICK HERE

Talk to you later,

Joe C. Ellis
Author or Murder at Whalehead
http://www.joecellis.com