Trying to get traction with the big publishers is like going to Nashville hoping to be discovered as the next big country music star. There are so many others with such incredible talent who are already there doing the exact same thing that you are doing that being ‘discovered’ in Nashville is next to impossible. At best, you’ll blend in and at worst, you’ll stand out.
If you want to be a country music star in Nashville, you have to go to Nashville having built a following out on the road. That means you have to pay your dues in small clubs and bars across the country singing as the opening act for crappy Lynyrd Skynyrd knockoff bands. After you’ve honed your skills and built a following in the smokey little dives and dumps across the country, when you play in a bar in Nashville, folks from those dives and dumps will come into the bars in Nashville for the express purpose of hearing your music. That is so much better than hoping that someone who stumbles into the bar will magically make your dreams come true. It’s hard work, but Hank did it that way.
I published my first novel 5 years ago, Me, Boo and the Goob: A Southern Adventure. I call my genre of writing a Southern Memoir. This means that while there is some basis in truth and reality, the story is mostly bullshit. It’s made up of exaggerations, fabrications, embellishments and out right lies. I have had more success than I probably should have expected. I worked my ass off soliciting Amazon reviews and doing book signings everywhere from Pensacola, Florida to Jonesboro, Arkansas. (Amazon reviews are gold….they drive sales) I published through Ingram and that first novel is available everywhere. I have developed a decent following who read my blogs and subscribe to my newsletter. I’m working hard at paying my dues.
I said all that to let you know that you can pre-order JD and Me: Bad Ideas and Poor Judgment from here on my website. JD and Me: Bad Ideas and Poor Judgment is published by Jacks Branch Publishing and will be available through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, as well as almost any independent book store. It is a sequel to Me, Boo and The Goob. It was professionally edited by Rhonda Sharp. Rhonda has been in the publishing industry for many years, and did a wonderful job editing my novel. I was so impressed with Rhonda’s work that I had her edit Me, Boo and the Goob. It desperately needed a professional edit. I am just as proud of it as I am of the sequel. The first book probably has more and harder laughs in it than the sequel, but the sequel has a better story. I think it is the better book. After you read it, I’d like to know your thoughts.
This is the text from the back cover.
“When the weight of a hectic life becomes a too much to bear, sometimes you just need a good laugh. Read this book. JD and Me is a trip back to the mid 1970s with two teenage boys as they collide with the reality of the adult world. The combination of youthful naivete, enthusiasm, innocence and teenage hormones leads to hilarious mis-adventures as boys hunt ducks and frogs, drink beer, chase girls and wreck trucks. Their youthful antics scatters wreckage, broken hearts and lost dreams across the Mid-South.
Set in the a small town near Memphis, TN, the story features amusing encounters with somewhat sketchy cowboys, a vengeful bank robber, a psychic old woman, a professional wrestler and one of America’s favorite sons.
Need a break from the real world? Relax, get the book. It’s the laugh you are looking for.”
My friends in Jonesboro will recognize a few stories as having a basis in fact and they will know that most of the stories are not, by any stretch of the imagination, founded in fact.
Each pre-ordered book will be numbered and signed. I would ask that if you enjoy the book, please go to Amazon and give it a review. Reviews are one of the things that really help a book on Amazon.
There’s a button below to pre-order a book. Go for it. Click the button. Pre-ordered book will ship to you no later than March 15th. The book’s official publication date is March 31, 2024.
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