Many, many, years ago I wrote a manuscript entitled “Black Days.” It is an occult detective novel, a subgenre that combines paranormal/fantasy tropes with classic detective mysteries.
I poured much time and effort into this book–refining it many times. I even asked a few close friends to be beta readers for me. They offered valuable insight and criticism–which is hard to come by.
I sent out query letters to literary agents who represent authors in this genre. I even attended a writer’s conference in New York in 2017, just to pitch my book to interested agents.
But none of that resulted in my book being considered. That’s not a huge surprise. You have better luck reaching Mars with Elon than you do landing a good agent and publishing a deal.
So, what should I do with the is book? It is so worthy of publication that I should keep toiling at traditional publishing–and it never sees the light of day?
At this point, I figured it’s better to put it online, in some form, so that some people have a chance to read it. Why not? It’s just sitting in a drawer (or more accurately, sitting on a hard drive) being read by zero people.
In the coming months, my hope is to publish this manuscript as a serial book on this blog. No clever Amazon gimmicks. No e-book volumes. None of that. It’s going straight on this website, chapter by chapter, for all (or none) to read.
But before I do that, I have to return to a story I haven’t touched in years. Just because it’s going up on this site for free doesn’t mean it should be crap. I edited and re-edited it, but there are still rough edges needing to be smoothed.
I have considered hiring an editor from Reedsy, perhaps even a marketer. But, frankly, I don’t want to spend the cash. The folks on that site are worth the money, but if I am going the “nuclear route” to release this thing, then I might as well save some scratch.
So, coming soon to this website will be the first installment of Black Days. As soon as I get around to polishing up the manuscript.