Self-Publishing Ebook Update

I began work on Monarch back in March 2010.  Since then I have made changes at almost every step along the way.  The story has been tweaked.  The release date moved back.  But the idea behind it all has stayed the same: A woman struggles with her perception of time and her place in the world.  Her battle to accept change is similar to my rewriting process.  Discovering what need be altered is the central aspect of rewriting—along with making the necessary changes.

Being a Self-Publishing Author (SPA) requires a sense of focus and drive.  One must be more than an author.  There is no publicist or publishing house to assist along the way.  Family, friends, fellow writers and the internet, with their combined knowledge and insight, are invaluable to an SPA.  An ability to listen and adapt are as important as that first spark of inspiration.

An SPA must be able to listen and adapt during this fluid time in publishing.  eBooks have started a revolution. Smart phones, eReaders, tablets and the other new electronic devices hitting the market are changing the landscape of society and publishing simultaneously.

If the known world had not begun making these technological advancements over the past couple of years, I would not have tried to tackle the 12/21/2012 themed Monarch.  The lack of time would have been an issue with the traditional paper-based publishing model.  And self-publishing to print would have been too expensive. 

My writing of anthologies in the past helped me realize that I could release Monarch in four stages over the span of a year.  Writing them as four separate eBooks allows me more time with each stage in the story. The first stage, Monarch: Egg, is due to be released on 11/11/11.  Since I am self-publishing, if I needed to, I could change the release date.  One year prior to the end of the Mayan Calendar, on the December 22, 2011 Winter Solstice, would be the most logical alternative date for release. We'll see.
-aap

MONARCH

To her suburban friends and neighbors, Ginger Reed, the beautiful housewife who is about to gracefully turn forty, seems to have it all: a nice home within a good school district, two wonderful and healthy children and a handsome husband who supports them. But inside, behind her brilliant green eyes, there flickers a flame of doubt; she believes, with every fiber of her being, that "all is not as it seems," and is afraid that her idyllic world may be coming to an end in less than two months.

The story opens on 11/10/2012, with one month and eleven days until the highly publicized end of the Mayan Calendar.  That is why Ginger has driven to a downtown bookstore to buy the book Cipher, a work of fantasy fiction dealing with the approaching date, and why there is such an assortment of "interesting" people lined out the door and around the corner to meet the author.

Monarch is the life-changing journey of a woman obsessed with time.  A fear of the future has seized the focus of Ginger's mind.  She finds herself feeling alone amongst others, fretting over what tomorrow might bring.

Tick-tock, tick-tock, the seconds go flying off the clock.

Now, if only she can finish the book, survive that ominous day and keep her family and herself together, then maybe she can find her way through this dark psychological tunnel before it's too late.