I have published four books. My first two were done the traditional way – paper and ink. Neither showed up on the New York Times bestseller list, but I have no real complaints. Bookreporter.com called my first book “the mystery debut of the year” and the second made the top 10 on a national bestseller list for crime fiction and was optioned for film. Still for my third book it was time to move on. I wanted to reach more readers and my traditional publisher could not make that happen.
Now I’m a Silicon Valley guy by upbringing and inclination. My dad went to work at Ampex, the inventor of the videotape recorder, over 50 years ago. I myself helped start a company that pioneered delivery of software over the internet. Given that background, I could not resist trying the new way of delivering the written word to readers. So I published my next two books myself as ebooks. Making my books available via Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com, and other sites gave readers the chance to read one of my books for less than a third the price of a physical copy. No surprise then that my readership expanded.
Now as I leave my day job and give up a regular paycheck, I’m ready to try another model. I am hoping readers, past and future, will join with me in publishing my fifth novel, Temple Mount, a thriller set in Jerusalem.
Readers can sign-up on Kickstarter to pre-order Temple Mount in either ebook or trade paper format. They can join me at the launch, help name characters, or even take out their red pencils and edit the book. I am figuring that crowd-editing will work better than any single editor ever could. The money raised will pay for getting the book ready for publication and launch and for marketing it afterwards. Most of all, I hope that those who join the team will feel they have a stake in the venture and will help spread the word about Temple Mount.
Take a look at the Kickstarter page here and see if all this makes sense to you. If it does, please spread the word. Readers like you will make this book happen.
Thank you,
Keith
