What would really happen if you hit it big as a writer?

     For years and years, I dreamed of hitting it big as a writer. That dream kept me going through twelve hour days slaving in a corporate kitchen, through hard financial times, and even through bad relationships. The dream got closer when I signed with a top NY agency and even closer when editors of big publishing houses were requesting my stuff. But alas, the big viral hit still hasn’t happened. The books are written and being written, and quite a few are available for purchase and have sold. But, the dream still eludes me.

     But, thanks to Kindle and all the other ereaders that dream seems more attainable than ever. So, what would really happen if I woke up one morning and my sales were through the roof? Would I immediately quit my job, sell my house, and move to the Florida Keys to write my days away? Would I go get insanely drunk? Would I buy a new car? Would I announce to the world that I’ve made it? Hard to say. But the one thing I would never stop doing is writing books. I think that’s what separates real writers from wannabe’s. No matter how much fame and fortune may come my way, always the writing must come with it. If I hit it big tomorrow (hopefully, prayerfully) not much is going to change inside me, but a Hell of a lot is going to change around me.  

How many books should you publish at once?

      I’ve been publishing about a book every three months for the last two years. But it’s only in the last six months that I’ve published my stuff electronically on Kindle and Smashwords, and started heavy marketing and promotion on the internet. Now, you’ve got to understand, these are books that I’ve written over the course of twenty years. They have been through countless edits and critiques by friends and professionals. All have been through the ringer with good agents and powerful publishers. I’ve taken these people’s comments and suggestions over years and years of submissions and incorporated them into my books. Therefore, I believe, when I’m putting a book out there that it is the best it can be.

     What concerns me about this new era of author’s taking control of their own destinies, is the author who puts out three, four, and I’ve even seen five books on Kindle all at once. Now, I admire an author who can be so prolific, but I must admit that in my own mind, I perceive those books as not having matured. Now, I could be wrong. Like my own huge stash of completed manuscripts, these books may have taken years to write and perfect, and the author is releasing a cache of wonderful material. But how many authors are? Being able to publish and sell you work so easily may eliminate the time and gestation period a good, raw manuscript needs to mature; like a fine wine or aged cheese. I also wonder how an author can promote so many works at once and be successful at it?

     Though I do have six books on the market right now, I’ve put out each one individually and marketed it for the following months until I feel a new book is needed. Since I have several more completed manuscripts I will continue this approach and urge other authors to do the same. Why flood the market with your stuff all at once? Make your fans anticipate your next book. I’m marketing my romance thriller DROP OUT right now, but my next novel, a middle grade sci/fi fantasy called INSECTLAND is also complete but I’m not putting it out for at least two months. For those who read and enjoy my books, you’ll just have to wait to read it.

Please check out my available books.   

Selling books in today’s marketplace

     It used to be that to become a published author (besides just writing a really good book) you had to also spend countless hours writing and addressing query letters, waiting patiently for agent’s responses (months), and then miracle upon miracles, you get signed to a LEGITIMATE agency. That’s only the beginning. Now, it’s up to the agent to make that one-in-a-hundred sale as opposed to the one-in-a-million chance an un-agented author had. And again, miracle upon miracles, it gets sold. Then comes the marketing and promotion, the book signings, the hope and praying that it stays on the shelf long enough to acquire an audience. And, if three weeks later it isn’t selling, it’s gone for good.

     But today… things have changed. Some say it’s bad for the writer but I say they’re wrong. Since the industry changed, writers are now able to bypass all that other stuff and get their books out there to sell literally after placing “the end” at the bottom of the last page. It’s not all peaches and cream, however. The ability for pretty much anyone who’s ever scrawled a story to put it out there and sell opens the playing field to a lot of garbage, but like carousing a bookstore, you just need to take your time to find the perfect book.

     I’ve sold more books in the last year than in the last fifteen years all due to publishing through iuniverse and Kindle, which has unlimited shelf life. I will admit to spending a huge amount of time marketing and promo, but I’d be doing that anyway if I’d been published traditionally. And I get a seventy percent royalty instead of twenty percent.

     I write this note from personal experience. I had an agent from a top agency and after three years with no sales he eventually dropped me due to what he said is a quickly shrinking professional marketplace. Judging from the soaring sale of ereaders, I tend to agree.

Book promo week

Today is the day I started my promo/marketing for DROP OUT. Already logged up 4 sales (woo hoo). I discovered a great link on Goodreads that takes you to people who are looking for book recommendations. Some people just tell you what books they've read and that they're looking for something similiar, and some people actually describe the type of book they want to read. This is awesome because I have six different books that I can suggest. And the best part, there are at least 30,000 of these people just on Goodreads. It's exhausting, but I've been spending the better part of the day searching through these readers and customizing my message for each individual. The hope is that as more people read my books they will begin to suggest them to other people. Again, the dream of going viral. This kind of grassroots marketing is tough, but hopefully worth it.

Romance forum on Amazon is evil

So, I may have been a little over-excited on my last post and it may have come across differently to different people, I understand that. But boy, the reaction I got from  Amazon’s Romance forum is just plain evil. First of all, the fact that these people are actually taking the time to verbally abuse me is beyond my understanding. I for one don't spend my days trashing people I don't know. They seriously must have no lives. I mean, I apologized twice on the forum for posting what they thought was spam, but the attacks just got so personal I find it disturbing. Why are these people so mean? Here are some of the postings. Please tell me if I’m wrong about these people.

angela longstaffe says:   

    Read his profile. A minor in "Critical Thinking". Now who would have thought so?

R. Simpson says:   

    That is truly pathetic. Before everyone had a cell phone this girl in high school wasn't interested in you, so what like what 15-20 years ago this happened and you are excited that you now get to reject her on facebook. Seriously you never got over that and moved on from it in all that time, that is very, very sad.

R. Mahala Burlingame says:   

    Let me give you a clue, Ostroff. Even if you posted that little blurb in the "right" forum you would have at least a few posts from women wondering how it was possible that you managed to fit your head in that particular body cavity due to the fact that your head seems to be about the size of Rhode Island.

Being an author doesn't give you any respect here in fact even being a NYT best selling author doesn't give you any (cough, Laurell K Hamilton, cough). What gives you respect is something that you seem to be lacking. You probably published that little story everywhere you could, didn't you? And now you whine what meanies we all are, let me put this in words simple and clear enough for you-what a dumb*** you are.

Let us all celebrate with dumb*, I mean Neil, how truly wonderful he is...

 Dog Lover says:   

    And, yet, you haven't removed the post.

Methinks you are lovin' the attention. Another indication that you are still living in your high school years.

Dog Lover says:   

    The title of the thread is a strong indicator as well. "Better than sex?" ... as if he would know.
Maybe (probably not, though) better than the hand jobs he's had to rely on all these years.

R. Mahala Burlingame says:   

    It must be hard for him to find a place to live, that ego takes up a lot of space.

Now, am I wrong here? I mean really folks, who has this kind of time and hate? They don't even know me. Please let me know if I'm in the wrong here.
Thanks.

Better than sex

My newest novel, DROP OUT goes live tomorrow, yeah!!! But what is almost as rewarding as publishing a new novel is what happened to me the other day. But first, let me tell you a story about Neil at 17 years old. Here I was, a geeky high school student with a crush on one of the school's cheerleaders. Now, I knew she was out of my league from the start, but I was young and bold, and figured what the hey. So I let it be known that I liked her. (back then there were no cell phones, or texting, or IM). So I made due. I told a friend to tell her. Long story short, this girl played with my emotions for a while, kinda flirted with me, and then would ignore me. One day I was so bold as to ask if I could drive her home. She reluctantly, if I recall, said yes. But then after school she had something to do, so I told her I'd wait. And I waited... and waited... Finally, an hour and a half later she meets me at my car. I did drive her home and I did make her laugh once on the drive (if I recall), but then... nothing. She pretty much ignored me the rest of the school year and that was that. But for some reason, that experience stuck with me my whole adult life. That feeling of being toyed with.

Flash forward to yesterday. Through the wonders of Facebook that same girl actually friended me and wrote me a personal message asking how I was. And do you know why? Because one of her friends told her that I had written a bunch of books. So I respond friendly on Facebook, you know, asked her how she is and such. Well, I get this long response about how she loves my books and why didn't I ever tell her in high school how much I love writing and she wishes she would have gotten to know me better. Totally gushing over me. Well, I just wrote her a nice note back cordially thanking her and wishing her the best. Just a friendly little "not interested in ever meeting or seeing you" note. But I have to tell you, there's no greater feeling than knowing a past crush is now jealous of your accomplishments. It's moments like those that makes me LOVE being a writer.

My mother thinks I should see a shrink.

Well, my mom finally read my book DEGENERATES http://www.amazon.com/Degenerates-N-D-Ostroff/dp/1440173028/ref%3Dsr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1299436405&sr=8-3 
twelve years after I finished writing it. I will give her the benefit of the doubt, it's only been out in soft copy for about two years. Before reading this one, the only book of mine she had read was TIM MADISON GALACTIC WARRIOR. So, as you can imagine, she was in for quite a shock. In fact, I had to leave the room for a few hours because I couldn't take the horrified look on her face as she read. Finally, she came into the room where I was watching TV, sat down beside me, and put her hand on my knee.
"I think you should see someone," she said.
"What do you mean?" I replied, knowing exactly what she meant.
"That book," she said. "Do you really think those things? Did you really go through that? Do you really know people like that?"
The questions came to quick for me to answer.
"Mom," I said, and removed her hand. "It's a book. I made it all up."
"Still," she said, not quite believeing the reason. "I think you should talk to someone."

---Just goes to show you, not all books are suitable for all people.

Hot! Hot! Hot!

And the heat wave continues around here. There's only one thing good about it being this hot outside, I don't feel guilty staying inside. Anyway, the writing life continues heat or no heat. I blasted out another chapter of INSECTLAND today, actually it's a re-read. I wrote the original way back in 1997 as part of a three book series. the first book TIM MADISON GALACTIC WARRIOR is available right now at: http://www.amazon.com/Madison-Galactic-Warrior-Neil-Ostroff/dp/0595301215/ref%3Dsr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1299011258&sr=8-1
The third book in the series titled DREAM TRAVELER will be out probably by winter. I'm excited to see the series complete since I have been working on it on and off for so long. This series is what originally got me signed to my agent, unfortunately, due to a shrinking market it never found a traditional home. I guess none of that matters now with Kindle and self-publishing becoming the norm these days. Anyway, look for INSECTLAND sometime around October.

Getting famous is a marathon not a sprint.

Okay, I got over the woman who bashed me. Thanks to all who responded with their own stories of jerks.

So, in my continued quest to get rich and famous I've come up with a few marketing ideas. First off, though not an original idea, I've decided to get bookmarks made that have pics. of my books and my website, plus info to buy them. I'm putting some at the front desk of the hotel I work at and I am going to local stores to ask if I can put them on the counter so people can take them. It's not like me to do this kind of grassroots marketing, but times are getting desperate and my conventional job is wearing on me. Second, I've decide to start posting comments on book forums for my print books. I've been focusing so much on AFTER I've let them slip by the wayside. The greatest thing about epublishing is there's no shelf life for the book. You can promote everyday as if it's release day. The book is always available at the click of a mouse.

Also, another shining moment came this week. One of my bar customers has a wife who is an avid reader and involved in many book clubs with online members all over the country. She purchased PULP (on her own without me even promoting it) and loved it. So much so, that she's emailing all her members to buy the book and tell their friends and book clubs about it. Then he told me that his wife just bought FROSTPROOF, and loved that, and is recommending that, too. I've already seen an increase in sales through Amazon. Awesome! So, it just goes to show you never know when an opportunity knocks and how quickly it all could change.

My awesome interview!!

Below is a link to my latest interview, which was awesome. I've done a few interviews now and I am always pleased when I see one posted and watch as the page views multiply.
http://wwwthouhtfulreflections.blogspot.com/2011/07/after-author-neil-dostroff-has-another.html

Here is a copy.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

After! Author Neil D.Ostroff has Another New Book for His Reading Audience!

I see you have a new book released. I believe the title is After! I want to know all about it, but before we talk about your books, Neil, let us get to know some about you, your background and your writing.

I am a prolific author of gritty, noir thrillers and middle grade sci/fi. I graduated from Elmira College with a degree in Psychology and a minor in Philosophy/Critical Thinking. Briefly, I wrote psychological evaluations for the Elmira, NY courts. I was raised in a rural town outside of Philadelphia and have been a published author for more than twenty years. My science fiction and fantasy stories have appeared in numerous presses, zines, and websites. I have several published novels available at all online booksellers under the name N.D. Ostroff, or at http://www.Neilostroff.com. I am an avid boater, gardener, and poker player when not working on my novels.

When did you first begin writing and submitting for publication?

I have been writing since as far back as I can remember. When I was younger, I used to win all kinds of local writing competitions. I guess I started submitting seriously for publication in my late teens, which would be way back in the 1990’s. This was before the internet so getting published was a long, arduous task of handwritten query letters, painstakingly researching agents and publishers, and the cost of stamps.

Do you think growing up in a rural area influenced your writing, and how?

I do think it had a great influence in my formative years as a writer. I lived five miles from the closest town so there wasn’t much to do but play outside and use my imagination to keep myself occupied, especially before I was able to get a driver’s license. Many of my middle grade fantasy novels stem from the strange worlds I would conjure in my mind as I wandered through the woods.

You wrote psychological evaluations for the courts in NY, what was that like? How did you get that job? (I am sure many people do not any idea what this type of writing is or like.)

I spend several months sitting in supervised visitation rooms monitoring the interaction between parents and children. These were families scarred by alcoholism, child abuse, and violence. I would watch their body language and the way they spoke and interacted with each other and then write my assessment of their psychological conditions for the Judge to decide whether the family could unite outside the courts. It was horrible and depressing work, but taught me a great deal how to sum up complex character traits and the intricacies of various personalities onto the page.

I see you also write science fiction and fantasy. Why? (I have always read both, but when I see your other areas, it makes me curious.)

Sci/fi and fantasy come totally naturally to me. Like I said earlier, my middle grade and YA books were written in my head long before I was capable of putting them to paper. When I finally had the discipline to sit and write full-length novels, those first few came very easily. I think I wrote my first three in a year. My noir thrillers are the adult-writer in me. Had I written those books early on I am sure my parents would have had me see a psychiatrist. Reading them, you will understand.

How to you go about creating the setting and characters for your science fiction and fantasy stories?

For me, fantasy and sci/fi writing is the most fun. What could be better than creating any world you want inhabited by any kind of creature you want? My sci/fi fantasy books are crammed with the unbelievable. I like to take my stories to the limit of possibilities. Unfortunately, the only middle-grade Sci/fi available everywhere right now is TIM MADISON GALACTIC WARRIOR. I hope to have four more of these outlandish books out by the end of the year. You can check my website: http://www.Neilostroff.com, to see summaries and excerpts.

What was it like getting some of your work published for the first time?

It is a great feeling, like floating on a cloud while breathing in helium. But, what is even better is when you see your first sale. But, the best feeling of all… is cashing that first royalty check. There is nothing like it.

Could you tell us about the different genre of novels you write, and the audiences to which they are directed. (I see that you have adult and young adult novels.)

I actually write in several genres. My most popular are my noir thrillers; books that shock and appall, yet like a car wreck you just can’t stop reading them. I have written five books in the YA, middle-grade level, and two books that are very literary that I don’t mention on my website. Right now, I am concentrating on my latest novel, an edgy, literary YA called, WASTED.

Would you tell us about your published novels, and where someone might purchase one?

I will give you a list.

Okay, but tell me about this new one first.

AFTER! is the newest book that was recently released as an ebook.

AFTER! - Swept up by dark adventure, seventeen-year-old Nick Murray learns the devil has caused global war in the mortal world. The devil intends to collect billions of souls and then turn them into a massive zombie army to take over creation. Spirits intent on stopping the apocalypse insert Nick’s soul into the human body of a prominent, young army commander who lives in the future. Thrust into the center of a historic battle, he takes on almost limitless enemy forces using skills learned from this other person’s life; only to die a second time and come face to face with the ultimate adversary. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0050Q8D8U

PULP-Struggling thriller writer Kevin Turner just received a panicked call from his ex-girlfriend Tina, a self-proclaimed clairvoyant prostitute. One of her clients, the mayor’s married son, died in her bed and she needs Kevin’s help to dispose of the body.

Amazon link:

http://www.amazon.com/PULP-novella-N-D-Ostroff/dp/1462001750/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1299512091&sr=8-5

e-book:

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/46058

DEGENERATES- Each degenerate overcomes incredible obstacles working in a restaurant named City Café until a psychotic co-worker changes everything about their lives.

Amazon link:

http://www.amazon.com/Degenerates-N-D-Ostroff/dp/1440173028/ref%3Dsr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1299436405&sr=8-3

e-book:

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/40935

FROSTPROOF- Niles Goodman is on a weeklong trip into madness as his best friend kills indiscriminately and then explains the philosophy behind his actions.

Amazon link:

http://www.amazon.com/FROSTPROOF-N-D-Ostroff/dp/1450251439/ref%3Dsr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1299261592&sr=1-1

e-book:

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/42679

TIM MADISON GALACTIC WARRIOR- Thirteen-year-old Tim Madison is the only person who knows about and can stop the ruthless creatures who are working deep inside our planet constructing a massive extermination army.

Amazon Link:

http://www.amazon.com/Madison-Galactic-Warrior-Neil-Ostroff/dp/0595301215/ref%3Dsr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1299011258&sr=8-1

e-book:

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/43615

Back to you the author. I see that you have several interests other than writing, could you share those with us. I see you like gardening, and I want to know what kind of gardening? Do you like speed boats or sail boats?

I grow a small garden that must be suspended over the ground because of a large rabbit population that lives in my area. Keeping tomatoes, cucumbers, strawberries, peppers, and other vegetables three feet above ground at all times does present a challenge, but is also a great way to clear the mind.
I, also, have a small pond along the side of the house.

As for boating, I prefer small, fishing boats that can cruise in secluded areas. I do my best thinking on the lake. I’m also an avid poker player.

I see that you have a degree in psychology, a minor in Philosophy/Critical Thinking, what influence do you think this has on your approach to writing fiction?

Philosophy was great to study but you can’t make a living pondering deep thoughts. As you can imagine, the great, historical teachings open your proverbial mind’s eye to the many possibilities of our existence and why we are here; am I getting too deep? But what do you do with this knowledge? Fortunately I’m able to write books.

Can you share with us some of your “made it moments”?

I’ve had quite a few over the years. Talks with the vice president of entertainment at NBC. Serious interest by FOX TV over a sitcom treatment. Being written up in local magazines and newspapers. But probably the greatest moment that sticks out in my career was when I signed with my agent, a top NY, AAR, agent with a highly prestigious agency and many sales under his belt. That was the best.

Some people can really bring you down

All the thousands of hours of work I put into DROP OUT and it's off to the formatter and done forever. Yeah! So, I've decided to devote myself to marketing this week because I have the time and I was going to give AFTER one more blast before I started rewriting INSECTLAND and marketing and promoting DROP OUT. Okay, all is well and good. I've done my usual postings on Kindle forums and my various writers sites that I belong to. But the other day I discovered something unique and promising. My friends on the website Goodreads. Since I've been a member I've slowly friended people who first friended me. And before you know it, I've got almost 100 friends. Yeah, again! Now about three weeks ago I decided to use my Goodreads friends and promote AFTER. Nothing too harsh, just a little blurb and a link, only once, no spam. Well, that resulted in a pretty big jump in sales. Yeah, a third time! So the other day I started exploring Goodreads and discovered a way to announce that I was looking for friends to a large (several hundred) group of like-minded writers and readers. Within an hour I had more than 100 friend acceptances. I started replying personally, like I do on Twitter, to all my request. As usual, it's a small intro with a link to my site on Author's Den. All was going great. I had many replies to my thank you, and people were checking out my site and commenting to me how much they like it. Until this one note I just read. This person who I don't even know totally wrote me a page long rag-session about how authors shouldn't promote like this and how I was wasting everyone's time by placing a link to my site.
Well, first of all, this woman probably has no life if she took that much effort in replying. And she even friended me so she could do it. Second, I checked her profile, she is a reader and not a writer. Hey honey, put yourself in the writers shoes. We're all struggling here to keep literature alive. How else are we going to expose people to our work. We're not forcing anyone to do anything. And lastly, before I end this rant. Why does this one negative comment bother me so much? I guess, it's because readers like this woman are going to keep anything that is new and experimental from reaching people who may be interested in reading it. Thank you.

The ball is rolling

All set to go with DROP OUT. My format guy has it and I'm preparing to market and promote. I recently read an article about how an Indie author can make a living writing ebooks. There actually is a secret and here it is. WRITE A LOT OF BOOKS! The article said that most authors who are earning a decent living from their books have at least seven that are available. If you do the numbers it makes sense. I've sold approximately forty copies of AFTER this month. I charge $1.79 a book so my royalty is about 65 cents. So, I've made $26. Now times that by seven and now I've made $182. I agree, that isn't enough to live on, but if just one of those books begins to sell, it can add up quickly. DROP OUT is my second book that I'm putting out electronically, I have nine more that are already written and complete. Hopefully, by this time next year they will all be out and I'll be living at the beach in Key West, just like the main character in DROP OUT. Again, I highly recommend my cover artist Judy Bullard and my format guy, Chris O'Byrne. I am not a compensated endorser.

Ready for new book release

Okay, so I finished the final of the final read for DROP OUT and I am excited to release it into the world. Truth be told, this is the book that my agent said he didn't want to try to sell because it was so out of my genre. But it is a story that I always wanted to tell about the impotance of living life to its fullest. My initial readers burst into tears at points while reading it, telling me how sad it was, but also how meaningful. I'm curious as to the repsonse it will get. I hope it strikes a nerve and goes viral. Don't we all hope that for our books? Anyway, the cover is on the blog and I'm getting ready to contact my format guy. Again, he does the whole package: assigns the ISBN, formats it to all ebook standards, and downloads them to the sites. All for $150.  All I have to do is promotion and marketing. Look for a huge campaign for DROP OUT coming soon.

My awesome new book cover!!!

Hope you all had a happy 4th of July. I'm officially announcing the new book cover for my latest novel, DROP OUT. It's right above. What does everyone think? Again, kuddos to my cover artist Judy Bullard. Next step is to send it off to my format guy who will give it an ISBN and send it to Kindle and Smashwords where it will become available globally. God, I love technology and the internet. AFTER has sold but not as well as I'd hoped. Of course, I'm still a novice at promotion so I'm hoping with a new tagline and summary I'll get more sales. Most of August will be spent marketing DROP OUT since I hope to have it live by August 1st. Here is a very brief preview of the summary-in-progress. Appreciate any comments.

A disfigured man living a fruitless existence after overcoming incredible personal tragedy meets a terminal, young woman who teaches him to savor life.

DROP OUT

By

Neil D. Ostroff

What would you do if you lost everything in an instant? Nathan Cruz escaped the World Trade Center disaster and saved the lives of dozens of strangers, but the one life he could not save was that of his pregnant fiancé. Tormented by survivor’s guilt and horribly scarred from the fire, Nathan runs away to the tropics and drops out of society, spending his days in limbo, existing without purpose.

When a powerful hurricane forces him from his solitary houseboat and into the home of Miriam Kanter, he must confront the demons of his past and find the strength to face an uncertain future. For more is at stake than he ever imagined. Miriam’s time is nearing its end. As her health rapidly declines, her zest for life inspires Nathan to forgive the past and live to the fullest. He is also falling in love. But will the storm cut short Miriam’s brave fight and plunge Nathan back into his world of meaningless isolation?

 

DROP OUT is a beautiful tapestry of life, love, and acceptance that is moving, romantic, and real. Available on Kindle and all other portable reading devices.

A few things that took me months to learn... and I did it all wrong!

So those of you who have been following my blog know that I recently published my first ebook AFTER and I detailed the marketing and promotion strategy in this blog. Well, just as I'm about to begin the process of releasing my next ebook DROP OUT, I learn a very valuable lesson that probably put five months of promotion in the toilet. AFTER has sold copies, though not nearly as many as I'd hoped considering I'd spent months marketing and currently my combined websites get about 200-500 hits a day. I just couldn't figure out why I had so little sales from that much internet traffic? Then last week I began sending out a sample of the pitch for DROP OUT on http://www.mywriterscircle.com, (A great site for free feedback) and got so many of the same response that I wanted to bang my head against the wall. Almost everyone said the same thing. I was summerizing the story instead of building anticipation. See, I used my query letter pitches. Query letters are a whole lot different then sales pitches to an audience. Therefore, my conclusion on AFTER was that my pitch sucked. Thus, I've written a new one and will be heavily marketing the new pitch while I wait for DROP OUT to finish being formatted. I just got the cover for DROP OUT, which I will post later. Anyway, here is the first draft of the new pitch for AFTER. Hope this entices you all to buy a copy. It's an adventure you won't soon forget.

From the moment we’re born we’re all destined to die. But what happens after? 

AFTER

By

Neil D. Ostroff

Ordinary high school student, Nick Murray’s sudden death is no accident. What he thought was his life has been an illusion created by powerful celestial beings. But for what purpose?  

After a brief introduction into the afterlife, Nick learns the devil has caused global war in the mortal world. The devil intends turn the souls of the dead into a massive zombie army to take over creation. Inserted into the human body of a prominent, army commander, Nick is thrust into the center of a historic battle. But when he dies a second time, he comes face to face with the ultimate adversary only to learn a terrifying secret about his own origins. Is he something more then the soul of a mere mortal? Something much more? Can Nick save the Earth, the realms of the afterlife, and all that is human and spiritual, or will his own undiscovered powers destroy everything he’s fought to save?

AFTER available on Kindle for $1.79:             

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0050Q8D8U