Today I approved my book,
Valentino: a play in verse, for publication and distribution by
Lulu.com.
After reviewing the proof copy of the book, and double-checking the online information, I hit the "approve" button and received the following message:
"You have approved your book 'Valentino: a play in verse' for distribution, and it is being entered into the database of the largest US book wholesaler. Your book will be available to order from leading online and retail book outlets within the next six weeks."Sweet.
The entire process has been very easy, and I've been extremely happy with both the quality of the printed book and the ease of publication. I'll have more to say about the print-on-demand process in a future post, but for now I'll just say I've been very satisfied.
Of course, the big unknown is whether anyone will buy the book, outside of my circle of friends and family.
Valentino is a verse drama, and therefore not a book that would appeal to a traditional publisher unless the play had already received the Pulitzer Prize or been staged on Broadway.
My primary goal in publishing it, aside from pure ego gratification, is to expose the work to a wider theater audience in the hopes of seeing it staged.
The play has already been selected for the College of the Canyons New Works Festival, and that's a great start, but I'm hoping to see a full mainstage production in the near future.
In any case, I am now a published playwright.
I'm looking forward to whatever the new year brings.
