A new book adventure in Portugal

Writing a book feels like a huge undertaking. Getting a book published is another huge hurdle. Marketing a book is like climbing Everest.

On Sunday, I will be holding a book reading/signing event at the Crespaço Gallery, Rua Major Afonso Pala 7, in Setubal, south of Lisbon as part of a LGBTQ event that will include open mic entertainment. I’m rehearsing my reading skills and making sure I have a good pen and a few copies of my novel, “The Power of Rain.”

What’s it about, you ask? Here is the shortest pitch I have developed. “Passions clash in Las Vistas, a Southwest desert town where money buys power and corrupt politicians turn a blind eye. Digger Doyle, is the tough young lesbian reporter who investigates political intrigue and finds love at the risk of her career.”

I finished my first draft of my novel in mid-2019. I spent another few months getting friends to read it and give me feedback. I spent another few months doing revisions. Then I started sending out query letters to try to get an agent. I did loads of online seminars and other research on the best way to find the right agent, how to write an irresistible query letter and submitting them. I wrote dozens of them. Each one had different requirements. Some wanted you to send the first ten pages, some the first three chapters, often in different formats. It was a time-consuming and anxiety-producing time.

I had a few false hopes raised, but nothing concrete. Several friends recommended I go the self-publishing route. I gave myself until the beginning of 2022 to decide. Finally, in March this year I decided to go for it. I contacted Sara DeHaan the book designer who had been recommended to me. She outlined a process by which she could connect me with IngramSpark, a company that works with self publishing authors and does print-on-demand and distribution to Amazon and other online book sources and book stores.

I also worked with Sarah Jane Herbener an editor who was recommended to me by a contact with whom I worked through Portugal Living, the online lifestyle magazine I freelance for. She went through the manuscript, made some valuable suggestions and ensured that it conformed to the right style.

So, big excitement, after a bunch of money, my book, “The Power of Rain” a mystery with political elements and an LGBTQ romance, became available in paperback and Kindle format in June. The hardest work then began. Learning how to navigate the multitude of ways you can try to make your book stand out from the tens of thousands of others that are published every day. It’s something that consumes a lot of my time, that is time that I would prefer spending writing the sequel, which is called “Sunshine Dreams.”

So, follow my blog, my Tweets and my Facebook posts to learn more about the characters, in my novel. And of course, life in Portugal.