Well, there’s just about 24 hours to go now. Officially, “Enemies Unseen” will go online for purchase at MichaelJAlcorn.com, Amazon, Smashwords, Apple, and a host of other sites at midnight, EDT, Saturday morning.

Tonight was spent making sure the website was up to date, the links were working, the images were right . . . all the kind of ‘nuts-and-bolts’ that goes into independent publishing. Whew. Not exactly my strong suit, I gotta say, but a necessary thing to make it work.

So, ahead of time, I wish to say “Thank you” to everybody who checks out the new book. It’s a very different beast from “The Accidental Christmas,” and I hope you enjoy it.

Electronic versions, through any of the channels mentioned above, will run $6.99; dead-tree versions will be $9.50 (no overhead on an e-book!). The hard copies can be purchased from me personally, or through Create Space, the Amazon affiliate.

If you have questions or issues with any of the mechanics of this, please just shoot me a line and I’ll do everything I can to help out.

And once again, into the Grand Adventure . . .

If you missed the announcement, let me reiterate:

THE NEW BOOK WILL BE OUT ON MARCH 14th!!!

And yes, I am self-publishing this one, too. Which means that the last several days and nights have been a little bit crazy around here. In fact, part of the last several days and nights have been downright difficult.  I often say that I don’t care how much you want something–I only care about how much you’re willing to do to get to that something.

Sometimes, I think God looks at things the very same way.

Except I think He has a little bit of a twisted sense of humor about it.

For example, the other night, I’m working on touching up the final design for the back cover of the book, something that will complement the brilliant front cover design by Michael K. Ikeya, and which will not do anything to discourage people who pick up the book from opening it up.

So, y’know, no pressure.

I have a new head shot I’m putting out there, and the words have to be just right, and it all has to fit within certain specs on the page, and yada yada. So, I’m thinking I’m almost done, at 12:30 at night, when, all of the sudden, my computer drops my internet connection, and I can’t get it back. In fact, I can’t find my internal wireless adapter in my hardware profile, and, at one point, when I reboot, Windows cannot start up.

panic. and a few expletives.

At some point, I conclude that my computer is dead, and I just have to keep it on life support long enough to back up and copy critical files and, y’know, save my existence, as it is recorded on my computer. I finally get done with this process at about 3 in the morning, and head to bed, still panicked, but too tired to care.

So, the next day, I come home at lunch, and I’m going back through, making sure I saved everything important, when a weird thing happens. My computer, which was on life support nine hours ago, is working just fine. In fact, great, better than before. I’m able to finalize my design and get it all uploaded over my lunch hour.

I swear, I heard a deep, booming voice somewhere laughing.

Self-publishing–or, as I like to call it, “independent publishing”–is nothing if not a Leap of Faith. Not just the writing, but the formatting, the editing (with a lot of help), the design, and all the other things that go into creating a physical book, are not what I signed up for when I first set pen to paper. But, this is what I’m willing to do, because I like this story, and I believe people will like it, too, and will get something out of it.

I just didn’t know. A Leap, by definition, is scary, but it can be fun, and exciting, and even exhilarating, as your stomach climbs into your throat and the air blasts past your face until you learn how to fly. It’s just sometimes you don’t know how hard the climb, how tall the mountain would be, before you arrive at the precipice from which you make the leap.

From “Enemies Unseen”

“What if I screw it up?!?! I don’t have a great track record here! I’ve screwed up our finances so bad I don’t know if we’ll ever recover, and the last time in front of the microphone I went from hero to village idiot in 3.5 seconds! What if I screw it up!?!”

What if you don’t?

“Small chance of that.”

“Not really. You have the truth on your side.”

What if?

“Then they still get to take it back to their studios and make it look like whatever they want it to look like.”

“So, do it live!”

“Live?! That’s even worse! That’s when I slip up and say something stupid or ‘unlawyerly’ and get myself additional lawsuits to deal with.”

What if you don’t? What if the person who gets in front of the camera is the real, the best Rick Dyer? What if you trust God to guide you through?

     “Well, that would be great, but that guy doesn’t show up very often any more.”

“That guy showed up that night that started all this. That guy showed up and saved lives.”

“And took one life.”

“And saved four others, and put a dangerous, dangerous criminal behind bars.”

Why did you fight that night?

“To save lives.”

“So, why do you fight? Why do you argue?”

[sigh] “I argue to try to convince the unconvinced, to give them a truth to choose from.

“I fight because, sometimes, God calls you to witness to a lost and confused people, and the people who want you to just shut up and fade back into the woodwork are legion. You fight because it’s the right thing to do. You fight because, whether you believe in yourself or not, God asked you to fight.”

Look for “Enemies Unseen,” COMING SOON!

From “Enemies Unseen”

THE first impact, booming through the walls of the house, barely registered.

      The second crashing impact sent shelves rattling, fixtures shaking. That got Rick’s attention, and he tried to force himself to climb out of the deep sleep he had too recently achieved.

      The third one, reverberating with the sound of splintering wood, shot Rick upright in bed, his pulse pounding in his ears, a cold finger of fear thrilling up his spine.

      Someone was coming through his front door in the middle of the night, and they weren’t trying to be sneaky about it.

Coming SOON . . . .

I want to take one more chance to thank everybody who bought “The Accidental Christmas.” For the last week I have been in awe and deeply humbled by all of you getting me past that 100 copies threshold.

But, as they say, that begs the question “What’s next?”

Well, let me tell you. Those of you who kept reading past the end of “Christmas,” and who got through the standard “about the author” stuff got a chance to read the opening scene of the next project. It is a story about a man who has to defend his family, and becomes a hero.

But nobody ever tells the story of what happens later. What happens to the hero after the cultural adulation dies and the masses start looking to tear the hero down.

Until now.

I’m well on the way to being done with the formatting for this book, the graphic designer who did the amazing artwork for “The Accidental Christmas” is on board for this one, and the behind-the-scenes work is well under way. It’s VERY exciting!

Look for the full-length novel “Enemies Unseen” COMING SOON!!

I have read several places that 79% of all books published sell less than 100 copies.

Officially, I am now part of the other 21%.

Some time last week, when I wasn’t really paying attention, “The Accidental Christmas” crossed over the 100 copies sold threshold.  That’s pretty exciting!

I want to take a moment to thank everybody who bought it, who has encouraged me, who has commented and reviewed it, who proofread for me way back when, and who has told another person about it. I am honored and humbled by the outpouring of support for my crazy adventure, and I am deeply touched by all the love and excitement!

All of which gives me the momentum to carry forward into the next one . . . .[teaser alert!]

Whew! Anybody else get to the days after Christmas and just go . . whew? I hope everybody had a very Blessed and Merry Christmas!

Of course, I planned for a November launch to tap into the synergy between my story and the season itself. From a business standpoint, I suppose that’s smart. From an energy standpoint, it sure added to the demands of the season. But I wouldn’t have it any other way.

First of all, I have to thank, again, everybody who came out to my book signing on the 20th, who supported both me and 40 Weight Coffee. I also have to thank Debbie at 40 Weight for supporting me in this, and making it possible for me to have that great event. I sold out of inventory on that day, but more is arriving any day for those who still want a hard copy!

Secondly, I have to thank everybody who has been so positive and encouraging about my ‘great adventure.’ Whatever expectations I had for all this, they have been exceeded in the reception and the positive energy coming my way! I hope my story has touched people’s hearts in the way the feedback has touched mine.

Thirdly, I would remind everybody that the message of forgiveness and redemption does not lose its potency on December 26th. I would hope, and I believe, that this story has meaning and significance year around. Don’t ever think it’s too late!

And, finally, now I will turn my energies to the next adventure. Much more to say about that in the days to come . . .

That . . . would be me.

This Saturday, December 20th, I will be signing books, columns, dirty diapers, and pretty much anything else put in front of me to sign at 40 Weight Coffee (corner of 64th and Ward) from 9am to noon.

Though, I suppose it needs to be said, I would prefer to be signing my book.

40 Weight and I are doing some cross-promoting to encourage sales, so come on out and join us. And, even if you already have the book, come on out and have some great coffee!  My personal favorite is the “Dirty Chai”–that’s chai with a shot of espresso. The coffee is great, the setting is cozy, and rumor has it several of the good looking members of my family will be there to laugh at me try to pretend I have social skills.

See you there!!

So, I was doing some marketing work . . .

Yeah, I managed to say that with a straight face. People who know me know that I am the world’s worst promoter, so using the term “marketing” is probably stretching the definition some distance beyond what was ever contemplated by “Mad Men.” But I digress . . .

At any rate, I was doing some marketing, and I’m trying to set up a book signing at a local coffee shop, and I’m trying to figure out what to do about inventory and a whole bunch of other things. Then a good friend of mine, and fellow writer, Cheryl Meakins, tells me she was advised once to forget about profit and give thought to reach. By which was meant that, at this stage, you sacrifice earnings in the interest of getting your book in more and more hands.

I was thinking about that for a while, and it struck me that that should be my goal, anyway, shouldn’t it? I mean, as a unabashedly Christian author, shouldn’t it always be my purpose to just get the story out, and try to change lives?

I think that may be one of the great difficulties with Christian publishing, and a smallish part of why I chose to self-publish. Christian publishers, as with all publishers, have a pretty severely reduced amount of resources to play with compared to twenty years ago. That means they are less likely to take a chance on new authors, unless they stumble upon an astonishingly luminous talent (which excludes me and, well, almost everybody). Because, in the end, a publisher’s job, regardless of their mission, is to make money. They have to–if they don’t, they can’t do any of the other good things they’re trying to accomplish.

The difference is that a publisher is trying to make money; I, and I think most authors, Christian or otherwise, are trying to make a difference.

Don’t get me wrong–I want to make money, too. At some point, there has to be some reward for all the sleepless nights. But, in the end, what I really hope to do is change lives. And if that means deferring some of the financial things, then, well, that just seems like smart advice.

Quoting from the website of Windblown Media, the publishers of “The Shack”:

“Books sales [sic] and reputations best grow organically, rather than through the artificial hype of press releases and interviews.”

What does that mean?  And especially, what does that mean to me?

It means that the best friend of the independently publishing author is word of mouth, the tiny little voice of a friend telling a friend  telling a friend about this thing that they’ve just read, which then gets picked up and read in a small group, which tells other small groups, and, in time, a book becomes “known.”

I’ve mentioned before some of the major works that the authors believed in, even when they couldn’t convince an agent or a publisher. The Shack is one; “A Time to Kill” by an obscure little author named John Grisham; “The Riryia Revelations,” a trilogy of SciFi/Fantasy that are bestsellers now; even “The Ultimate Gift” sold almost 2 million copies after independent publishing before being turned into one of my favorite Christmas movies. All of these started small, in the circle of influence of the author, and then, in time, sprouted into something huge.

In other words: publishers and agents don’t know everything. Sometimes, they know even less than that. Belief in your own work is an unbelievable asset in the world, and if you truly think God has you writing for a purpose, than you have to go forward, regardless.

And, oh yeah, word of mouth. And Amazon ratings. And all manner of little things like that are the new marketing lifeblood of authors.

And, yes, this was a thinly-veiled way of begging people who have read and enjoyed my book to tell others about it.