The State of the Publishing Industry

I have been watching the publishing industry go through remarkable changes in the last few years. Basically, the old brick-and-mortar houses are crumbling before our very eyes as the digital revolution takes over.

Publishing houses are hemorrhaging money like stuck pigs, and editors change faster than baby diapers. More and more imprints are being shut down, and nailing a contract with a traditional house is becoming more and more difficult. It seems the only way to get a publishing deal is to be a complete jackass on national TV. Idiots who have no idea what good writing is are getting contracts only because people know who they are.

Authors all over the world are rebelling against the traditional houses and are making the decision to self-publish. This is very dangerous ground. Self publishing can be costly in terms of promotion, and often times many people lose their shirts.

Recently, after much discussion with my agent, Chamein Canton, I decided to self publish with Kindle Direct. They nail you when it comes to digital rights, but then again, I did not publish this book to make a fortune. I published it to get a story out to the public. I am only charging $2.99 for the book.

I am giving away twenty copies to first come-first serve. I still have seven copies left to give away. If you want a copy, email me at jweil@weileditorial.com, and I will send it off to you. If you don’t have a Kindle, you can download the Kindle software for free on your PC or Mac.

I am not completely happy with the way the formatting turned out on the Kindle conversion. The indents are a little off in a few places, and some of my corrections simply won’t take. It’s frustrating, but I will keep putting up new versions until I have it right.

Below is a short synopsis of the book:

María Suárez, a young, Colombian nineteen-year-old woman, comes to America as an illegal alien. She ends up as a domestic for a rich, old woman in Westchester, New York. The story begins with her cleaning the old woman’s bathroom. As she is cleaning, the story flashes back to her home in Colombia. Her parents were very poor farmers living in a camposito high in the Andes above the town of El Aguila. The town specializes in growing high-end, specialty coffee normally reserved for the Japanese.

The town gets ripped to pieces by the guerrillas and the military when the bottom drops out of the coffee market and the cafeteros get forced into growing coca. Eventually the entire town is destroyed. She escapes, and through sheer determination she manages to make it to America without a word of English and no money.

What makes this book different is that it humanizes the brutal struggle for power and survival going on in Colombia today, as told from the eyes of a young woman with a fifth grade education.

Remember, I have seven copies left to give away. When all have been given away, I will make an announcement that the offer is over.

Love to All!

James M. Weil