What’s Next?

Brenda Chiatovich:
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I created the concept of The Homewrecker series. A girl who has lived such a privileged life she does not even realize she is privileged. Now she must adjust to a world she does not understand and she has to face herself in the process.

Tiffany Chiatovich Melendez:
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Hello. I am Brenda’s daughter. When my grand pop and my mom were deciding on a name for LC’s arch nemesis they chose one of my nicknames, Peaches.
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In the second novel I appear again, this time as Sara, another of my nicknames.
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Sara is a fun character based loosely on my personality. Please, it is NOT biographical in any way. This is, after all, a work of fiction.

Michael Berryman:
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I am The Old Guy in the family. Brenda’s dad, Tiffany’s grand pop.
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We all play our parts in this project.

Hello, Michael here. 

We have reached the end of the first novel. You may wonder, and we have debated, what happens now?

Up until recently I have been a proponent of the traditional form of publishing. 
This is where you submit your manuscript directly to a publisher of hardback, paperback, or to an agent who submits it for you. 

The only alternative was to pay to have your books published through what is known as a vanity publisher. They charged you to print copies of your book.  Then they charged shipping to send them to you. Which meant you were left with a basement full of books you had to figure out how to get rid of. 

I have always been of the opinion that money flows to the author. Never from the author. When it flows from the author you are trapped in a scam.

I am still of that opinion. 

Times change. Technology changes. 

One of the drawbacks to traditional publishing was that some of the best books in the world never found a publisher and were left unrecognized until long after the author’s death — If even then.

Now days there are places on the net where you can publish your book. Where it can be enjoyed by one person or thousands. The best part? You are guaranteed publication and it does not cost you a dime. Not only that the money flows to the author when people buy your book. The cyber publisher collects their commission at the same time. All you have to do is to follow the guidelines and upload to the publisher you choose.

Which brings us to choice. 

I have chosen to publish Brenda’s series, and any other projects I am involved with, through Smashwords – Ebooks from independent authors and publishers 

There are many reasons why I made this choice. I will only discuss the one I know many writers might tend to disagree with. 

Mark Coker the founder of Smashwords decided not to concern himself with copy protection to keep people from stealing your book and reading it for free. And I agree with him. Here is why: Had I not been able, as a child, to have had access to books that were free, or nearly free, I would not have had anything to read. We were poor. Books were only a tenth what they cost now and we still could not have afforded them.

I know that today there are many dedicated fans of Steven King who cannot afford his books off the shelves. They have waited patiently and bought them at yard-sales where they have never paid over a dollar for them. A dollar of which Steven King never saw a penny. 

Yet Steven King is not starving because of it.

Why? 

Because the people who CAN afford to buy his books are doing so. 

I know there is some other kid out there. Just like me. Wants to read a book and doesn’t have a dime. And I don’t want to slow that kid down. 

Copyright 2016, All Rights Reserved.