A Serious Request

The title is serious: I'm making a serious request here. But seriously, and I will stop making this sound unserious after this, I really could use your help.

If you have an Amazon account, would you be willing to 'follow' me please? Just go to any page with one of my books on it, find my pen name (Charles Martin Cosgriff) and click follow. This will help me manage my books more closely, and will help the algorithm, the famous algorithm, to find and suggest me to other Amazon shoppers.

Full disclosure: this will open you up to receive emails or other solicitations from Amazon about updates to my books or author page, and perhaps other Amazon entreaties as well. If you don't want to be subject to such, I understand. I'm throwing myself at your goodwill and tolerance, and no hard feelings if you don't want to deal with it.

I will happily reciprocate if you're on Amazon yourself, and follow you. I will put my proverbial money where my mouth is. 

Thank you in advance!

The Discard Pile

It's important to have a sense of humor in life. It eases a lot of stress.

Last month, while in Hessel in Michigan's glorious Upper Peninsula, I stopped in at the local library. They were holding a used book sale, obviously as a fund raiser but also, I'm sure, to clear the shelves for new wares. Lo and behold, and to my delight, I found a copy of my novel David Gideon. My initial thought was, how cool! The Les Cheneaux Public Library had bought a copy. My very next thought was, and it's in the discard pile.

It was a chuckle worthy incident with a strand of humility tossed in. Isn't that where most all books will end their lives, cast off for the brightest and newest? I did have a laugh at myself over it. And after all, what should I expect? My writing simply isn't going to be everyone's cup of tea.

I nearly bought it. Then it occurred to me that a sale to a (hopefully) impressed reader might lead to other sales of my other books. So I grabbed a pen, signed the inside cover "I hope you enjoy my book! Marty Cosgriff." and slid it right back in place. We'll see what happens.

And Don't Know It

As many of you know, I've been working on book promotion this year. You can find my books here A Subtle Armageddon here David Gideon here Michael's Story and here The Interim Generation. 

One thing about book promotion is that you begin to get reviewed. Reviews are nice; they help Amazon's Magical Algorithms drive folks to sample your wonderful prose. But some reviews are questionable. One such review which gave me pause praised my book A Subtle Armageddon for its great poems. Yet there isn't a poem in it.

Poetry is something which has never really peaked my interest. Perhaps comic poetry holds a certain appeal for me as it did for me Pops. You can read about his favorite poem here Me Pops the Poet. Yet on the whole, I find that poets are simply trying to tell us things without actually getting to the point. At least, that's my take on the vast bulk of poetry the teachers forced upon me in high school English. 

I expect now that the poetry crowd will be breaking down my door, hurling vile epithets upon me in sonnets, free verse, and odes. I should be quite interested in the haiku which might condemn me though.

Truly Sublime

Here I am, touting my own writing. How gauche, but my blog, my rules.

Still, here's a cool review of my 'memoir' The Sublime to the Ridiculous

Kidding aside, it's pretty much what I intended about the collection. It's available here: STTR

Kindle only just yet, but I hope to have a print edition ready soon!

Convenient Drivel

Look at this! Just click that link and see the good news!

Family Lore

Charles Martin Cosgriff's, that is, my new book, is now available on Amazon. It's only on Kindle right now, but I hope to have a paperback edition soon.

It's a collection of favorite family tales from this very blog, The Sublime to the Ridiculous. I'm thinking of you, dear reader. Why read it for free one tale at a time one day at a time, which can be pure drudgery (Quiet, Ron) when you can pay 99 cents (not even a whole dollar!) and kill a couple hours reading several at a time. You're welcome. 

A shout out to my daughter in law Tarina Cosgriff for the cover. She stays in the will. Seriously, I love the cover and really appreciate her work!

Next up: STTR II: Cloyce Encounters. Thanks to my old friend Mark Koldys for the title. Guess who it features? It'll be up and running by October, just in time for Christmas!

Editing Marty

I write. I like writing. I (generally) like what I write. But enough is enough, even of me and my own creations.

My current project is to get a book in print which has fell out of print because the company who I originally published it through has gone out of business. No, I don't think it was because of my book. But if so, woe to the one who has accepted it for republication.

Let me tell you, though, the editing process can be a chore, especially on a tome which I had considered finished. I myself, after some suggestions the company had made, offered 203 edits following the initial round of review. Some I don't think were my fault: there were issues of spacing in the proof copy they sent to me which were not in the document I send them. Still, 203 changes were far more than I expected. When I read an old copy of it as first published, I didn't find nearly that much wrong. 

Now I have another proof copy to go over which includes those alterations. In reading it I have already found 18 edits which I want to make in the first first 49 pages of a 217 page book. Some have to be made, some are more stylistic. Still, 18 more after the initial 203 seems to me an awful lot, and I still have 158 pages to go.

Then there's the fact that this makes the fifth time in three months I've had to reread my own writing. Even I'm getting sick of me, and I really like the story. The editors tell me it's a good story. But I'll have to go over it one more time after the next batch of edits are made. I'm not particularly looking forward to that.

I sure hope it sells after all this...