HELLBENDER Wednesday

Today is the official launch day for HELLBENDER and I am excited! It's been a long journey to get here. Longer than usual because we had a lot of fun stops on the way. The whole concept of having a book launch on one day is weird to me. Authors are always asking what the release date of their book is going to be but that's a bit of an industry myth. The logistics involved in having a book not-for-sale one day and then suddenly for-sale the next are pretty complex so it generally doesn't come together in all markets at the same time.

Being a lover of both details and the truth this has always been a thorn in my side. But no matter! I threw caution to the wind years ago and now pick dates somewhat randomly and just hope that everything comes together in time. This usually means having the book actually be available for a few days before the official launch date.


Soft Launch of HELLBENDER in Morgantown, WV

The main time crunch is that you need to give the major reviewers a lot of lead time to read and review your book. But in the meantime great opportunities could be passing you by. In the case of HELLBENDER we had an invitation to have a book party from The Morgantown Poets and we were attending the In Your Write Mind Writers Workshop at Seton Hill which is Jason Jack Miller's Alma Mater. We REALLY wanted to have copies available for both but couldn't release the book officially until much later for the sake of reviews. What's a publisher to do? We decided on pre-release copies for the events and I'm glad we did. In fact, both events were some of the best times I've had and, having taken part in them, really makes me savor this release. So I say, why launch a book only once? Is it really fair to relegate a work that people have spent years on to one day, one month, or, at best the 3 months that most big publisher give a release? (I'm not even going to justify that with an answer).


HELLBENDER signing at the Seton Hill book fair

RDSP is in it for the long-haul. It wasn't a fluke when we signed Jason Jack Miller for a 5 books in his Murder Ballads & Whiskey series and it's been working out even better than we'd hoped. We've gotten a ton of press and great times during the months we've been working on this first release. In fact, we've packed in so much I can hardly believe this is only the FIRST release! 

HELLBENDER holds meaning for me, it's taken me places I'm glad I've seen in fictional Appalachia but it's also taken me to real places. It's taken me to visit thriving Morgantown and its unique literary scene supported by The Morgantown Poets. It's taken me to Seton Hill University which has the country's only genre specific writing program, packed to the gills with talented and knowledgable writers.

I know that reading a meaningful book does not just stay with you for the day, the month or even the year. A meaningful book can effect you for a lifetime. So, we will launch our books as many times as we please, we will launch them to outerspace if necessary because they are worth reading and I'm going to give as many readers the chance to discover that as possible. 

So, without further ado, HELLBENDER is now available in print through Amazon