George Bannon

First, let me start with an apology for the long delay between blog postings. I promise to try and keep a more frequent schedule with the coming new year.

This is the time of the year to get good news. I recently received some from my publisher about my novel The Final Crusade.  Publish America sent me an email notifying me that soon my novel would be released in ebook formats and will also be available for Amazon’s Kindle.  This will also make it available for PC’s, MAC’s and iPhones.

I was very happy to hear this because it opens up a whole new audience for my book.  Both young people and seniors are using the new readers such as the Kindle and the Nook. The readers hold hundreds of books and may also be easier to read for seniors like me.

I have to say that more good news like this would be a nice Christmas present.

On April 13, 2010 PublishAmerica emailed me a copy of the Press Release which they put out announcing the availability of my book, The Final Crusade.  It did my ego great to see this professional release telling about my book. The email stated the publisher sent the release this same day to a number of people and media organizations. Word about The Final Crusade was getting out.

The same day I received a second email from the publisher notifying me that my book, The Final Crusade, would be on display at the Book Expo America in New York from May 25 to the 27th. The Book Expo America is one of the biggest conferences in the USA. It brings together publishers, agents, authors, distributors and book sellers from all over. A lot of eyes would be on my book and, hopefully, something good would come from it.

In mid May, PublishAmerica contacted me about setting up book signings. They asked me to provide them with names of businesses, locations, phone numbers, email addresses and the name of a contact person at each place.  They offered to contact these places to help set up book signings. Having the publisher contact these businesses would be a big help to me.

During this period, My son, Scott, built a website for me at http://georgebannon.com.  This is what he does for a living. I had emailed PublishAmerica on March 2, 2010 asking for permission to use the cover design on the website. On March 4, 2010 they responded giving permission to use it. PublishAmerica seems to provide as much help as they can to new authors.

March 8, 2010 I received an email telling me that my book, The Final Crusade, was selected to be among this week’s Book of the Week selections. This made me feel good. It put my book out there among the first seen and recommended on the PublishAmerica website.

On March 26, 2010 PublishAmerica notified me that the official release date for The Final Crusade would be May 1, 2010.  They also told me it was currently available for purchase through PublishAmerica’s online bookstore. This email also told me they would create a Press Release and they asked me to send them Names and email addresses for all my local media. They planned to send the Press Release to them at the proper time.

They also told me to record any book signings I scheduled and send the pictures or video to them so they could be posted in the PublishAmerica gallery. They offered to provide a lot of help and I appreciated it. Things seemed to be moving very quickly.

On February 22, 2010 I received an email from PublishAmerica that my book, The Final Crusade, was now in the Cover Design Department. The email included a PDF file showing the front and rear cover of the book. I was given 48 hours to review the file and notify PublishAmerica of any errors.

On February 23, 2010 I received a second email from Publish America telling me to disregard the cover design file provided with the previous email. They informed me the cover design in this email was the one they preferred. Again I was given 48 hours to review it for errors or notify them of my acceptance of it. On February 26, I notified them I was pleased with the cover design.

On the same day, PublishAmerica emailed me to say they had finalized my book files and it was going to print. They informed me it would appear on the on the PublishAmerica website in a matter of weeks.

On March 2, 2010 I received an email from PublishAmerica that they were preparing to ship me a free copy of my book, The Final Crusade. A second email arrived notifying me they had sent an announcement of the release of my book to the list of people I had supplied them. This email was a copy of the release. Now my excitement was at it’s highest level.