A Paper Chase of His Own

One local author has alerted me to his somewhat novel novel, which he is promoting in a most novel way.

Reluctant to go the self-publishing route, he has created a Web log to bring attention to the book.

You've all read my thoughts on self-publishing. It's a perfectly legitimate means for getting your book in print. Several of our local authors have done so and the books stand up well to traditionally published books.

However, it can create serious marketing and business problems. Self-published books are terribly expensive for the author, leaving little room for traditional outlets to effectively market them.

In any event, I like what I've seen so far and I'd like to refer you to his Web site. He will post his novel online over the next seven weeks. During this rollout, each installment will offer a clue to the whereabouts of a buried treasure. Loyal readers will have the opportunity to solve the riddles and win that treasure. I believe the treasure is buried near here (somewhere in the Louisville metro, and probably on the Indiana side of the Ohio River), but you can earn a prize even with an e-mail entry. First one to guess the location wins. If you're a geocacher, this is a great opportunity.

Let the author explain the rest, as he does on this Web log:

http://readmymanuscript.blogspot.com