A few weeks ago, I made the decision to publish Washington’s Providence on my own. I had toyed with the idea from the beginning because I wanted creative control over editing and marketing (translation: control freak). I did try to go the traditional route for a few months and had some  favorable responses from agents, but the common message was, “Send me your book and I’ll get back to you in 4-5 months.” (translation: I don’t have time for this right now)

Knowing how the publishing industry works, that meant waiting for an agent to believe in the book enough to represent it, and then waiting for the agent to sell the book to a publisher—and then waiting for the publisher to release the book. In a best-case scenario, I was looking at almost two years for the book to see the light of day. I wasn’t willing to wait that long (translation: impatient). I was confident enough in my marketing skills to release the book on my own (translation: naive).

Over the past few weeks, I created a book trailer. It was a lesson in patience while learning to use Final Cut Pro and Photoshop, but totally worth it. (Insert shout-out to all the 12-year old boys who posted how-to videos for FCP on YouTube while demonstrating their video game proficiency) If you haven’t already seen it, you can view the trailer here. I’ve got to say the positive responses have been humbling and overwhelming. Thank you for all the support!

The book is coming out officially tomorrow (it’s quite possible you can already order it Amazon.com—hint, hint). I’m so excited, but still a little nervous. A simple idea of mine has manifested into a physical object—a book no less. It’s still hard for me to wrap my head around that. I look forward to hearing from everyone after they’ve read it to see what they think (translation: go buy my book and read it—NOW).