Friday, February 1, 2013

My new books are out and available!

I'm very excited to announce the publication of two new books. The first, The Color of Longing, is a novel I completed in 2009. I had had such a good time writing it that I immediately moved on to writing a second novel (the one that is in negotiation with the publisher in New York). Then last summer I decided I would self-publish Longing, just get it out there and see what can happen. It took me a while to edit it, get it proofread, make some changes, proofread again. But mostly I couldn't seem to paint the image that I had in mind for the cover. Then in November, that happened and I moved ahead.

Here's a brief synopsis:

What’s a guy to do when the woman he’s loved for 15 years asks for help leaving her alcoholic husband? And what if that husband is his best friend? In this unconventional romance, artist Jake Logan makes a painful and inevitable choice that sets him adrift. Crisscrossing the country with his cat Sadie, he seeks answers to his quest from several helpful strangers, but it isn’t until he has a deep spiritual encounter with himself that he begins to find his true way home.


The second book is a how-to book called Sober Play: Using Creativity for a More Joyful Recovery. It promotes using creative self-expression in any number of forms and media to have a more joyful life. This has long been an important part of my own recovery from alcoholism and I wanted to share all I've learned and all I believe about the connection between creativity and recovery.

Both books are available on amazon and kindle and through me at jill@jillkellyauthor.com. If you read one or the other and like it, I hope you'll review the book on amazon for me. Happy reading!

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

The contract stage of traditional publishing

On my flight to Florida last week, I read the contract my agent forwarded from Skyhorse Publishing, which is interested in buying my second novel, Fog of Dead Souls. In fact, I read it twice. It was pretty accessible in language, and I made a list of about 10 questions for my agent: phrases and sentences I didn't understand and one issue I wanted to reword concerning when the rights to the book revert to me.

My great agent, Andrea Somberg, had made some revisions of her own to protect me and I agreed with all of them. Yesterday we had a good conversation and she will send our revisions on to them.  She doesn't believe they'll give us all we want but we'll see. The negotiations continue.

At the same time, I'm self-publishing two books through CreateSpace, a much faster way to get things out. It's going to be interesting to compare the two processes and their results. I'll keep you posted.