"Own the Scrawny" Advance Team!

When I first wrote "My Life at the Bottom of the Food Chain," I went a step further than "Beta Readers." (the first readers of the completed novel). I had readers experiencing the novel as I wrote it, in the tradition of the early days of published fiction, when an author would publish a novel in serial form, chapter by chapter, creating interest as he or she went along. For an author publishing my first novel, it was a great way of testing the waters. I was able to get an early sense of whether I was engaging readers. It worked great, and really helped build up my confidence as a novelist.

I'll be working on an entirely new
graphic design, too!

At first I thought I would take the same approach with "Own the Scrawny," the follow-up to "Food Chain." Shortly after initiating the writing process, however, I realized that sharing the first draft as I wrote it might not be as useful as I'm imagined. Though I sent out the first two or three chapters to my recruited readers, I discovered that the process in this case would be much more complicated.

"Food Chain" was based very roughly on a screenplay I'd written some years ago. Though characters and events are greatly evolved in the novel, the general theme and outline remained intact.

"Own the Scrawny" has had a much more complicated evolution, taking shape only recently and with the help of my editor (a process which is still continuing, by the way!). The first few chapters I sent to readers have been altered and rearranged to the point where they're nearly unrecognizable. Sharing the writing process further would have been confusing.  In addition, I'm excited about sharing Alexander's newest adventure in its final form. It's a fun ride, and I certainly didn't want to spoil the experience for early readers with the inevitable rewrites and dead-ends.

Mid-fall, I'll be sharing advance copies of "Own the Scrawny" with a select, limited group of readers prior to its release. I didn't do much advance work with "Food Chain," but I'll be offering some of you a first crack at the new book. My hope is that by the time the book is officially available, reviews, blogs, vlogs and perhaps other creative work will already be out there by the time we launch.  If you would like to be part of the advance team, let me know!