My advice: Ignore the Excerpts, Read the book

A couple of quick thoughts.

1) The Excerpts

My first agent believed the book, because of its subject matter, would be a hard sell and virtually impossible to market. And I think he was right on both counts. I know the excepts I've released are all "soft" and don't hint at the emotional experience of the whole. Frankly, I don't know what to do about that. (I refuse to release any sections with "spoilers," and I wouldn't dare release the harsher sections as excerpts, which would also give perspective readers the wrong sense.) Lately I feel like I'm showing a few fragments of a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle in the hope that people will be enticed by the picture they can't yet see.


2) Reader comments:

Meanwhile, a steady stream of notes continue to pour in.
Here are a couple more:

"I just finished reading your book.  Devastating!  Of course, I recognized Jack in the wounded part of myself, which is what made the story so painful, but also so necessary.  Finding the right words to capture the truth of a terrible childhood is the greatest challenge a writer faces, and many back down or flinch before they get to the end.  Not you.  Bravo!
I admire you for staying with your subject for an entire book."

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"Poor Jack. I wept my eyes out."

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all best wishes,

Bob