My Yellow Brick Road to Self-Publishing

My Yellow Brick Road

The Challenge...

 2020 marks the 120th anniversary first publication of The Wizard of Oz.

The Wizard of Oz Trilogy is dedicated to L Frank Baum

Toto's Tale and Trail of Tears are the first two legs...

You, the Reader, will help me compose the final book and thus complete...

The Wizard Was Odd Trilogy

This Website...

Is not about The Wizard Was Odd Trilogy...it is about the journey. 

What is The Journey?

It is my pilgrimage, a step at a time, through that nebulous void of my taking an unedited manuscript through the staggering number of processes necessary to self-publish, finance, launch, and ultimately create a market for a trilogy where no market exists. 

Why Self-Publish?

I am a property manager by trade. When I started writing for children in 2010, I knew nothing about fictional writing and never gave publishing the first thought. Once I started writing the Wizard of Oz from Toto's point of view, like every other new starry-eyed writer, I thought the publication would be well received by "some" readership. I joined the SCBWI to learn how to write better and to market my book to agents and publishers.  In attending these sessions time and again, it was here that I learned the true meaning of "ENOUGH"!  In their professional opinions, the publishing industry had had their fill of vampires, werewolves, zombies, Dr. Suesse, Wizard of Oz re-inventions.  Self-Publishing was my only option. 

A Quick Summary of the series...

This adaptation is narrated by Toto, the troop’s self-appointed leader. What begins as a lighthearted rendition, a parody, grows into its own skin quickly with an updated original cast, the addition of a twisted plot, and a host of other wondrous quirky social misfits. Though this adaptation lacks the sexual imagery of Gregory Maguire’s Wicked, it is more sophisticated than the original by L. Frank Baum. Its length, with 200,000 plus words, the complexity of its multidimensional plot, and its endless tongue-in-cheek humor will keep the  young and adults young at heart laughing out loud. The reader can expect an invigorating and imaginative spin on those memorable and historical aspects of Baum’s Oz, but with extensive original content by way of topography, emotionalism, plot, characters, and perils.

Follow this For More Detail on the Series... 

 History...

One day, in 2012, my wife and I had a very busy week, shared little time together, and were out for our Friday night, "date night". As we drove to our destination, I glanced lovingly in her eyes and said, “So Toto, how is Dorothy?” Perhaps that wasn’t the best way to start the evening, but it did get me thinking. How would Toto describe his experience in Oz…after all he was a feisty little dog… From that fountain of folly, this series was born.

I attended the Miami and Orlando SCBWI retreats for a number of years before I hit on this Wizard of Oz rendition. After two and a half years of biweekly critiques and suggestions from my book review group, I completed the manuscript.  However, the name had changed from "So Toto, How is Dorthy?" to The Wizard Was Odd . This book was quite large and upon the advice of my publisher, I divided it into two books. Fortunately, I was able to separate it into two well-defined and complete stories. The first became Toto's Tale and the latter, Trail of Tears. 

The Blog - a Brick at a Time.

The Devil of Self-Publishing Lies in its Details...

Curious about the blog's name..."a Brick at a Time"? Wonder no more.  What follows is a smidgen of the items one must tackle in order to successfully self-publish. While portions of the list are optional such as illustrating one's work, paper printing, and offering limited-edition prints and publications, one must still have a marketing plan to capture the attention of the public. 

My reasons for offering printed books and illustrations is to make my self-published series stand out.  Each year millions of self-published books collect dust, sit in a corner, rot on the floor of a warehouse, or fill a pinprick of a slot in some vast limitless digital library.  No one will know your book exists unless you find a way to let the world knows that it exists.

I plan to use Kickstarter. They have a huge following of patrons. They world is filled with Wizard of Oz Lovers. Even if Kickstarter fails to help me in raising funds to achieve my financial goals, their word of mouth will be priceless advertising. There is more about Kickstarter elsewhere on this site. Here, the list is merely an eye-opener, one that contains details (some of them) when considering self-management options.

Behind me...

• Two parts of this trilogy have been written. The first is called Toto's Tale and the second is called Trail of Tears. The two manuscripts concluded and complete one saga with a total word count of 208,000.
• Paid for a professional critique (same as a substantive, content, or developmental edit)
• Working with social media firm to help me out
• Started a Facebook Author's page
• Researched Kickstarter components (crowd funding platform)
• Procedures
• Rewards for patrons
• Initiated set up
• Secured the URLs: TheWizardWasOdd.com, WizardWasOdd.com, and Oziian.com.
• Designed cover art for both paperback books, two limited edition hardbacks, and two commemorative gold hardbacks
• Commissioned artist to draft Facebook cover, Kickstarter cover, and this cover image
• Designed and commissioned map of Western Oz
• Selected scenes from the manuscript for illustration
• Worked out an agreement with the artist that I own 100% of all rights to the art to use as I please.
• Guided artist on scene and character digital art image development
• Commissioned character sketches, b/w, sepia, and full color renderings.
• Completed four scenes for sample illustration for Kickstarter venue and also to be offered as Kickstarter rewards as Giclee
• Incorporated developmental communications and draft-developmental maps of Western Oz
• Incorporated developmental communications and drafts of characters and scenes for this site
• Recording daily activity of any related actions with respect to the map of western Oz and much of the scene and character art

Kickstarter (as of 03/20/17)

I am implementing a Kickstarter program for public awareness and crowd funding

• Kickstarter is being presented in English and Spanish
• Video completed - English Dialog; Spanish sub-script
• The first twenty chapters in English are provided for sampinge
• The first eight chapters in Spanish are provided for sampling
• Determining reward offerings and their requitred contributions has been completed
• Completed Kickstarter setup
• Completed Kickstarter web pages
• Have commissioned four scenes of sixteen scenes offer as a sampling of archival quality (Giclee) rewards
• All scenes will be incorporated into the books.

To Be Done

• Kickstarter corporate approval
• Launch 30 day Kickstarter platform

Post-Kickstarter with Successful Platform

• Manuscript to a Copy Editor
• Final Proof reading
• Literary reviews
• Digital and printed formatting and layout of limited edition novels
• Creating and systematizing archival limited edition prints
• Set up digital E-reader formats
• Ordering limited edition novels for Kickstarter Patrons
• Processing and delivery of limited edition prints to patrons
• Professional assistance in developing social media awareness platform
• Digital downloads to 1,000,000 readers before December 31, 2019

In closing,  The Journey will be unorthodox and unique. Each day will bring its challenges: creating an awareness, raising funds and public interest through social media and eventually Kickstarter, dealing with the "art" of scene images, ensuring that limited edition books and prints are of archival quality, negotiating their cost, and of course, getting the first two books of the trilogy into circulation and in the hands of readers. There is so much to do and with a deadline of pushing out rewards well before Christmas, time is of the essence. I invite you to join me. When the road comes to an end, you will have either the energy and motivation to self-publish... or the common sense and wisdom to run from it.  

Sincerely,

Bob Moyer

AKA Peeky (Author)