Alakazam!
Ta (as they say) da!
Hot off the ePress comes my eBook, available now on Amazon.
This story is aimed at the teen market, and is intended to especially appeal to blind kids or anyone who is involved with the visually impaired. I am running a free promotion from November 2, 2023 through November 6, 2023. It’s also available to Kindle Unlimited subscribers at no extra charge. I will run the free promotion for five days every 90 days, which is the most that Amazon allows.
If you know a young reader, please consider giving them a (free) copy.
Did I mention it’s FREE??
Now, since I write about my writing (seemingly ad infinitum) on this blog, there will be backstory. Skip it if you want—this kind of thing is mainly for my autobiography and/or for the day when I can’t remember why I ever did anything.
Back in 2010 and through the end of 2011, my wife and I were guardians for our nephew who is blind and intellectually disabled. During the time he lived with us, we learned a lot from watching how he got along in the world. Also, through the school he attended in Macon, we got to witness the world of blind people and their families and teachers.
Years later, I wanted to write something for the annual contest run by Storyshares.org. That organization offers books for low-skill readers of all ages. Except for contest winners, they do not pay authors. Their contest is how they obtain essentially free reading material which they then offer for sale, especially by subscription, to schools and other literacy organizations.
I wrote the original version of “Dot Taylor” for that contest. That version was substantially longer than the taut, thrilling, slick production now available on Amazon. I have Henry James-ish tendencies, so it wandered off into lengthy exposition and deep psychological analysis—just what low-skill readers are looking for in a book.
It did not fare well in the contest, which was won by a book about a kid who busted up a bunch of beehives (wooden structures, not ladies’ hair-dids) and, while working to pay for his crime, learned a whole bunch about life, honey, his crying need for a male authority figure, and getting stung by bees. It was notably lacking in psychological digressions. In second place was a book about a gal who heroically welcomed and possibly dated (I’m not clear—I honestly couldn’t read the whole thing) an Iraqi refugee new to the neighborhood, while defending him (verbally) against harassment from a local young ruffian wearing (I kid you not) a MAGA hat. Rounding out the top five were various gripping tales of equity and gender struggles.
I decided to try again this year. I greatly simplified my story and cut out all the deep inner thought stuff. But then, when the contest was announced, they specifically asked for stories featuring all manner of the most in-vogue social/gender/race trauma that you see on the front pages these days. I was kind of in the ballpark since my story features otherly-abled children, but I wasn’t writing to advance an agenda—I was writing to tell a story that someone might read for personal enjoyment.
Sensing a disconnect between myself and the more pointed goals of Storyshares.org, I decided to just publish my book on my own. I have sent off an email to approximately 68 librarians and media specialists at schools for blind kids, making them aware of the book and the free promotion. If you hear about me receiving 68 cease-and-desist letters and/or great public acclaim as the new hero of the low-vision crowd, you will know why.
If you do happen to read the book or if you give it to a kid who reads it, I welcome feedback.
Boing!