Something I've Neglected to Blog About
My first novel, The Suitcase, was published in early October, 2020. That was during a difficult time of my life, which I already blogged about. Anyone can read about that in a past blog on this blog site. Only 100 people got notice that I published my book under the pen name I use for fiction, Alicia Tycho. The Suitcase was published by Amazon. Finding my The Suitcase is impossible if you don't look for a book by Alicia Tycho. I own the copyright by my legal name, Alice H. Dunn, but you can't find the book under my legal name, only under the name Alicia Tycho.
Why did I choose to use a pen name, anyway? Well, I've always considered my name rather commonplace, and my husband advised me to use a pen name to steer readers I know away from seeing themselves as the model for a character or a problem in the plot one they have lived through. Besides, he considered "Alicia Tycho" an attractive, catchy name for a writer. Besides, I didn't want to have to create a persona and separate copyright for my alter ego, even though anyone who pays attention to the copyright page can easily make the connection.
Looking for my book by it's title is also futile. If I publish another book through Amazon, I will search their library for any titles I might be thinking of using. I was flabbergasted to see how many books Amazon sells named "The Suitcase." Mine had the working title "Wheeling a Suitcase Coast to Coast." I still prefer it, but my beta readers said it was too long or it gave away too much. For a while, I thought to use just "Wheeling a Suitcase," but I didn't want to mislead prospective readers into thinking they would get a story about passing through many airports. My ultimate choice seemed fine, and I guess it was, judging by its popularity, but it turned out to be just another complicating factor for prospective purchasers of my book.
In my previous blog, posted last November, I mentioned that I had never missed a month so far receiving a small royalty. "Small" is the key word, but "never missed a month" still applies. I can brag that the book will have its third book club review (that I've heard about) in May. I am relieved to know that the royalties seem to be slowly getting larger each month, too, although they have a long way to go before "small" no longer applies. With my tongue in my cheek, I can brag that my Amazon 1099, which recently arrived for filing my taxes, shows that in 2021 I earned almost enough to pay for the ink and paper I used for printing its copies. Considering that by far the most copies were via computer from version to version and from my computer to beta readers and Amazon's computers, I didn't use a lot of paper or ink.
My next novel, Il Prato, (actually the first novel I wrote) is currently in my third edit. I expect this edit to cut it to 100,000 words or thereabouts. I'm in the process of finding a professional editor, a nicety I skipped with The Suitcase. I hope this will reduce the 125 +/- errors one of my readers counted in The Suitcase to zero in Il Prato--or very nearly zero at worst. Have you ever read a book that contained zero errors? I'm more tolerant of other's errors now that I know from experience how difficult to achieve perfection is.
I hope to have Il Prato accepted by what I've come to call a "legitimate" publisher. That will avoid the tedious job of formatting it for Amazon. Also, should I find it necessary to publish with Amazon again, you can be sure I'll check the title for duplicates before I submit it.
