Among the biggest challenges of unknown authors is how to—in the lexicon of Facebook—update their status; in other words, how to move from the realm of unknown writer into the marketplace where consumers seek out your work. It’s an on-going a conundrum: How does your book get known to people outside your most direct circle? It’s not even about self-published v. traditional publishing, as more and more of the latter authors still are responsible for their own marketing.

Even knowing what your benchmark of success should be is a puzzle. As this really good article summarizes, determining how many sales an average book makes is pretty damn impossible, but the general consensus is most books sell fewer than 500 copies with most self-published titles selling fewer than 150 copies. And regardless of the method by which a book hits the market, the burden is on authors to develop a following, a demand, if you will.

Which brings me to my book, The Truth. While I have sold a trickle of copies over the past few months, I’m really looking to broaden my base and am looking for readers to help me out. Specifically, if you are a member of a book club and will agree to read my book as one of your selections, I will give it to you for free* (including shipping). Of course, there are a few (very simple) “catches” to taking advantage of this offer (and here’s where the little asterisk comes in to play):

1. You must e-mail me with a request for up to ten (10) copies of The Truth to be sent to you free of charge.
2. You will not use my e-mail address for any other purpose than to ask for books.
3. To qualify for free shipping, you must provide a single mailing address within the continental U.S. (sorry Alaska and Hawaii); if you would like books outside of the continental U.S., you must pay for shipping in advance via PayPal. All books will be sent to one address.
4. You certify that you speak for your book club and that you will agree to read The Truth within three months of receipt of shipment.
5. You certify that (a) everyone in your book club is 18+ years of age and (b) that you are aware there is adult-oriented language in the novel.
6. You certify that you have read the preview available through Amazon (click “Look Inside”) and still want the books.
7. You agree that all members of your book club who read the book will provide a review via Amazon or Good Reads [Note: the reviews can be honest; I’m not “buying” positive reviews here].
8. You hold me free from liability any implied contract herein; I am not responsible for lost books, damaged shipments or PTSD encountered from reading my novel (slight joke: I would hope my book enlightens and entertains, but that’s up to the individual reader).
9. This offer can expire at any time without notification (the Internet may live forever, but my willingness to supply books will not).

I think it’s important to note that this book is not for everyone. It also somewhat defies categorization: It’s too women-centric to qualify as literary fiction (which is how it would probably be categorized had a man written it), but too esoteric to be commercial fiction. As my daughter noted (upon refusing to read more than a few pages): It’s a difficult book to read. This isn’t because the language or style is overwhelming; simply that the book doesn’t fit neatly into some compartment of easy understanding.

Rather like myself.

Feel free to pass along this offer to friends, family, school chums, etc. I hope you’ll take advantage of this offer and share The Truth with the reading world at large.