Sequels, sequels, sequels...movie producers love them, publishers love them, and if you've written them properly, the audience will love them too.
When I wrote ALL ABOUT VEE originally, it was 800 pages long and had the title, FAT GIRLS IN LA. The story was about all three Vees: Veronica, Virginia and Valeria. They all came to LA and they all had different professions/dreams/desires. When the book was purchased, however, the publisher only wanted one Vee so it became Veronica's story.
Although I was disappointed, I had always planned to write the stories of the other two girls and publish them as sequels to the first book. Alas, my publisher and I parted ways and I didn't get the chance to do that.
Until now.
The first of the two sequels is called THE RISE OF GINNY COOPER. I consider it book two of the Fat Girls in LA trilogy. It tells the story of Virginia Cooper, one of the Vees from Arizona, who comes to LA to live with her best friend Veronica May. Ginny is a writer, also plus-sized like Veronica, who has dreams of seeing her work on the big screen. She also dreams of finally having a boyfriend.
I am riding the wave of the future: digital. And I am publishing it online - for free - for everyone. As part of the experiment portion of the plan, I am releasing it in four sections during the month of January on The Story Siren's website.
Kristi, the Story Siren, is a fantastic YA blogger and book reviewer whose site has influenced many, many readers and bloggers. I chose her because I like her optimism, her constantly changing content, and her love of books. I was thrilled when she agreed to do this! Beginning Monday, January 4th and continuing for every Monday in January, Kristi will release a section of the book in a pdf file, which is free to everyone who wishes to download it. She alone will have exclusive access to the new book, which means you - the reader - will too.
How cool is that? After the book has been released completely, I will publish it on Scribd, perhaps, or for Kindle. I'm not sure about that yet. For now, I just want to see it in the hands of readers online. I am so excited about getting this story out to people!
And, as a bonus for this experiment, Kristi will be holding a contest to give away a signed copy of ALL ABOUT VEE to a lucky reader. So if you don't have your own copy or you haven't read it yet, be sure to enter the contest! But not to worry, you don't need to read the first book in order to understand the second one. It's not that kind of sequel.
Okay, everyone ready? Let the experiment begin!
