I can’t believe it’s been almost two years since publishing The Black Lens.
So much has happened in that time frame — especially this year — that I thought it would be good to give a quick update on my debut novel. But before I do, I want to thank God, the Great Author. Without Him, none of this would have happened. I also want to thank my wife, Natalie, along with all of the survivors, partners, reviewers and Kickstarter backers who made this book possible.
Here are just 10 highlights of what has happened in 2017:
- Winning Grand Prize in the Writer’s Digest Self-Published e-Book Awards
- Becoming a Finalist in the Indie Book Awards
- Becoming a Semifinalist in the Book Pipeline Competition
- Earning third place in the Oregon Independent Film Festival Screenplay Competition, thanks to the hard work and adaptation by Jonathan J. Anderegg
- Becoming a quarterfinalist in the national Scriptapalooza Screenwriting Competition, thanks again to Jonathan Anderegg
- Speaking at the Writer’s Digest Annual Conference in New York City about self-publishing The Black Lens novel
- Speaking at “Hope in the Darkness,” a unique event organized by Saratoga Federated Church’s human trafficking task force in California that drew more than 150 participants from the Bay Area
- Doing an interview with the national Writer’s Digest magazine, which ran a front-cover feature story about The Black Lens in its May/June print edition that reaches about 70,000 subscribers across the country
- Receiving 100 book reviews, thanks to all of the readers, reporters and bloggers who have given my debut novel a 4-star average between Amazon and Goodreads
- Earning media coverage in The Oregonian, The Mercury News, The Columbus Dispatch and several other major news outlets
Thanks again for all of your support of The Black Lens. From friends and family to readers and reporters, I couldn’t have done this without you.
I look forward to what the Great Author has planned for 2018!