Small Press Author Makes Big Hit - "Shades of Luz" is Now a Best Seller

Nov. 7, 2009 - PRLog -- Seven weeks ago John Gorman’s debut novel went into print and he became yet another unknown author. He did all the things first timers and veterans alike both do, he went to readings, book signings, and literary events. He tried his hand at pitching his book at the local media, he attacked the web and joined a gazillion networking groups. He broke many nights sending out innumerable presses releases and targeting reviewers, book clubs and authors to help him spread the word. He even reached out to Pacific University where he is finishing up his MFA in Creative Writing. Many of his fellow students and faculty were greatly supportive, rooting him on.

Seven weeks later, he is now a Best Selling Author. Everything has changed. To describe the feeling John Gorman paraphrase the narrator Benny Fluke’s line when he first meets Luz. “I felt the ground tilt below my feet,” Gorman said. “It was a dizzying, stomach-soaring sensation. Never in my wild’s dream did I think this would happen. And so fast.”

Where does the author go from here?

“I’m still not famous,” John Gorman said. “But I’m getting there. I don’t really want people to recognize me in the street or anything like that, but I’d love it if people pulled my books off the shelf. I want ‘Shades of Luz’ to circulate through the public libraries.”  

The day “Shades of Luz” went into print it was ranked somewhere in the millions like all new books. Some 300,000 books are published each year and it is becoming increasingly more difficult to grab the consumer’s divided attention. After spending weeks in the hundred thousand range “Shades of Luz” made a break.

Around that same time John had had a series of interviews, some highly touted reviews and a surge of interest that went beyond friends and family. He was also fortunate to drum up some buzz in the blogosphere’s Gossipland. Word spread that Shades of Luz would be a phenomenal movie. Since Gorman had previously won the NY International Independent Film and Video Festival back in 2003 this made a lot of sense and then came the talk about Adam Lambert being a great Benny Fluke when the novel made it to the big screen.

“Frankly, that was some pretty amazing buzz,” Gorman said. “I never imagined tapping into American Idol fans, my book isn’t even about music— maybe a bit of jazz and a few Broadway Musical references, but “Shades of Luz” is more of a quirky mélange of philosophy, love story, and what I’d like to coin as guy lit. You know, the antithesis of chick lit.”
 
When Gorman started answering questions about film possibilities he admitted that he wanted to see somebody like Megan Fox play the lead role. And this stirred some controversy, as she is not a Latina. A few Colombian and Brazilian papers actually questioned his logic. The Brazilian unit of Megan Fox.com wrote a piece entitled “Megan Fox Playing A Latina?” Still, a good and bad buzz spawned an incredible move for his Amazon ranking until he broke into the Best Seller List in Fiction and Literature topping at #80 where he was one spot behind the International Best Seller Paulo Coehlo’s “The Alchemist” a book that Gorman has read and still sits on his bookshelf. Gorman rose above James Patterson, Danielle Steele, Anne Rice, the Harry Potter Boxed set, Dr. Seuss, and Stephenie Meyer’s “Eclipse” (Book 3 of the Twilight Series).    

The sky is the limit, but Gorman isn’t stopping here. He already has plans to release a short story collection, but doesn’t want to overextend himself. He will wait until the middle of next year before releasing his follow up.

“Book touring is reinventing itself every day,” Gorman says. “You have to be so involved. I have been breaking night the past few weeks. I need a 35 workday. Can you find me one?”

He has two Twitter accounts, one for himself and one for his novel. If you are into fantasy-type video games you are familiar with the concept of an avatar, but Gorman assures that his “Shades of Luz” Twitter page is no avatar. He is constantly monitoring it and reaching out as if it is rapid-fire email.

“If it wasn’t for Twitter I’d never have the awesome reach,” Gorman says. “You can get astronomical growth. Things happen so fast I don’t know how anybody keeps up, but it’s like being an air traffic controller.”

“One seems to feed off the other,” Gorman says. “I say I’m flying this mission solo, you know without an agent although 3 are actively pursuing me. They are only interested now because there is so much buzz. They want to nab me cheap because I’m already published and I’m on the verge of making the best seller list. I don’t blame them but the victory will be so much sweeter if I hit it without representation. We’ll talk mid 6, maybe 7 figures down the line.”
 
He’s in it for the long haul and already has been putting together is promo package for his next book though he is not taking his eye off the prize.

“I’m giving it all I’ve got, but when the time comes and everybody wants to know when the second novel is coming out I need to show that I’m not a one-note. A debut is like a tease, it’s your calling card.”

# # #

Writer of novels and short stories. Creator of Paper Cut blog focusing on the writing world, pop culture and the many cracks in between. http://www.shadesofluz.com