As most of you know, my novella Tales from the Fountain Pen, was
published a few years back by publisher Untreed Reads. In it you will find five WWII
stories following a young woman as she navigates the perils of living under the
nazi occupation in The Netherlands. The stories are blended together by a present-day narrator
who relives the stories as she writes them with an antique fountain pen.
My arrangement with my publisher was that if I could come up
with five more stories, then the novella would be reissued as a printed,
paperback novel incorporating those five new stories.
However, it doesn’t look like that is going to happen for a number
of different reasons that I won’t go into.
Yes, I do have more stories written.
This has left me wondering what my next step should be:
- Leave it be
- Take back the publication rights, rework and self-publish (assuming I can afford to)
- Pitch it to agents (do I do that before I take back the rights?)
- Complete long shot: rework the stories into a series of one act plays?
The novella has been well received and people who happen to
find it, really like it and find that it resonates with them on an emotional level. Which also brings up the second
issue: Marketing. I had expected just a little bit more marketing support from
my publisher.
I am asking the larger reader-writer-publishing community
for input to help me decide. Please leave a comment below.
First 3 to comment will receive a free copy of Tales from the Fountain Pen as a thank you.
