Building the Literary Resume...

Well dear family and friends, as part of my goals for 2008, I am working to establish my credentials and credibility as an independently published author. And in moving forward with that vision I have landed my first weekly column for the CultureFeast.com website.

I am now the official self-publishing guru for CultureFeast.com and you can view my weekly postings by navigating to the following URL every Thursday morning.
For now, follow this web-link to read my first posting, entitled: "Major Contest Recognition for the Independently Published Author."

Here I post and share a quick-list of contests specifically designed for the small press and/or self-published author. In order to make a statement with your work it is imperative that you work to collect and obtain contest and organizational recognition and contests are the number one way for your book to get noticed and recognized!!!

You can guarantee Proud Souls will be in as many as possible and I believe it's only a matter of time before someone stamps their "prize winning" logo on the front cover to my debut literary novel.

~Bobby Ozuna

author of Proud Souls

www.BobbyOzunaOnline.com

Finally...a radio show...

Okay, after working to find some air time, I finally got a confirmation for my first radio interview of this year. It won't be until July (mid-year) but I am working on getting more before that and also working on getting something booked locally--in my own backyard!!!

Linda Bagwell, the host to the Weatherford College Books-N-Authors show has scheduled me for Saturday, July 12th, the weekend preceding the 1-year anniversary to my release of Proud Souls to the public. I know there wlll be much to discuss and I am sure I will have more than enough to talk about come July.

I will be contacting the owners of the Lark Bookstore and The Bookcase to schedule book signings, immediately following my radio interview. If I play my cards right I am sure I will get one immediatley after the show and another for that evening...I plan on making a day of my visit to Weatherford, beginning with a good breakfast before I start running my mouth.

I am open to ideas and suggestions regarding interview questions. I have compiled a few "talking points" which I am submitting to Linda Bagwell today, along with a complimentary copy of Proud Souls, my full biography and two 8x10 photos depicting yours-truly...and no, I am not smiling in the new pics either.

On a lighter note, I did receive confirmation from Lori Newman, Cultural Arts Coordinator for the city of North Richland Hills and it looks like I will be teaching my "I-Not-Author Creative Writing" course at the city recreational center this summer. I am booked for two, four-week sessions beginning on Saturday June 7th. So, if you are local to the Mid-cities area and are interested in taking a (not so average) writing course, be sure to contact the city staff and sign up for my course. I will populate this blog with more details as they become available.

If you already purchased your copy of my book--Proud Souls--please, head out to Amazon.com and share your comments and feedback with the Amazon community. I am not looking for favors here, but instead honest feedback and criticism. As I have said before...I would rather sale 500 books and have 500 people actually read it, as opposed to selling 1-Million books just to have the same 500 people read it.

I will keep you posted on the status of my pending reviews.

~Bobby Ozuna www.BobbyOzunaOnline.com

Changing the way in which I Blog

In working to promote myself as a self-released and self-published author I have become something of an expert in many venues related to independently publishing my novel Proud Souls. And being that I enjoy helping so many people succeed and also believing that once you have obtained a certain bulk of information related to a particular skill or task it is imperative that you share that with others who are trying to obtain common goals and who share common interests, I have opted to partake on a new challenge within the literary world: writing a column for Daniel Dessinger via CultureFeast.com.

I was approached by Daniel in a random search of potential columnist earlier this week and after speaking to Daniel and coming-to-terms with regards to how he wishes to operate the pre-existing site with the addition of new categories, I have accepted the invitation and submitted my first blog this evening. It will take approximately one week before this blog is posted under the new Self-Published or Independent Publisher category. And since many of my blogs are long-winded to begin with, I thought this would be an excellent time to alter the manner in which I blog--both here and via Blogger--to start sharing the "things" that are actually happening with regards to promoting Proud Souls and save the long-winded stuff for the CultureFeast.com website.

So, for those self-published novelist or even the traditionally published author looking for better means to promote and publicize your week...stay tuned for the weekly blogs I will be posting via CultureFeast.com.

Sincerely,
Bobby Ozuna, author of Proud Souls

www.BobbyOzunaOnline.com