Well, I finally did it: after months of talking about it, I resolved to buy my own website. Not much of a change, really, because the address is just getting shortened to kylerobertsonnovelist.com, but I suppose it’s sort of a big deal because for the first time in my life, I finally own my own website.

And why does this matter, you ask? Well, the good news is that once my domain is registered, up and running, I’ll be able to do what I’ve been wanting to do for a while now and release my debut novel to the general public. Well, re-release. I’ve been struggling a bit to get my novel writing career off the ground over the last year or so, and while I thank the many friends and family members who have read my book so far, I’m not enjoying as much success as I would have hoped. So I’m taking a page out of the books of several other pretty successful self-published authors and cutting things back to the bare minimum.

First of all, I eliminated many Amazon distribution channels for my book so as to cut down on the price of my book per copy, hopefully boosting potential sales. Don’t worry, you can still find my book, “The Showstopper!”, over on Amazon.com, and it’s even better now that it’s only $9.99 per copy. And hey, a rousing period adventure story makes for a great holiday gift for your friends and family. Just food for thought.

You can also find the book in the Kindle store, now for a measly $1.99. It’s only available in the U.S. now as opposed to all of Amazon’s overseas operations, but I figured it might be a smart move to scale back my ambitions a bit, at least for now until I can find a more solid footing right here at home.

Okay, I’m done boring you with the technical stuff. Now for the punchline: starting next week, you’ll be able to read “The Showstopper!” for free. Yes, you read right. For free. In yet another effort to get the word out about my book before the holidays, I’ll be putting it up in serialized installments, chapter by chapter, once a week for as long as it takes to get the whole book on the website. It might be a little while, of course: there’s around 40 chapters and over 300 pages to cover in all, but I guess that’s all for the best, right? More time for people to enjoy the story I’ve worked so long and hard on. My hope, of course, is that this will eventually drive more people, if they like the story enough, to get a copy for themselves rather than just read it and leave. But free seems to be the working default model for a lot of businesses these days, so I’ll chance it.

I’m also going to make a big effort to be more social media-savvy, too. People who know me will tell you that other than some cursory Facebook activity, I could really give a crap about the social media scene. Well, that changes now. I’ll be posting updates from this blog on my Twitter, Facebook page, and even Instagram accounts from this point forward (yes, I have one of those now). All part of the plan to get my name out there and more readers to check out the book.

And of course, every last reader I can get helps. Honestly, few things give me more pleasure than hearing from readers, be it compliments (which are certainly appreciated) or constructive criticism (which I am always in need of and open to). You can never have too much feedback.

In the meantime, enjoy the run-up to the holidays, and get ready for my first chapter of “The Showstopper!” to hit the web next week. As my favorite television character The Doctor would say, “Geronimo!”