Local woman realizes lifelong dream and has her first book published. Second book is soon to follow.
(PRWEB) November 14, 2004 -- Penni Smith, former pre-school teacher at the YWCA and former Off-Track teacher for the YMCA, has realized a lifelong dream by having her novel, Accidental Outlaw, published by Publish America in Frederick, Maryland. Weston currently is a caregiver to her mother who has Parkinson's Disease. Writing has been her life long dream, only to be realized last year when stumbling across the Publish America website. There was a chance for rejection as the publisher required the author to "sell her book" and its qualities to them. She had to give reasons why she thought the book would sell. Her reasons given was that she believed the western genre is most indeed alive and well even in today's world where most people are reading science-fiction or sexy romances.
The book is published under her pen name of Weston, a name chosen several years ago when she read that publishers are not fond of common names. Smith is the most common name in the world!
The story is about a man falsely accused of bank robbery and murder, takes place in Civil War times with the Oregon Trail as a backdrop in the story. The book was first written in 1991 for actor Kevin Costner, the author's favorite actor. The manuscript traveled quite extensively in search for a publisher. It went to Florida, Montana, New York, and lastly to Frederick, Maryland. Subsidy publishers wanted thousands of dollars to publish her work. Feeling like she would be cheating herself that way, she held out for a publisher who would actually pay her. Sales right now are pretty slow even with an ad put in Wild West Magazine. The author discovered that she would have to do a lot of the selling on her own. A book signing party has been put on hold for the time being.
In the meantime, book two, a modern-day romance, was accepted for publication in June of this year. It is currently in pre-production text, awaiting a release date. While waiting on the proofs to come in, Penni Weston is working on her third book, a Victorian romance. However, she may look for a different publisher for this book. Perhaps she'll knock on Harlequin Regency Romance for this one. Her main goal is to see her hard work land on those book shelves at bookstores everywhere.
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