49,800 to go!

The numbers keep rolling in, slowly.

And don’t get me wrong, I have no illusions of grandeur that I’ll wake up any day soon to see my screen flashing “50,000 fans!”

But I’m not going to stop pushing for that either. Today I passed 200, and that’s awesome.
Though at the same time having a profile with over a thousand “friends” I’m a little disappointed I don’t have slightly more then this.

But not everyone is obsessivly on facebook, like I am.

(checks facebook)

Sorry, back. my bad. (checks facebook)

205 fans!

I get it, The Catcher in the Rye, a book my was recently compared to doesn’t even have 9000 fans. So how can I expect a book maybe 7 people have read to have more then 7 fans?! I must be mad, or crazy, or mad crazy.

Truth is I know I am, but what are you?

I believe in something really big here. I believe that this book can make the dreams of everyone involved come true. It’s not a self help book, it’s not a philosophy book. It’s just a piece of fiction.

A story about friends, about life, about the internet, and about a way of thinking that is taking over the world. That, we’re all this close to going Viral.

We’re all capable of anything we want.

In making this dream happen for me, we can show other people how to make their own dreams happen.

For too long people have been in competition with each other.

Even when it comes to something as simple as dreams.

But why? Can’t we watch other people be happy and be inspired by it? Too often people turn other people’s victories in to some kind of petty rivalry.

Well I want to turn my victory, my dream in to yours. And fanning my facebook group is gonna be the proof of it. by joining that group, you leave your name on a wall that says “I made this happen”

My dream right now is that you just fan this fanpage

Stay Strong

-SamProof

Whats Your Dream?

Follow Your Dreams

Last night I created the fanpage for a novel that only exists on my computer.

I put it out there that my goal is to get 50,000 fans to follow the site for this thing only a very select few have read yet (less then the amount of fingers I have).

Last night I said “I’m not going to sleep till I 20 people follow it”.

When I woke up this morning the fanpage had over 120 followers. As I sit here typing the tally has risen to 160. And I thank each and everyone of you. In fact I have actually been trying to do just that. But it’s starting to get harder to keep up on who I haven’t thanked!

So know this – each and everyone of you is helping me accomplish something that’s taken me 36 years to realize.

I have always wanted to be a published novelist. I’ve always had faith in my ability, but for some reason the route of traditional print media seemed mystical and to exclusive to break in to.

But the tides are turning, and print media is almost the after thought to Social media.

We all have dreams, and at some point most of us settle for something safe, that pays well and our spouse doesn’t nag us about.

I’ve never strayed far from my dreams. Maybe I’m an idiot for not finding an easier life to live. But this is my path, to follow this dream to completion. And the thing is, in this internet world – I believe we can all do just that. We can all follow our dreams.

So tell me your dreams – and again, thank you for helping with mine.

Stay Strong,

-SamProof

Begining to Get Gone

This is gonna get confusing. I’m about to blog about blogging on another blog.

Trust me. I get it. I’m asking for you to get lost immediately.

Today I made a declaration. I set a deadline for my life. Kind of like Aaron Farr (my main character) does in Gone.

In 30 days, one way or another I’m publishing my novel. (well 29 now)

In the next 29 days I’m going to be trying to do a lot of things including:

• contacting publishers
• contacting literary agents
• researching self publishers and POD sites
• begging them to publish me
• trying to create a social media buzz about my novel
• trying to get people to join the facebook fanpage

My goal is to use Social Media to transcend the red tape of traditional media.

That is, my end goal is to have my book on the shelves of every Borders and Barnes & Noble out there.

Now I know that, that itself won’t happen in 30 days. I can wait for that. If it takes a year, two years, 5 years that’s fine. It’s going to happen.

Right now I just want to move forward – I want my novel to stop gathering dust, and start gathering fanatic fans.

Fanatic fans is exactly what happens to Aaron Farr. He puts his life on the internet, and one day the world knows who he is, and they want him. Some people want to love him and other’s want to kill him. And all he wants, is to get out of Nevada.

All I want is for my book to get out of my computer and in to the world’s hands.

This is Gone. It’s the closest thing I have to a child. I want to share it with the world.

Good Morning, is it time to be rejected yet?

Yep, there’s nothing like waking up, rushing to work and checking your email to see the familiar subject line sitting in your in box.

RE: Query Letter – ‘Gone’ A Novel By Sam Proof

It’s so stoic and innocent. But I know as a cold mailing it’s 98% rejection waiting to happen. So here goes:

Thank you for your inquiry, however, I don’t feel we are the best agency for your work.  Good luck in your publishing efforts.

The Angela Rinaldi Literary Agency

And that’s how it goes. almost all cold queries will be rejected; and I don’t blame them. I’ve been on the other side working for various poetry magazine, getting stacks and stacks of horrible poems. And even if they were horrible, if they didn’t blow me away, catch me at the right moment, instinctively attach to some part of my soul they were done in two lines

So that’s that, I open my spreadsheet program and write down the date and a big old ‘NO’ in the response column and move along.