TR Patrick | Leap, Fall, Hope: The Story of Self-Publishing Platform 21

I’ve had stories in my head as far back as I can remember. They are and always will be an intimate part of who I am. I didn’t pursue these stories for idle enjoyment, or a way to pass the time. In fact, I’ve struggled with their message and meaning. I’ve embarked on the journey of writing for a chance at self-discovery, and maybe – just maybe – a chance to share with everyone else an idea or a concept worth day dreaming over.

Most of my ideas come from my dreams. I’ve seen completely foreign worlds take shape, and when I wake up I have a complete picture of the entire story with only a few exceptions. By the end of the day, I’ve completed an outline for yet another adventure I’ll probably never get around to writing; and if I do, I’ll probably never publish it. Why? Well, there are so many layers to the answer.

A lot of us face this dilemma every day. We all have great ideas, be they pursuits of art or any other number of goals worthy of reaching, that we struggle with achieving. Many of us are tied down to careers, responsibilities, family, and other obligations far too important to take time away from. Others do try, but are left unguided and struggle at every obstacle. Those of us who do complete the work realize the passion is simply too personal to share and it becomes a trophy for only ourselves to marvel in. It’s hard to do something so personal, to express something so meaningful to only yourself, and then turn around and try to get others to read and enjoy it. It’s a monumental leap of faith to push something as personal as a novel to print, and then have the nerve to ask others to pay in order to read it.

On that day you decide to make something so private – public – you’re left with an exhilarating sense of accomplishment that you can’t wait to share with everyone around you. You stuff it in your friend’s faces, and even ask for test readers. You might even fork over a couple thousand dollars for editing and professional cover art (well worth the money by the way) in order to make sure it is ready and primed for the public eye. You’ll cross your ‘T’s and dot your ‘I’s and do everything right! All that’s left is that little ‘Publish’ button staring back at you. As a self-published Author, that’s the moment you take the biggest leap of faith in your life. As soon as you press that button, a piece of you becomes immortal. The internet is a brilliant, nasty thing. Once it’s out there, you never get the chance to take it back. So, what do you do? Do you press that button, or do you change your mind? With Platform 21, I pushed that button, and made the leap.

At first, I was filled with a sense of incredible joy and accomplishment. As a Self-Published author, I just released my first book. I was certain it was going to take the world by storm. I was positive it would win literary awards, and everyone would love it! I went to bed that night knowing I just changed the world – the world I triumphantly stood upon as one of its champions. Yeah, I’ve got a big head. I’m one of the most overzealous and egotistical freaks I know. You have to be in order to bring something like a book to print. Who in their right mind doesn’t publish the best thing since sliced bread? Who publishes a book they feel is only ‘Alright’? When you push that button, you do it because you feel your voice is important enough to enter the public dialog, influence the minds of your readers, and inject a piece of yourself into the limelight. That’s what I did, and I was damn proud of it. I even liked the sound of my own voice that night.

After that first week or two, reality started to settle in. Only a tiny fraction of the friends I asked to read the book actually read it. No one was sharing my announcements on Facebook, and those three hundred and fifty some odd likes I accumulated prior to my big release didn’t turn into sales. You then begin to realize that something so important to you cost the consumer less than a Subway Five Dollar foot long, and people still wouldn’t spend the money for it. The most agonizing thing about it all was knowing I opened my heart out to the world, and nobody blinked. My priorities quickly changed. I knew the book was good – it had to be. Why didn’t people give a damn?

So I cracked the book and started reading it for the first time as a reader. For the most part, I loved it. But that first time I found a missing word, or realized the formatting for a particular segment didn’t make it to the eReader, I began to think myself as a failure. Every book has typos. Every book has its mistakes. How big were mine? To be honest, they weren’t bad at all. I was nit-picking everything I read, and managed to correct the more jarring ones. Is it perfect? Not by a long shot – but you know what, neither am I. I slaved and stressed over this book. I got everyone and my mother – YES! My Mother! – to read and proof this book before it went to press. These were some very nit-picky people, and they let me take it to publication accompanied with high praise. That still didn’t matter to my ego. It still didn’t matter to how I was feeling. There were mistakes, and I began to feel a bit like a failure.

Remember that king of the world moment I had when I clicked the publish button? Yeah, that moment is long gone. I had fallen to the place I never thought I’d be when I took my leap of faith. They don’t call it a leap without reason. Then – one day – I got an e-mail from a blogger who was invited to participate in my blog tour as a reviewer. She wrote on and on about how amazing the book was, and how no other book since ‘The Hunger Games’ touched her the way my book did. I sat in front of my monitor, stunned. I couldn’t do anything for about an hour or two. What was I supposed to do, respond? Any confidence I once had in my book was blown away; yet here was this reviewer telling me that my book had touched her in some profound way. It was in that moment a little voice inside my head muttered two words, ‘Mission Accomplished.’ My writing had touched someone … Imagine that.

While I was composing a response to this new fan of mine, I received another e-mail from a highly respected blogger. She had just finished reading my synopsis and the preview of my book, and asked for the opportunity to review it. This reviewer gets hundreds of review requests a month, and here she was requesting the chance to review Platform 21. She must’ve been crazy! Do I say yes, and open the book up for harsh criticism from someone with an audience, or do I say no and play it safe. I’m an idiot with a habit of self-defamation, so I went for it. In the end, the book received high praise and eventually went on to earn me my first literary award, “Best Debut Author of 2013.” Wow – Did things turn around.

As I write this on a chilly December morning, just two months after releasing Platform 21 – I’m sensing a bit of hope on the horizon. If you’re reading this, my blog tour has already gone into full swing and different reviews will have come out all about Platform 21. As of right now, I’m scared. I have to admit this is perhaps one of the most terrifying experiences I’ve ever been through. There is a line of people out there waiting for their chance to rip the book to pieces. Someone will, whether it’s deserved or not. Someone always finds a way to despise even the greatest works of literature. But now, I think I can stomach it. I think I can do it – and let me tell you why.

It wasn’t the literary award, or the 5-Star reviews that put the wind back in my sails. The encouragement from different reviewers and promoters was great, but again – that’s not what makes me go into this tour with confidence. Just last week, a few of those friends of mine finally got to reading Platform 21. Friends and Family will always be your harshest critics. They’re this way because they want you to succeed. Not only did they read the book, but they enjoyed it and praised it. People started replying to my posts on Facebook, and more of my friends and family joined in celebrating my achievements. With their love, I feel as though I’m protected from the daggers that may come with the reviews. They’ve given me the hope, and encouragement I needed to continue on this little journey of mine.

Being a self-published Author is like playing the role of David in the story of ‘David and Goliath’. How do you convince someone to exchange hard earned money and ten hours of their lives to give your story a chance? In this industry, a Self-Published author has only two tools to rise above the masses and succeed: Reviews, and Referrals. So, this is my message to you. Writing books is hard, and those who love books often take that for granted. If you find a story you love, leave a review. Join that author on his social media, and let him know how much the story touched you. Many great writers pass on unnoticed because of how hard it is to break into this business. Don’t let your favorites drown in the wilds of the internet age of publishing. Extend to them a helping hand and become part of their journey.

Platform 21

Luke’s life is about to take a dangerous turn. But first he has to die.

In the year 2052, high school sophomore Luke Gibson considers himself an average teenager in a world on the brink of monumental change. Joining his parents and sister, Laura, at the first World Energy Initiative Conference, he is among thousands gathered in a Denver arena to celebrate free renewable energy when a massive earthquake strikes killing everyone in the stadium. The last thing Luke sees before his death is a girl reaching out to him—a stranger whose face he remembers from his dreams.

The end, however, is not the end. Suddenly, inexplicably, Luke is back home in Ohio and everything is different. His sister is gone, the victim in an unsolved homicide years before. Angela, his mysterious dream girl, is here also, and the only person besides Luke who recalls the previous reality. And now their determination to uncover the truth about Laura’s murder and their transformed world is making them targets—forced to flee for their lives from a nameless shadow organization and a government seeking vengeance for an unthinkable act of terror—as they stand on the threshold of a dark conspiracy that threatens all humankind.

With Platform 21, a brilliantly inventive and unrelentingly exciting excursion to a troubled near-future, author T.R. Patrick joins the ranks of Suzanne Collins (The Hunger Games), Veronica Roth (Divergent), Pittacus Lore (I Am Number Four) and other masters of YA speculative suspense fiction. The first book in the “Beyond the Veil” series, Platform 21 follows teenager Luke Gibson up to and beyond his death in a horrific terrorist attack in Denver in the year 2052. Reawakening in a world strangely transformed, Luke sets out to uncover the truth about his new reality—joining forces with Angela, a girl he had seen previously in his dreams, in a desperate race for survival that will propel them across the threshold of an insidious global conspiracy that threatens the future of all humanity.