Author DARES Book Reviewers to Take on her first book, 'A Disturbing Presence

Author Joy Lee Rutter hits the proverbial brick wall in her attempt to entice reviewers to examine her first published book, A Disturbing Presence". The reason? She did not want to wait around for an agent or traditional publisher to accept her work. She used an alternate means of having her book in print. Enter in the "dreaded" POD...

Where are new authors to turn if traditional agents and publishers hand out rejections to almost all queries they receive? They seem bent on waiting for the next King, Grisham, Brown, etc, while many of us new kids on the block wait months...sometimes years, for a break. Worst case scenario; enter in the over 50-year-old author who would like to hold the print of her novel in her hands before her time on this planet is up. He or she is not enthused about waiting for the pile-up of rejections over many years, to become a published author.
Therefore, the frustrated writer, while going over her beloved manuscript for the 34th time and adding, deleting, proofreading, and pestering her family to analyze it, he or she finally caves: Enter in the (gulp) POD. In print, POD even looks menacing. It is an acronym for Print-On-Demand. It is the OTHER side of the book-publishing world. There are several, actually. You have the costly subsidiary, self-publishing, and vanity, all of which use Print-on-Demand technology. One POD publisher, PublishAmerica, is closer to the traditional publishing firm because there are no upfront costs, and they do not accept everything submitted to them. However, it uses the dreaded" POD technology, thus clumping it with all the other self-publishing firms. Other downsides to the POD publisher, is minimal amount of editing, higher price of the books, no return policies (with some, not all), very little marketing, unless you pay more upfront costs, and of course, the stigma of having to pay to see your book in print.
Most of these issues can be resolved. There is light at the end of the tunnel. The wise author is encouraged to hire a freelance editor, before submitting final copy to the publisher. That no return" policy of some POD firms should not be a problem since the book does not have to be ordered by the case. Bookstores can keep one copy on the shelf at a time, if they choose to stock it. That alleged" higher cost of the books is often not much pricier than many books already seen in the local Barnes & Noble. About the minimal amount of marketing? Authors considering using a POD are well aware of this and prepare to enter the arena of marketing their book on their own. Many traditionally published authors do a lot of their own marketing as well, so not an issue; just something more to think about.        
Joy Lee Rutter had no qualms when she decided to publish through PublishAmerica. She believed in her book, and still does. Rutter felt confident that the Internet, being a powerful tool in drawing media attention for her book, signed the contract, and might even consider using PA for her next book, already 36,000 words strong.
Nonetheless, her biggest frustration, is finding a reviewer for her book. Although there are independent sources on the internet that review self-published works, will the publics interest stack up to the New York Times reviews, or Publishers Weekly? The big guys will not even reply to inquiries sent by the horrid" POD author.
In closing, this author, Joy Lee Rutter, author of 'A DISTURBING PRESENCE would like to take the time to challenge book reviewers to e-mail her for a copy of her book. Information about her novel is on her website along with contact information.