A Look Back 10 Years Later: Novel Monogamy Sucks Featured in The Orange County Register

Ten years ago, this past week, my novel MONOGAMY SUCKS was featured in the Orange County Register in an article by columnist Barbara Venezia.

It proved the highlight of my more than two-year public relations and media campaign for the novel, which led to more than 100 articles, mostly book blogs, podcasts, and radio interviews.

Below I have posted an image of the original print article.

The impact of the OC Register article was almost immediate as it helped my novel crack the Top 100 Kindle sales rankings for erotica novels on all of Amazon for a short time.

Venezia captured not only the uniqueness of my novel but also effectively described my writing journey and the emerging promise of ebooks and indie publishing.

Later that year, Venezia posted a follow-up story about me in her column and included details about the impressive response to MONOGAMY SUCKS following her article and the subsequent release of my novel DEAR HEF in September 2011. 

I apologize that both stories are hidden behind paywalls. A sad commentary on the current status of the news media.

Also, the links to both MONOGAMY SUCKS and DEAR HEF included in the stories no longer exist as they were taken down by my previous publisher. Such is the bane of traditional publishing. I have provided links above to the indie versions of the books.

Looking back – it seems like a lifetime ago  – I have learned some hard lessons about the financial limitations of the ebook industry, and of being an author, and the importance of local, regional media coverage in driving interest in a book launch. I had relied too much on the book and literary blogs during my initial PR campaign for the MONOGAMY SUCKS. It ended up being an echo chamber of like-minded authors but didn’t do much for building an audience among mainstream readers.

Also, in the subsequent years, reading for pleasure has fallen out of favor among younger people and the ebook industry no longer has the same intriguing allure for the media as the next big thing as it did 10 years ago.

However, I am as much convinced as ever of the viability of indie publishing and it is the only way I would share my books now. And on a personal note, I love reading on my Kindle, and still support it as a revolutionary way to feature and explore books now as I ever did.

A year or so, after the OC Register article, I learned another tough lesson when I had to return to full-time work in public relations and put off my dream of being a full-time author. Unfortunately, I nearly abandoned my dream of being an author for several years until I woke up and embraced indie publishing and I have never looked back.

Yet for one shining moment in summer 2011, I thought my dreams of being a full-time author were almost within reach.

Still, I have no regrets.

Since then, I have published 14 indie books, including an updated version of MONOGAMY SUCKS, the book’s sequel RELATIONSHIPS SUCKS, a new version of DEAR HEF, returned to my first love of science fiction, shared my short stories, poetry, and lyrics, and now I am writing about the hellish experiences of my long-time public relations career.

The writing and the joy that it brings me is always what matters most in the end. It took me a long time to realize this.

Stay tuned as always.

You can also find out more about my provocative novels, short story, and poetry collections on my Amazon⁠ ⁠authors page and on my Goodreads profile, which features past book reviews.

Look for many more of my indie books to come.

GP