With nervousness, I am releasing the first chapter of a book I’ve been working on for two years out into the internet for free, knowing I’m one Ctrl-V from a better-connected writer pitching a fantastic idea to a willing publisher.
I am doing this stupid, stupid thing for a few reasons:
- This is blog post #950 out of 1,001. I wanted to go big.
- The 2018 walking tours are kicking off this weekend, so this is a good reminder to buy tickets and keep buying tickets until there are no tickets left to buy.
- As with the introduction I published a few weeks ago, I’m trying to spur interest among publishers and/or literary agents. If you know any, pass this on.
- It’s one of the best things I’ve ever written — there’s murder, politics, the forced voting of pastors, ear-chewing aldermen, an illegal bar-boat and the phrase “swilling the planters with bumbo” and every word of it is true. Aside from a few publishers I’ve sent it to and, like, my in-laws, one of the best things I’ve ever written has been moldering unread in a Google Doc for like a year and a half. My present to me is getting some eyes on a story that I really, really want to tell.
So spread this pdf around. Share it with friends. Email it to people who might get a kick out of it (particularly people who might have connections within publishing). Who knows? Maybe it’ll be an underground smash leaving a nation hungry for more tales of political unrest.
Or maybe you’ll just get a good read on a summer weekend, and I’ll get the knowledge at least a few eyes are on something I’m really proud of.
Download “The Chicago Corruption Walking Tour: Chapter 1″
