A few years ago, I wrote my first middle grade novel (about a pre-teen superhero) and landed an agent who was a friend of a new friend I'd made in a writing group I'd joined. I was quite excited.

I planned to have that novel be the first in a series. However, my agent advised me against it, saying it was easier to sell one book than to sell a series, especially if the writer in question is a newcomer. That made sense so I decided to begin a new, different project.

Long story short, I started on Welcome to Harmony. I had the idea of turning this into a series as well but kept in mind what my agent had told me. I then came up with the idea of creating different stories that took place in a common setting -- in this case, Harmony -- but each story would have a different protagonist and characters from the first book would appear in supporting roles. Technically, each book would stand alone but, at the same time, could be considered part of a "series."

Fast forward a bit, my agent had a meeting with someone at Tor Books regarding my superhero book. He also presented an outline for Welcome to Harmony and an outline for another story that never really went anywhere.

Tor passed on my superhero book, saying they'd published a similar one that didn't make them any money. They did send the manuscript on to some of their affiliated publishing houses to see if they might be interested -- Let's just say I'm still waiting to hear from them.

Not long after that, I landed a job teaching third grade at Sonoran Science Academy Ahwatukee in Phoenix, Arizona. When word got out I was a writer, I had staff members asking if they could read something of mine, so I started passing around copies of manuscripts for both my superhero book and Welcome to Harmony. 

Welcome to Harmony was, hands-down, the unanimous favorite. The eighth grade language arts teacher, Lyn, commented on how, as you read it, you became "part of this group of friends," which, let's face it, is important to kids at that age.

I let Lyn read that current draft of Welcome to Harmony to her class, asking her not to reveal who the author was. Her class enjoyed it, but Lyn still insisted they give me constructive criticism. They gave me some AMAZING ideas which soon prompted another rewrite.

In the meantime, I shared all this with my agent, while asking if he ever followed up on my superhero book. He asked me to send him a copy of Welcome to Harmony and told me he'd contact me after he'd read it. I never heard from him after that. He never returned any of my subsequent emails. I still don't know what happened.

Fast forward to late last year, after failing to find another agent, I began considering self-publishing Welcome to Harmony. The members of my writing group strongly encouraged me to do this. Since my agent was a friend-of-a-friend, no paperwork was ever signed so I was free to do whatever I wanted.

A few months, and a couple rewrites later, here I am. Welcome to Harmony is now for sale on Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com, and I am currently working on the next Harmony book, entitled Gwen Gladstone. I just put up a copy of the cover on my Facebook page. Check it out.

Right now, I'm splitting my time between Gwen Gladstone and promoting Welcome to Harmony. In between, I jot down notes for the third and fourth Harmony books.

Those of you who have purchased Welcome to Harmony, thank you. Those of you who have left reviews on Amazon.com, thankyouthankyouthankyou (Nook users, please don't forget to leave your reviews on Barnesandnoble.com.).

If you're still on the fence, you can read Chapter One for free on the previous blog post.

Welcome to Harmony is available for sale on ...

Kindle
http://www.amazon.com/Welcome-Harmony-Dan-Trumpis/dp/1479336904/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1372371966&sr=1-3&keywords=welcome+to+harmony

Paperback
https://www.createspace.com/3975380

Nook
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/welcome-to-harmony-dan-trumpis/1115657216?ean=2940016419107&itm=1&usri=2940016419107

I can also be found online at:

Facebook.com/Harmony1855
Twitter: @Harmony1855