Following a longtime career as a sportscaster and a play-by-play announcer, Pete Liebengood wrote and self-published his debut novel Accidental Droning through Xlibris. He then went a step further by presenting his book to participating agents, producers, and studio executives at Xlibris’ Book-to-Screen Pitchfest in Los Angeles, US. One Hollywood producer saw a great potential for the book to be a film, and optioned it for a possible movie adaptation.
Accidental Droning follows the unexpected turn of events in the life of Bo Granger who flies a private drone to pass the time after losing his job. To his surprise, the drone captures a woman being murdered by drowning. He becomes caught between turning the footage over to the authorities or keeping his silence to save himself and his wife’s political ambition. A series of misfortunes comes his way as he becomes a target of a hitman, gets wrongly accused of sexual assault, and becomes embroiled in a steamy extramarital affair with an ambitious female journalist.
Pete talks about his recent literary feat and self-publishing experience with Xlibris.
All psyched up
I’m very excited to have one of Hollywood’s film marketers as a partner in attempting to option “Accidental Droning.” I’m also pleased with the reception I’m getting for my just published second novel, “Honeyball.” As proof I’m not letting grass grow under my feet I’ve just finished the manuscript for a third novel, “RendezVu.” It’s about an overly ambitious female TV news reporter (Sacramento, CA) who trades sex with that city’s police chief in exchange for advance notice on breaking crime stories. The arrangement has life changing consequences for both.
Grateful to self-publishing
I wrote my first novel at age 70 after a long career in TV sports at KRON-TV, San Francisco and as a play-by-play contributor for ESPN. I would not even have set off on a fiction writing journey had it not been for the advances made in self-publishing. My experience with Xlibris, while costly, has been a good one. They handle servicing in a timely, professional fashion. My books get out there now—not two years from now. It’s a joy to share my work with my readers, family and friends. This wouldn’t have happened had I gone the conventional route of finding an agent who then seeks out a publisher. In my experience, trying to find an agent was the most degrading process imaginable. You send a query letter to an agent and wait two months to get a response that they’re not interested in or have a full complement of authors already under contract. Hopefully, the middleman agent gets replaced permanently in the future.
Follow Author Pete Liebengood on these websites:
http://www.accidentaldroning.com/
Twitter: @PLiebengood
Facebook: facebook.com/pete.liebengood
Hear more self-publishing success stories from the Xlibris Blog and the Xlibris Indie Authors Roundup. Let Xlibris guide you through the self-publishing route with free writing, editing, and book marketing tips from the Xlibris Writer’s Workshop.