Sold my salsa novel!

TSC

TSC

Son
You might recall that a while ago I was asking around for suggestions of great dance novels and then later requesting beta readers for my own salsa novel. Well, after a lot of sweat and tears and all-around fun -- and contributions from a number of SFers -- I can say. . .

I sold the book!!!

"Salsa for Fidel" (by Tom Crosshill) will be coming out from Katherine Tegen Books (HarperCollins) in 2016. It's a story of two kids who go to Cuba for dance and romance, but find out that reality isn't quite the Havana Nights fantasy they expected.

This is a huge deal for me as it's my first US novel (I've had a bunch of well-received short fiction, as well as books in my native Latvia, but no full-length books in the States).

I want to thank the SFers who read the book and critiqued it -- Joy in Motion, Estrella, Nika and noobster. Did I miss someone? Please speak up and I apologize if I did because my record-keeping is sadly spotty. . .

Thanks also to the rest of you for inspiration and general dance knowledge! I'll be sure to post again once the book is available for reading ;)
 
Thanks, everyone!

Bailar y tocar, movie rights are still available if you are a major Hollywood producer by any chance :D one of the inspirations for the book was actually watching a bunch of dance movies and realizing the level of storytelling was usually pretty low (formulaic though fun). But I'm not holding my breath on a movie deal :)
 
Thanks once again to all the SFers who helped with my novel! The title has changed to "The Cat King of Havana" and it is coming out on Sep 6.

I just launched the book's website, which features not just salsa videos, but also cat videos (including one that our very own Sabrosura said really creeped her out!)

http://www.catotrope.com

I will be using a few basic instructional videos -- shot at various cool locations in Havana -- to spread the word about the book. The first one is on the site. Later ones will also feature a couple of Cuban dancers. They're really more to get people interested than to teach so they are not very technical:


The dance/salsa parts of this novel are 100% authentic and true to life -- no Havana Nights stuff here -- so I think a lot of salseros would appreciate the read if they hear about it. A question for SF members -- do you have any advice on other ways to reach out to the salsa community? How can I get word about the book out?

Right now I have the site and the videos; I'm thinking about postcards to North American salsa schools; what else comes to mind?
 
TSC said:
Right now I have the site and the videos; I'm thinking about postcards to North American salsa schools; what else comes to mind?
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Big socials/congresses might be a better idea. At NY socials for instance there a lot of business-card-size printed card ads for other socials and events, etc. that are on display or given to everyone when they pay their entrance at the major socials. If you can get in touch with Alejandro Bouza (DJ who runs La Chicas Loca social and others) and Joel (who runs the LVG social, https://www.facebook.com/JoelSalsa) you could perhaps work with them to have them distribute your book info cards at their NY socials. And similarly you could try to find representatives to distribute your book info cards at various congresses. I'm happy to help distribute them at Boston socials, I'm friends with most of the DJs/organizers.
 
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Send them to some artists and ask them to talk if they like it. They do snaps, fb videos and you can reach a lot of salsa people.
A girl did that with some brasilian gym clothes and last time some pros couples were here I was asked to find the store for them cause aparently they are crazy about the outfits and everybody is buying them.

btw, do you have an spanish version?

and OMG, that cat is from a horror movie?It was creepy as hell
 
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Sabrosura said:
Big socials/congresses might be a better idea. At NY socials for instance there a lot of business-card-size printed card ads for other socials and events, etc. that are on display or given to everyone when they pay their entrance at the major socials. If you can get in touch with Alejandro Bouza (DJ who runs La Chicas Loca social and others) and Joel (who runs the LVG social, https://www.facebook.com/JoelSalsa) you could perhaps work with them to have them distribute your book info cards at their NY socials. And similarly you could try to find representatives to distribute your book info cards at various congresses. I'm happy to help distribute them at Boston socials, I'm friends with most of the DJs/organizers.
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Thank you! That would be great; I will figure out printing/design issues and let you know once I have something!

If any other SFers might be willing to distribute some flyers at local socials or congresses, please send me a message!
 
kbitten said:
Send them to some artists and ask them to talk if they like it. They do snaps, fb videos and you can reach a lot of salsa people.
A girl did that with some brasilian gym clothes and last time some pros couples were here I was asked to find the store for them cause aparently they are crazy about the outfits and everybody is buying them.

btw, do you have an spanish version?

and OMG, that cat is from a horror movie?It was creepy as hell
Click to expand...

Thanks, kbitten! No Spanish version yet but I hope there will be one.

Do you have any suggestions of particular artists or any contact info? Please PM me if you do. I've contacted 2-3 reasonably well-known musicians and dancers so far, but don't have a lot of contacts.
 
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