Self-Published Author Sees Her Book Come to Life in Lifetime Original Movie

It's every aspiring author's dream to see their work in print, but one creator of Lulu.com, the digital content marketplace, has taken this goal one step further. Creator Mary Herczog not only self-published her young adult novel Figures of Echo using Lulu, but she was able to watch her story come alive as a Lifetime original movie.

As a freelance writer and story analyst from Los Angeles, Herczog's self- publishing experience with Lulu was, quite literally, a dream come true. After dreaming the dual plotlines that would later become the basis for her novel, she wrote these ideas out and only to revisit and complete her story later in life. When Herczog sat down to finish the novel, she was able to write and publish Figures of Echo in just three weeks.

Figures of Echo is the story of an 11-year-old girl who lives with her widower-adopted father above his New York City bar. Echo is pleased when her father begins to date again only to find herself caught in a bind when her biological father wants to become part of her life for the first time.

The film adaptation of her story, Custody, starring Rob Morrow and James Denton of Desperate Housewives, first aired on Lifetime in September 2007 and continues to air due to popular demand. Meanwhile, Figures of Echo was chosen as the Best Teenage Novel in 2007 at the Do It Yourself Book Festival.

In addition to the fast nature of the Lulu publishing process, Herczog also enjoyed the control she had in creating her book. "I had a total say in how my book looked, and the contents and everything else. That kind of autonomy is unheard of in the publishing world," she said.

In her spare time, Herczog writes about food and her worldwide travels despite her 10-year battle with breast cancer. A freelance writer for Frommer's, she has published several travel guides including Frommer's New Orleans and Frommer's Las Vegas. Her travel adventures and other life experiences can be found at http://www.cancerchick.com/.

Lulu.com is the premier marketplace for digital content on the Internet, with over 320,000 recently published titles, and more than 5,000 new titles added each week, created by people in 80 different countries.

Website: http://www.lulu.com/
Website: http://www.cancerchick.com/