I’m about to
start on a new adventure, and this blog is part of it.
I’ve been a
writer for as long as I can remember—and that’s a REALLY long time. I published my first Western novel 25 years
ago, and a second a few years after that.
I’ve been writing fiction ever since, but slowly (there were mouths to
feed, after all, and a “day job” that took plenty of energy).
Now, I’m
taking those original published books digital—republishing or self publishing
or whatever you want to call it—so they’re available to readers as ebooks. They're up and running on Amazon now, and you'll find the links at the bottom of the blog. I’ll be adding other works to the list.
And through
this blog, I’ll be showing you where you can read my stuff...and sharing some thoughts on the state of the literature and living in the Old West. And I'll be seeking your thoughts as well.
I’m really
excited by the self-publishing prospects, because Amazon and Barnes & Noble and Apple and
the other outlets for creative works have done more in the last 5 or 6 years to
modernize and democratize publishing than the New York publishing
“establishment” did in the last century.
Anyone who’s
tried to publish Western fiction knows that over the last 30 or 40 years, fewer
and fewer publishers were willing to take chances on traditional westerns. A few names (primary among them Louis L’Amour
and then William W. Johnstone) filled the increasingly smaller “Westerns”
section in retail bookstores. Others (Elmer Kelton, Jory Sherman, et al) squeezed a few titles in, but the racks have been shrinking in size and moving farther to the back so that in some bookstores, you only saw the westerns if you needed the restroom. Today, just about
the only hard cover publisher that still brings traditional frontier stories to market is Forge,
and some of the mass market paperback publishers have gotten out of the
business or even folded altogether. It’s
somehow ironic that perhaps the biggest market for Westerns now exists in the
Christian market.
Is this
death-by-a-thousand-cuts because western fiction is just a niche genre
targeting old white guys, the way many of the publishers explain it?
Well, maybe so
and maybe no.
Westerns and
any fiction about America’s westering still represents THE American story. It’s what made us. What we’re about.
And I continue
to believe that “the folks”—people who read for the love of a good story and
maybe a little education—will read what we crafters of western stories are
writing. If the stories are told honestly, with an eye to the real history and personalities of the people who populated the West, it’s the best way there is to
reach readers who want to know more about America’s growth as a nation and
Americans as a people.
Which brings
me to today’s world and the amazing liberation of digital publishing, which is
nothing less than a whole new, exciting way to reach that audience!
Jeff Bezos at
Amazon and the good folks at B&N have handed us the keys to the
Kingdom.
It’s the
absolute democratization of publishing. For
a few dollars, we can create a decent book cover (in many cases better than the
“Establishment” publishers ever did) and get an ISBN. With a little effort, we can format our
manuscripts, upload them, and be self-published.
Of course,
self-publishing comes with some perils.
First and foremost,
we need to stay focused on the history and tell a great story. Then, for heaven's sake, get proper editing.
I started to read an ebook recently with sloppy punctuation,
misspellings, and generally awful syntax.
Maybe the basic story was good; I don’t know, because I gave up after
about 20 pages when I hit “knarled” instead of “gnarled.” If you (or I) have a story to tell, it’s a
REALLY good idea to use spellcheck and, as a minimum, have someone with
knowledge of proper English proofread your manuscript. It’s an even better idea to have someone you
trust to be honest give you the unvarnished truth about what’s good—and what
isn’t—in your yarn. Or hire a freelance
editor to look over your text.
More on that
in a later installment.
For now, let’s
throw off the yoke of New York publishing for good...learn those new
tricks...and start spinning good yarns for great people. Here are the links to The Intruders and The Old Boys on Amazon for you Kindle people. I'll add links for Nook users and those of you with other devices soon--or you can go to the Smashwords store now.
In the meantime, join me, and let's be all about reading and writing the West!
In the meantime, join me, and let's be all about reading and writing the West!
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