The Trip Wire

Okay, here's the question of the day: you're a writer. A writer of ebooks. And obviously you want to sell'em. So you begin social networking. Find sites all over the internet that works for you and you make your presence known. You constantly update. You continuously 'friend' for new friends.

The question is this . . . When? When does this active social networking gig begin to pay off? What trip-wire has to be stumbled over before there is a sudden bounce in sales and a sharp rise in fans buyng your books that feeds on itself for a long period of time?

Vincent Zandri and J.A. Konrath come to mind when I think about this. They sell thousands of their books a month. A MONTH!! That's impressive to say the least. Mind-boggling is more like it. It literately just boggles the mind.

So did they do it just be social networking?

Konrath has said repeatedly his previous writing gig with big publishers didn't help him in the least when it came to selling ebooks. Vincent Zandri is not so sure. I asked him that very question the other day on a--get this--social network site and he said he thought his previous exposure had to have helped some.

I have a sneaking suspicion there's more to it than just social networking. Like it has always been . . . and always will be . . .I think you have to be in the right place and at the right time to be 'discovered.' And like always--a huge amount of pure, unadultered blind LUCK comes into play.

Social networking. Hard work. Exposure. And fricken' blind luck makes the successful writer. I can do the first three. It's the LUCK thing that bugs me.

How do you stumble into blind luck?

Luck

Luck.

If you're a writer that's what you need in spades. Not talent. Forget talent. There are, as Carl Sagan used to say about stars--Billions and Billions of talented writers in this universe. Talent is around in abundance. Always will be.

No. You don't need talent to be a successful writer. If you write, or if you're an avid reader, you can list author after author who have a minimal level of talent. But are unbelievably successful as an author.

But luck, pilgrim; luck is something that is fickle. A mistress of deceit. A gambler who plays the game with his (or her?) own set of rules. And you, the writer, have no say in the matter whatsoever. None. Nada. Nyet. Zipola.

Do I sound bitter? Frustrated? Yes Stanley, by god I think you're right.

Putting all your eggs . . . into two baskets

I write. I'm not saying I'm necessarily good at it. Or make a living at it. But I write. I write genre. Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Noir. Always wanted to. To be honest the style I use while I write is different. Nuanced along different paths. Since I haven't really found books--and authors--who have consistantly captured my full attention, I thought, "Well hell, I can do better than that!"

All good writers have to feel that way. Right?

So what does this rambling tirade have to do with eggs and two baskets? Here's the tie-in; over the years I've had my bumps and bruises in the literary world. Lit agents who promised the moon, and instead, threw your material in trash can, publishers who " . . love your work, baby!" and reneged on their promises. Agents who actually just disappear--I mean simply disappear off the face of the earth--taking manuscripts with them.

Bumps and bruises.

So I've decided. No one group, agency, publisher, or witches' coven, is gonna handle ALL of my material. And forget literary agents. They've certainly forgotten me.

Two small publishers are bringing my material out. One we've already talked about. Trestle Press. I'm happy as a lark about it. They've got a character of mine called Smitty. Nice guy. Well, maybe nice just before he cuts your throat. They're also have an art thief who has the unlucky talent in getting involved in other people's homicides. A character by the name of Jake Renolds. And finally they have a warrior-monk . . . and an accomplished wizard . . .who, shall we say, carries a heavy emotional/psychological burden on his shoulders.

The second publishing house is Untreed Reads. An epublisher only. Already established. Already well known. Very good at what they do. They put their ebooks in a huge, huge market. They've got Turner Hahn and Frank Morales. Two homicide detectives who are, we might attribute . . . a little unusual in their investigative techniques. And in their personas. Their next book, 'A Taste of Old Revenge' is aimed for June. Or at least, the last time I heard, it was.

Lots of eggs. Two baskets.

And waiting to see the results.

Trestle Press

There's a new publisher out there. Trestle Press. So new the paint is still wet on their door sign. So new their web site isn't up yet. But they're exciting in a way. They've got a vision of expanding their product vigorously in both the epub market and the traditional publishing venue.

So happens that I am one of their authors. They have two original works of mine and I collaborated with three other writers in their stable to do an extended short story called Hunter.

I am also happy in the way they're paying their authors. Of course there is no up front money. Not coming from a start up firm like this. And usually not from a epublisher, regardless. But what you get for the net is substantial. What REALLY is the kicker for me are their efforts to market my material. They do the marketing. Not so much me. And as we all know, that's the bug-a-boo for so many writers: the Marketing. Wracking our brains, spending money, trying to figure out how to get our names out there in front of the GAZILLIONS of other writers so we're recognized and 'discovered' is a real pain in the ass. I'm happy someone else is doing this.

'Cause all I want to do is write.