What motivated you to become an indie author?
Necessity, more than anything, I suppose. An avoidance to the odds that are insurmountably stacked against a no-name author. But also a kind D-i-Y punk mindset of doing things yourself with little reliance on the establishment because they’re not going to go out of their way to make it easy on the un-agented and under-represented, nor would you expect them to. I was just getting my feet wet publishing in the Small Press when I discovered Smashwords as a viable partner and helpful tool for D-i-Y publishing. Not that I’m currently in this for the money (ha!), but in terms of the monetary breakdown self-publishing via digital partners like Smashwords and other, the distribution of earnings from sales is flip-flopped compared to traditional commercial publishing. I’m a musician as well so D-i-Y ethos is in my blood. I suppose the overriding aspect is a sense of control.
What's the story behind your latest book?
I have a few “latest” books since I’ve uploaded several short stories. The situation with these is simple, it’s part of what I jokingly refer to on my website as Operation: Remember Me? Basically, I’ve taken old stories that were first published in print anthologies a few years back, and have since gone out of print, and have republished them on Smashwords in an effort to archive them digitally and electronically (for online reading and downloading). Aside from microfiction and poetry, I really do not have anything published online, so this initiative will help increase my online presence. It’s nice to be able to point people to an accessible source to sample your talent (and this is even despite the fact that these works do not represent the best of my writing abilities).
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