Thursday, October 20, 2011

From a Flame to a Fire

Let's go back in time 6 maybe 7 years. That is when I first dipped my toes into the waters known as social media. It started with a few blogs. (reading them, not writing them) Most notably the famed and ever fabulous Miss Snark.

Miss Snark's blog was written by a literary agent. It was a beacon of truth and light in a swirl of confusion and lots of we writers flocked their like alcoholic moths to neon beer sign. We were thirsty for the plain spoken knowledge she dispensed. Sadly Miss Snark hung up her blogging stilettos back in  '07 but the archives remain a treasure trove of information. I wish the great Snarky One would return and offer her take on the state of publishing, e-books, indies, and self-publishing, but I'm sure she's off with Killer Yapp and George Clooney soaking up sun and avoiding general nitwittery.

Like I said, many writers hung out there and most if not all of my early blogworld friends came from there. Some are still around but others have vanished disappeared. Many who were unpublished at the time have gone on to sign with agents and see their books printed.

As the years have gone by my social media network has grown and expanded to include many folks who are not writers, but I'd guess that a full 60-70% of those I interact with are writers. and talented writers at that so a huge proportion of those have one or more books available for purchase. Once upon a time I tired to buy every book written by every online friend I have. Regardless if it was a genre I'd normally read or a subject I cared anything about. 

But as the list of people I call friend grew and the talent of those people blossomed that got harder and harder to do. I've finally given up and only buy the books that interest me or that I can give as gifts to someone else who I think will really like it. I do at times feel guilty when I do not buy a friend's book, so I still try and do my part helping them promote. I might mention the title with a  link on my blog, or tweet about it. Share the cover via Facebook, let them guest blog at my place or whatever else I can think of.

In less than two weeks my first full length book will be released and I will finally join my crowd of talented friends. Of course I'd love for everyone of y'all to buy a copy but I understand not everyone finds bulldog masturbation stories funny. So I guess what I'm saying is don't feel guilty if you fall in that camp. Writing is subjective and there is no story or book that pleases everyone. But even if THE FEEDSTORE CHRONICLES isn't your cup of tea I'd be quite ecstatic if you mention its release to your cousin Larry, the crazy guy down at meat market, or the hillbilly that lives next door.

10 comments:

Dizzy Ms. Lizzy said...

I plan to write a blog post about the book when it is available. I know I don't have a large readership, but hey - - every little bit helps! :-)

Beth said...

I never deleted Miss Snark’s blog from my Google Reader.

And, yes, I will mention your book to Larry. ;)

Charles Gramlich said...

At least with Kindle I'm often able to get my friend's books, but it does end up being quite a lot. The last 6 books I've downloaded for kindle have been friends books but I haven't had time to read a one of them yet. And if I just read friend's books I would never get anything else read. I will buy Feedstore chronicles, though. :)

Unknown said...

I'm shouting it everywhere I go, Travis!!! I really am so excited for you...I could pee my pants!

Phats said...

This is so excited Congrats Travis :)

I think Big red will ROLL saturday

Melissa Amateis said...

Must be such a cool feeling to finally have it published.

WordVixen said...

Hah! One of my best friends saw my comment about your book cover and now wants to read it. He's cheap, though, so I'll probably have to buy it for him (I'm all about loaning out books, but not for the first published novel- I buy as many copies as I can afford for a first). :-)

And, oh, Miss Snark. How I miss her and KY. And yes, that's where we met! About 2 years ago, I went through and read through the back half of the archives and a lot of the comments. I wish I could afford to print it aaaaalll out and use it as night time reading. I can't imagine what that would cost in ink and paper, not to mention how long it would take. But I'm terrified that Blogger will shut it down eventually!

Cloudia said...

Proud of your accomplishment, Trav



Aloha from Waikiki;

Comfort Spiral



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Deanna said...

Errrrr I believe I AM the hillbilly that lives next door! I've become blog friends with a number of authors, sometimes quite by chance. I guess the odds of that happening are pretty good since there a lot of authors out there.

Congratulations of joining the ranks of PUBLISHED!

alex keto said...

Yah, some of those guys were unpublished back then and some are still unpublished now.
As they say, I can field that question.
Congrats about your book, the first of many and the first rung on that ladder.