The (r)Evolution Begins...

A life-changing moment occurred to me last week.

Sometime between my ritual perusing of Gregory Brothers videos and HOPING (hold on to that word because it's important later) that I could get my finished novel ready for submittal to a literary agent, I received a link to an article about someone named JA Konrath.

And what followed was mind-bending.

JA Konrath is a proponent of "indie" publishing. He is a prolific writer and blogger, and after last week, my mind is infected by the notion that the publishing world has changed. The age of the successful DIY author has finally arrived.

At first, I thought his whole philosophy was an affront to the Gods of Legacy Publishing, those elder beings who dictate what is read and what lies eternal in the forsaken Pile of Slush. I sent a reactionay email to my brother, who originally turned me on to Konrath's amazing story, and I was very keen to point out that this digital self-publishing idea was a fluke.

Two hours later, after reading about other authors who enjoy the same kind of success selling eBooks via Kindle and Smashwords, I sent another message to my brother. It went something like this: "Maybe there's something to this." Sure, maybe. But print publishing was still the safe and respected norm, right? I like safe and respected; doesn't everyone?

After another two hours, I admitted to my brother that this was possibly a turning point in how fiction is produced and shared with readers.

The next day, after tossing in my sleep and waking up with the phrase "Self-publish" on my lips, I was a convert. A true-friggin-believer, in theory at least.

Better yet, I was already planning my own venture into the undiscoverd country of eBook publishing. Armed with a novel in its final stages of the production process, along with a book of short stories that are connected to that novel, I felt it was time to take action.

You see, for years, I hoped for a break; a short story here, a poem there, all submitted to various publications coupled with a little hope. Hope is not a bad thing at all, but hope without action is just a waste of time. Hope by itself is like stepping off your front porch and running without a purpose; without a destination or a goal, you're just losing your breath and, more importantly, running away from your home.
My action is this: I am a writer, so that means I must write. It means I must also embrace the evolving technology that has been changing the face of entertainment for the past ten years or more. I must walk out from the shadows of those Gods of Legacy Publishing, mighty as they may be, and walk the path of the indie writer. It's in my blood already (I'll get to that in a later post, I promise).

Hope + Action equals.... well, I think it equals success. If you stick around for the ride, we can find out together.- The Noob