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WRITE/CON/SIGN: HOW I CAME TO BE A TRIAD AUTHOR...
Current mood:  grateful
Category: Writing and Poetry
As many of you who have followed my career from beginning to end, know, I am a maverick. I do things my own way and piss off a lot of people in the interim i.e.…those who like to follow the rules and expect others to do so as well. Everything I have learned about the writing industry, I learned on my own. That is why I offer FREE help to those who come to me for advice. I know how it is to struggle, to have people be nasty to you, ignore you, to wish to give up and to worry that you have wasted your time. I make it no secret that I started out as self-published, and to this day, for many works, I am still a huge fan of self-publishing. It is because of self-publishing that I was able to gain my fan base. It is due to self publishing also that I am also able to offer my wonderful and devoted legion of Ghoulies (whom I owe my heart and my soul for their loyalty) the works that they request just for fun, such as my superstition book, my gravestone epitaph book and my book of newly done paranormal events in my life. It is also through self-publishing that I am able to offer my two magazines, Twisted Dreams and Worlds Within, Worlds Beyond. Were I to do these on my own, it would cost me a fortune. Instead, I took the maverick and rogue path and published my magazines via one of the biggest "no-no's" in the writing industry. But something else came out of my self-publishing that I would have never thought possible…acclaim. I became a best seller via Borders (I have never made any claims of being on the NYT Best Seller list and honestly wonder how the hell some of the books that make it to that list actually do because they are so awful) and have also won many, many awards…including winning 3rd place for author of 2007. Yes, I say that I won 3rd place. I did not win 1st, I won 3rd and I am just as proud of that as if I had won 1st place. Many people are jealous of me because of this, many tell me I am not a real best seller, that I don't deserve what I have worked so hard for and many people have become so jealous of me that they have stopped speaking to me or are two-faced—sweet to my face and plotting against me behind my back. I have done nothing out of the ordinary to get where I am that should make anyone jealous of me. I have NOT been handed any special favors by anyone and I have not had to smooch butt to get to where I am—nor join little cliques. I do not have friends in high places that have pulled strings for me (quite the opposite actually) and have done nothing that anyone else can't do. My secret? I have worked my ass off to get where I am…and I will continue to work. My trip to the small press world was quite against my will, mind you. I was happy where I was. I am not one to play corporate bullshit games and jump through anyone's hoops. I had already made it on my own, had proven that I could and was content. I have had my share of ups and downs, I have had my share of thinking what the hell am I doing and why am I doing this to myself? I have had my fair share of tears and of triumphs, so the fact that I was able to attain the status I did, on my own, was of real, personal satisfaction to me.
One day I received a message from a lovely woman on MySpace whose user name was Shadow of Paradox (otherwise known as the fabulous High Priestess Joni Shanburn! She is in my top friends...) and she told me of an anthology that a publisher named TRIAD PUBLISHING was hosting. I had seen Triad's website but didn't really know anything about them. She asked me if I'd like to submit and I gladly said, "Yes." I enjoy promotion as much as the next person, paid or not, so money wasn't even a concern of mine. Then Joni and I began speaking and she let me in on a little secret…she had been watching me, subscribed to my blog, checking my bulletins and had been keeping up with every aspect of my career to see what type of person I was, how I networked, etc, etc. She was impressed with me and let me know so. I was leery. I had experienced some very bad "let downs" in the small press world and I was not ready to go through that again or fall for any silver-tongued devilry just to get me into the fold and then forget about me. …And her offers seemed far too good to be true… So I got to know her. We IM'd back and forth, which is something I do not do with anyone normally, we e-mailed and I decided to stick my neck out again and give this publisher a chance… AND BOY AM I GLAD I DID!!!! Gone are the empty promises that have littered my life with some small presses, gone are the disappointments, the never-to-see-completion, offers that I was so glad to receive…only to have my hopes dashed. Gone was all of that…replaced by a company that really cares about its authors, that treats their authors like FAMILY rather than a cash cow (which was how I was used to being treated at times) or simply a name and number in a drawer. I send in e-mails and lo and behold, they get answered! I have a concern, it is addressed…and in a timely manner too! Okay, what's going on…can this be for real, I'd think. YES IT CAN! Every single promise that Triad has made me so far, from the big to the small HAS BEEN FULFILLED! I am not left wondering if they are simply bullshitting me, using my name to gain attention and exposure for themselves while I am shown little to no appreciation. They DO appreciate me, they do VALUE ME, (God is that a new feeling!) and they see and appreciate what I can do if given the chance. Oh and about the self-publishing thing…the huge "no-no," that as a friend of mine told me one time, "You will never be taken seriously if you self publish and no decent publisher will ever accept your work." I have never been happier to prove someone wrong. Triad knows my struggles, they know my triumphs, my sorrows, my worries and my concerns and not only do they share in my glorys, they share in my sorrows and make them all better. Oh and they could not care less that I still engage in and still support, self-publishing. TRIAD PUBLISHING is an answer to prayer, the light at the end of the tunnel I have been searching for, for so long and the fragrant and lavish roses I have been dying to smell all along…after battling the climb through the garden of thorns. THANK YOU TRIAD! Not only for what you have done for me, but for restoring my faith that there are publishers who are good, kind and helpful… I can never be grateful enough…
10:12 PM
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hopeful
:
triumphant
ecstatic
thoughtful
accomplished
