I just did the Smashwords interview. It was an interesting process. I have a hard time talking about myself so this was a good tool to help me flesh out some “About Me” info. You can read it here.
Stephen del Mar Interview
Category: Random Thoughts
“Choice” in publishing
Hi there. Well it’s a rainy Sunday here in Florida, a great day for writing. I escaped the home office and I’m writing at the local Starbucks. Right now, the patio furniture is being whipped around by near hurricane winds and heavy rain. Yeah, it will be gone in fifteen minutes but hey, gotta love the drama. So before I actually got to the writing part of the day, I had to catch up on the social media and the RSS feeds. You know we self-published types have to stay up on the biz. And I came across an article on the x-number of reasons why “choosing” traditional publishing was so wonderful. I’m really getting tired of these. I mean if you want to spend your time and money trying to win the lottery, have a blast. Hell, when the Power Ball gets over 300 Million I lay out my $2 too. It is fun to hope and fantasize. Nothing wrong with that.
New Google+ Cover Photo
Not sure what to do with Google+ yet. I’ve read a few articles on using it for a “writer’s platform, ” I’m not convinced yet. Does anyone really use Plus? And the interface seems pretty chunky. But I use Gmail and other Google services so it appears I have a Plus account by default. Which I find annoying, because I think a neglected social media account looks worse than not having one. Therefore as my first step, I’ve uploaded a new cover photo. And why Google are they so big? Stupid design. Anyway, it looks like I need to figure out what the heck circles are and start adding people so I don’t look pathetic. Where are the stalkers when you need them? Anyone want to be my friend? Sigh. I really need to be writing…
Influences and why I write gay fiction.
Nancy, a friend on Goodreads, asked me about the writers that have influenced me. Pretty good question and one I really haven’t thought about as much as I should. I know the author closest to my heart is the late Joseph Hansen, the author of the David Brandstetter mystery series.
Being gay is a weird kind of minority because of your isolation and invisibility. We really don’t look any different than the wider heterosexual population and most of us are born into a primarily heterosexual family. We have to venture forth to find others like us, those that see the world as we do. Homosexuality is invisible but sexuality is core to personhood and is a major lens through which we experience reality. After all what can be more central to the human experience than how and who we love?
Readers are not idiots.
Warning: This is a rant.
So part of my endeavor in this whole writing/publishing things has been to learn as much as I can about the publishing industry. Because writing a book is so much more than just putting your butt in a chair for several hours a day. A book is a product and you have to market and distribute that product; writing is a business. (I’ll let you in on a dirty little secret: Art has always been a business, well for successful artist anyway.) Therefore I read a lot of blogs about the move of the legacy analog publishing industry into the new realm of digital media. I have a background in media and it is a familiar story told by film, TV and the music worlds. Yeah, Guttenberg is getting an upgrade and about time.