So, you know, I run Devil’s Party Press (and now Gravelight Press, and Hawkshaw Press, and Out of This World Press). And, the toughest thing about it is that I have this mission, to publish older authors, like myself, who don’t get a fair nod from traditional publishing companies, so I am a traditional publishing company and I do give them a fair nod, but…
Sales.
I have to find people out there to buy the books.
They are great stories. I know it. You know I have read a lot in my life, and been through dozens of classes on literature and three college degrees on writing and literature, and, I’m going to venture to be bold enough to call myself an expert on not just good writing, but engaging and surprising writing. Unless you’re down for all romance, all the time, of which, I confess, beyond Love Story and Oliver’s Story and a brush with Barbara Cartland in my misguided youth, I have almost no experience, I can find you a really good book to read.
So, when I pick stories and books to publish, I’m pretty selective.
These are great writers I am publishing who just happened not to have the time in their youth to hunt down and kill a publishing career. Which, I get. Sometimes I feel like life, for me, in some ways, ending being about what I wanted once I bought my first car. There it was, debt, and from then on out I was striving to stay caught up or ahead of it beyond anything else.
So, these writers I am choosing are really worth a reader’s time.
And our books, thanks 100% to Dave, are gorgeous.
So, how do I find people to buy them?
How do I let people know about these wonderful stories and these wonderful writers, and writers they should choose, over the latest cookie-cutter best seller, because these are people who have done their duty to job, family, country, and now, finally, they get to write.
This is the nut to crack.
And, the loneliest part of the job. It’s all up to me. I have to do it.
Of course, I want to do it.
But I have to do it. These writers are important to me, and I have to find a way to get them out there.
Would you like to buy a book?
Buy it through our website (where more of the money goes to the authors) or buy it on Amazon. All our titles are available there.
And reassure me I can do it.
