Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Open for Business!

Greetings, everyone, and welcome to the home of my little anthology venture. 

I'm new to blogging, but I've been writing for over a decade.  (You know how many rejection letters that translates to?)  While I've won little battles with published short stories, I've yet to make any major breakthroughs in the publishing world.  I'm a former member of several online writing groups like TheNextBigWriter, Youwriteon and Authonomy.  I'm also currently part of the CCC (Columbus Creative Cooperative).

I've established a lot of relationships and have had fun doing so, but once you've carpeted your entire home in form rejections, there comes a point where you can do one of three things:

1. Keep going.
2. Quit.
3. Change your approach.

I’m not a quitter, which brings us here to my change of approach.  But before anything, what is the goal of this venture?  Well, it’s not to become rich.  It’s not to become famous.  Rather, the goal of these anthologies is to be heard.  To be able to entertain people.  To look back and say, "Man, I enjoyed my life doing what I loved."  And to do it with other people who are just as passionate.

The overall plan is pretty simple.  I won’t prove to be an expert in every field, but I do know that following the steps of other successful self-published authors is the perfect place to start.  Most notably is the anthology Machine of Death.  If you’ve never heard of Machine of Death, check it out. 

When MOD debuted, it hit number one on Amazon’s sales charts, beating out other heavy contenders like Glenn Beck’s Broke.  The authors of MOD picked a day on which everyone would purchase it, causing it to shoot up the charts, right into the public eye.  Now the rest is history.

Which brings me to quality.  Sure, I believe in grabbing the reader’s attention, but the quality of the material within those pages is imperative.  If it’s not good—if it’s not something you can be proud of, then why try and sell it?

So with keeping true to my values, I plan to put out the best product period.

I also plan to have fun with these anthologies, but I want to leave an emotional impression on readers.  No matter how humorous the topic, there should always be some connection to what makes us human.  I believe there is a message in everything—we just have to find it.

With that said, I look forward to meeting people who love to write. 

Let the fun begin!

C. P.

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