From Rags to Riches on the Kindle: The "in crowd"

I know that Christine's post on Friday got a lot of people thinking, including me. Christine and I have belonged to the same critique group for about four years now and along with reading each other's books we've talked a lot about publishing in general. I think it's fair to say that Christine has been my writing mentor since I moved to Ft. Lauderdale five years ago and discovered that she lived on her boat one building away from where my wife, Mary, and I lived on our boat.

It was Christine who talked me into joining Mystery Writers of America and volunteering to work at the Sleuthfest conferences over the past four years. Christine introduced me to many of the local writers and when I went to Thrillerfest two years ago she made an effort to introduce me to some of the better known writers in the field. She certainly has been a part of the "in crowd" she wrote about in Friday's blog.

I mention this because over the past year I've been encouraging Christine to join the Indie book revolution, but I can understand why she might not want to do so.

Since I've known Christine, I've been very aware of that crowd she belongs to, the traditionally published writers. In fact, I've done everything I could to join them. Fortunately for me, I failed to do so. Why fortunately? Because had I joined the crowd, I might not have self published my two books.

Now I'm not one of those run-away success stories we're all reading about. I haven't sold ten or twenty or thirty thousand books in a month. I released The Storm Killer in June of 2010 and followed it up in August of 2010 with Key Lime Blues (A Wes Darling Mystery).This is the first month since the release of these two books that I will probably sell more than 1000 books in a month. (So far this month I have sold 644 copies of The Storm Killer and 258 copies of Key Lime Blues so I feel confident making this prediction.)

Still, if an offer from a traditional publisher came my way, it would be hard to turn it down. I'd like to think I would, but who knows. At any rate, Christine is a fine writer and I'm sure that no matter which avenue she chooses to pursue she'll be successful at it. As for myself? I'm making a little money at my writing, answer to no one but myself, and write what I want to write–plus I live on a sailboat in paradise with a beautiful woman–what more could a guy ask for?

And who the hell knows. If things keep going like they are, maybe some of the "in crowd" will drift on over and join the Indie revolution.

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