As some of you know, my first novel "Evolution of a Killer" was released the first week in March. It was a long time in the works. I started the first draft about 2 years before it was published. Yes, I ended up going with Kindle Direct Press and Ingram Spark, though not because I don't believe I can get an agent to represent me. I simply don't need one.
Let me explain. It isn't because I think I am a great writer and that I couldn't benefit from the help of an experienced agent. I have zero doubts that an agent would be good for me. The reason I went ahead and became an "Indie-author" was simple. I wasn't concerned with making money. Yes, I am getting royalties from Amazon, and quite frankly, it ain't half bad, considering the volume of copies sold. I have also sold 10 copies here in Stevens Point to co-workers at Lowe's, and the profit from that is 4 times the royalty amount. Regardless, financial gain wasn't my motivation. Self-fulfillment, definitely.
I have been writing off and on since high-school. I have published several essays and short stories under a pseudonym and some were well received and others, not so much. My poetry that I published in "Life and Death in a Single Breath" was done primarily because I promised my mom and my daughter that someday I would. It has been far from a big seller - to say the least. Such is the way of poetry anyway. Who knows? Maybe when I'm dead I'll become a good poet, or at least a better one.
Publishing my novel was something I did for myself. It isn't for fame or fortune, (that's an understatement), it was simply to see if I was capable of writing an interesting novel with a unique perspective. Maybe it isn't unique, I really don't know. I do know that I successfully created the man I set out to create - a dichotomy of personalities; as capable of kindness as he is violence.
One thing I did not expect, and it has been quite humbling to me was some of the compliments my book has received. One reviewer compared Lazarus Solaris to Lee Child's Jack Reacher. Another review put my name in the same sentence as James Patterson. There is little doubt that for any artist of any type, we will always be our own harshest critics. Unless, of course, you are simply a mega-maniacal narcissist with an ego the size of Jupiter. Hell, then you'd be president right now...
Yes, I took a political shot there. I can. I voted for Gary Johnson.
All in all, it truly has been far more humbling than rewarding to hear compliments like those. I don't see myself in that class of writers and probably never will. I do know this. I don't suck. I can write an interesting story and develop characters with only my mind to develop them. That's all I wanted to see when I first started writing Evolution of a Killer - although that wasn't the original title. It started out as "The Lazarus Chronicles, Book One: Changes in the Wind." I like what I ended up with. I also like that I created my own cover, set my own print and developed my own ad campaigns.
I am working on two novels right now and another book of poetry. The second of the Lazarus Chronicles was about half finished when Hurricane Harvey hit. I haven't touched it since. Too many of the places I used as settings for the first installment were damaged or destroyed by the storm. It pains me to think about them. I will get over it, someday.
Until then, you have "The (not-so) Grim Reaper" headed your way. I guarantee it will make you laugh in spite of yourself; probably offend some of you, too. I kind of hope so, offend some that is, since some people have zero sense of humor when it comes to God....
That's your teaser. Give me a couple months and you can read it. Maybe three. We'll see.
Peace to those who need it.
Love to all who deserve it.
Robert
Let me explain. It isn't because I think I am a great writer and that I couldn't benefit from the help of an experienced agent. I have zero doubts that an agent would be good for me. The reason I went ahead and became an "Indie-author" was simple. I wasn't concerned with making money. Yes, I am getting royalties from Amazon, and quite frankly, it ain't half bad, considering the volume of copies sold. I have also sold 10 copies here in Stevens Point to co-workers at Lowe's, and the profit from that is 4 times the royalty amount. Regardless, financial gain wasn't my motivation. Self-fulfillment, definitely.
I have been writing off and on since high-school. I have published several essays and short stories under a pseudonym and some were well received and others, not so much. My poetry that I published in "Life and Death in a Single Breath" was done primarily because I promised my mom and my daughter that someday I would. It has been far from a big seller - to say the least. Such is the way of poetry anyway. Who knows? Maybe when I'm dead I'll become a good poet, or at least a better one.
Publishing my novel was something I did for myself. It isn't for fame or fortune, (that's an understatement), it was simply to see if I was capable of writing an interesting novel with a unique perspective. Maybe it isn't unique, I really don't know. I do know that I successfully created the man I set out to create - a dichotomy of personalities; as capable of kindness as he is violence.
One thing I did not expect, and it has been quite humbling to me was some of the compliments my book has received. One reviewer compared Lazarus Solaris to Lee Child's Jack Reacher. Another review put my name in the same sentence as James Patterson. There is little doubt that for any artist of any type, we will always be our own harshest critics. Unless, of course, you are simply a mega-maniacal narcissist with an ego the size of Jupiter. Hell, then you'd be president right now...
Yes, I took a political shot there. I can. I voted for Gary Johnson.
All in all, it truly has been far more humbling than rewarding to hear compliments like those. I don't see myself in that class of writers and probably never will. I do know this. I don't suck. I can write an interesting story and develop characters with only my mind to develop them. That's all I wanted to see when I first started writing Evolution of a Killer - although that wasn't the original title. It started out as "The Lazarus Chronicles, Book One: Changes in the Wind." I like what I ended up with. I also like that I created my own cover, set my own print and developed my own ad campaigns.
I am working on two novels right now and another book of poetry. The second of the Lazarus Chronicles was about half finished when Hurricane Harvey hit. I haven't touched it since. Too many of the places I used as settings for the first installment were damaged or destroyed by the storm. It pains me to think about them. I will get over it, someday.
Until then, you have "The (not-so) Grim Reaper" headed your way. I guarantee it will make you laugh in spite of yourself; probably offend some of you, too. I kind of hope so, offend some that is, since some people have zero sense of humor when it comes to God....
That's your teaser. Give me a couple months and you can read it. Maybe three. We'll see.
Peace to those who need it.
Love to all who deserve it.
Robert
