: About Me

I am a single 51 year old man living in Clarksville, Indiana (just across the Ohio River from Louisville,Kentucky).

I am an author/writer, and publisher preparing to roll out a new publishing company. The goal is a traditional publishing house feel that is an exclusively online presence. I write mainly fiction mystery novels these days, but also write on topics as varied as politics, faith and religion, the professional trucking industry, computers and programming, the internet, blogging, forums, ministry, gay rights, music, and anything else which my varied history can dredge up.

I came to Helium because of a website advertisement on my home writing site. It does sound interesting! I look forward to meeting, sharing, learning, and growing with this community.

My passion is ...

Writing, and Reviewing. I use a Red pen. "Nonconformists, unite!"

I know too much about ...

Myself, and I ain't tellin'! Well, not till the contract numbers are right!

My parents always told me ...

You'll need a REAL job to fall back on. I always thought that would be painful!

My childhood ambition ...

I wanted to be a Greyhound bus driver. I should've listened to me!

My favorite memory ...

Family Reunion, 1995. I never thought you could use bird seed and whipped cream together on satin sheets! Wow!

Why I write ...

It is how I breathe! Besides, the money's great; everybody says so!

What I am reading/watching/listening to ...

Myself, playing J S Bach. Just part of my sordid past.

My first job ...

My first paying job was as a cook at a new-fangled-ey restaurant: Burger King!

My best moment ...

Catching my first Grandchild at the moment of her birth. I let the Dad fall to the floor. That'll teach him!

My inspiration ...

My Dad. No, not my biological Father. Dad!

Arts & Humanities > Marketing & Selling Writing Assessing self-publishing vs. traditional publishing

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It is, I believe, a safe statement to make that there are currently five large conglomerations who jointly hold rein on mainstream, or "traditional" publishing today. From them, hundreds of imprints abound. Yet, it is those same five publishing concerns who control the purse-strings, and therefore the future of most writers today. They have, for nearly two hundred years, maintained their position as the "final" voice in traditional publishing around the globe. Yet, new writing, and new writers appear each day. While some 2,500 titles will find their way onto bookshelves from the "tradition...

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