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Skip to the punchline, Havens, you long-winded troll: OK: One of my books is now available at Amazon.com here.
Background...
A long time ago (about 6-ish years, I guess...), my buddy from college, Jeff, sends me an email, saying, "Quick! You got any books you'd like to publish."
Kind of like somebody might ask, "Quick! Can you pick me up at the airport?" Or, "Quick! You got any ideas for my wife for a Valentine's Day gift?"
An odd question. But Jeff is an old poetry buddy from back-in-the day, someone whom I deeply respect for his talent, brains and oddness. And, strangely, the answer to his question was also... "Maybe."
I'd just finished a project called TaleWeaver; something that I forced myself to do to get back into the swing of writing after a long, long dry spell. I'd had a "system" of helping goose my creative machinery for years, but hadn't ever codified it. So I did, in a way, and grafted it onto a game/activity/system, and called it TaleWeaver. The system uses 100 basic "idea" cards that help get the flow going. As part of my "get out of the dry spell" program, I forced myself to write a short poem for each of the idea cards. Writing 100 short, mostly rhyming poems is an interesting exercize. It took my about 5 months. That's 4-5 poems a week. For me, having done no writing for almost 10 years, it was a rigorous schedule, and went a long way towards getting me back on my feet as a writer. Something that felt absolutely great after such a big, stinky, blocked-off period of nasty dryness. You can't force creativity, I don't think... but you sure as heck can force yourself to work on craft. And, sometimes, that can goose the creativity. Which is, in effect, what TaleWeaver is all about.
So... I'd just finished the project, as a gift to myself, and to my wife, on the occasion of the birth of our son. I have always told and written stories for my wife, and planned to for our kid(s), and thought that this would be a neat little project/present to ring in our new arrival. I never planned to do anything more with it than print out a copy for her, and maybe one for my brother and one for my parents.
Until Jeff called with his weird question.
Jeff was one of the founders of an outfit called GreatUnpublished.com (GU), one of the very first "self-publishing" outfits on the Internet. This was NOT a vanity press -- they did not charge writers an arm-and-a-leg and try to convince people that they would be best-selling authors. For a modest fee (I think it was around $125), they'd set up your book and do some basic marketing for it on their online bookstore, and make it available to various booksellers. Jeff needed titles for his initial launch, and wanted to have as much "on the shelves" for PR purposes, so was calling everyone he knew to get stuff "up there." Hence, TaleWeaver was imprint #7 for GU.
Jeff thanked me, which was all I ever thought I'd hear of that. Never got a dime, but they waived the set-up fee for me, since I was doing him a favor.
OK. Fine. A few years later, I heard back from Jeff that a company called BookSurge had bought GU. I had to fill out some online forms to transfer TaleWeaver to them. Again, "OK. Fine." Still no sales, but I hadn't expected any. They were stil small potatoes on the book scene. Jeff, by the way, made a good chunk o' change when BookSurge bought GU. Yea for Jeff!
Then, last month, I get a check from... Amazon.com?
Apparently, Amazon bought BookSurge. And somebody bought 26 copies of TaleWeaver. Which netted me around $74. Which is way cool. So now, you can get TaleWeaver at Amazon.com here.
I like TaleWeaver. I've used it with kids, at parties, in teaching situations, etc. It's a good way to get out of your head while staying in a creative space. And it's got 100 poems. Which isn't a small number.
If you know anybody who you think might like the thing, send 'em an email and pimp it East Coast style. Not only could I use the dough (who couldn't?), but, more importantly, I think more people could use some help learning how to tap into their creative abilities and storytelling faculties. I've had good feedback that TaleWeaver helps folks do that from time to time.
Thank you for your time and attention while I've delivered this clearly self-serving and promotional message. We now return you to your regularly scheduled Lit.org.
Related links:
You can see all the rules, descriptions, etc., about TaleWeaver and 16 example cards at my website here: here.
A related story was posted here at Lit.org in June of 2004 here.
If you're interested in self-publishing with BookSurge, go to www.booksurgepublishing.com and click on "Publishing Programs." If you can craft your own PDF, their services start at $99. If you need them to set up your book for you, the price goes up to $498 and above.
Another option for self-publishing, with no start-up cost (but where you have to do your marketing yourself, with the free option) is www.Lulu.com. You still have to put your own PDF together, but they have links to folks who can help you out. I've published an alphabet book, Aquabet, at Lulu here
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I blog irregularly at TinkerX. I'm also on Twitter. @andyhavens, go figure.
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2nd class posted at Mopo
