One year ago…

One year ago…

TL;DR version- I self-published The Grey Man- Vignettes

TGMVignettes

What brought me to that point? Well grab a cup of coffee and I’ll tell ya…

I write mostly on airplanes and in hotel rooms on the road, and weekends at home. It’s something to occupy me and keep me off the streets and out of trouble when I can’t get to the range. I’d written some short stuff and posted it here on occasion and a couple of loyal readers said I ought to write a book…

Since I can’t write about what I do (without going to jail for a LONG time), it was a case of finding something else to write about. Science fiction? Nah, too crowded. Horror? Nah, I’ll keep my nightmares to myself. Shooting? Hmmm, that might work…

And the OBTW is I just took myself out of the mass market for readers with that decision, but more on that later.

The genesis of TGM was really a couple of conversations down at Quantico when we were moving firing lines from 600 back to 1000 yards. Most of the folks who come out are pretty serious shooters, some still active duty, some retired and a few of us hangers on.

One of the first conversations was over the whole ‘operator’ meme that was going around, and the perception that only buffed out 6’3”, 200lb chunks of muscle with a weeks’ worth of beard growth were operators.  One of the old retired shooters said something to the effect of, “I’ll let him start from a thousand with all his toys. I’ll sit here with Ol’ Betsy and five rounds and let’s see who wins.”

One of the young active duty guys started down the road of being in shape, and running etc. To which another one of the oldsters said sarcastically something to the effect of “That’s why I was a sniper, so I didn’t have to do that s**t.”

Another conversation surrounded challenge coins, and how they’ve proliferated over the years. Again one of the youngsters pulled out a coin and he was amazed at how many ‘old farts’ pulled out coins too.

The third conversation was in the pits during an F600 match, where we got to chatting about the camaraderie among the shooting sports, especially high power and long range. Everybody is a competitor, but at the same time everybody is willing to help someone else out, even down to loaning them a rifle or ammunition or (and that seems to populate across all the competitive levels)…

Those conversations and a bunch of what ifs became the challenge coin post and later chapter in the book. After I’d written it, I took it down to Quantico one Sunday and showed it to a few folks, and most of them died laughing, especially the older guys.

Then it became a process of actually developing the characters beyond one little short story. Being an old fart, I have a pretty wide range of acquaintances, so I ‘built’ composites of John and Jesse Cronin based on those people.

Setting it in Texas killed two birds with one stone, I knew the area, and it was a tribute to folks I knew in the area who had been or are LEOs.

I also reached out and asked questions.  Yeah, surprised aren’t ya…

Larry Correia, Larry Lambert, JD Kinman, Peter Grant and Wing graciously shared advice throughout the process and wished me luck (which I would need).

One thing both Larry’s said that stuck with me was make the guns right. And if you’re doing shooting sequences make them believable. The deeper I got into TGM, the more research I did, the more I reached out to friends and fellow shooters, folks in the medical world and others. Each of them graciously gave of their time to set me straight, or to make me ‘prove’ what I was writing was correct (you know who you are).

I had finished the first draft in late 2013, and worked with another of my 5 loyal readers on a cover for the book.  Tina did an outstanding job on it, taking my wild hair idea and turning it into what I think is an eye catching cover that matches the book’s tone well.  I reached out again to friends and went through a series of alpha and beta readers and edits (Thanks for slogging through all my lousy punctuation and mis-spellings), and ‘I’ felt pretty good about the story. So I started submitting it… And getting rejection after rejection, after rejection. About 50 all told…

So why did I self publish? Basically one rejection that stated words to the effect that I didn’t have a mass market book, it was at best a niche market and the book was so poorly written that no one would read it IF I published it.

And then the fight started… 🙂

I reached out to Peter and Wing and they gave me great advice on going through Amazon’s process and in early March 2014, I published The Grey Man- Vignettes.

To say I was worried terrified scared s**tless was the understatement of the day! I’d spent a chunk of change to get the editing and other pieces done, and now I was putting myself out there for what? I had no clue… Ridicule? Very possible. Being laughed at?  Probably. Nothing? Yeah, a strong possibility…

My ten loyal readers bought copies! Yea!!!

But I didn’t have an advertising budget, so the blog and friends who spread the word via their blogs were the sum total of the ‘advertising’ (thanks to those that stepped up and took a chance on me). I didn’t obsess over sales (well not too much anyway), it was going to be what it was. I just wanted to break even, that was pretty much my goal.

Larry L had told me to never read the reviews. So I pretty much didn’t other than seeing how many I had gotten. But I’ve to admit when I got the 1 star, I read that one…

The book actually took off a little bit, but what truly humbled me were the emails and positive comments I got from a number of readers.  That led me to try to write a ‘real’ book, which lead to TGM- Payback.

I’ve sold over a thousand copies of Vignettes and it continues to trickle out today, so I did break even.

Thanks to those of you who have read it and told your friends or given away copies of it. And thanks too for the reviews you’ve posted on Amazon. If you have time, I’d appreciate reviews of either book. The more reviews, the better the chances somebody will read them and decide to take a chance on my little niche book.

I’m wrapping up the first draft of the third book in the series, it will be The Grey Man- Changes. It will probably go live around mid-summer.

Thank You.

 

 

 

Comments

One year ago… — 27 Comments

  1. Selecting the “shooting” genre may, and that is a big may, be limiting, but it places you in the company of the authors you mentioned, and your target readership may be wider than suspected as I think the genre “shooting” is more the genre “action adventure.”

    And among your fellow authors, I think Stephen Hunter has done pretty well with the shooting/action/adventure genre.

    Keep writing, I am looking forward to the reading.

    John in Philly

  2. You keep ’em coming & we’ll keep buying. Not everybody is into sparkling vampires and wizards. Some of us are into people.

  3. We’ll be ready for TGMC when it arrives. The first two books have been donated to the local VA faciiity – – after being thoroughly read.

  4. Honestly, I’ll read most any genre if the author can make me care about the characters. Well written characters become part of my life and I miss them when I finish the book. You crafted characters that I want to know and hang out with.

  5. Now I have something to look forward to this summer besides
    fishing for trout and shooting.

  6. Are you kidding me? Somebody actually said it was so poorly written that nobody would read it? What the hell were they smoking? BOTH of The Gray Man books were some of the most fun reading I’ve done in a long time! Jennifer above is right, you crafted those characters very well and made a hell of a good adventure! Seriously, you keep writing and I will damn sure keep buying! I’m so glad you didn’t listen to the nay-sayers!

  7. It’s not just writing. It’s also therapy. And the rest of us enjoy your therapy. I don’t know of a single writer who doesn’t view it that way to some extent. And the readers who find pleasure in reading the baby you brought into the world vindicates the countless hours.

  8. You can think about it, you can talk about it, or you can just sit down and do it. It’s great that you took the leap, ignored the crazy, doubting voices in your head, and made good use of your time on the road to write not one, but two “can’t put ’em down” books in a short period of time. You’re pretty damn inspiring – congratulations!

  9. What they all said! It’s rare for an author to make me care more about the characters than the story itself, but you did it with Vignettes. Keep it going, sir – and see ya soon!

  10. I’m glad you stuck to your guns so to speak, and I’m really glad you self-published. I think it’s the way to go. Technological advances that have ushered in things such as the internet, e-books and self-publishing have greatly increased consumer choice all to the better. There is an incredible amount of material for readers and very little standing in the way of people who want to tell a story. Ride that wave!

  11. All I can say is you write a good, interesting and intriguing story. Your writing draws a person into the story if they have any kind of an imagination, relating their own life experiences into the setting of your story. I’ve read several thousand books in my life and only few hundred of those books have done that for me. And yours do.

    Ignore any naysayers, you have a guaranteed sale from me with whatever you write.

  12. Yay! We like it a lot, especially the long-range stuff – you got it right.
    We self-published my mom’s two family genealogy books because for THAT there’s really a limited interest, and it’s shrinking as the older generation dies off – but now some “youngsters” in Sweden have a copy and connection to relatives they would otherwise be completely unaware of.

    And then, “The Gray Man Charges” will be about airline credit-cards and Pay-Pal stuff… 🙂

  13. Well, I’m glad you published the books and I’m waiting for the next one. I may have stumped a toe on a rock, walked into a cactus or followed a Wet trail in some of the area’s you write about and I appreciate the real life “feeling” of your stories. You know your “niche” pretty well. I’ve bought the kindle and dead tree versions, now I’m just standing by.

  14. All your sweat and fears are understandable. But I believe you have a talent and you will do well in your future books. I also think that the sci-fi books will put you in a more acceptable niche and the publisher will pick up your work. Either way, just keep on writing.

  15. In no way was a a waste of time! I can’t wait for the next installment.

  16. My Father and I are so happy you chose to do so. As others have said, your character development and technical details shine. Can’t wait for the third installment!

  17. I read a lot of fiction and usually about an hour at a sitting. Both of your books hooked me so well I had to force myself to put them down and go do stuff that needed doing. From where I sit, that is about as high a praise as I can give.

  18. You write in a fine manner.
    You have a talent that you did not hide under a rock.
    That’s a good thing.
    I’m proud to think that I know and communicate with you in some small way, be it just through comments.

  19. All- Thank you very much. I cannot tell you how much those comments mean. I truly appreciate it.

  20. Hey, Wing and I are proud and honored to have been a part of the process. It’s even more fun being your friends.

    I think I’ll have to write you a part in one of the Maxwell books. Hmm . . . curmudgeonly Flight Officer beats bright young thing over the head, teaches him what life’s all about. Yeah, that could work . . .

    🙂

  21. Hey Old NFO;

    just so you know…once you release the digital version, I will buy. Then I will get the dead tree version, for me and my brother. Keep on writing, you do have real talent and you make the characters believable. In this day and age, that is a good thing.

  22. Great reads, as others have said. i lost many hours of sleep because i could not put them down. Keep spitting them out and we will keep buying.

  23. You can’t write about what you do? then what have you been writing about these past few years? 😉

    +1 for all the comments and congrats above, looking forward to the new book. 🙂

  24. Well, that explains it. I read VERY little fiction for 2 reasons. First, I can’t see the realism with most of it, and second, my “wait a minute, here” warning buzzer kicks off too often when a passage relates what’s flat out wrong. You mean that .22 went through two block walls, killed the guy, and lodged in the far door so they could retrieve that key piece of evidence? Wow! That’s the fiction book version of the movies’ finally pumping round into the chamber 3/4 the way through the darkened warehouse.

    TGM characters are real — they act and react in ways real for their character; I’ve never had the bullshit buzzer go off, interrupting the reading process. I guess all that is why it’s hard to put the books down once I begin.