Saving One Writer At A Time
During my odyssey through blog posts and articles on self-publishing via the latest e-book technology, I ran across a story that particularly interested me. With my own history of suicide attempts and depression I was saddened and then delighted when a writer's despair turned to hope. Kiana Davenport, living in Hawaii, was near the end of her ability to cope with the effects of the recession on her writing career as well as prospects for any other type of job. Unemployment is staggering in her area. Yet she is a very talented writer, an award-winner. She was literally tying up all the loose ends of her life, planning her suicide and almost ready to go when a friend told her she MUST read about Joe Konrath and his advice to self-publishers.
The rest of the story is contained in her email to him, posted on his blog, of which I'll include a small bit:
You were my epiphany. You were telling me there was life beyond print publishing. In fact a WHOLE NEW WORLD in digital. You led me to the revolution. I started reading your books. So far I have loved SHOT OF TEQUILA and TRUCK STOP. They're tough, fast-paced and humorous, and now and then poetic. I'm still reading. Most importantly, within one month, following your example, I had uploaded onto Kindle my first indie ebook, HOUSE OF SKIN - PRIZE-WINNING STORIES by Kiana Davenport. All the stories I could never get published in NY as a collection. I kept my price low as you suggested, $1.99. Reader reviews have all been 5 stars.
I am trying to spread the word--already Joe's campaign to raise her ranking at Amazon has had great results, a testimony to writers wanting to help other writers. I'm also enjoying many of the comments on his post and the resources mentioned there. I've done a lot of bookmarking today!
House of Skin
I also want to once again post a link to a discussion of writers and depression: http://maantren.blogspot.com/2009/03/writing-and-depression-kiwiburger.html
The rest of the story is contained in her email to him, posted on his blog, of which I'll include a small bit:
You were my epiphany. You were telling me there was life beyond print publishing. In fact a WHOLE NEW WORLD in digital. You led me to the revolution. I started reading your books. So far I have loved SHOT OF TEQUILA and TRUCK STOP. They're tough, fast-paced and humorous, and now and then poetic. I'm still reading. Most importantly, within one month, following your example, I had uploaded onto Kindle my first indie ebook, HOUSE OF SKIN - PRIZE-WINNING STORIES by Kiana Davenport. All the stories I could never get published in NY as a collection. I kept my price low as you suggested, $1.99. Reader reviews have all been 5 stars.
I am trying to spread the word--already Joe's campaign to raise her ranking at Amazon has had great results, a testimony to writers wanting to help other writers. I'm also enjoying many of the comments on his post and the resources mentioned there. I've done a lot of bookmarking today!
House of Skin
I also want to once again post a link to a discussion of writers and depression: http://maantren.blogspot.com/2009/03/writing-and-depression-kiwiburger.html