Coffee With David

I apologize that it has been a number of weeks since I have had the chance to place an entry into Coffee With David. My full time job was tied up with a huge project and I found myself juggling so much that if I did not set down my writing and my karate, everything would shatter. The time away from writing was sad—and often I felt like a drug addict missing his fix—but it gave me time to reflect and to research the market. Sadly, the market for new authors appears to be dried up right now because of the economy. Publishers and agents are looking for authors who have a track record of sales, which you do not have if you are brand new.

I also noticed that for some of my writing, most especially my vampire stories, the market is saturated with teen fantasy vampires that would not put much fear into anyone. Clearly they are popular and I will not besmirch them any more that my previous statement. I write about the monster vampire—the one who may either reveal or loathe his existence (and sometimes both kinds of characters), but are an expression of our dark side.

Along with this observation, I looked at my other main market: Science Fiction. There are so many out there that the market is hard to break into.

So, what is a new writer to do? There are a few things that can be done—but you need to be creative and believe in yourself. As a result, I am going to launch four ventures of my own and start a Web Opera. I am using this term to break away from the term Web Serial as those tend to be more video oriented. In a few months, I intend to begin placing monthly episodes of four stories: Dark Medicine (A gothic Vampire Horror), The Haunted (A horror about an exorcist), The Indebted (a Science Fiction based on my novella, but greatly expanded), and Herne’s Law (a Space Western). These stories are being plotted or replotted to fit this new format.

The downside of this plan is simple: no publisher will want these stories. They will already have been self-published. However, I am ok with that. I am no longer looking for a publisher at this moment. Instead, what I hope they will do is create a readership and thus a track record that I can use to demonstrate in regards to other stories.

This is a bold gamble and maybe I foolishly have too much faith in myself. However, being a writer who had to overcome learning disabilities and teachers telling him to drop out of school and not even think about college, I learned that if you do not believe in yourself no one else will. As proof, I have a Masters Degree and graduated with it with a GPA between 3.5 and 4.0. (actually, I have a Bachelors with minors, a Masters, and a certificate along with a teaching certificate. See my web page for a little more information) I have done what I have been told I cannot do—and like the oak tree who had to fight for water and room to grow, I am stronger for it.

Please visit my blogs and website for updates. This is going to be an interesting ride!

Thank you for reading and please visit www.davidalanlucas.com for information on the stories, articles, and blogs that I write.