Well, the good news is I got the novel I wrote back in high school published a few years ago.
The bad news is it's selling like ice water at an Eskimo convention.
I have it on good authority that an author blog is crucial nowadays for building an audience. I am somewhat puzzled by this, being an avid reader and never actually visited one, but I'll bite.
My hope, though, is to accomplish much more with this blog than just build an audience and sell books (though that would also be nice). I think of how much reading and writing have enriched my life, yet I know neither activity is terribly popular among teen and pre-teen males (I'm tempted to add "these days" but the truth is that's how it was back when I was young too).
It's easy to dismiss entertainment like books (and to a greater extent the visual arts like movies, TV shows, video games, etc) as idle diversion. Yet these things can inspire us, even influence the course of our entire lives, regardless of their artistic merit. I was saddened to hear of the recent passing of director Tony Scott, for it was his magnum opus that shaped the course of my whole life:
When I was all of about 5 years old, my parents mistakenly thought I was asleep as they popped this primo piece of 80's cheese into the VHS player, and when they finished the movie they were astonished to look behind them to see their young son standing totally spellbound by what he had just seen. From then on I wanted to be Maverick, up until age 12 when I rode my first roller coaster and decided "fighter pilot" might not be the best occupation for me. None the less, let's look how I stacked up next to Maverick:
All silliness aside, books and movies do inspire us, to do great things and go on fantastic adventures. At age 14, I was in my bedroom reading about ocean explorer Dr. Robert Ballard's expeditions to find lost ships like the Titanic, the German battleship Bismark or the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown. At age 24, I was on a research vessel a hundred miles off the coast of Virgina on an expedition to find lost Nazi submarines and maybe even a ship from Sir Frances Drake's 16th century fleet. Never would have happened if my parents hadn't gotten me hooked on reading at a young age.
So I hope this blog becomes a resource for anyone who's into books that appeal to young guys, or at least equal appeal to boys and girls (I don't see a lot of guys hanging out in the "paranomal romance" shelves of the YA section at Barnes and Noble). Don't get me wrong, I think it's great so many girls are into reading, I just think it's equally important to get boys into it too.
Contributions are welcome! If you're another YA author and want a book reviewed, send it my way! If a book inspired you to do something cool, tell me about it! And of course, while you're at it, check out my book: http://www.amazon.com/The-Eighth-Day-ebook/dp/B004URS0C4/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1345579541&sr=8-13&keywords=The+Eighth+Day#_
- Mike, out.
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