Two years ago, I started querying literary agents, in an attempt to gain representation for my memoir, TRUE TILL DEATH. It’s the story of tattooing as an agent of self-destruction, and as the unlikely path to redemption.
The first agent I queried replied within minutes, and requested my full manuscript. For the next two years, this scenario was repeated ten times. I had ten agents ask for my whole book, but none of them offered representation. Months were wasted, waiting. My book was out to an agent over that entire two-year period. I wasn’t just sitting around, but it felt like I was because nothing was happening. I tried to console myself, by remembering that it’s really difficult to get a non-famous memoir past one agent, let alone ten, but that really didn’t mean shit until I was represented.
I think this process is rotten. I think a lot of good writers are probably discouraged into obscurity after facing what it takes to see a book in print the traditional way. I was discouraged. Even though I was getting really good feedback from these agents, I was still being met with excuses like, “I love this, but I’m not sure there’s an audience.” One agent offered to represent if I changed my whole story into young-adult fiction. In the meantime, I was getting more positive feedback from friends and strangers alike who read my book. So, faced with this rotten process, I decided to pull a Minor Threat, and by that I mean I decided to do it myself.
Two years after I queried my first agent, I listed my book as a Kindle download on Amazon. It might fail. People might hate it. But they might love it, too. It might sell. And that’s what is so wonderful about democratizing the publishing industry. Everyone has a chance now, and there are no gatekeepers making the rules. It’s a revolution.
Amazon is doing something really amazing. They continue to be the largest venue for publishers to sell books, but now they are their biggest competition, because it’s not just nobodies like me who are self-publishing. Best-selling authors are jumping on this bandwagon. I have to admit, watching this bullshit industry, the one that caused me so much heartache, the one that made me cry on Easter, go down in flames, is going to be pretty satisfying.
If you want to check out my book, this is it:




