Vagabond Poet

After all this time. After all these years. After people almost begging me to publish my poetry, at least some of it, I have finally did it. I will publish the 243-page book on Lulu, because quite frankly, the price is right. It's title is Vagabond Poet. As you probably know if you are into reading or writing books Lulu cost nothing to publish your book. Vagabond Poet is my tenth book I have published there. Am I a success? No. Have any of my books sold well? Not really, although I receive a royalty check from them every six months, some of them in the hundreds, but most of them well below that.

The fact is that when I started writing my novels (all the books except Vagabond Poet and Misdemeanors & Felonies: A Memoir are novels) I actually did envision becoming a success. I beat on every legitimate New York publisher there was for over twenty years as I continued to knock out novel after novel. Finally, when I decided if I was ever going to hold a published book I had written in my hands I would have to go the self-publishing route. And so I have. I write so much, have so many story ideas that I just want them to be in circulation even if it is merely the Print on Demand publishing industry that does it. My dreams of being at the top of the New York Times list of books has long since past, I'm satisfied to just write my stories and poems.

I have a difficult time promoting my books. I tried. I tried very hard when I published my first two books to promote them as best I could. It wasn't easy. It cost money and my meager social security check couldn't provide much more than daily living expenses. That, plus the fact that my wife (she died last February) was semi-invalid and I couldn't leave her alone for any length of time and there was no one to stay with her. That meant I was reduced to book signing close to home and they were scarce. As the years piled up I began to resign myself to the fact that what part of the dream I retained was almost all gone. I am not bitter about how things turned out. In fact I am very happy to say that I have written some damn good gritty, thriller without the car chases and explosions, but just good psychological thrillers. I am proud of that.

So! Vagabond Poet is my newest, and only book of poetry. I imagine it will go on the market in the middle of October. I'm pretty sure I will charge $12.99 for the 243-page book. Now, hopefully I can get back to writing God? I have been away from it about a week as I assembled my poems for the book.