First, let’s explain the name Great Big Dog, just in case you’re wondering.
Well, actually, there’s very little to explain. It’s bold and simple and creates a strong image. I think it’s memorable. And a bit silly-sounding. Just right for my purposes. But it has no particular meaning.
Now, on to the business at hand, which is books in general and my books in particular, such as they are. The launch of this blog follows closely the publication of my book The Hermit through CreateSpace. (I’ll leave it to you to decide whether that sounds sinister or not.) Regardless, some of you might know that CreateSpace is a print-on-demand service for writers who are self-publishing their books. If you didn’t, you know now.
So what brought me to the decision to go with CreateSpace? Nearly a year of querying agents without seeing much interest. I got a few comments like “Interesting concept” and “Your writing is engaging,” but these comments were always followed by a phrase like “not right for us.”
Did I give up too soon? I don’t know, but I can tell you I got tired. It can be tough to find an agent and/or publisher under the best of circumstances. I believe I made the task harder on myself not by producing work that’s bad, but by producing work that’s quirky. Or maybe even beyond quirky. If you want to say “relentlessly weird,” as I vividly remember someone in a critique group saying years ago in response to a different story, I won’t argue. But I can’t help it. That’s just what comes out when I sit down to write. I would love to write mainstream crime thrillers. I try, but I can’t get very far. My hat’s off to Elmore Leonard and Sue Grafton.
Regarding quirkiness, I have this goofy idea that anything you do, provided it’s (a) honest and (b) well-done when judged on its own terms, will have an audience. No matter what it is, someone, somewhere, will like it. To the extent that I’m able to judge my own work objectively—and you might very well question the judgment of a guy whose brain would concoct something like The Hermit—I contend that it meets these requirements. (Hey, you can judge for yourself. Click on the link to greatbigdog.com and download a pdf version for free. Yes, it’s stark, raving free!)
And so, CreateSpace gives me the opportunity to get the book out into the world via a major retailer (Amazon.com), at no cost to me. The downside? Maybe a loss of credibility, as traditional publishing is (and perhaps rightly so) generally seen as somehow validating a novel as… well, as worthy. The editorial process implies some degree of quality control. As to self-publishing, any fool with a computer can type up a bunch of incoherent stuff and publish it through CreateSpace. That’s part of the reason for this blog, and part of the reason for the aforementioned pdf download. You can take a look at my work, at no cost. If you think it sucks, no big deal. If you read the entire pdf and like it, consider a donation. Or if you read just enough to decide that you’d like to order a printed copy, you can.