Writers will find readers and make more money going it alone

Off topic sort-of

I was just reading the article about self-publishing and took some comfort in it. Working on the self-imposed deadline of April 15, tax day, has been grueling but THE WARRIOR SAW, SUICIDES AFTER WAR is a labor of love and outrage. While some will think of it as just too damn sad to want to read, they will discover how we ended up with the highest military suicide year on record, all the money spent on trying to "prevent" suicides ended up increasing them and how experts have stated clearly these programs do not work.

If you've been reading Wounded Times over the last couple of months, I've posted some of the outrageous things done and they got away with it while reporters have failed to give this any attention other than repeating what they have been told along with publicizing the wrong data. Shocking! Reporters not doing their jobs! As if that should be anything new to us paying attention to all of this all along and cringing with the email links to crap.

When the last week of March rolled around and Wounded Times broke the million views mark that proved something to me. All the research done on behalf of veterans and families means something. Keep in mind, veterans are only 7% of the population, so while this was shocking to some, they are my base. They are the people this work is geared to and so are my books. Books? Yes, since THE WARRIOR SAW, SUICIDES AFTER WAR is the followup to the FOR THE LOVE OF JACK, HIS WAR/MY BATTLE originally self-published in 2002 and re-released last year on Amazon. It hasn't gone up on Kindle yet since I plan on releasing both on April 15th there.

"The battle to save the lives of combat veterans is not lost and it is not new. 18 veterans and more than one active duty service member take their own lives each day. More attempt it. Kathie Costos is not just a Chaplain helping veterans and their families, not just a researcher, she lives with it everyday. Combat came home with her Vietnam veteran husband and they have been married for 28 years. She remembers what it was like to feel lost and alone. Everything you read in the news today about PTSD is in this book originally published in 2002 to serve as a guide to healing as well as a warning of what was coming for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans."

Barnes and Noble, while they are offering the For the Love of Jack for a huge amount of money even though it has not been for sale for many years, (still trying to figure out how they pulled that one off) still has a couple of reviews from 2003.

PTSD is sadly too common
Kathie's book was amazing. I have PTSD myself and could identify with both her husband and Kathie since I know what my husband has gone through dealing with me and can look back at the worst times. A very insightful account of a family torn apart by PTSD. Help keep the shelter open since proceeds go to help Veterans who are badly in need of help.

His War Her Battle Our Story
In Kathie Costos's groundbreaking new work, 'For the Love of Jack' she documents the life that thousands of families live everyday: living with a Vietnam Veteran who has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. In the book, Costos describes the disorder and its effects on family and life through her own experiences. Although PTSD is a disorder that varies from individual to individual, anyone who has seen even the slightest of hints of it can relate to this book. Through the chapters the reader comes to know and love Jack along with his family and ultimately can relate back to veterans of all wars and their struggle with this disorder. Never before have I read anything quite like this. Costos's unique and insightful perspective allows the reader to realize the after effects of war on an individual and on a family that are all to often overlooked. She reminds the reader that, along with the Vietnam Veterans, the families too share in the pain and suffering and describes them eloquently as, 'America's Secret.' I think that anyone who read this book would immediately understand that Vietnam isn¿t just a war or a country but a day to day struggle that all too many families and friends of Vietnam Veterans along with the Veterans themselves continue to battle to this very moment. The subtitle of this piece is His War My Battle. As the proud daughter of a Vietnam Veteran, USMC 1968-1970 I can tell you that its not only His War and Her Battle but Our Story.

That is why this article matters.

Hugh Howey: Self-publishing is the future — and great for writers
Books have changed forever, and that's good. Writers will find readers and make more money going it alone, like me
BY HUGH HOWEY

Contrary to recent reports, I am not the story of self-publishing.

The story of self-publishing is Jan Strnad, a 62-year-old educator hoping to retire in four years. To do so is going to require supplemental income, which he is currently earning from his self-published novels. In 2012, Jan made $11,406.31 from his work. That’s more than double what he made from the same book in the six months it was available from Kensington, a major publisher. He has since released a second work and now makes around $2,000 a month, even though you’ve never heard of him.

Rachel Schurig has sold 100,000 e-books and made six figures last year. She is the story of self-publishing. Rick Gualtieri cleared over $25,000 in 2012 from his writing. He says it’s like getting a Christmas bonus every month. Amanda Brice is an intellectual property attorney for the federal government. In her spare time, she writes teen mysteries and adult romantic comedies. She averages $750 a month with her work.

Like Schurig, Robert J. Crane is quickly moving from midlist to A-list. When Robert shared his earnings with me late last year, his monthly income had gone from $110.29 in June to $13,000+ in November. He was making more in a month than many debut authors are likely to receive as an advance from a major publisher. And he still owned his rights. His earnings have only gone up since.

Right now you are probably thinking that these anecdotes of self-publishing success are the result of my having cherry-picked the winners. In fact, these stories appear in this exact order in my private message inbox over at Kindle Boards. The only sampling bias is that these writers responded to a thread I started titled: “The Self Published Authors I Want to Hear From.” I wanted to know how many forum members were making $100 to $500 a month. My suspicion was that it was more than any of us realized. Every response I received started with a variation of: “I’m actually making a lot more than that.” (click link for more)

I don't do this to write a best seller, not that I could no matter how hard I tried. I am a researcher of PTSD plus live with it everyday and have been helping veterans and their families since 1982. (Yes, I am that old now) When I was a young wife I had no clue what was going on with my husband and that is what started off this over 30 year quest to defeat Combat PTSD.

THE WARRIOR SAW, SUICIDES AFTER WAR, would not have had to be written if what we learned over the last 40 years was perfected instead of seeing billions being spent on what was already proven to be failures.

I don't want to get rich off these books but it would be nice for my charity, Pointman of Winter Park, to not lose a couple of thousand a year when I work an average of ten hours a day seven days a week.