CJ Allan and Matt the Cat, new members

Hello Fellow Writers, 

I’m CJ Allan.  I just joined you over the weekend, having been invited by April to come take a look. 

I was introduced to April by Ed Patterson’s book, “Are You Still Submitting Your Work To A Traditional Publisher?”. 

(I wrote an Amazon review of Ed’s book, with the header:”Should be required reading for any who want to self-publish at Amazon”.) 

I’m from Dallas, Texas, and am currently traveling around Texas and Oklahoma. 

As I told April, I’ve always made my living as a writer… of articles, user manuals, and business publications, but do not yet call myself an “author”. 

I came close a few times in the past, but each time I sat down to discuss a contract with a conventional publisher (“you don’t need a lawyer, you can use ours”… did anyone else ever hear that?)… I would, on reading the fine print, back out. 

“I’d be making minimum wage”, I’d say.

 “But I’m the one taking the risk”, they’d say.

[SIGH]

 Do you suppose they wonder why Indie Publishing has taken off the way it has?

Since retiring from the business world, I’ve been traveling in my motorhome, writing travel-related articles.

My signature line carries the likeness of Matt the Cat, who rides shotgun with me.  He will be the spokesman in some photo-articles I am planning for the Kindle.

 Looking forward to learning from you all,

CJ