There seems to be a stigma attached to self-published novels, almost as if the author is unworthy. Why did you decide to self-publish Ain’t Whistlin’ Dixie No More?
I was sitting in a café, about a year ago, listening to this really terrible guitarist playing a God-awful version of Blackbird. Man, his voice was like the sound of a drill sawing off a dental bridge. And there were all these really shitty paintings from a local artist hanging on the wall. They were paintings of cowboys and rodeo clowns. I got really depressed, because here I was with a few really good novels rotting beneath my bed, collecting spider poop, wanting to be read, yet homeboy up there with his guitar, bastardizing Blackbird, and the rodeo clown artist who must have been dosed on three bottle of cough syrup, had an audience. So I said to hell with it. Who cares if some smarmy intern at Penguin doesn’t think my query letter is worthy of showing the boss. Hell, if you ask me, I think the reason big publishing houses weren’t as interested in Dixie is because they thought it was an “African American” novel, and there really wasn’t an audience. Oh, I guess they never realized th
