What I Did This Past Weekend

Over the weekend I went to a couple of craftshows here in town. At one of them I ran into an author selling his books from a booth.

Steve Burt is a UCC minister (this is Connecticut and we have lots of them here) who writes YA horror. One of his books tied with a book by Clive Barker for the 2005 Bram Stoker Award for young adult horror. (He also writes inspirational books.)

One of the most interesting things about Steve is that he is self-published. Conventional wisdom says that self-published writers aren't supposed to be successful. But Steve has won awards and had his stories published in Family Circle and Chicken Soup for the Soul. He makes all kinds of school and other public appearances and sells his books at various shows. He's putting a lot of effort into his marketing, but it appears to be working for him.

I love hearing about people who manage to beat the system.