Chris Quinton ~ Author

Today’s Guest is a bit special. I asked Tristan for an interview as I knew something about the background to the formation of his website, All Male Romance. AMR is basically a promotional platform for writers of gay fiction, and the impetus behind it a testimony to the courage and determination of the people involved, and their refusal to be suppressed.

 

I’ll let Tristan take it from here…

 

* * * * *

When Chris asked me to write about this, I was excited and then worried… Then I paused for a week or two thinking about what to say.

 

The inception of All Male Romance came about from several not-so-nice events, and some private conversations I had with a few friends on Facebook. I guess the largest being the “disappearance” of Linda Reilly. Mark Bowne and I talked about that for a while after it happened, asking each other, “Why the f*** was her FB account deleted?” It seemed unfair. And after e-mails were not returned to me, I began to question what happen to her?

 

I really cannot disclose everything I have found out since then, but let’s just say it is not nice.

 

I began to think that standing alone can get people picked off easier. Maybe she felt alone in her existence? Then I thought about everyone else out there going it alone. Even all the way down to the tiniest thing as marketing. Her website was gone but maybe I could do something about it.

 

I was on Authonomy ages ago and found that I tended to “taut” the writings of others way better than I could ever try to pimp myself. Then it dawned on me, “Why not do that for authors?” I know for a fact that Authors have to market their own stuff. Publishers do some, but if an author isn’t out there shouting from the roof about their book, then shortly after its release people will forget that it’s on their to-be-read pile! Believe me!

 

So, I started to think about how I could do that and who I wanted to “market”. I never really did it professionally and I thought it would be a fun way to learn. I am a jump-in-the-deep-end type of person. So, I leapt! I made a list of a few authors I would ask to “join” the group as a way to market books I truly enjoyed and wanted the world to read.

 

Mark Alders and Andrew Grey were at the top of the list!

 

All Male Romance was born! I created pages via .php and made each author page to look like their home page. I am not a genius and I know squat about computers so I was not about to learn how to create web pages. I asked a few authors to join as a way of free advertizing for them and a way for me to do something I loved- share books I LIKE with everyone on the internet! Shadows of the Mind was one book that meant a lot to me as it showed me I could like Sci-fi AND m/m and find it all in one book!!! How fun is that? And after reading Love Means… No Shame and actually meeting Andrew Grey, I was hooked on m/m romance, and thinking about the significance of no being ashamed of one’s self.

 

Now, let me get one thing straight, I am not perfect. MANY of the things I believe in I am not at liberty to share freely. Life is NOT how it is in romance novels. A person can not always leave the past behind and start over somewhere. Or with someone else. Sometimes life has to be lived out one day at a time and fitting all the pieces together can be messy, making avoidance the only viable option. YES, avoiding the inevitable can be painful and often wrong, but sometimes there is no other choice.

 

Don’t even get me started on gay people coming out, or remaining in the closet! Sometimes the closet door is the hardest thing ever to open and it is no body’s right to pressure the person on the inside. Each person’s life is THEIR business. And then there are the people the “out” other people. THAT is something I think is totally wrong! People are private for many reasons, and not all of them have to do with sexuality. Sometimes it is as simple as a pen name. Do you want your PTA-going mother of six neighbor to know you write hacker-horror novels about kidnapped ten-year-olds? I think not. Discretion and privacy are a part of life. Sexuality included.

 

Back to the topic at hand… All Male Romance was my way of talking about books and promoting authors I enjoyed. Mark Bowne liked the idea and so did a few other people. So, it was like a group decision. We founded it J   … Then, not so long after, Mark passed away. It was tragic. Mark and I talked a lot and I miss him and his wisdom.  That is why the site is dedicated to him and he continues to have a page to link his stories on fictionpress. Mark Bowne was a wonderful man! MANY MANY people miss him! I could not let it stop me from pressing on. Mark loved writing and reading and we talked books. (Kei was in on some chats too, and I know she misses him.)

 

Not long after I had the site running, I had other authors asking to join. It was fun. Exhilarating! I had people commenting on how great the site was and how it was neat to find all their favorite authors in one place! I think that is what made it cool. Yes, there are sites like GLBT bookshelf, and blogs that are run by a “group” of authors, so I am not completely unique.  Oh, well.  Still, it has been over a year and many of the same authors are still in the group! As some leave, others ask to join.

 

This is not a high-paying job. L  (Which is why I’m glad it is not my only job.) For the amount of work I do, I basically make nothing, but I think it is fun and I will continue to market the authors in our group! This year we started “ad” spots. (thanks Andrew for that suggestion!) There is also, now, a cost to join. On the other hand, we sponsored a table at The Rainbow Book Fair and several authors in our group were there! That was fun! It was great to promote authors on more of a public forum. The AMR group handed out CDs with pdf files of free-reads to 50 book fairers. Lots of SWAG handed out to hopeful readers! Promotion costs and I in no way profit from the authors. (I hope they know that.)

 

What I want is more traffic to our site! With over 20 authors, it only stands to help boost sales. Selling books helps the authors! AND, I get to chat with people online (FB, and Goodreads) and make friends, and learn were the market is going. Trends and want not. This all helps me to market my website.

 

I guess this answers Chris’ question. Or maybe it was just a lot of me rambling. Either way, thanks for reading.

 

Ciao for Now!

Tristan

 

When Chris asked me to write about this, I was excited and then worried… Then I paused for a week or two thinking about what to say.

 

The inception of All Male Romance came about from several not-so-nice events, and some private conversations I had with a few friends on Facebook. I guess the largest being the “disappearance” of Linda Reilly. Mark Bowne and I talked about that for a while after it happened, asking each other, “Why the f*** was her FB account deleted?” It seemed unfair. And after e-mails were not returned to me, I began to question what happen to her?

 

I really cannot disclose everything I have found out since then, but let’s just say it is not nice.

 

I began to think that standing alone can get people picked off easier. Maybe she felt alone in her existence? Then I thought about everyone else out there going it alone. Even all the way down to the tiniest thing as marketing. Her website was gone but maybe I could do something about it.

 

I was on Authonomy ages ago and found that I tended to “taut” the writings of others way better than I could ever try to pimp myself. Then it dawned on me, “Why not do that for authors?” I know for a fact that Authors have to market their own stuff. Publishers do some, but if an author isn’t out there shouting from the roof about their book, then shortly after its release people will forget that it’s on their to-be-read pile! Believe me!

 

So, I started to think about how I could do that and who I wanted to “market”. I never really did it professionally and I thought it would be a fun way to learn. I am a jump-in-the-deep-end type of person. So, I leapt! I made a list of a few authors I would ask to “join” the group as a way to market books I truly enjoyed and wanted the world to read.

 

Mark Alders and Andrew Grey were at the top of the list!

 

All Male Romance was born! I created pages via .php and made each author page to look like their home page. I am not a genius and I know squat about computers so I was not about to learn how to create web pages. I asked a few authors to join as a way of free advertizing for them and a way for me to do something I loved- share books I LIKE with everyone on the internet! Shadows of the Mind was one book that meant a lot to me as it showed me I could like Sci-fi AND m/m and find it all in one book!!! How fun is that? And after reading Love Means… No Shame and actually meeting Andrew Grey, I was hooked on m/m romance, and thinking about the significance of no being ashamed of one’s self.

 

Now, let me get one thing straight, I am not perfect. MANY of the things I believe in I am not at liberty to share freely. Life is NOT how it is in romance novels. A person can not always leave the past behind and start over somewhere. Or with someone else. Sometimes life has to be lived out one day at a time and fitting all the pieces together can be messy, making avoidance the only viable option. YES, avoiding the inevitable can be painful and often wrong, but sometimes there is no other choice.

 

Don’t even get me started on gay people coming out, or remaining in the closet! Sometimes the closet door is the hardest thing ever to open and it is no body’s right to pressure the person on the inside. Each person’s life is THEIR business. And then there are the people the “out” other people. THAT is something I think is totally wrong! People are private for many reasons, and not all of them have to do with sexuality. Sometimes it is as simple as a pen name. Do you want your PTA-going mother of six neighbor to know you write hacker-horror novels about kidnapped ten-year-olds? I think not. Discretion and privacy are a part of life. Sexuality included.

 

Back to the topic at hand… All Male Romance was my way of talking about books and promoting authors I enjoyed. Mark Bowne liked the idea and so did a few other people. So, it was like a group decision. We founded it J   … Then, not so long after, Mark passed away. It was tragic. Mark and I talked a lot and I miss him and his wisdom.  That is why the site is dedicated to him and he continues to have a page to link his stories on fictionpress. Mark Bowne was a wonderful man! MANY MANY people miss him! I could not let it stop me from pressing on. Mark loved writing and reading and we talked books. (Kei was in on some chats too, and I know she misses him.)

 

Not long after I had the site running, I had other authors asking to join. It was fun. Exhilarating! I had people commenting on how great the site was and how it was neat to find all their favorite authors in one place! I think that is what made it cool. Yes, there are sites like GLBT bookshelf, and blogs that are run by a “group” of authors, so I am not completely unique. :S Oh, well.  Still, it has been over a year and many of the same authors are still in the group! As some leave, others ask to join.

 

This is not a high-paying job. L  (Which is why I’m glad it is not my only job.) For the amount of work I do, I basically make nothing, but I think it is fun and I will continue to market the authors in our group! This year we started “ad” spots. (thanks Andrew for that suggestion!) There is also, now, a cost to join. On the other hand, we sponsored a table at The Rainbow Book Fair and several authors in our group were there! That was fun! It was great to promote authors on more of a public forum. The AMR group handed out CDs with pdf files of free-reads to 50 book fairers. Lots of SWAG handed out to hopeful readers! Promotion costs and I in no way profit from the authors. (I hope they know that.)

 

What I want it more traffic to our site! With over 20 authors, it only stands to help boost sales. Selling books helps the authors! AND, I get to chat with people online (FB, and Goodreads) and make friends, and learn were the market is going. Trends and want not. This all helps me to market my website.

 

I guess this answers Chris’ question. Or maybe it was just a lot of me rambling. Either way, thanks for reading.

 

Ciao for Now!

Tristan

 

Visit All Male Romance HERE