Self-Organizing Man

After my post last week about publishing and marketing, I checked out Publish and Be Damned’s blog and website.

I poked around for awhile and then had that very funny, thrilling feeling in my stomach (the same one I got when I first gave serious consideration to kissing the Divine Ms. H.).  "I’m going to be a self-publisher," was the thought that came up from the feeling.

A publisher of books.  FtM books.  Trannyboi books.  Boyz on hormones or not.  Art books.  Poetry.  Nonfiction.  Fiction.  No more whining about how hard the publishing industry is or cruel or why they don’t understand trannies.

Just publish and be terrified!  Now I have no one to blame, or big entity out there to blame. 

It is all on me now.

One thing I am committed to is providing all my books for free, in addition to having them for sale. Cory Doctorow has a free  dowload of his book Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town.

"I’ve given away more than half a million digital copies of my award-winning first novel, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, and that sucker has blown through five print editions (yee-HAW!), so I’m not worried that giving away books is hurting my sales."

Cory is also committed to people around the world who cannot afford the $15.00 - $20.00 price for the book downloading it for free.  I’m motivated for the same reasons.  Many trans folks live in poverty, both here and around the world.  They must make choices between shoe orthodics they can use at their walmart-like jobs or the electric bill or their hormones. 

Art for them becomes a luxury.  We made it that way by charging money and worrying about profit and loss and bottom lines and copyrights and lawyers and agents. 

But art has never been a luxury and it will not be with me.  FtMs deserve as much free art as we can throw at each other.  And we deserve to have it in a climate where we’re not competing with gays and lesbians to get it, either.

Everything I publish will be available for free.  I believe those people who can afford to pay for the books I publish will do so.  People really are good and kind when left on their own to do the right thing.  I believe in people that much.

All I’m left with now is what to call my publishing company.  I originally thought A & S Press.  The A is for Allen, my middle name, and the S is for Sennett, my last name.  Allen used to be my last name, and is my father’s name.  Sennett is my mother’s maiden name.  All the Sennett men were dead by the name I took the name in 1996. 

But then a google check confirmed that A & S Press and A & S Publishing are both taken!

I’m open for suggestions.