Writers dream of making it big, hitting the bestseller lists, having our books made into movies. Who can blame us since living inside our head all day where we create imaginary worlds and characters can fuel extravagant fantasies. Thanks to today’s e-publishing revolution, more and more people are following their dreams. They’re taking the plunge and becoming published authors.

I did the same thing. After publishing three adventure/fantasy novels with a traditional publisher, I jumped aboard the digital bandwagon by establishing my own independent publishing company, Windrusher Hall Press. I published MATANZAS BAY, the first Quint Mitchell Mystery, in May of 2011. This year, I released a short story, BLUE CRABS AT MIDNIGHT, and recently the second Quint Mitchell Mystery, BRING DOWN THE FURIES. There will be more to follow, and, perhaps, books by other authors as well.

Since Amazon.com created the Kindle Digital Program extending 70% royalties to authors, many thousands of writers have rushed to take advantage of what they perceive to be a never-ending gravy train. We hear success stories from the likes of John Locke, Amanda Hocking and J. A. Konrath, who, in a recent blog post stated he’d made well over $200,000 on two books he released on Amazon.com in 2010.

I recall a 2006 Publisher’s Weekly report concluding that most books sell only 100 copies. Better selling titles may sell 2,000 per year. Fewer still sell 5,000 in the lifetime of the book. And only a fraction of 1% of published books ever sell a million copies.

Of course, this report preceded the surge in e-publishing and the explosion of e-reading devices. But the explosion has come with tens of thousands of new writers entering the market each year, ratcheting up the competition, making it more difficult to create buzz for our books. Which is why it’s nearly impossible for a new writer to make a living solely on their book sales. That’s probably always been the case, which is why the first advice I heard when I decided to venture into writing fiction was, “Don’t give up your day job.”

When I retired from my day job, I decided to become a fulltime writer. I didn’t expect to strike it rich, and I had the advantage of a working wife to help if necessary. Still, the lament I often hear is how so many writers are frustrated by lagging sales, by the amount of money they poured into their business with little return on the investment. Writers who give up their day jobs, if they’re not careful, can find themselves in the same position as our federal government: living on the edge of the fiscal cliff.

What can be done about it? For one thing we have to face the facts that most of us won’t join James Patterson and Stephen King on the bestseller lists. There are a lot of excellent reasons to write, but maybe making money shouldn’t be at the top of the list. My number one reason for writing and publishing is to tell my own stories and share them with other people. If I broke even, I told myself, then I’d be happy. I’ve achieved that goal and more, but I still look at writing as a form of self-expression and personal fulfillment.

In his wonderful book, Telling Lies for Fun and Profit, Lawrence Block writes about the thousands, maybe millions of people content to dab paint onto canvases, and some of them very good painters indeed, with no real intention of ever selling their work. Or the people who snap photographs as a hobby. Or the craftsmen who knit and make quilts and throw pots. Do they expect to profit by their interests? Probably not.

Most do it because they enjoy the process of creating a watercolor, capturing a family image on their new digital Nikon, or sewing colorful scraps of cloth together. Unlike those acts of creativity, writing, according to Block, implies an act of communication. “If a story is not to be read, why write it down in the first place? An unpublished piece of fiction is an incompleted act, like a play staged in an empty theater.”

To complete the process of communication writers will continue to search for new ways to reach more readers. One of these is a fairly new promotional technique called the Blog Hop, a form of network marketing. I’ve been invited to participate on December 12 so check back then for an update about my new book. I’ll also take part in a blog tour in the near future, and look for other avenues to gain a marketing edge. But mostly, I’ll continue to write since that’s what is important to me.

When I first began attending writers’ conferences, I remember an established author with more than a dozen published books saying it takes at least five books before a writer can build a market for their books. BRING DOWN THE FURIES marks my fifth book, so we’ll see if this holds true. In the meantime, I’d like to hear how other writers are managing to avoid their own fiscal cliff.

Writers are often accused of living inside our heads where we carouse with imaginative characters. Some of us also invent frightful scenarios to cause great bodily harm to these characters.

I must plead guilty to all of the above.

When asked where I get my wild ideas, I sometimes inform the inquirer that they’re the result of the special medication I was taking back in the 60s. Anything’s possible. But the truth is we get our ideas from anywhere and everywhere. Possibly a dream or something we read in the paper or saw on TV. An idea for a plot may be sparked by a story a friend tells us, or an overheard conversation.

Some of my ideas have come out of the blue in a flash of clashing neurons depositing a graphic image in my head. That happened when I was writing my second Windrusher novel, Windrusher and the Cave of Tho-hoth. In that one my protagonist had been catnapped and flown to Southern California where he was imprisoned with three other filched felines. The family hires private investigator Quint Mitchell to track him down. Yep, Quint’s first appearance was in one of my Windrusher books.

I’d already given Quint an interest in archaeology when I was creating his resume, but archaeology played no part in that book. Yet, as I wrote a scene with Quint as the major player, an image popped into my head of our trusty PI digging up a corpse. I tried to push it aside, but the image dug in its heels and refused to go away. Finally, I scribbled a few notes and tucked it into my idea file. When I completed the Windrusher book I went back to Quint and the buried corpse and started asking some “What If” questions. Before long I had the premise for Matanzas Bay, the first Quint Mitchell Mystery.

Other ideas are the result of our own experiences. That was the case in my new Quint Mitchell short story, Blue Crabs at Midnight. Visit the link to the excerpt if you haven’t and you’ll see these lines:

Speeding along the dark highway, a dank tidal marsh to his left, the Atlantic Ocean behind them, he felt the crunch, heard the cracking of their shells.

Blue crabs and cars. Not a fair fight, he thought.

 I knew I wanted to send Quint back in time and present him as a young teen in this story. He ended up in Dania Beach, Florida as a 13-year-old reluctantly accompanying his family on a brief vacation. The premise for Blue Crabs grew from my own childhood  experiences. My family had moved to South Florida when I was seven, and lived in Dania for about a year. I remembered the horrible crunching noises as we rode back from the beach at night, and often wondered why those crabs were walking the blacktop two-laner in the dark. Other scenes in the story were also derived from my childhood, like playing “war” in a weed-strewn field, and huddling in a foxhole-like clubhouse.

I put all of these experiences to work in the story—greatly embellished, of course. I’ve been told it’s an excellent read, and a good lead-in to the upcoming full-length novel, Bring Down the Furies, which should be available in a few weeks.

Another story I’ve had lying about for at least ten years just won first place in the Florida Writers Association’s Royal Palm Literary Awards in the short fiction (unpublished) category. The idea for A Flutter of Wings came to me after a visit my dear wife and I took to BEAKS, a NE Florida bird sanctuary. She had rescued a chicken in our neighborhood—it was probably an Easter chick at one time—and decided it needed a home rather than a place on someone’s dinner plate. The kind lady who runs BEAKS takes in all kinds of stray and crippled birds, and I was impressed with the work she was doing. Of course, my story took on an entirely different tone, but it was fun to write. Although it’s unpublished now, I intend to include it in a collection of short stories coming to Amazon.com next year. If you’d like to read an excerpt, the first two pages are on my Windrusher website, and can be found here.

I’ve heard Stephen King once said there’s a special area in eBay that sells ideas. I’ve looked, but can’t find it. I’m curious to hear where you find your ideas. Let me hear from you.

Welcome to Blog Post #1 on Parker Francis’ new cyber home. This is where we can jump off cliffs together—if you’re so inclined—and where you can keep up with all things Parker Francis. This includes the next Quint Mitchell Mystery, Bring Down the Furies, and other projects.

As the title of this post implies, I’d like to get to know my readers as much as possible. I have met some of you, and have heard from quite a few others via email, but there’s always room for more. So don’t be afraid to respond to any of my blog posts, to tell me what you think of my books, and offer any suggestions that might make jumping off cliffs a little less dangerous. And if you’d like to receive my quarterly enewsletter, just click on the Subscribe button below this post.

I’ve heard from a number of readers wondering what the heck is happening with Quint. One reader told me his finger was poised above the BUY button on Amazon’s Kindle page. I hope he’s not getting cramps, but there’s good news to report. Furies has made it past my trusty editor. Last minute tweaks have been made. If all goes well, you will be able to click on that BUY button by the end of September. For now, the book will be exclusive to Amazon.com which means that anyone with a Kindle or Kindle app can purchase Bring Down the Furies and read it on their e-reading device, smart phone or tablet. Those of you who have yet to embrace the digital world will have to wait for the paperback version. Look for it about a month after the digital version.

If you read Matanzas Bay, and read the preview of Furies at the end of the book, you probably guessed that Quint will find himself in major danger as he tracks the Heartthrob Bandit to Allendale, South Carolina. While in this sleepy little town, Quint is embroiled in a deadly search for a serial arsonist and thrust in the midst of a cultural war that pits neighbor against neighbor.

The action comes fast. The tension remains high. People will die. And Quint … well, I won’t spoil it for you, but I think you’ll enjoy Quint’s next adventure as much as the last one. Soon you’ll be able to pre-order the book, and I’ll announce a contest and new promotions.

On the News & Events page you can read about Blue Crabs at Midnight, my first Quint Mitchell short story. He’s only thirteen in this story, but knowing Quint, he’s going to find a way to get into trouble. And he does, along with a rag tag group of boys who learn some hard lessons about life. I hope to have Blue Crabs available as a Kindle short prior to the launch of Bring Down the Furies. Here’s a sneak peek at the first page.

Let me hear from you, and check back often for new updates. In the meantime, check out the cover art for Bring Down the Furies. I hope you like it.