Why writers don’t answer email…

I am lucky that I get email from readers of my Real Vampires series on a daily basis. Some of it comes from Facebook and it’s easy to answer with a word or two. I get to those right away. Others come to my personal account which I have a link to on my web page. I am happy to answer these as I have time. But some queries take more time than others. If you want to know how long my series will go on, believe me, so do I. In the publishing business, the authors are at the mercy of the dreaded sales figures. If a book sells well, a new contract will be offered. If it doesn’t? Well, a series may be allowed to die. Doesn’t matter that there are loyal followers of that chubby vampire who are clamoring for Glory’s next adventure. Unless the readers number in the thousands and they are all buying their own copies, not sharing or checking them out of the library or buying them used, then the series will not go on.

Now in this day of digital publishing authors do have the option of putting a book out on their own if a publisher drops them. So I could let the Real Vampires series go on forever by myself on Amazon or Barnes & Nobles as an e-book only someday. But it’s not easy to do that with no guaranteed paycheck. And I’m on book 9 now of Glory’s story. At some point maybe it will be time to put this story to bed. And not in the exciting, hot way that my vampire’s been doing, if you know what I mean. Now don’t panic. So far, the series lives.

I still get some snail mail in my P.O. Box too. Most of it is from prisoners. This is not fun. It’s really kind of sad and some of it is borderline sick. I’ve received stories from guys who want me to read their stuff and get it published. Fact of life: authors have their own stories, folks, we don’t need yours. And, seriously, a person who has been locked up for violent crimes may have a handle on fantasy but I don’t particularly want to read it. It is hard to get around to answering snail mail.

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Gerry Bartlett figures that vampires are pretty much like everyone else except for the liquid diet. She is a native Texan who owns an antique business on the historic Strand of Galveston, and lives halfway between Galveston and Houston with her husband John and a Bedlington Terrier named Belle. Check out her website or follow her on Facebook.