Allow Me To Introduce Myself

My name is Austin S. Camacho and I’ve been invited to join this esteemed group of bloggers. I am a published author with a four-book detective series to my credit, but there are lots of those lying around, so why should you listen to anything I have to say - especially since the first sentence you heard from me here is in passive construction?

Well, I can say that my opinions are not only strong but backed by experience. I’ve published my novels through a Print On Demand company, then by way of genuine self-publishing. After that a small press accepted my work so I actually got an advance, which I think is the line you cross when you can call yourself “commercially” published. And I have a New York agent who is trying to sell a couple of my manuscripts to the big guys, the mythical “mainstream” publishers we’ve all heard so much about. I’ve taught writing to adults at a local college. I’ve given classes and sat on panels at a number of writing conferences.

I’ll never talk so much about myself again, I just wanted you to know that no matter what kind of writer you are, we have something in common. And there’s this other thing. I love to write. Mostly I love writing mystery novels, but short stories and articles come out too.

Don’t get me wrong. There’s also writing I hate. I hate writing submission letters. I hate writing press releases about me or my own work. I hated writing a treatment for a potential screenplay of one of my stories. I’m hating trying to write discussion guides for book clubs that might want to read my novels.

That kind of writing is marketing, either to publishers, producers or readers. Not liking it doesn’t change the fact that it’s half the writer’s job. I spend a lot of time on marketing, which is why a POD company asked me to write a book on marketing fiction. (Don’t buy it – an updated version will be out in 2 months.)

So, bottom line, I’m a writer with all the oddities and foibles you have. I’ve learned a lot from the other writers here. I've traded opinions with Cheryl Kaye Tardif and now I hope to do so with you. I’ll be back when I have something to say, and now you know who I am.


Austin