Skip to main content

The Arkoff Method, Publishing, N'at

People have been asking questions about my books, and I think that's great! A common theme seems to be about how much and how often I write.

The reality is that I write all the time. Always have. I usually have a notebook or some bit of paper nearby, just in case. This doesn't mean it always turns into something - but sometimes it does.

The bigger question, I think, is that I've started to publish a lot. 3 books in 3 months seems prolific to some folks. The reality is simple.

I have a backlog. In all honesty, this makes it difficult for me to move forward. It's just how I've always been. When The Rowdy Bovines split up and I formed The Tremblers, people were surprised at how many 'new' songs I'd already written. The songs weren't 'new' to me. I'd been writing them all along. I had to do something with them. So - new band. 

My books function along the same lines. 

One thing I enjoy is working on the covers. I'm no great artist by any means. But I do come up with some pretty good ideas - I just lack the skill to make them happen without a little help. If you know me, you know that I'm pretty handy with Photoshop, etc. I collect fonts (because yes, I am that nerdy).

Collections of short stories were never much of a thought to me until about a year ago. I'd been plugging away at my first novel (COMING SOON) but kept writing bits of prose or shorts. Once I get busy doing something, I like to stay busy. It wasn't long before I realized a had a lot of short stories. So, what to do with them?

At first, I tried putting all of them in one collection. It was just way too much. A lot of the stories didn't fit well with others, so I set it aside. 

Around this time, I started corresponding with literary agents and small publishers. Both reminded me of everything I can't stand in the music industry, so I started to look into self-publishing. Honestly, I don't create anything with the thought of making money. I've always figured if I enjoy something, someone else might. That's it. Plain and simple. 

Self-publishing gives me the freedom to publish books the way I want them to be presented. Sure, some things are out of my control. I don't always like the finished formatting, but I'm finding workarounds for that. 

I love old movies, especially old B-movies. A childhood spent watching Chiller Theater developed that particular appreciation. Back in the 1950s (and through the 1970s) legendary B-movie producers Samuel Z. Arkoff and James H. Nicholson reversed the traditional filmmaking process to minimize financial risk. They would come up with a title and a poster and then find a filmmaker (who could work on a limited budget) to make it. My book covers work along the same lines.

I'll look at a collection of my stories and think "If this was a book, what would I call it?" 

Using a single title as a name for the collection - that comes from the record industry. If one story feels representative of the collection, BOOM! There's the title. Then I just think up an image to go with it.

The cover for BODIES started out as 2 separate images. An old chair in my garage, and a window from an old, abandoned house. I mixed them together in a photo-editing app and got close. I used another app to clean it up. Same with LITTLE GUY. I sketched out the image, worked on it, and then ran it through a few apps. I'm happy with both of these!

My latest collection, THE HOUSE REMEMBERS, uses a still from a video shoot we did in 2012. I'm all about recycling! It's just too good of an image not to get some use out of it. I ran it through different apps until I got it how I wanted, added text, and BAM! Cover completed. 

The aforementioned novel will be published next month. It's taken over a year, but I finally got the cover the way I want it, thanks to a photo shared with me by a friend. Took some editing but I finally got it how I wanted it. You'll be seeing it soon!

In the meantime, I'll attach links to my other books (for those who might be interested). Until next time, Stay Moist Citizens! - MCM 8/5/26 

BODIES: A Rustbelt Gothic Collection | Barnes & Noble®

LITTLE GUY: another daring, dastardly collection | Barnes & Noble®


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Not At MY Age! (for the nebby folks)

 This will come as no surprise to anyone - I'm not a morning person. Those of us who prefer the dark, quiet hours of the night do occasionally have to deal with the reality that there is a 5:30 in the AM as well as PM. It's an uncomfortable reality, but that's just life.  I had to deal with the AM version yesterday. Long story short, I had a doctor's appointment at 8:30, had no idea where the office was, and still had to attempt to function. My morning routine is non-negotiable. It's really the only way I can deal with most people. Yes, copious amounts of coffee are involved.  I had a check-up last week. My regular doc (I call him "Doogie" but I'm not convinced he fully understands the reference), who is younger than some shoes I own, was concerned about a growth on my nose. I wasn't...but I don't have the magic letters following my name, so my opinion is moot.  Let me be clear, I've dealt with this before. As cancers go, my previous bout o...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meatball

 I was always a dog person. I grew up with dogs. Dear ol' dad was never a fan of cats. Mom loved all animals. But ours was a dog house. Plain and simple. My first experience living with a cat was thanks to a roommate. He had a 40-pound lump of feline ferocity named Meatball. When he moved in with his girlfriend, the cat was left behind, due to the girlfriend's alleged allergies. I believe the reality was more like she was allergic to the oversized beast's personality.  Meatball was just mean. Maybe that's the wrong word. In his defense, he was a foundling. My roomie worked at a pizza joint, and Meatball was found in the alley behind the place...noshing on a discarded meatball. This was the cat's preferred food.  Aside from his obesity, Meatball had ear mites or something as a kitten. His ears flopped down, not unlike a pig.  Just imagine a 40-pound cat, with floppy ears, and a bad disposition. Oh, he was mostly white with some black spots. On the rare occasions he w...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Great Tuesday Flood

This is why I'm fun on road trips! - MCM Tammy's water broke and pert near flooded all of Main Street. The Krystiak twins had to be taken out of the dollar store in one of them blow-up rubber rafts. Old Ms. McGertz hasn't been seen and is presumed drowned. But let me back up. Bob Halpern is one of the two full-time police officers in the town of Sandy Lake. There are only about 600 residents, give or take, so the Cahill County sheriff's department does most of the heavy lifting. Bob has been sucking up every minute of overtime he can ever since they got word that Tammy was pregnant again. The last time, she ballooned up to damned near three hundred pounds. She had a craving for those hot spicy fried pickles, you know, the ones you can get at the county fair. She had Bob running all over Cahill County and as far away as Torrence trying to find the damned things. To most folks, Tammy barely hits 'pleasant' on most days. The added weight and aggravation of pregn...
Post a Comment
Read more