SPEAKER_06 0:37

With Dr. Julia Royston.

SPEAKER_03 0:42

Well, hello, I'm Dr. Julia Royston. Welcome to another edition of Live Your Best Life, where I'm always seeking to bring you people, places, tools, information, and resources to help you to live your best life. And you know, as an added bonus, I always love to bring you authors with new books and uh books you might not have read and you need to add to your collection, uh, your e-reader or um share with a friend and let others know uh exactly uh what's going on in the literary world. And so I am pleased and sponge to have this gentleman with me um today to talk about his book and really kind of inspire and motivate people in the writing journey as well. Um, because I know it has been a long desire of some of you to write your book. And some of you say, uh, like my grandfather used to say, I'm fixing two, I'm one day gonna, and you haven't done it yet. So if we can help move you forward in that process, uh we will. So I want you to get your pen and paper if you're old school, and get your phone if you're new school, like I am. I'm in both areas, old and new school, and uh follow this gentleman and his books, support him, share all that good stuff. So I want him to introduce himself, tell us where he's from, um, give us his website and his social media handles. Take it away, sir.

SPEAKER_02 2:10

Good. My name's Tony Lindsey. How's everyone doing? Um, born and raised in Chicago, um, educated there as well. Um, and I also went online to Arizona State, but I went to U of I Chicago UI C. I went to um Chicago State uh for the MFA. Uh where you can reach me, you can reach me on social media, Tony Lindsay, L-I-N-D-S-A-Y. Um, my email is writing.gmail.com. I do have a website, uh www.penhyphen, the number four hyphen hire, pinforhire.com. But the quickest way to get me is through the email, writing w-r-i-t-i-n-g dot night, n-i-g-h-t at gmail.com. Uh mostly a writer. I have done some editing in the past. I don't do too much now. Um busy writing. Uh got a new book out, and I've written mysteries, I've written Street Lit, I've written um Urban Drama, uh, psychological thrillers. This new one is a mystery thriller. Um, what else can I tell you about me? Um I've published, I've been published since 2000. If you Google me, Tony Lindsay, L-I-N-D-S-A-Y, you'll see all the different books and all the different publishers I've been with. Um that's that's pretty much me in a nutshell. I love to write and I love to be read. So I try to write stuff that I think people are gonna read. And I love each of them.

SPEAKER_03 3:47

Absolutely. Okay, so let's go back to the to the beginning. Have you always wanted to be a writer? Have you always loved to read? Has it always been a passion of yours? Or what motivated you to actually write and um uh take it to the next level?

SPEAKER_02 4:03

Okay, so it's kind of funny because I I did like to read. I you know, still love to read. I've got a whole room full of books to be read. Um, I've got probably eight bookshelves. Um, I read a lot, but how it started, I started out reading, but we I was fortunate enough to have uh Nora Blakely was a teacher at our school, which is Gwendolyn Brooks's daughter. So um Gwendolyn Brooks would come up to the school and she would hang out and she told us all we could write.

SPEAKER_03 4:35

B Gwendolyn Brooks.

SPEAKER_02 4:36

The Gwendolyn Brooks.

SPEAKER_03 4:38

Oh my!

SPEAKER_02 4:39

Yeah, so that was that's an advantage of living in Chicago, and and she told us we could write. I believed her, and I kept writing. And she would read our stuff and tell us it was good, and I believed her. I saw her probably maybe I don't know, 10 years later, around 99 or 2000, maybe even 98. No, it had to be 99, maybe, because the book was my first book was published, and she asked me, and I was very happy to tell her that I had published the book. So that was really cool.

SPEAKER_03 5:09

Oh wow! I mean, that is like the classics, that is like, you know, those um people who went before you who were writing when we didn't see ourselves writing, and that that was but not on a large scale, like well-known and all of that.

SPEAKER_02 5:26

I mean, people have been writing forever, but on that level, no, and she was fortunate because we Chicago State used to have what was called a Black Writers Conference, and at that conference, this is no exaggeration, I met Walter Mosley, Tony Morrison, John A. Williams, Sonia Sanchez, Hakeem Idambuti, Sterling Plump. These were people who were regularly at the school. So I was extremely fortunate. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:53

You're in the right area you're in the right area too. And of course, that it really is a a large major metropolitan area, and that is a real proponent of that. And now and there was a draw.

SPEAKER_02 6:05

There was a draw.

SPEAKER_03 6:06

Oh, absolutely. Yeah, you didn't have to say, come on, y'all, come on, wait a minute, come on, come on, like we are still trying to do in some areas to this day. And we're gonna talk about promotion in a minute. So, with that, you know, you you were as they say, you were there not in age, but the experience, the ones with vast expertise, um, probably some traditional deals, some independent. Um, so therefore, tell us about what was the first book.

SPEAKER_02 6:39

My first book it was uh the first published book. The first book I wrote was Street Possessions. The first published book was One Dead Preacher, and it did pretty good. You know, um people loved it. Uh it got exposure, it was number one on Amazon for a minute. Um for Chicago, for the Chicagoland area.

SPEAKER_03 6:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:01

Um it was recorded in the new daily newspapers, people loved it. I loved it, and it led to I had other mysteries behind there. One dead doctor, one did lawyer, one dead preacher, one dead activist. Um we're all part of that mystery series. It was one one character, David Price, um, middle-aged Chicago Southside guy, lived in Inglewood his whole life. So he was pulled off into different he was pulled into different situations where he had to um find out who murdered somebody, who killed somebody. All very good reads, but that was the first one, one dead preacher. Oh wow, I love it. Okay, how many's in the series altogether? Is it four or five? Um, one dead preacher, one dead doctor, one dead lawyer, one dead activist. So it's four.

SPEAKER_03 7:47

Oh wow. Okay. We need to find that. We need to find that series. Those of you who are um that that's one of the beauties that I always remind authors and my own clients, uh, etc., is that books are evergreen. We just need to find new readers and we need to find new people for um our books. And that's just it. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, it don't go out of style. I tell them all the time, it's not like bread. It doesn't stale. It does not uh it does not necessarily uh go bad. So I've got, you know, you've had uh tremendous motivation being able to actually be in the room and actually um communicate with those uh very, very popular names of authors, and not just in Chicago, but nationally. But what would you tell um someone who's like, I don't have access to that, I'm in a small town? And most authors, as we know, are very much introverts. They stay in their uh closet, me in my little messy office, the same thing. Excuse me. So what would you tell them? Because they're you know, they've written it maybe finished, but it's not published. So that fear of moving forward, how do we get past it? What do we do?

SPEAKER_02 9:11

Start seeing the book as a finished product, as something that you have to promote. Um don't just see it as your baby, although it's it remains your baby, but it's a product and you have to promote it. You want to look at other books that were similar to it, how they got promoted, who did they go to, what was used. Um if you don't have access to an agent or a publisher, you want to look at smaller presses first. Um that's after you've tried the big ones. I'll I tell people shoot for the sky and and and be happy with the hilltop, right? Shoot for hitting hit the big publishers that have published books like yours. Look at yours, see what it was, see publishers that have done it. If none of the big boys bite, then go to the small ones. And when I say big publishers, I also mean big name agents. Hit them both at the same time, see who rolls over, who turns over first.

SPEAKER_03 10:06

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 10:07

Then go to the mid-level, right? To see what you can do there. And you can tell who's mid-level, you know, you know what I mean? Because they've got to still they still publish a lot of books. That's right. And that big assignment and schuster, no, they they may be like Willow Press or something, right? Right. So hit them second. And after you've done that, hit the even smaller presses. Exactly. Who have who have they have been a self-publisher themselves, but they are publishing other people now because they've figured out a market. Hit them. So you're gonna get out there, and then if that doesn't work, self-publish it. Well, exactly it as if it if that is like your last household. I'm just saying that's an option. It is absolutely, absolutely. You saw the options that's available, but definitely get it out there. Don't don't think of it as your baby. Think it's still your baby, but it's a product, it's something you want to move. Yeah, absolutely, and it's something that other people want. I'm sorry, go ahead. I said that would be my advice too.

SPEAKER_03 11:06

Yeah, that's great advice because um, you know, and and even though I've been publishing for 17 years now, I have still gone for, and of course, they reject me right away, and I'm like, oh, okay, good. Now I can save this rejection lever and move on and keep publishing. I mean, wanting to be able to move in that space, or at least to be seen in that space. And sometimes they know the space that you're in, especially if you've been publishing a while like I have. And then you really need to know what you write, what your passion is, and then what the publisher publishes. Because everybody most people think, well, you're a publisher, you publish everything. No love, they don't. Everybody does not. And um, it's still definitely a business, looking at it as a business. Yeah. Exactly, exactly. Because it's a it's a whole business, it's not just uh, oh wow, I want to see my name on the cover of a book. We all like that. I want to see it on the shelves. Yeah, we all like that too. But you also gotta understand um what sells what people want to write and what people want to read and and how to make that available and all that good stuff. So so besides that, so tell us a little bit about your writing process. Like, do you start with the characters? Do you start with the plot, the story? Um, do you get an idea? Because I tell people all the time, don't talk to me too much, because I'm gonna get an idea for, especially recently. Uh uh people have been telling me something. I was like, what? Oh gosh, that sounds like a great fiction book. Oh my gosh, you know. So what comes first for you?

SPEAKER_02 12:42

Um all of the above, right? Sometimes it's the story, sometimes it's it's the character, sometimes it's the situation. I am motivated, motivated, or I'm I I'm a writer, so I I consider I create and record life, right? So I'm writing, I'm creating and I'm recording. But I'm recording what I witness sometimes, but not directly. I've been influenced by it, but let's say like uh yesterday or yeah, yesterday, I was talking to a friend, and he was telling me about a girl who um um went and had um went to a sperm clinic and had a specific type of sperm that she wanted. Okay, okay, like it was a specific ethnic group that she wanted. She she didn't want any sperm from anything else but this. And I was like, that is so different, you know, to for some and I'm thinking that that and I told him that would be a good beginning for a story. Yeah, would I write that? I don't know, you know, but it I recognized it as something that was so different that it would spark or it would hold a reader's interest. Absolutely. And so, but again, then I'll meet people, right, who are so different who I say, well, damn, that's really strange. I need to put, I need to remember that so that when I'm writing a character, maybe I'll use that. So what motivates me, and and this came from um a professor of mine, Sterling Plump. Um a writer has something to say. A good black writer has something to say about his or her community. So I'm moved by something that affects my community. Like I wrote two novels about police violence, right? So, and I didn't even realize it till like three weeks ago. I was like, my God, you you hit this topic twice. But a good writer, again, has something to say that helps other people, and and that's where some of my ideas come from as well.

SPEAKER_03 14:43

Right. And I I think a lot of times, you know, we've been literate for a long time as a people, but we're still behind sometimes in some areas of the spotlight. And so I think we need as many, especially men, uh, black men, to be uh highlighting the um the writing game as writers, that it's cool to write books, it's cool to have your name on the book. I still find people like, you're the author. They still do that, even as a female. They still, oh, you wrote, oh my gosh, I can't believe it. Oh, congratulations. And then strangers are like, I'm so proud of you. They don't even know me. I'm so proud of you. I mean, I was at an event, and the lady next to me says, Oh my gosh, you know so many people. Have you been to this event before? I was like, no. I said, but let me give you a little hint. Some people are amazed, and uh to meet black female authors and publishers. And so she, I said, that's the reason why they say what they say, well, I'm proud of you too. I said, well, I appreciate that, but you know, that's just the nature and that's the contribution to the community that we both make that um that we're able to uh contribute on that level, and it'll last long beyond we're here on this earth. I mean, you know, it's like anything else. I tell people all the time, it's your intellectual property and to be passed down to the next generation and beyond. So so you start with um things that uh ideas that come to you. I do the same thing, I'm influenced, but sometimes I embellish. Like I either make it bigger or smaller than it is. Right. Because I'll I'll especially in fiction characters, I want them to maybe have some rough times, but I always want them to succeed. I I don't like the the woman who stays stupid all the time or stays in a relationship forever. I need for her to aha have a high moment and wake up. I I still like strong female characters, but I need for her to have a head on, right?

SPEAKER_02 16:48

You like to see that. We like to see growth, which is understandable. Exactly. Um all my characters don't grow, but there is one or two in the book that will grow. But some people, just like in real life, stay stuck on stupid, right? Yeah. There's some certain old folks saying you can lead a horse to water.

SPEAKER_08 17:09

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:12

Right. So and I I sometimes I write that. Um I I think it's it's the story though that probably keeps me going, you know. And sometimes if I don't want the story to end, uh something a different situation will occur. And and I also know when the book is finished, right? When when it's done. Like I've had books turn out to be a lot shorter, and I made it a novella than it was supposed to, that I was thinking it was gonna be. Right. But that that that was but it was good, it was finished. It was yeah, right.

SPEAKER_03 17:45

Do your characters talk to you while I'm writing?

SPEAKER_02 17:48

Yeah, yeah. Well, the situation, it's not like I hear any voices. The simple You don't hear voices, really.

SPEAKER_06 17:55

Okay, I'm weird.

SPEAKER_02 17:56

I hear voices. While I'm writing, it'll I I'll it'll be like, no, you know, this wouldn't wouldn't be what this character would say. Yeah, yeah, no, they actually talk.

SPEAKER_03 18:07

Okay, yeah, that's actually talk to me. Right, I've heard say that.

SPEAKER_02 18:11

I've yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 18:13

I was working on a uh, it was from the man perspective. It's uh men of the fellowship series, and and I had book one and two, they rolled out really fast. But book three, he kept saying, I said, Come on, Xavier. He said, I'm not ready. I'm not ready to talk yet. I was like, Are you serious? You're gonna leave me one and two, you're not gonna talk, you're not gonna tell me, you know. And then all of a sudden, one day, he says, I'm ready now. And it just poured out like water, like it didn't take me long, even though I'd waited over a year. It wasn't writer's block, he wasn't talking, and then he rolled out with his story and then take three, four months, boom, I was done. Wow. So uh, but then my children's tween fiction series, book six, Terrence the terrific. Um, I was done. I said, I'm done. And Terrence said, No, you're not. I haven't used my superpowers yet. What do you mean? How you gonna have my book finished? So yeah, I'm I'm a little strange. My characters actually do talk to me.

SPEAKER_02 19:20

So um that's yeah, you you're not the the first person I've heard say that.

SPEAKER_03 19:24

I know it's it's strange, but it show is helpful when I'm under the gun helping out another client, and then it just comes really fast. I I can get it down, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:32

It's really an another client's uh character as well.

SPEAKER_03 19:37

Um you know, I I help other people write and publish, so it's you'll hear their characters too. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Only your own. They usually tell me. I only hear my own now. Oh, okay. I'll hear theirs, you know. I I I see a vision for yours though. Okay. If you bring me an idea for a story, uh, and I always, as you know, as people know, I protect it. So I send you a privacy statement, so you can talk about anything. And um, but if you tell me your story or your idea or whatever, I can get a visual for it. So I'm I'm a big, big story, big visual girl. So um, all right. So tell us about your latest, latest book. Uh, what if I don't?

SPEAKER_02 20:19

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It is also a murder mystery. What I did with this that was different. I wanted to have more than one protagonist, right? Because generally in my books, there's one main character. This is the first book where I have probably like four. Yeah, and it's a good, good, good, fast-paced story, and you get intimately involved with each character. You you see the growth, you see each character change, you see each character uh develop. Um, and something happens in the book where people are um I've gotten all types of responses, right? Um, I hate you. Why did you do that? Um I love you know it's good then. When they say that you made me, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:07

When they go, yeah, when they how that's a good one then.

SPEAKER_02 21:10

Yep, yep, yep. So I've gotten that, but I also did something else. This is the first time I've had a book two in a book. Remember how books were in the 70s and the 80s, you would read them, and something would be dramatically enough to stop, and they would put a book two in. Yes. I've done that with this book as well.

SPEAKER_03 21:27

Oh, okay. I love it. I love it.

SPEAKER_02 21:30

I got to do two things. I had the multiple protagonists, and I had a book two, and it's a murder mystery.

SPEAKER_03 21:36

So I was I'm I'm very, very happy and very put the whole thing in there or just one chapter to start you, like an epilogue.

SPEAKER_02 21:44

What do you mean? For the book two?

SPEAKER_03 21:46

So when the book T did you put both of them together?

SPEAKER_02 21:49

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. The book one and the book two is in here. Yeah. Wow. Together. So I was really happy about that. Um about the multiple characters multiple protagonists. And I really love the cover.

SPEAKER_08 22:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:06

So this is um this is a very loved piece. With it also being my most current, which is um um what I um I'm always in love with the book that's outdone, you know, the the most recent that I've written. Uh that's all it's always the one that, you know. 'Cause I'm still marketing it. Um so the this this is gonna be an audio. So cause the title is What if I don't? What if I don't? A murder mystery and there's a lady holding a gun pointing it at the reader.

SPEAKER_03 22:37

Exactly. That stopped me when I saw it at the expo. That's really what you want. I I want the shock value, I want uh stop me, especially in those large events like Expo is Black Expo, uh, Indiana Black Expo, yeah. Those kinds of that make you uh all the thousands of people coming through and then you stop and look, yeah, that's what you want.

SPEAKER_02 23:05

Yeah, that's it. I sold a lot. Um and what I've done is I've I've got some that have a smaller text, and I was giving those away because of the print run where they didn't produce correctly. So those I gave away. So I'm using them for marketing tools too. Absolutely. It was a good, it was a good I had a good time at the expo. So books and it was good.

SPEAKER_03 23:30

I I did too. I I sold books as well, but I'm always uh conscious that um some authors don't really fully understand um how you know they just want book sales, but there's uh a lot more to it. Your personality has to be on it, you know, there's a lot more, and where we were this time is rarely, I'm rarely with all of the book people on those roles. Like I'm usually in between the clothes and the jury and the maybe a nonprofit on one side of me, but this time they put us all together, which I guess it was good. I don't know, but it might not have been good for other people. You know, you have multiple books. I have multiple books. But if you have one book, that was gonna be struggle. That was gonna be a hard one for you. And so, um, you know, it just is what it is, and we learn and we learn from events and and major events. Okay, so you mentioned earlier about promoting. Um, what would be one major promotion, book promotion tip that you would give somebody who finished the book, it's gone to the editor. What is one or two things they should be doing before the book is done?

SPEAKER_02 24:44

So before the book is done. I I don't do too much before the book is done. Um me, I don't. I've seen other people do it. I I'm amazed. Um I'm going to an event and people are pre-selling their books prior to the event. I had never seen that before. Um and and that that explains why when you go to these events, people are lined up waiting for the pre-sold them those books. Absolutely. That's probably a miraculous thing to do. Um since I haven't done I I I really can't speak to it, but as far as promotion, I I hire people that I know can reach people. Um I hire PR services, I hire um, I hire marketing services, I hire blue the blurb services, um, like I use um PR releases, I use um uh black PR, I I use uh Queenie, I use um uh Urban Books, I'm um Urban Um Urban Book Reviews, I use uh Ellen. So I I use a lot of different services and I've known these people for a while, so um I get a lot of help. You know, so that that's that's how I do it. Um and I go to a lot of events. I used to do one a month, um, and I still try to do one a month. I can't always find them though. So I but I do more than eight, nine a year, you know. Um I don't quite do the one a month anymore because I I again the events aren't always there. Right, right, right, right. And I I I do a lot of online book clubs. I I and I give a lot of books away. I mail a lot of books out. Um So that's that's that that's those are my secret tips.

SPEAKER_03 26:37

Absolutely. And you know, I'll have to because I do now I'm the um 40, 30 to 40 events a year. So I I travel a lot. Yeah. I I travel a lot. So um, so that's me, but I need to get into, as I say, I'm getting older and getting tired of dragging and huffing and puffing through convention centers. I'm gonna have to invest in uh looking at your suggestions for um promotion. Of course, a lot of that helps too when you have a book that people want to read. Right. That people are interested in. Mystery thrillers, you have a track record, you have a uh a reputation for your books and things. And also, I also tell authors, especially with fiction, once you put out a book, people are interested in it. Fiction writer, fiction readers are loyal. They are extremely, extremely loyal. So your promotional services are good, but they're probably pretty doggone easy because once you pay the budget, the people are waiting. Oh, is this the next one he got out? I want to buy it. And so um that that is always uh a great thing. And thank you so much for those uh helpful tips. Because I get older, I'm gonna need to invest in them more and more and more. Because uh 40 uh events uh a year is a lot. That's like two, three, that's a lot, a lot.

SPEAKER_02 28:05

I used to do that, like maybe um book number six or seven. I probably was because that when I started out, that's how many we but never. I don't know if I was ever 40, but I was pretty high. I did more than that.

SPEAKER_03 28:20

Yeah, I've done that for the last well, at least the last three to four years, because there's a lot of local events that I do here. I probably do 10 locally, even before leaving town. So there's probably at least 10 uh large events that I do here in town, so in Louisville area. So it is what it is, and and um I but now I'm if it's something I can't get to and don't feel like I'm sending people. I'm like, you go here, here's a flyer, check into that. Here, here's a flyer, here's an event in your city. Do you hear your comment? No, sweetie. I'm sending you with your books, and and you'd be able to do it. Okay, so what you working on next? What if I don't? We've got book one and two. What's after that?

SPEAKER_02 29:05

Oh, what if I don't? That that I'm marking that now, but I am currently writing uh another vampire piece.

SPEAKER_03 29:12

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02 29:13

Yeah, I I did one called Melody Night, and the response was uh Melody Night, a vampire's tale. And the response was really um surprisingly positive and uh plentiful. So I was like, wow, people really wanted to read a vampire book.

SPEAKER_03 29:32

And they do horror and vampires, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:35

And I was I was surprised. So uh and it it it's not ho this was different because what this is she's a CHC, you meet her on her wedding day, her groom gets gunned down, um, and she goes home, she's about to take a handful of sleeping pills, and a man appears before her. Um he's a vampire, but he only feeds on depressed people. He doesn't kill her, she becomes his third daughter. He works for the CIA, his daughters work for the CIA. So you see her learning how to become a CIA operative as well as a vampire. So it's not your typical blood under the bridge vampire book. It's more like an espionage smile. Yeah. Right, and and so I think that's responsible for the amount of readership. And so, what I wanted to do with with this one was also write something that was different than your horror vampire story.

SPEAKER_08 30:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:31

Yeah, it's not like dark shadows or anything like that. It it's different. Being a vampire is just part of her personality, yeah, and uh a part of her life, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:41

You made it Melanie Knight of Regular Pete, Melanie Knight, okay. I see how you're do you write in the daytime? Because I don't know. I I don't write those kind of stories, so even some of my clients who write that level of story, I only can read them in the daytime. Because scary stories can't sleep.

SPEAKER_02 31:04

It's not, yeah, it doesn't scare you. There's some tense moments, but it's not like you're gonna jump because you're reading it. Right. You're gonna probably be involved more with what she's gonna do next. Right, okay. But I've written like I write streetlet. Um, I've written um more ways.

SPEAKER_03 31:22

Stop right there. Street let define what that is.

SPEAKER_02 31:25

Because we have an idea of urban fiction is that same okay with people who make their survival or make their money off their wits, and wits that they're used on the streets. So it the the the two I think they're the same. Um maybe some people may may but see, I was I've been writing it so long before there was a a title urban fiction, people called it street leg.

SPEAKER_08 31:50

Yeah, okay, okay.

SPEAKER_02 31:51

Um, like Donald Goins, um uh Kwan, uh uh Codus, whatever, you know, these books, you know. So but mine in that I've written um More Boy Than Girl, Chasing It. Now what I did that was different though, is in both of those the lead are transgenders. So you don't get you you get hardcore streetly, but you get it from a different perspective. Like the female story she's about. The other story he's uh he he rips off a a gang uh a known game banger. So there's little ways of doing things.

SPEAKER_03 32:30

I was kinda wondering the the just the title. More boy than girl.

SPEAKER_02 32:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:38

Now the more boy than girl when it's is newer. Well not new, but it it it's it's more current. Um chasing it, I don't even know if that's still in the print. That was published by um Urban Books. So I don't even know if that's gonna I don't even know if that's still in the print or not.

SPEAKER_03 32:53

Oh, okay, okay. So, okay, last question, last question. Because see, every time you say something, it's making me think of something else. So which way do you prefer to publish? Traditional, um independent or self-published? Independent to me is the more the like I'm an independent publisher, so that's the small media house.

SPEAKER_02 33:16

Right. I I I like independent because generally with independent I I have more more freedom on what I'm writing, right? If if if I've written a book that um let's just say I wrote um um when I wrote um Sass and Papa's Head, which was a young adult, right? Um I couldn't find a publisher for it. And a big publisher for it. But I did find an independent publisher, um Penn Knight Press. They took it and I was so enamored with the process that I did like four or more books for it. Because it was like, oh, you wrote the yeah, bring it over here and then I was like, cool. But there's nothing like getting a um advance check, you know, yeah, right for the traditional publisher. That that's a pretty good feeling. When you finish the manuscript and you know that they they want it, they're gonna buy it from you, they're gonna give you X amount of dollars, ten thousand, whatever the amount is, right in your in your pocket. I don't care if it's three thousand, it's still a good feeling to get three thousand dollars cash for a book that you finish. So do I prefer one over the other? Um, I like them equally in self-publishing, the freedom of that is just butt wow crazy. You know, I don't know, I don't have to worry about anybody saying yeah, no, or not. Right. All I have to do is make sure it's edited well, I've got good graphics. So there's there's strong points for each other.

SPEAKER_03 34:44

Absolutely, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 34:46

So I don't prefer one or the other. It depends on where I'm at. If I'm in a situation where my rent is due, I don't have rent anymore, but if I was in the situation where my rent was due, then yeah, I would want a a self-published. I mean, I would want a traditional publisher. It would depend on where I am and what's going on. Yeah. But I I think all three are extremely valuable. Right. Absolutely. I've used each one. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:11

And I'm finding that that is more uh prevalent than ever to be able to have that ability to do that. And the freedom and flexibility with technology and all to be able to have that is is incredible. Because I know a lot of mainstream traditional published authors with the big boys in New York who have gotten the large advances still projects that they want because they don't want to be controlled of when it's released. They don't want people to change their voice. They don't want, you know, they like the advance of traditional, but that project was just for that. Me, I think I have control issues. So I wouldn't want nobody fooling with my baby and say, my baby, what I'm doing. So uh I really strive to to please the uh reader and go straight to the audience. And uh really, especially with my kids' books, I really strive to please the kids because I I've got to the librarian in me still wants to um garner younger readers so that they read younger. I don't care if it's ebook. They need to get off technology. I said, well, if the ebook's on there, I don't have any problem with you not being. I mean, you know, I know a lot of adults still want to turn the pages, but I said, reading is reading to me, whether it's on their phone or the mobile device, as long as there's something that they enjoy and want to read, I'm cool with that. That reading, I don't like reading at all. Don't worry about the format. Is like I don't like to read at all. That makes me nervous. That makes me scary. Okay, what if I don't? Um, available everywhere. Go to um pin-4-higher.com.

SPEAKER_02 36:57

Or just check me out on Facebook, Tony Lindsay.

SPEAKER_03 37:00

Yeah, uh, his books are there too. And this is A Y, L-I-N-D-S-A-Y, and be sure and and find him. It's some incredible covers, uh, some fantastic stories. He'll give you enough variety to keep you reading, as I say, all through the summer at the beach and by the pool and uh and keep you warm in the wintertime, too, as well by the fire with your mug of hot chocolate. So uh we appreciate you. Thank you so much for being my guest. Be sure and follow him, support him, share not only his social media handles, his social media page, but share the books and have them uh write them in time for the holidays for your friends and family members, all that good stuff. So reach out. We appreciate you, Mr. Lindsay. Congratulations on all that you're doing now and in the future. You be blessed. And I'm Dr. Julia Royston praying today, tomorrow, and always that you live your best life. Be blessed and have a great day. Bye-bye.

SPEAKER_02 38:01

Have a good one, bye-bye now.

SPEAKER_03 38:02

Bye-bye.

SPEAKER_07 38:10

Each and every day, love and live your way to your very best, learn and lead today. The best you can, it's your life. Take a step to live.

SPEAKER_05 38:34

Come on and live your best life.

SPEAKER_06 38:40

With Dr. Julia Royston.

SPEAKER_01 38:46

Life can be hard. Sometimes we need someone to pray with us right now. Envision Radio has partnered with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association to bring you the 24-hour Billy Graham Prayer Line. Trained staff and volunteers are ready to pray with you and answer your spiritual questions. 855-255-Pray. The Billy Graham Prayer Line presented for you by Envision Radio. 855-255-Pray.

SPEAKER_00 39:16

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