What a world we find ourselves in for independent storytellers unleashed from traditional publishing. The potential to find a vast audience is there at tips of our fingers. Its liberating! And thought provoking...

When I self published my first hardbound coffee table book "Lake Tahoe" many years ago, the first 10,000 copies were printed in Japan, shipped to California, picked up at the port of Oakland in a rented U-Haul truck. We proceeded to overload the truck with seemingly endless heavy cases of books, maxing out the carrying capacity of our rental truck. Creeping up the Sierra over Donner Summit, our overloaded and underpowered rental truck strained and slowed to a Donner Party crawl, allowing our enlisted friend Jimmy to step onto the running boards and pee off the side while snailing up Interstate 80. Arriving at our rental home publishing headquarters, and then unloading the dense cargo, we collapsed into a state of exhaustion and dismay. Staring at the garage full of books, the reality of having to sell them sunk in. Gratefully, my first book was well received. We sold all of them, and did more additional print runs and sold them too.

Now days, I can get my books by print on demand through my publisher and Amazon. But, one thing hasn't changed. If it's not a story well told, it will linger on the bookshelf. A well crafted story stands the test of time.