John M. Davis has been featured in the Walter Day Collection! If you’re unfamiliar with Walter Day, he’s the founder of Twin Galxies (Arcade) and featured in the movie Wreck-It Ralph. His referee shirt is synonymous with Guinness Book of World Records as he’s the official referee of video game scores! Mr. Day is also a huge fan of science fiction, especially writing, and extended the offer to include Davis in his trading card series (card #238). What an honor!
It’s official. John M. Davis announced a genre crossover on 7/21/2020. No longer writing in the science fiction genre will hit Gunship fans hard, but Davis insists “Gunship, as a whole, is a good body of work. Except for maybe a 10-20 page finale, it is done. Finished. It was a great ride, but there are plenty of other great rides in the park.” – classic horror genre here we come!
An all-new podcast experience is coming! Expected to land in late September ’20 or early August ’20, Prepper Nation will be exactly as advertised – an all-prepping podcast. Apparently “Twitter is for baseball, podcasting is for prepping, and blogging is for writing” is the new normal at the Ponderosa. Not only is Davis handing a large portion of his social media presence off to his “social media team”, but his professional focus will be divided between writing classical horror novels and prepping.
bookcommander.wordpress.com 
While Jane Doe obviously has her head up her rear, it is true that you can’t make a decent product without investing either money or your own time. For those who don’t have talent or skill in a particular area of publishing, it might make sense for them to seek outside help, but it certainly doesn’t mean you CAN’T do it if you have enough drive and dedication.
In addition to the three established authors named here – John Davis, Jason Halstead, and Michael Hicks – Steven Montano is successful as a writer through self-publishing, though he hasn’t quit his day job. I know Michael writes full- time. I’m not sure about John and Jason. Regardless of employment status, all four are insipirations for my own writing.
That’s awesome man! Any author who helps out another is a winner in my book.
Okay, so the soapbox looks a bit small for company, but can I join in? This was great and as someone who is looking to self-publish my novella, I am encouraged by your words here. And hope you’ll happily dance a jig on that box to celebrate when (note: it’s when p, not if!) my novella is a hit 😀
I heard exactly that same “advice” and I have to admit that I loosened my corset-stays and giggled at it. What nonsense. The world’s technology has moved on, it is perfectly possible to self-publish for amost £zero. What the Jane Doh! “professional” is doing is misinterpreting the situation – absolutely, great writers can now publish great writing for almost nothing (except time and lots of very hard work); the change has been that a million terrible writers can also do the same without the time and hard work (or talent).
I love the ending of the vast publishing house cartel and their iron grip on the throat of the “printed” word – I’m dancing on that particular facet of the industry’s grave!
Once upon a time (mayhap on a dark and stormy night..) you had to be in the clergy to read at all. Then you had to be in bed with the big publishing houses to have a chance at being allowed to write. Now you just need to be on the internet. Fantastic.
Thanks for the comments! The gatekeepers of the publishing world have went from being “publishing agents” to readers, and that’s how it should be. In the end, the readers are the most important ingredient, not the bottom line.
I agree in part. No one should be discouraged from their dreams. But if you’re making a product for public consumption, it has to be worth their money. That means having it edited, if only by a spouse or a group of friends (they’re free). You’re only hurting yourself with a poorly edited book. No one will want to read it or any future books, and that’s the goal of a writer.