Work For Hire and Why it’s Stagnating The Comic Book Industry

There hasn’t been a new breakout comic book character at the two big comic book publishers since 1990’s. Moreover, there hasn’t been a breakout creative talent in the comic book industry at the big two comic book publishers since the 1990’s And there’s a reason for that.

Money.

When a writer or an artist creates a character for a comic book company like Disney’s Marvel or Time Warner’s DC it’s under a “Work for Hire” clause. This means that any work a writer or an artist does at the company belongs to the company and the only compensation the writer or artist gets for creating said is their salary.

Sounds fair doesn’t it?

Not if one counts the millions and sometimes billions some characters reap from licensing and merchandising.

All of that money goes to the corporate parent. While said comic book writer and artist who created the character who makes billions for the corporate parent sometimes struggle for years. Some go on to other jobs on other comic book series, others do work on commissions for fans until that next job comes in while others struggle in poverty.

Meanwhile their creations reap profits for corporations in the form of action figures, T-shirts and other licensed products for corporate owners. If they’re lucky to get their work reprinted, they may get the royalties from those sales.

Sounds fair doesn’t it?

That’s why many writers and artists like myself are thinking twice about bringing our original creations to the big two. Some are even thinking twice about looking for work in the comic book industry period.

While it would be great to see one’s creation on a comic store shelf under a Marvel or a DC banner, today most writers and artists are realizing being part of that brand just isn’t worth it in the long-term. Who wants to create the next Batman or Spider-Man only to watch as someone else reaps the profits? Who wants to create the next Superman or Captain America only to be told that their only compensation pay-per-story? Or in the case of an artist a price-per-page?

In an age where comic book characters are merchandised regularly as posters, backpacks, apparel, action figures, video games, Television shows, and even sold and repackaged in other mediums like children’s fiction and movies it feels like a rip-off.

Today a writer or an artist can make much more money by taking their work elsewhere. In this digital age, the same character and story developed as a comic book can be packaged and sold through self-publishing as a novel, YA novel, graphic novel or as an eBook. In those venues a writer reaps one hundred percent of the profits. And they hold one hundred percent of the rights to their work.

In addition to the ownership of their properties, self-publishing offers aspiring comic book writers and artists access to retail venues outside of comic shops. When a writer or an artist publishes their work through print-on-demand, or through an eBook retailer, they gain access to retailers such as Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com and an opportunity to reach millions of customers all over the world.

While self-publishing may be an uphill struggle for many writers and artists in the beginning, long-term a creator can reap the rewards for their work in the form of fair compensation. By owning all those rights they can create their own merchandise with a second party vendor if their work is successful. Or they can directly negotiate a licensing deal with a retailer or a manufacturer. Some may even negotiate a distribution deal with Diamond to get their work into comic shops. A few may even negotiate film or TV rights to those same studios which own the Marvel Comics and DC Comics catalogs.

It’s clear the work-for-hire model used by large publishers over the past seventy-five years is one of the major forces stagnating creativity within comic book industry. As long as this obsolete business model exists, writers and artists don’t have an incentive to take their creations to a major comic book publisher. Nor do they have an incentive to go to work on existing characters in the comic book business. That keeps the innovation and imagination fresh talent would offer publishers from reaching the comic book marketplace.

Moreover, it prevents the comic book industry from competing against other forms of media. Most that fresh talent who would have been writing comics today are now working in other forms of media. Some are working for trade publishers. Writing YA stories, fantasy or sci-fi or even commercial fiction. Others are writing Teleplays and screenplays. Artists are doing covers for those books or other commercial work.

All are making more money than they would writing comic books. And profiting from it.

Which is why comic books are still the bottom of the social food chain. In spite of all the blockbuster movies, merchandise and TV shows.

If the big two publishers hope to stay competitive in the twenty-first century, they’re going to have to offer a compensation package to writers and artists to work for them. This may include full ownership of their properties, profit sharing on licensing and merchandising or even bonuses for increasing sales or finding new demographics of readers when they promote their work. Without these new compensation incentives, the industry won’t be able to attract and retain new talent that will create the next big comic book character for the 21^st century.

Filler- Mattel's WWE Layla custom action figure and a note

I’ve been busy revising and writing the eBooks for the Summer YA eBook exclusive series, preparing the covers and other stuff. Had a backup article continuing the If Shawn wrote Comics...But it needed work. 

But articles will be back by Thursday. I just have to iron out some of the things I want to do.

So until then get a look at this pic of my Custom Mattel WWE Layla action figure:

Simple Boil N' Pop with Vickie Guerrro's body!  Looks great! 

  

If Shawn Wrote DC Comics' Wonder Woman

A long time ago in a ghetto far, far away…

I wanted to become a comic book writer.

When I was a teenager I studied the histories of the Marvel and DC Universes. Heck, I even studied the Archie Universe. I knew every character history, every secret identity, every major event in comic book history like the back of my hand. I wanted to be prepared when I finally got that writing job at a major comic book publisher. Back in the day I wanted to be able to jump right in and take over where my favorite creators left off..

But since I'll probably never get that chance, I'll share with you some of the concepts and ideas I'd implement for comic series or two. 

One of my strengths is writing female characters. Whether they be the daughters of Egyptian gods, Downtown Brooklyn Bakers or faded former child stars and their Television alter-egoes, or She-demons at a cross-roads in their life my female characters leave a lasting impression on the reader.

Wonder Woman is one of DC's Most iconic and recognized superheroines. But most writers these days have a hard time writing her or establishing a “voice” for her.

I’d love to bring the depth and multi-dimensionality of my previous female characters like Isis, E’steem, Cassandra Lee and Marilyn Marie, to the Amazon Princess from Themyscira for a run of issues.

Personally, I feel that Wonder Woman needs to be redefined for the 21st Century. While William Moulton Marston’s characters and premise are rock solid, Women have changed so much over the past 50 years. Many women have surpassed Moulton’s ideal of a woman coming into Man’s world to prove she’s the equal to a men and the superior of a man.

Now women who are the equal men are pretty commonplace. Moreover, we now have women who now act like men in some cases. Some actually think they are better than men.

So where does that leave Wonder Woman? Is she just another pretty face? Or can she still be a role model to those women of what they could aspire to be?

My primary focus of a Wonder Woman run would be to establish her as a heroine finding her place in a post-feminist world. A world filled with powerful women. Women who are the equal of Diana on a variety of levels. Women who may or may not have the best interests of men and women at heart.

Wonder Woman would be dedicated to protecting man’s world from those menaces. And trying to save women from themselves.

In a world of violent women like the ones who assaulted Rayon McIntosh, sexually perverted women who post videos of their graphic sexual escapades on WorldStarHipHop, to female teachers who are sexual predators in their classrooms, the menaces to women and the image of women in society are all around us. How would Wonder Woman fight these problems when she was confronted with them? And would she even be effective against them? I feel there’s a dearth of great material in the headlines and in viral media that could be explored in the pages of Wonder Woman comics.

Character wise, I’d like to establish Wonder Woman as someone struggling with her place in a world where the role of women has changed so dramatically. Paradise Island is a place where women have learned to live in harmony together. That’s a nice ideal. But in the real (Man’s) world, women just hate other women. For absolutely no reason. And Diana will be trying to figure this out why as she adjusts to life in the real (Man’s) world.

Most of the action of a Shawn James Wonder Woman run would be grounded in realities of life in postmodern, post-feminist America. I know comic fans love the fantasy elements of the Greek gods, and they’re essential to Wonder Woman, but I want to use them sparingly like I used Egyptian mythology in Isis. I feel focusing primarily on Diana’s experiences the contemporary real world makes the stories a bit more relateable to young female readers and makes a commentary on the human condition to older female readers.

If I wrote Wonder Woman, the Diana Prince identity would be back. I feel Diana Prince is to Wonder Woman What Clark Kent is to Superman. Coming from Paradise Island, Diana is alien observer studying a world of women who live with men in Man’s world. She needs a set of human eyes to give her the perspective to understand people’s problems before she goes into action as Wonder Woman.

I would also bring back a strict code of honor for Diana. I know the Post-Crisis version used deadly force when necessary, but I feel superheroes are held to a higher standard than ordinary humans. They have extraordinary abilities. They’re supposed to find a better way to do things. Besides, I feel all that gore and excessive violence have no place in a comic book targeted towards tweens, teens and young adults.

If I wrote Wonder Woman, Diana Prince would probably running her own home-based business like a consulting firm or event Planning .(something that would allow her to be on the go all the time and go into action quickly, use that invisible jet) Or I’d probably put her on a college campus as a Women’s studies professor. (Again, another place where she could go into action and travel a lot. Besides, who better to teach women about women than Wonder Woman? And where better to learn more about women than a college campus?

Plus a College campus is a place full of ideas and ideas for bad guys. And it’s a great place for me to explore storylines like sorority pledging, domestic violence, date rape, and female teachers who are sexual predators. While it’s often seen as a joke and a sexual fetish in American media, female teachers who abuse their position and have sexual relations with students are pedophiles. It’s time the media started treating this sexual abuse more seriously. I feel a Wonder Woman storyline could change people’s minds about the issue.

I would love to explore male/female relationships in the pages of Wonder Woman. How would men relate to Wonder Woman? Would they be intimidated by her beauty? Her size? Her intelligence? Or would they respect and appreciate her? How would she perceive them?

I would also love to explore the politics of feminism and postfeminism. I feel this should be a key theme in a Wonder Woman comic. Diana comes from Themyscira, a place where women are warriors, but they’re peaceful and nonviolent. But women in today’s world aren’t. The ideals and beliefs Marston had about women being the equal and superior to men have been achieved for the most part in the 21st century.

My Paradise Island would be a mix of Silver and Modern Age concepts. It’s a place filled with advanced technology, that contrasts the natural beauty of the island.

In terms of supporting cast, I’d love to bring back Etta Candy. She’d be the friend who helps Diana connect with the world. Most women have one BFF and I feel Wonder Woman should have one as well. Someone to hang out with, someone to talk to. Someone to have fun with. I feel that most modern incarnations of Wonder Woman lack because they really don’t show her having close long-term relationships with other women.

Hippolotya, Diana’s mom would be a major supporting character. Similar to the relationship of Isis/Queen Isis in Isis/Trial of the Goddess, She’d be her mentor and her role model. The woman she’d go to for advice.

Artemis would be around in my run of Wonder Woman as a major supporting character. Like Seth in my New Heliopolis/Isis series, she’d be a top ranking military officer in the Themiscerian army. She’d be a rival to Diana, the Veronica to her Betty on Paradise Island, a woman with a brilliant tactical mind and a skilled fighter. But because of her aggressive and hostile demeanor, she’d be denied the opportunity to go into Man’s world by Hippolotya as their ambassador. This would lead into future storylines.

Nu’bia would also be one of the Amazons on Paradise Island. She’d be a diplomat similar to Diana, her liason between Paradise Island She’d also be a computer whiz, engineer and scientist. Yeah, I’m turning her into Valerie from Josie and the Pussycats, but if I wrote comics I’d really want to encourage girls to get into things like computers and science, male dominated industries.

I see Paradise Island as a place where women are of many races, colors and creeds. It’s supposed to be a utopia where women are free of the constraints of man’s world and allowed to be all they can be. In my vision of Paradise Island They’re not just warriors who carry spears bows and arrows. No, they’re into computers, science, engineering, medicine, and the arts. Throughout the past twenty years of Wonder Woman stories, I feel there’s been too much focus on the warlike nature of the Amazons and not enough on their arts and culture. If this is an advanced civilization of supposedly superior women I’d like to see their contributions to the areas of science, technology and medicine. Instead of bows, arrows and spears, I’d like to see some high-tech stuff or some enchanted weapons that are a fusion of science and magic that are on par with Diana’s magic lasso. Maybe I’d give Nu’bia an enchanted suit of armor or Artemis some AmazonTech weapons.

I’d also like to bring in an Asian Amazon as a supporting character. Maybe a Pacific Islander or a Filipino.

I would also like to bring in Donna Troy as a major supporting character as well. I see Donna Troy in as a teenage/tween Amazon. A curious young girl who is inspired by Diana’s heroic deeds and wants to be a hero like her. But Hippolotya doesn’t think she’s ready to go out into man’s world. Neither does Diana. In the beginning she’d have a lot on her plate right now adjusting to America and would be trying to get settled. Over time Donna would sneak around (backup stories, subplots) and do things to prove herself. Eventually she’d become Diana’s apprentice as Wonder Girl with the cover of a “kid sister” As she transitioned into life in America, Donna’s interests would include photography, basketball, and social media.

Yeah, In the case of Donna Troy I’d be dumping all that continuity to start fresh with her. I feel that the Wonder Girl character is a great opportunity to connect with tween/teenage readers and I’d love to give those younger readers someone they can relate to and identify with. Donna’s always been the girl next door more so than Cassie Sandsmark. (I know I’m gonna catch some heat on this, but that’s what I got from what I read.)

When it comes to villains, Wonder Woman has one of the most underrated and underutilized rogues galleries in comics. I feel a lot of them are excellent concepts, just that they haven’t been excuted properly.

I really like the concept for Dr. Cyber from the 1960’s Diana Prince: Wonder Woman issues and I think she’d be a great villain who would work well in with a 21st century update. A female computer genius sort of like an evil Steve Jobs or Carly Fiorina.

I also like the 1980’s Cheetah. A great character with an origin that needs no changing. Plus I love her design. (It partially inspired my design for E’steem)

Along with some of those classic bad guys I’d love to add some new villains to the mix, some based in feminist theory, some based on pop culture. I have some ideas for a bad guy based on Gina Carano and Ultimate fighting. Diana in the Octagon would sell a boatload of copies. I really see a whole bunch of casual readers picking up that issue.

Design wise I’d love to go softer with a more elegant look. Back to the iconic classic costume with the red and white boots. I feel Wonder Woman’s design has gotten too muscular, too butch, and way too manly. I’d like see her looking more feminine. I feel it’d make it look more credible when she does something superhuman. The togas will be around on Paradise Island, but the designs will be a bit more modernized. In the city Diana would wear street clothes until she went into action.

A Shawn James Wonder Woman run would be a mix of social commentary, feminist theory, politics, superhero action and adventure and even a little humor. I’d explore different political viewpoints in a world where women are free to be whatever they want while presenting Diana and her supporting cast (Hippoloytia, Nu’bia, Artemis, Unnamed Asian character and Donna Troy) as a role models of the best of womanhood.

And maybe if I could I’d love to slip a Manga-styled storyline in there for two to three issues.

Audience wise I’d be writing a Wonder Woman comic for a core female audience of readers. I’d love to make a comic that was accessible to tween and teen girls and young women. From what I’ve seen, women love comics and are looking for stories that relate to their experiences. I want Wonder Woman to be the gateway to girls and women reading comic books and developing an interest in superheroes. 

Trickin' - How a SIMP Gets Sex

According to the law, prostitution is defined as the exchange of sexual favors for cash, goods or services.

This is the main reason why prostitution is illegal.

But the Simp has helped numerous women find their way around the law and make prostitution perfectly legal.

Thanks to Simps and their money based approaches to relationships, average ordinary women exchange sexual favors for goods and services every day.

How does the Simp get away with prostitution? He just has a relationship with one woman at a time. Because all of his “Dates” are technically in the pursuit of romance he skims the letter of the law.

But he violates the spirit of it.

While a Simp doesn’t directly solicit a woman for sex, many women will offer sexual favors to get him to provide cash and gifts for her. In exchange for a dinner date with a Simp at an expensive restaurant, he may get oral sex. For expensive item such as designer clothes or jewelry women may give him vaginal sex. A trip to an exotic place may get a man both or even anal pleasure.

When these exchanges occurs, the Simp becomes a Trick, paying a woman in exchange for her sexual favors.

Since there is no express contract stating that there was sex in exchange for cash, many women lie to themselves and say they’re not engaging in prostitution. By blurring the lines of their “romantic” relationship, these women deny that they are selling their bodies in exchange for cash and gifts. In their eyes they’re dating one man, not standing on the street corner soliciting johns for tricks.

But it’s the act and the intent by the woman that makes it prostitution. Whether it’s one man or a hundred men, the motive and intent for exchanging the sexual favors are the same.

What makes this relationship prostitution? The unwritten contract agreed on between the Simp and his woman. According to the law a contract is an agreement between two people based on consideration as compensation and is to be executed in a period of time.

It can be argued that the Simp and a woman make an agreement to go on a date. The consideration (the dinner or the gifts) is presented during the date as compensation for the sexual favors. After the compensation is presented the sexual favors are exchanged by the end of the night ending the contract.

It’s this exchange of these goods or services that make the sex between a Simp and a woman prostitution.

It’s not common when women are confronted with this truth and they’ll say they the sex they had with a Simp was consensual. They’ll try to justify that the gifts they got were perfectly legal because there technically was no contract between themselves and the man they were involved with. In their eyes all is fair in love and war.

When a woman reaches this stage of denial she is well on her way to becoming a part-time prostitute. She may have a day job making good money, but whenever she needs something, she negotiates a deal for whatever material item she wants. Then they meet up at a place for dinner. Afterward she performs the sexual act on the Simp in exchange for the promised “gift”.

By exchanging her body for goods some of these women sometimes get a home in a nice neighborhood, furniture, a luxury car and trips to exotic places. Others just get their necessities like light bills, telephone bills paid for and a little extra spending money. A few of the poorer ones just get a chance to get a meal to fill their rumbling stomachs. Some women sell their bodies for as little as a box of Chinese fried rice and four chicken wings.

All of it paid for and perfectly legal because the relationship couldn’t be defined as the prostitution it actually is.

This blurring of the moral and ethical lines Simpin creates make many women think that relationships are all about money and what they can get out of a man. Women stop seeing men as potential life mates to share their time with and start looking at men as marks, suckers to take advantage of. They start sizing men up based on the contents of their wallets instead of the contents of their character.

Worse it makes women think they can put a price tag on their bodies. Some women are so twisted by the ideologies of Simpin they’ve even established a price list in their minds. Oral sex is dinner at a Five-Star restaurant and a Gucci Bag. Vaginal sex is paying a month’s rent, or a pair of Manolos. Three sexual acts are a shopping spree. A boob job means he gets to titfuck her three times a week once the surgery heals. A trip to an exotic place like Cancun or Jamaica means he gets to do anything he wants to her.

Simpin makes women sell themselves short. When they exchange their bodies for material things, they miss out on what’s great about having a relationship with a man. They miss out on the personal connection two people share by discovering they have something in common with each other. They miss out on the close intimate relationship two people have when they take the time to get to know each other. And they miss out on the beauty of sex when two people express their love for each other.

Why I Hate Low-Rise Pants

I’m going to come out and just say it: Low Rise pants suck.

And not just on one type of body. They suck On Every body. And I mean every body. Short, tall, fat skinny. Low-rise pants look like shit on every body.

Except for women with the bodies of 10-year-old boys in those fashion magazines. And Emo dudes.

Fashion designers tell everyone that the lower seat and waist will make for a longer leaner line.

I call bullshit on that.

When I walk down the street I don’t see long, lean lines that Madison Avenue tells me low-rise pants create.

No, all I see are paunches and muffin tops. And ass cracks. Lots and lots of ass-cracks.

And most low-rise pants have even the most toned and fit people looking like fat asses. We don’t see what these models look like BEFORE they’re photoshopped and airbrushed to death. Those lean fit models probably look like the rest of us muffin tops in those crappy short-seated pants and tight shirts that can’t get tucked into them.

In a non-photoshopped airbrushed world, Low-rise pants make even the skinniest person look like they have a gut. I’ve seen quite a few size zero women who look fat in a pair of low-rise trousers. Yeah, they are that awful.

Plus they’re just horrible for everyday wear. Sure they look great on a fashion model or a celebrity standing still for a picture, but for the rest of us who have to run, walk and work in them, low-rise pants are a FUCKING NIGHTMARE. Ever try tucking a shirt in a pair of low-rise pants? IT NEVER STAYS IN. Ever try walking in a pair of low rise pants? They make you late for wherever you’re going because You spend half your time yanking them up.

Ever try putting a belt in a pair of low-rise pants? You can put it on the last hole to keep those pants up, but the damn things never stay up.

Then there’s sitting down in them. IT’S JUST NOT POSSIBLE if you want to keep your dignity. People will see your underwear, the crack of your ass or both.  

Then there’s bending over and crouching…Heaven help someone if they drop something on the floor, because everyone gets a show when you try to pick it up.

These pants are so horrible companies are manufacturing items like Trendy Tops so people can cover their backsides and prevent indecent exposures.

I’ve gotten a few pairs of low-rise pants for holiday gifts. I HATED ALL OF THEM. No room in the seat, no room in the thigh. A crotch so small a guy couldn’t relax his man parts. No room for a wallet or keys. I felt like I was wearing a pair of man-leggings.

They never fit right. Exchange for a size bigger or two sizes bigger and they STILL DON’T FIT IN THE SEAT OR THE THIGH. In all the cases, that special holiday gift wound up a RETURN.

Whenever a retailer stops making regular rise pants and switches to this low-rise bullshit I just stop shopping there. Brooks Brothers lost my business in 2010, and Cutter and Buck lost my business this Holiday season due to their switchover to low-rise pants.

Seriously someone needs to tell the fashion gurus in retail to stop manufacturing low-rise pants. Most men hate them and most women over the size of 0 hate them even more. And the reason most people hate them is that they look horrible on EVERY BODY, and have no function for everyday wear.

Ever try getting a wallet in a pocket of a pair of low-rise jeans? Ever try getting a set of keys in there?

Those two items alone will send those pants down around your ankles.

Why? Because there isn’t enough SEAT to hold the pants around one’s WAIST. There isn’t enough CROTCH to keep the pants ON someone’s HIPS.

Everywhere I go whenever I see low-rise pants, especially men’s low-rise pants they’re shelfwarming. Right next to those suck-ass slim fit shirts that don’t move because you have to buy them a size bigger in the neck for the torso to fit right. And do you want to know why People don’t want to buy them. Why?

Because a man looking like a sloppy lardass isn’t cool.

Nor is sizing up. There’s nothing more frustrating than having to buy clothes a size or two bigger to get the damn things to fit right. I can’t tell you how many designers I’ve dropped because they’re lines have confusuing fits.

Most people want comfortable clothes. Clothes that are LOOSE. ROOMY. With some space to GIVE when someone MOVES.

Most people would like to buy a pair of pants this decade where they can actually squat down without feeling like a plumber.

Here’s some advice Madison Avenue fashion gurus: Most Real men like myself need a little room in their clothes. We like pants with a FULL SEAT and a FULL RISE. Pants like this can hold a wallet and an iphone in the front pockets. Pants with enough material in the crotch to hold our guy junk and the tails of our shirts securely. They make it easy to walk, around in, and prevents us from offering the ladies a show every time we sit down.

And most ladies we know want the same too. I remember those full-rise jeans with a full waistband ladies used to wear until about 1997.

Man, those were sexy.

Why? Because they left something to the imagination. And they made a ladies’ butt look oh so cute. Plus they drew the lines of the body up towards the face. Like a good pair of pants does.

Not like today’s low-rise pants where all you see are muffin tops squishing out and paunches hanging over them. Sorry, that’s not sexy. It’s just GROSS.

Want to know what else was cool about full-rise jeans on women? They allowed a woman an opportunity to SHAPE her CURVES. They allowed a woman to build an HOURGLASS figure and a truly FLAT stomach. Yes, when pants have a WAISTBAND AND A FULL RISE they hold the body IN toning and conditioning the ab muscles.

I implore the fashion gurus at Madison Avenue to just STOP MAKING LOW RISE PANTS. Declare low-rise pants PLAYED OUT. Bring back pants with full rises and full seats. They just look better and are more functional for the on-the go person. The faster the world gets back to regular rise pants with a seat, thigh and a waistband a belt can hold up the better off everyone will be. 

What me Bitter? I don’t thinks so

Some people who read this blog think I’m an angry. That I’m some bitter guy pissed off at the world.

In real life I’m a nice guy. A sweetheart. Easygoing, friendly and a lot of fun to be around. Some even say I’m too nice.

But even though I’m kind I don’t put up with bullshit. When I see bullshit, I call it.

If that’s angry ranting to some, then it’s angry ranting. But it’s not reflective of who I am in real life.

I’ve had to deal with a lot of problems over the past three going on four years. Losing a job, unemployment, and a declining savings. All the while I’ve been trying to start a self-publishing venture.

I’ve had my share of frustrations. I deal with a lot of pressures. When you are out of work and your savings are running low, you’re against the clock to find that next job before your money runs out. That pressure increases when you run into dead ends or have to deal with people who waste your time by asking you to come down to an interview for a job and then don’t even give you a chance to even interview.

In my mind it’s tick-tock. Tick-tock. A race against the clock I’m racing against the clock regarding my money, my age (38 going on 39) and time itself. The longer I stay unemployed the harder it’s going to be to find another job. In another two years I know it’s over. No one hires men over 40 who have been out of work for five years. Especially Black men.

So I’m doing what I can to stay afloat. Working hard towards getting this publishing venture going. Fighting to get sales. Fighting to keep my books in print. Trying to get some money in the house after my unemployment ran out two years ago.

All of this takes money. Money I have to spend. Money that’s disappearing with each passing day.

With each interview I spend close to a fifty dollars getting ready. Haircuts, dry cleaning, printing resumes, and bus fare here in New York City don’t come cheap. All that money is lost when I don’t get the job.

It works my nerves when I spend close to a month preparing to go to interviews like the one for the IT Assistant position at CUNY about a year ago where the guy just decides to change the job description on the fly. Or the CUNY office assistant hiring pools where they bring 30 people in for just ONE or two openings. Then tell all the Black men to leave and allow the Black women and women of other ethnicities to stay. Your name is still on the list but you’re out the fifty bucks you spent preparing to come halfway cross-town for a lousy $26,000 a year $9 an hour job.

On top of the pressures of the job search I have to deal with a lot of bullshit on these job searches. Surly receptionists. Smart-ass interviewers who want to make fun of my clothes and the articulate way I speak. People so smug they don’t think I’m good enough for their retail jobs. Racists who are already looking past me, and Black women with attitudes so nasty it’s a wonder how they keep a job in the first place.

Then there are the family members who provide next to no support. Older people who don’t understand how much the world has changed in the last twenty years. Hell, how much it’s changed in the last five. People who insist that their old approaches will work even though they’ve been proven to NOT work. People who don’t understand that doing the same things over and over will get me nowhere but broke.

People who have jobs but won’t lift a finger to help you out. They can talk a lot of shit but when you ask them to step their asses to the plate they give you an excuse. They really don’t want to help, they just want to talk a lot of shit. But that’s Black people.

People who try to help but their co-workers are just assholes.

Sometimes people don’t understand how the little things they say can make a bad situation even worse for someone. Slick little comments that can get under your skin. Stuff that makes you want to punch them in the face. Sometimes you just want to tell people to just shut the fuck up but you don’t want to hurt their feelings or escalate a situation into a bigger fight.

And I run into that a lot dealing with Black people. They just work a nerve. They just frustrate me to the point of making me want to lose it. They don’t’ understand how much pressure I’m under. How I’m walking on a tightrope that’s this close to snapping.

In addition to those pressures, I have to deal with the pressures of living in the South Bronx. Brothers like myself spend most of their time looking over their shoulders worrying about what’s going to go down. A look can turn into a fight. Or a gun battle.

So if I sound bitter in this blog, I’m dealing with a lot of shit. If any of you had to walk a mile in my shoes and deal with the bullshit I’ve had to deal with over the past four years you wouldn’t be smiling either.

SUMMER YA EBOOK SERIES 2012

The Summer Young Adult eBook exclusive series will be back for 2012. I’m hoping that the promotion gets more tweens and teens reading over the summer than last year.

The summer series will start this June instead of May. After finaly finishing the first draft of Book #7 (Also Young Adult/tween fiction) I’m kind of backed up and I need room to do final edits on some eBooks and finally write others. Yeah, it’s that hectic for me. I’ll get to that Temptation of John Haynes Sequel one day!

The selection will be a bit more diverse. In addition to fiction, there will be non-fiction, more teleplay books and even a feature-length screenplay! Genres will vary from action-adventure, to comedy and African-American fantasy (If I can write it in time!)

I’m still working out the list. But I can guarantee there will be a new All About Nikki eBook this year. I really want to release two eBooks a month, but it’ll depend on when I have stuff ready.

Like last year, all of the eBooks will be free on Smashwords. They’ll also be available on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble for just 99 cents if you want to pony up some coin to support me and my writing. .