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I was lucky enough to get in with an audio publisher in my first foray into publishing. A friend of mine had a story or two with Books In Motion Publishing, a company who records books for the truck drivers market.

Truckers, it seems, "read everything from romance to thrilller, science fiction to classics, mysteries to westerns." When the company first started, westerns were the "thing". Lately, the owner tells me that while they're still heavily into westerns, science fiction/fantasy titles actually sell better.

Well, lucky me. These are my two preferred genres! My first sale to Books in Motion--or anywhere--was the first book of my time-travel series, The Gunsmith: In the Service of the Queen. It still sells fairly well today, after lo, these many years, being one of those stories that aren't dated. I expanded the series to four books and have often been encouraged to expand them again. Someone told me they need to make sure Boothenay and Caleb get home from their last adventure into 1877. Hey! Boothenay Irons is a real kick-ass heroine. Surely you don't think she'll get stuck anywhere!

Nowadays being published at Books In Motions doesn't come easily. They take very few original manuscripts, concentrating instead on buying up audio rights of already published works., since they prefer a better class of books. They publish J.A. Jance, Margaret Coel, The Left Behind series by LaHaye & Jenkins, Historical fiction by Irene Bennett Brown, mysteries by Marlys Milhiser and L.L. Thrasher, and westerns by Jory Sherman and Don Coldsmith, among many others. Yes, C.K.Crigger is one of them.

Encouraged by my small bit of sucess with audio, when it took too long (yes, I'm an impatient cuss) to impress the larger publishers, I began sending manuscripts out to e-publishers. I tried to pick the ones I heard the best reports of, but of course, missed the boat--although not totally, as you will see.

I joined up with an outfit called RFI West, and it didn't take long before it began falling apart. They failed to keep their word regarding ANYTHING, and soon after I joined, many of their best people jumped ship--not, as I found out, before time. These people formed their own publishing company called Amber Quill Press, and a finer bunch of professionals I can't imagine. Since the beginning, they've always kept their word, whether it be regarding book covers, publishing dates, or royalty payments--which I enjoy very much telling you are always right on time. I speak very highly of them. After all, it's through their company that my first western "Liar's Trail" became an Eppie Finalist in 2004, and "Black Crossing" became the Eppie winner in 2008.

I keep trying to get a agent and break in with the New York Publishers. Of course I do. I have ambitions just like everbody else. But I'll always be grateful to Books in Motion, and Amber Quill Press for giving me my first breaks.

C.K.Crigger
http://ckcrigger.com