About American
Invisible
 Introduction
This site began in 2002 as an experiment; can you attract
enough interest in a novel to find a publisher simply
by running a website?
The novel in question was American
Invisible, Inc., a tale of three modestly poor people
in New York City who suddenly find themselves out of
work.
The towers have fallen, the dot com party has ended,
and firms are looking to shed staff, not hire. So, out
of desperation and a bizarre combination of skills,
the trio set up American Invisible, Inc., probably the
most unusual detective agency you could ever hope to
avoid.
The Publishing Model
Getting a novel published is no small undertaking.
Remember those tales of some famous author who was turned
down again and again before finally hitting the big
time? They're true for nearly every author, but without
the happy ending.
The success stories prove that the system isn't efficient.
If the first Harry Potter novel was so great, why was
it rejected?
Some books are just plain bad, but other books, good
books, simply get lost or overlooked in the system.
With American Invisible I tried to invert the system,
so readers heard about a book before publishers. As
I put it in 2002:
- I'm writing the book almost as I publish
- I want to publish a section of a chapter often;
every day if I can
- Everything is a draft. If a chapter isn't as strong
as it should be, I can change it
- I'm promoting the book as much as I can, but it'll
have to stand on it's own merit. I can't make you
like it
- And here's the important bit: ultimately, if it
attracts an audience, it might just attract old fashioned
paper publishers, too. And those publishers will already
know they're on to a winner
- If it doesn't attract much of an audience, at least
the book is out there, on the web, where anyone who
does want to look, can read for free
I still can't see very much wrong with this plan. I
don't know if this will work for me. Perhaps not. But
I know for sure it'll work for someone.
About the Author
I'm lucky enough to be able to divide my time equally
between America and Britain, and I love both places
a lot. A short while after this site opened for business,
I realized that I'd earned my living as a writer for
two decades and I hadn't starved yet.
I'd written American Invisible, and as I continued
to write a sequel and a series of short stories, it
occurred to me that the experiences were worth sharing.
I don't claim to have any great wisdom, but perhaps
I've made more mistakes than you have yet.
Dedication
American Invisible, Inc. is dedicated to the memory
of Douglas Adams, who made so much fun for everyone.
He'd have written it on a Macintosh and thought of better
jokes.
Reading Sequence: There is now three years of material on
this site. Click here for a suggested reading sequence.
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