I wrote Memoirs of a Homeless Bookstore Owner in two weeks. I went home that night– our home was an RV broken down in a Wal-Mart parking lot– and I fed my kids stale bread for dinner and then I started writing this book. There’s this romanticized notion of what happens when the idealist decides to give up comfort and security in exchange for perceived literary benefits. I decided to write it after a young writer told me about his plans to hitch-hike across America, becoming a transient like Kerouac. The story is primarily about the disjunct between idealism and reality: Though every patron to enter the store gushes and raves about what a fantastic resource the bookstore is for both readers and authors, nobody buys any books, and self-published books wind up being little more than fireplace kindling even to the authors who write them. Self-Published Kindling: Memoirs of a Homeless Bookstore Owner is the true story of a young homeless family that runs a unique bookstore They own the only brick-and-mortar bookstore in the world that sells exclusively independently-published literature. While some authors struggle with addiction and others struggle to tell their story, a young family struggles simply to survive About the book

But as the traditional publishing industry begins to fall, e-books dominate the book market, and the economy slows, the family winds up homeless– a big secret to keep, as business owners. Mik Everett – 17 October 2013 The Back FlapĪ young family opens a unique bookstore to help independently-published authors tell their story. What agent was going to look at that and say, “Yes, I’ll take it immediately”? I mean, it’s a book about self-publishing and how agents are essentially the leeches of a corrupt and incestuous modern publishing industry. I did not submit Self-Published Kindling: Memoirs of a Homeless Bookstore Owner to any agents.

Braineater Jones by Stephen Kozeniewski