Back On The Block

I always enjoyed having a place where I could spout off about any subject I'd like to. Since the subject matter with me always seemed to be about sports, I called my blog, AmericanSportsHog. I set this blog aside in the fall of 2009 because I was at a crucial part of my life: I had just been graduated from the University of Phoenix with a degree in business. I wanted to use what I'd learned and start a business of my own that would be both satisfying to myself and profitable. I had to figure out how to do that. The one thing I knew was that writing for free in my blog wouldn't make me a rich man!

Throughout the 11 courses I took online to complete my education, one thing was very clear: My ability as a writer contributed greatly to my being able to finish each class, and also to my achieving a grade point average which I was proud of. I had always advised other to try to make money at something they enjoyed and that they would do for free. Thinking about it, I realized that I had been writing for free for a long time. I've posted nearly 100 music reviews at Amazon.com. I've been a correspondent on one of those Web sites where the fans become the reporter and write game stories and commentaries on various sports and teams. And, I've had this blog.

I realized I needed to follow my own advice. I needed to take all of the free writing I'd been doing and think of a way to write for myself, yet still have a chance at making a profit. When I heard about the Kindle and other electronic reading devices, I knew I'd found my target area. Kindles are the best-selling item on the entire Amazon.com Web site. The publishing and sale of electronic books (e-books) are exploding, yet are still in their infancy. E-books can be read with many different devices, including e-readers, smart phones, Android-type devices, palm computers, tablets, and more.

Thus, I determined to write e-material for consumer who are hungry for quality reading for their e-device. My first thought was to write short articles on a variety of subjects. However, after hashing it out for a long time, I realized that I would feel more comfortable writing as an expert in a field I know; sports. And, I wanted to write books; books in which sports fans and just plain avid readers could immerse themselves.

I named my publishing company, Sportside Books. I devoted most of the year 2010 learning how the publishing program for Amazon Kindle works, and posting a few public domain works to get the hang of it. I started work on my first e-book in August. I decided to write about the most popular sports subject I could think of: Muhammad Ali. While I was still writing the book's introduction, I realized that if I wanted the book to be finished sometime in 2011, I'd need to somehow shorten it. "Muhammad Ali" is a subject both vast and complex. I settled on limiting my focus to the beginning of Ali's boxing career, when he was still known as Cassius Clay.

I'm proud to say that I published The Cassius Clay Story for the Kindle this year on June 1 (amzn.to/jDEX9v). The Barnes and Noble Nook edition was published about three weeks later (bit.ly/p2evgA). Since then, I've established accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Bitly, and Smashwords. Now, I've created a new e-mail account devoted to the business, and I have re-activated AmericanSportsHog. A Web site devoted to Sportside books is still to come. It is all part of a process of getting my name exposed and promoting my company and my book. I have about 50 Facebook friends in less than three weeks, and already five followers on Twitter, none of whom I had ever heard of before!

The first fruit of my labor came this week! Someone bought a copy of The Cassius Clay Story over this past weekend, purchasing it on Amazon.com's UK Web site. My plan is to publish the book in English in as many formats as is possible, then to do the same with a translation of the book into Spanish. It's a long process, and I am learning more every day. So, in addition to popping off about any sports subject of my choosing, I will also give updates on how the process of selling books and becoming a well-known sports writer is going. If you would like to come along, you are welcome to follow me on Twitter: @sportsidebooks.