1001 Insomniac Nights

The confessions of a semi-successful author

This was brought to my attention. It’s a the story of a mid-list author who was almost more, who only sold 10,000 copies of a book that, 10 years later, was still being brought to readings by people telling her how much it changed their lives. It’s about her almost success and the fight to survive as a writer afterward. It’s a must read for any and all aspiring authors. It’s brilliant, informative, and eye-opening. And utterly, utterly heart-breaking.

Even a day later, it’s still haunting me. Trying to sort out my thoughts on the article is like trying catch a cloud. It raises questions, and good ones, about the fate of publishing, the fate of mid-list authors.

I’ve often theorized that publishing is such a bitter industry because every agent and editor has had their heart broken at least once. That they’ve all found a book they loved, found one that they got printed, but watched crash and burn as society yawned and kept going. And I do think that’s why publishers are often so afraid to take risks. Because they’ve all seen sure-fire best-sellers go nowhere. And too many grand slams have come out of nowhere, that no one could have guessed would succeed.

It’s a little disheartening, but at the same time, it’s a bit of a healthy reality check. Everyone has always warned me that writing, and any of the arts, is a mean, mean industry.

So back in 2002, a young writer, who had been editing a fantasy novel for the past six months, had a pair of lines pop into his head. And when he wrote them down, more lines wrote themselves. And before he knew it, he had a short story. And that short story grew into something… bigger.

That was 1001 Insomniac Nights. And at the time, it was the only web-serial of its kind. A series of posts that could stand on their own but made an ongoing novel when completed, it was a first. And something I was very proud of. In 2004, with updates having ended over a year previous, we called it quits. But not before the ending was written, but never posted.

This is the resurrection, the return of a concept that may have been born before the ‘net was ready. This is 1001 Insomniac Nights, or 1k1in as it came to be known, ready for another go at it. I invite you to sit down, kick your feet up, and explore an ever so slightly deraganged world through the eyes of a character that I’ve grown to love as he revealed himself to me. A world populated by vampire hunters, gurus who work for drinks, and a dramatic roommate who might be just a little more than anyone ever gave him credit for.

~MaAS