eclectic. When I started the Archive I obviously intended it to be a means to publicise my books but I wanted it to be more than that, I wanted it to become something people would want to read and continue to read. I guess I was aiming at an online magazine format covering varied interests."The Archive is only a few months off seeing it's 200,000 page load."
"There has not been a single day in it's two year history where the Archive has not had fresh posts."
The Archive started off with book and film reviews but then quickly developed to include interviews, features, pop culture news and random pictures of cats being terrorised- among those we've interviewed in our first two years are Beau L'amour, Mark Billingham, Raymond Benson and Peter Robinson. The Archive has presided over several organised initiatives designed to push the western genre - remember Wild West Monday, and there's another to come this October. Themed Weekends have
also proven very popular and attracted many quality guest bloggers.Don't forget the insanely huge Black Horse Western Weekend - over 100 different posts over a three day period - man, that was nuts!
The Archive also had a lot to do with my debut novel, The Tarnished Star selling out of its projected print run three whole months before publication. We've digitally published a full (out of print) western novel by Chap O'Keefe, posted rare comic strips and entered and retreated from the world of podcasting. Though there are plans for a revamped Tainted Podcast soon.
I think what I'm aiming for with the Archive is to provide content worth paying for for free. In the words of modern philosopher Homer Simpson, "free stuff is cool stuff."
There have been some failures - the aforementioned podcasts and the short lived NOPRIZE Award spring to mind, but these will return bigger and better than ever.
So as we head into our third year the Archive is stronger than ever - I've secured several major interviews for the coming
months, another Wild West Monday is in the planning stages, we have James Bond, horror, spaghetti westerns and Sixties Spies themed weekends planned. We'll continue to bring pop culture news and reviews. And of course random pictures of cats being terrorised.Throughout July I will be posting a series of posts titled, TWO YEARS AND COUNTING in which I will direct new readers back to some notable posts from Archive history. So keep reading, keep commenting, tell me what you like, tell me what you hate and remember stay - fabgeargroovey.
6 comments:
Happy Birthday to The Tainted Archive on it's upcoming second. It has become a daily stop(and more when needed). It's been both fun and informative in a lot of areas.
Continued success on the blog and books. You haven't disappointed yet.
Well done, Gary.
And you've probably done more posts than I have and I've been going longer. I've settled in at about every 2 days, which seems to work OK for me and allow me time to get around to other blogs. Good luck with more years.
Happy birthday is in order and also Gary I think it's important to look back and think about all that you've accomplished this last year as a writer. You've gotten three books published, starting with The Tarnished Star, Arkansas, and the Policeman's Lot. That is an amazing record and you should be proud of it. I don't think I could have done it and survived.
Thanks all - and Laurie remember there's a year's lead time with those books so Tarnished Star was finished almost three years ago and Arkansas about eighteen months ago. Next year's western - The Ballad of Delta Rose - is also in the bag.
Yes, I know there's a lead time on the books - Still that's a lot of marketing and book-pushing to do in one year.
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