Who am I?

I’m Kreig Durham, a professional web developer by day, aspiring author by night. From before I could even read, I’ve been obsessed with writing books. As a small child, I would draw pictures and dictate a story to my mom, making my own little books. As a teenager, I would write story after story, obsessed with getting the stories in my head down on paper. Being an author has been my lifelong aspiration, and this space is part of my plan to make it a reality.

What is this?

This is a place for me to put my short stories and work-in-progress writing. I write adventure, mystery, thriller, sci-fi, fantasy, and more. Anything that sparks my imagination and gets my creativity going will probably end up here.

One of my major goals for the year is to write more, and I plan to put a lot of that writing here. I write because I love it, but I do intend to get published with the novel I’m writing this year.

Why write a novel like this?

Why am I writing a novel in a serialized, weekly-release format? Why not just write the book and then send it off to editors and publishers? The short answer is: connections.

Unless you already have a lot of connections, it's purely a stroke of luck getting a novel published by a big publisher. A big-name celeb or someone with a lot of industry contacts can get a fair shot, but Johnny Unknown is going to have to hope they get lucky to be looked at at all. Even then, publishers are looking for someone bankable. They want to know they’re going to get a good return on their investment into an author.

Enter a new take on an old tool: serialized storytelling. Renowned authors such as Charles Dickens, Alexandre Dumas, and Agatha Christie made use of serialized publishing. In fact, some of the most well-known authors in literary history published their works almost exclusively in a serialized format. To get the latest from whatever amazing tale they were spinning, you’d have to pick up the literary magazine.

In the 21st century, there are a huge number of tools that allow authors to self-publish or serialize their works. Among the most accessible and flexible tools I’ve found recently is Substack, where authors of non-fiction and fiction alike can build an audience.

The hope, for me, is to build up an audience, with a modest 10% of it eventually being paid subscribers, and be able to present to a publisher not just a work of fiction, but proof that people are already willing to pay money to read it.

Help me write more

If you enjoy my writing, consider subscribing to help me do it more often and more freely. For now, all of my content is free. Eventually, I plan to introduce a paid tier where the most exclusive content can live.

You can also follow me on Mastodon @kreig.