I came across Susannah's writing whilst she was still firmly in residence at her Reverse Cowgirl blog and was completely encapsulated by her 'Letters from Johns / Working girls' project. An idea that saw letters being sent to her from both ends of the spectrum of the 'paid for sex industry', both the recipients and the providers. Some where funny, some where harrowing, most were moving in some way, a great project.
Susannah since has moved to her eponymous blog that contains her daily scribbles as well as her ever evolving insight into her progress of writing a novel.
Now having been down this road, I know what it can be like. Susannah, just before moving over to her own blog, she self published her story / essay / photo essay about the adult movie industry and the recession 'They Shoot Porn Stars Don't They?'. Now, the writing is great, the story is again, moving, interesting, funny, harrowing, etc, the photos are clever and it received a very positive, very wide reception.
What is interesting for me personally however, is the fact that Susannah is a widely read, highly respected journalist / blogger. She has won countless awards and accolades, she clearly know's her subject, and in a weird way, it's niche, at least her style of writing about the industry is niche. But for all this, she couldn't find someone to publish the essay so she self published, and in recent months has decided to go down the same road with her first novel. In other words, if someone like Susannah is self publishing because she feel's it is the best way to reach her audience and do what she want's to do creatively, then that's a great thing for all other self publishers / independent publishers out there.
