Very excited to have special guest Lazy Beagle Entertainment here today!
Tell us a little about your company/site:
Lazy Beagle Entertainment was founded by author Patrick Wendling-Markwell and husband, and sometimes co-author, Rondal D. Markwell. Ever find it hard to find self-published books and other books not promoted with a million dollar advertising budget. Looking for that hidden gem? Well here at LBE we will link you with your favorite published and self-published authors, and give authors a prominent place to link their work and promote themselves, so they are no longer hidden gems but displayed diamonds! We will provide links to all locations the book is available for purchase, and all available sites where you can follow the author. This page was started originally to be for self-published authors, but we have opened it up to any and all authors, self-published or not.
What gave you the idea to start something like this?:
What gave you the idea to start something like this?:
Well I started LBE originally because I wanted to have a place to showcase Patrick’s works especially when we self-published them. I noticed that one company would want his work while another didn’t and they all had the craziest excuses for why they did or didn’t and I figured that if I could put up a website where his books would go, like most authors have a website, but have other self-published authors put up their stuff as well, we could generate traffic all around and help each other out. However, we decided after we got three authors up there to open it up to any and all authors, no matter if they were self-published or otherwise. I mean, what’s more important here? Pushing forward the self-image of self-published authors or working together as a literary community and helping each other move forward in something that is a hard field to make any real headway in? Patrick and I decided to branch out and do what we did and if you have followed the progress of LBE since we started in February, you will see how much we expanded and how much we have moved forward and changed what we are doing over time.
Is this a solo venture or do you have a team working behind the scenes?:
Is this a solo venture or do you have a team working behind the scenes?:
This is just the two of us, myself Rondal and Patrick my husband so far. Eventually I want to take Patrick and set him aside leaving him as just Co-Owner of the company and have him concentrate fully on writing while I take over the company full time and eventually hire employees. We do have our wonderful authors and readers who are constantly spreading the word of LBE around the world, quite literally, and Johanna Rae has been helping us with a few things here and there because she is just that kind of an incredible lady as well as author.
How many authors do you have registered at the moment?:
How many authors do you have registered at the moment?:
Currently we have 82 authors signed up on the website and more show up every week. In the beginning we would only get 1 or two a week or none a week so it was a little slow. Now we can get up to 6 a week. The numbers just steadily increase.
Where are the majority of LBE followers from?:
Where are the majority of LBE followers from?:
Not quite sure what you mean by “followers” but we have people from all over the world that follow the progress. We have authors from all over the world. In fact, about 60% of our authors are from countries other than the USA.
Are you global, or is your audience closer to home for you?:
Are you global, or is your audience closer to home for you?:
Very global.
You have a forum on your site, is this just for the authors, or can anyone participate?:
You have a forum on your site, is this just for the authors, or can anyone participate?:
The forum is for anyone to participate in, as long as they stay as close to the subject of books, authors, writing, reading, literature, etc… as they can.
You have a regular newsletter, how can readers/followers sign up for this?:
You have a regular newsletter, how can readers/followers sign up for this?:
http://www.lazybeagleentertainment.com/subscribe.html However, we have halted the newsletter for the time being because we are trying to change the format and style. We also archive each newsletter and put them up on the website. We are a bit behind on the newsletter.
What is your favorite part of the job?:
What is your favorite part of the job?:
Meeting all sorts of new people from all around the world and making new friends. Quite an experience really.
Have there been any unexpected challenges?:
Have there been any unexpected challenges?:
Not really, other than it keeps getting busier. I think our worst challenge was not very unexpected. An author didn't read too closely into the website and just signed up randomly. When Patrick’s Facebook account got hacked and the hacker started sending out pornographic photos to his friends, family and friends one of the authors on our site got very hostile and started spewing words and phrases such as “faggot” “spawn of Satan”, “evil”, you know; random bigotry and hatred. She realized that Patrick and I are a couple and have been for nearly ten years. It even says so on the home page that we are a gay couple and if you have issues with homosexuality, don’t come here. We will not tolerate that crap. Patrick ripped her stuff off of the website in under ten seconds and blocked every form of communication she had with us.
What are your future goals for the site?:
What are your future goals for the site?:
Expand the company, start publishing. We hope to continue to garner more authors and readers and books and keep expanding outwards and upwards.
You can find out more about Lazy Beagle Entertainment and it's maker's here:
You can find out more about Lazy Beagle Entertainment and it's maker's here:
http://www.lazybeagleentertainment.com/rondal-d-markwell.html
https://plus.google.com/u/0/105932806104115024921
http://lazybeagleent.tumblr.com/
https://picasaweb.google.com/101062963693781538561
http://lazybeagleent.tumblr.com/
https://picasaweb.google.com/101062963693781538561
We have a YouTube account set up for Lazy Beagle but it is
not active yet. We will be doing Podcasts and such here shortly. COMING SOON! J
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