Nelson Ottenhausen, A Sterling Example of Indie Press by KevaD

Most of the authors here at Some Write It Hot and ERAuthors have been published by small Indie (Independent) Presses (Publishers). Those not familiar with the benefits of Indie Press are sometimes quick to shout them down as too small, too inexperienced, the authors are unknown, etc, etc.

Indie Press is here to stay.

The reason is people like Nelson Ottenhausen.

No. Mr. Ottenhausen does not write erotica, and most readers here will have not heard of him. In fact, Nelson prohibits the use of profanity in the books he publishes (other than an occasional “damn” or “hell.” But this author and president of Patriot Media Publishing is one of the greatest examples of where Indie Press is headed, and why growing numbers of authors are knocking on the doors of small publishers.

Nelson sells roughly four hundred of his authors’ books every time he arrives at a congregation of his target audience. That doesn’t include Internet sales.

It is the fact he understands who his target audience is and caters to them that makes him, Patriot Media, and thusly his authors so successful.

Patriot Media publishes stories of American heroes (both real and fictional) who are either in or veterans of the U.S. military. His audience? Veterans. Wherever large groups of veterans gather, a Patriot Media rep is there with trunk loads of books.

Nelson readily communicates with the veterans who buy Patriot Media novels and has learned exactly what they want. He designed the standards of Patriot Media around that information. He personally reviews author submissions to guarantee those standards are met. As such, the rejection pile is high. The books meeting those standards are published and Nelson develops one-on-one relationships with the authors.

Yes, his own books such as the murder mystery “The Killing Zone” are published by Patriot Media. And, yes, they are held to the same standards by other editors of Patriot Media.

Patriot Media was contacted by unknown author Lt Colonel Peter Clark. He’d written a book.

Patriot saw merit where others hadn’t. Nelson and his group worked with LTC Clark and the novel “Staff Monkeys: A Stockbroker’s Journey Through the Global War on Terror” was born.

Why should you remember this novel published by a press you never heard of?

“Staff Monkeys” is now a certified 2011 Pulitzer Prize Nominee.

How many more reasons do you need before you submit your manuscript to a small press?

Learn more about Patriot Media

Read more from KevaD