never ending energy

It’s late Thursday evening and the burning, intense sun that daunted the millions of residents in the city of Manhattan is now setting adrift, allowing for a cooler breeze to come through as the day gradually fades and night soon replaces the hot spring day. I stand on the corner of 39^th and 9^th Ave, outside the Vibe office that’s tucked discreetly away in Hells Kitchen—a bustling neighborhood in midtown Manhattan—the Port Authority bus station just one block away. They call this city the concrete jungle, and it is home to a variety of people, with so many stories to tell—from the hard-up and unfortunate ones that are swallowed up by the city and forgotten, to the success stories— individuals who’ve found fame and fortunate in this city of opportunity with its towering skyscrapers, vibrant night life, never-ending traffic and everybody looking to be always in a rush. I stand alone with my recorder and note-pad, and wait patiently for Mr. Gray to show up. Our meeting is set for six, but I’m fifteen minutes early. The scenery around me is active with cafés, a pizzeria on the corner, small grocery stores/bodegas, and a few taverns. It’s a nice, warm, comfortable spring evening and a few patrons decide to take advantage of the pleasant weather and dine outside of the café in the appealing
dining quarters set up on the city sidewalk, right outside the HK Lounge.

I take a seat at one of the circular tables and order a glass of water. The mood is temperate, and I escape from the sharp cab horns blowing on 9^thAvenue, and the hordes of people moving about with my face into one of Mr. Gray’s books—Love and a Gangsta. The cover is attractive and the title is memorable. It is my first read by him, and though I am an avid reader of many books—I admit that I am a new reader to the inner-city genre. But I find myself engross into his book and becoming familiar with the protagonists, America and Soul, an urban city couple from Queens, who’s relationship is tested via drugs, crime and infidelity.

 Five minutes into the book, Mr. Gray bends the corner coming from 9^th Ave and approaches my table with a smile. He’s ten minutes early to the interview. I smile. He strides towards me clad in torn, designers’ jeans, a snug, dark gray shirt that highlights his strapping physique and a dark blue Yankees fitted, traditionally worn titled on his head. I noticed how well groomed he is—his thick, dark beard emulates the one sported by rapper, Rick Ross. And his swinging, long chain with a unique pendent is eye-catching.  He easily could be mistaken for a young thug, but the urban city author has an extensiveresume—thirteen books written and published, a catalog of poetry, and a film soon to be in production.           

 “I’m not late right,” he says with a smile. We exchange handshakes and I had to ask about his pendent. He smiles,
“Yeah, it always catches eyes, I designed it myself. It’s a man a woman kissing, wrapped in affection and representing black love.” I’m impressed. He sits opposite of me and orders a Ciroc Vodka and Cranberry juice, along with a Cheeseburger. “I’m hungry, just came from the BEA,” he says. I immediately start to feel comfortable around his relax demeanor. Mr. Gray checks a few messages on his smart phones and then says to me, “Stop calling me, Mr. Gray,
I’m not my father. Call me Erick, or E.” I chuckled. He soon notices the book I’m reading on the table. “How you like it so far?” I tell him that I’m impressed by his writing. He nods with gratitude.

The Jamaica, Queens born native is a pioneer in the genre when it comes to solidifying his name in street-literature, with the breakthrough of his debut book, Booty Call in 2003. It’s clear to say that Erick S. Gray has the ingredients and talent to soon harden himself as a future
Icon in a growing genre..

Autumn
G (SLR)

How does it feel to be you right now?

Erick
S. Gray

It feels really good. I’m all over the place right now. I do so much, but I love being busy. I can’t complain. I just came from the BEA (Book Expo of America) at the Jacob Javits Center. It was a good look for the most part, but I’m a little upset.

Autumn
G (SLR)

And why’s that?

 

Erick
S. Gray

This year there wasn’t any black pavilions; there weren’t any independent black publishers, writers or groups representing the urban scene or black culture this year, besides Augustus Publishing, and we were under PGW umbrella (Publishers Group West.) I was looking at a sea of white faces networking and mingling. I felt there should have been a section or representation for African American companies and writers….since I’ve been attending the event in 2004, we always had a face at the BEA, but this year, we were invisible there. We had no voice at one of the biggest expos in America.It’s like, for a growing genre, we seemed to be getting smaller or obsolete in certain areas of this business.

 

Autumn
G (SLR)

Do you feel that because of that, urban fiction is fading, losing its buzz?

 

Erick
S. Gray

Nah, this genre will never fade, the BEA doesn’t make or break us…if anything, we’re only getting stronger. I mean, this genre has been around for decades, going back to the days of Richard Wright, Zora Neale Hurston, to Donald Goines and Ice Berg Slim…I find myself in this new renaissance of literature, and not just urban, but so much more. We brought reading back to the communities. We brought back being independent, being heard….and being a voice out there, just like rap and Hip-Hop. Writers and others connected to this genre are feeding their families through this genre. Either with it being an author, publisher, doing graphic arts/cover designs, editing or ghostwriting, there’s employment out there for anybody, you just gotta go out and get it.  

 

Autumn
G (SLR)

So what’s your critique on the urban Genre?

Erick
S. Gray

Like I said, there’s money and business out there, if you really want it. You just gotta hustle for it. But my critique on this genre, shit, we need more unity among us…and stop this bickering, cheating and hating. White people or any other race don’t make us look bad, we make ourselves look bad with all this in-house fighting, cheated royalties and books that are so shameful when it comes to editing and covers. And I always hear people say that this game is saturated,
my thoughts, it is and it’s not…I mean, there’s still an untouched market out there with the Midwest and west coast, and even international. It may feel saturated in certain cities like New York, Jersey, D.C and so on, but that’s all the reason to come more correct with your book and packaging…you gotta make yourself standout if you want readers to even
take a peek at your book. Your story gotta be unique or really good, and your penmanship gotta be on point if you wanna be read and then you have to know how to network…go out there and sell yourself. There’s nobody that can’t do it better then you!

Autumn
G (SLR)

What are some of the avenues that you used for marketing or networking your material?

Erick
S. Gray

There’s so many, where do I start? First, you have Face book, and you can never go wrong with having a face book account, unless you get caught doing some bullshit on there that you ain’t supposed to be doing. I can be guilty of that, lol. But that’s a good tool to used; especially if you’re a writer…My-space was for the musicians and rappers, as I feel Face book is for us writers, poets and so on. My cousin convinced to me start a group/fan page for myself. He called me one day and was like ‘Yo, E, why you ain’t got a group page on here for what you do? I’m lookin’ at this other author, who ain’t even fuckin’ wit’ you and he got 300 people in his group. Yo, you better than that dude.’ So he set up a group page for my readers, made me part of the administrator and within a few months, I acquired over 1,000 members. But that was just me constantly on my grind, sending out excerpts from my books, expressing myself through poetry, being comedic and just having a personality; it drew people to me and my page. But
authors or people in general have so many venues to put themselves and their businesses out there…like Twitter, YouTube, blogging, Myspace and so on. Shit, when I first got started, we had none of these tools. The only thing we had a few years ago, was email, maybe a few websites and word-of-mouth…and the
bookstores. We was out there grinding, like the post office, rain, sleet or snow, it didn’t matter. Shit, we made it happen. So I get sick of hearing a bitch-ass author complaining about the business, and what they ain’t got, how they book ain’t selling or the love they ain’t gettin’ in this industry, and how they get offended over some simple bullshit, cuz you ain’t get a certain blurb from someone, or their book signing didn’t turn out how they expected or someone didn’t reply fast enough to a message that was sent out … I be like go roll yourself down a hill wit’ that bullshit!

Autumn
G (SLR)

Everybody has to pay their dues.

Erick
S. Gray

Exactly!

Autumn
G (SLR)

So as a known author with nine years in the business, explain to us some of the trials and tribulations that you endured as you progressed in this business.

Erick
S. Gray

Shit, where do I start! Yo, my first book signing, I sold one book. I was so nervous that day, and I didn’t know how to conduct or sell myself. But I quickly learned. You got to. And then as time went on, I started selling out on the streets and in the bookstores, just knowing how to talk and approach a potential customer. See, you have to be excited about your own material, when you talk about yourself and your book, you have to do it with excitement and zeal, you can’t go out there stammering and scared to sell yourself, and thinking about the rejection. When you’re hyped about you and yours then believe me, you will attract people to buying your book or whatever you’re selling. And not everyday is gonna be a good day, I admit, there were some days in this business I felt like crying and giving up, where you feel cheated, disrespected and underrated. I done been through every fuckin’ emotion dealing with this business…believe me! But you wake up the next day, dust that shit off and keep it moving. I mean, I got stories from being jerked out of fifty to sixty grand that a publisher owes you, but that’s money I’ll never see, cuz they filed for bankruptcy and closed their doors. Or being overlooked and denied for certain things like interviews or projects because at the time, my name wasn’t big enough like Teri Woods, Shannon Holmes or Sister Souljah. So I get shunned and the cold shoulder by certain agents, events, panel discussions and etc, because maybe I didn’t sell x amount of books or I wasn’t a household name. It’s a numbers game in this business.

Autumn
G (SLR)

What do you mean by numbers game?

Erick
S. Gray

I mean, certain people ain’t fuckin’ wit’ you unless you’re selling a certain amount of books. I mean, which is understandable, to some extent…but my problem was, just don’t look at the numbers, too, cuz despite what Jay Z said, numbers lie too, like you’ve heard of cooking the books. I have known of a few authors that have inflated their numbers just too impressed literary agents, publishers, readers and other authors. To make themselves look good, saying they sold 10,000 books in a month or so, but truth, they ain’t even print that many numbers of books, and probably didn’t sell half that. But sometimes people can get hyped off that lie, especially the majors, and they don’t keep their ear out to the streets, or to hear what the readers are saying, who’s really good and who’s not… for example, this one author, who I will not disclosed, got signed to a major house because their book did really well under an independent company. They caught a popular agent and major house attention. So they got close to a quarter million with the majors because of their previous sales. They came into the big leagues and struck out, only producing one book for the majors, which was mediocre, and couldn’t produce another novel and I think they got dropped, don’t’ quote me on that. I guess they ran out of gas. But that author wasn’t the only one who got signed to a lucrative deal and didn’t make the cut. My point being, one or even two successful books doesn’t make you a superstar and will not have you concrete in this business. People/readers can forget about you quickly. I believe in quantity, along with quality—with some work effort. I think the
problem is, sometimes we get distracted by one, and completely ignore the other. If you write one good book, and it’s selling, that’s great, but then do it again, and again, and again, and again, to say to the world, yes, I can
continue doing this and I’m good at it—just not some one hit wonder. And sometimes publishers and agents may get blinded by that one hit wonder and turn their back on the real talent.

Autumn
G (SLR)

That is such a good point. So do you feel that having a literary agent makes a difference of
success in this genre?

 

Erick
S. Gray

 

Yes and no. I never truly had an agent. I was asking around for one at one point in my life. I’ve talked to Tracy Sherrod, Mark Gerald and Manny Barron (R.I.P). I was dealing with Manny Barron briefly and he tried to shop my book to a few majors a few years ago, but I didn’t like the offers that were coming back to me. I just said forget about it and walked away. I decided to go my own way, there weren’t any hard feelings. But sometimes I think good representation can be the difference with an author signing a contract for fifteen to thirty thousand, to maybe a hundred thousand or more, and being linked to powerhouse deal like with G-Unit books and Cash Money. I wanted to get down with G-Unit books when 50 Cent was looking for authors, but since I didn’t have any concrete representation for myself, I was overlooked for the project. But that didn’t deter me from still doing what I have to do….but truth, having an agent representing you doesn’t mean you’ll get those super rich deals all the time, but sometimes it’s always good to have someone that believes in you in your corner, and it doesn’t necessary have to be a literary agent.

Autumn
G (SLR)

But to my understanding, you were once signed to major publisher at one point.

Erick
S. Gray

 

Yeah. St. Martins Press, but that was a few years ago, back when I was still new to this business. And I didn’t have an agent when I signed with them, they came looking for me and wanted to sign me because of the success Booty Call was having. I negotiated that deal on my own, signed with them for fifteen thousand a book. But people always tell me if I had a literary agent backing me, then I could have signed with them for a greater amount, maybe so, maybe not, that’s in the past. But it is what it is, and I don’t have any regrets. You live and you learn. 

Autumn
G (SLR)

What do you feel are some of your best qualities that you have to offer when it comes to
the genre or just in general?

Erick
S. Gray

Well, for one, I don’t give up, no matter how hard things get for me, I keep trying, keep it moving, and there were so many times when things got hard and so damn frustrating, feeling like when I took two steps forward, I got pushed four
steps back. Sometimes I had to shake my head and ask myself, ‘What the fuck is goin’ on?’ But I grew
up being a fighter, and I come from a family that is smart, faithful and we keep each other strong and motivated. My little brother was flying planes at sixteen years old, my cousins have their Master Degrees, my sisters both graduated college, coming out of the projects and my pops knew every trade out there, from cooking to carpentry. We been through the storm and back, and I’m still here. I mean, real talk, I grew up believing there shouldn’t be no excuses why you can’t or won’t do something, if you want it that bad, then you go after it, no matter what it is. I remember my mother telling me how she married my father in the hospital. My father was shot a week before his wedding while hanging out on the Blvd, he’s blessed to be alive, but he loved my mother so much, that nothing couldn’t take him away from his wedding… even if they had to exchanged vows in the hospital. That’s commitment right there. They’ve been married for over thirty years now. And that’s the same cloth that I’m cut from, to lose three brothers, a few cousins, a best friend and going through like hell and back, and to still be here grinding and still willing to learn, achieve and become successful. There were so many unpleasant incidents where I could have given up on this business and maybe life itself. But I dry my tears, say a prayer, keep the faith and keep on working to achieve your dreams. Like they say, success is largely of hanging on after others have let go! And I’m still hanging on, pulling myself up slowly.

Autumn
G (SLR)

Wow! So with your books, what motivates your writing?

Erick
S. Gray

 

Life! I wanna be heard. I wanna be a voice out there that people are listening too. I feel that me and my family, and friends, we have such a compelling story to tell, and I just want to tell it. And I tell it either through my novels or poetry. Some of my characters in my stories I definitely can relate to, even if the story is fictional. I think I’ve been through everything imaginable, from the violent loss of family and friends, feeling betrayed, stabbed at a young age, to having
lots of money and balling, where I’m able to hand my mother ten grand just cause and then being broke and asking my mother for twenty dollars just to put gas in my car. I mean, I have so many stories to tell, along with quite a few of my family members. So I tell it, even though my stories are fictional, believe me, there’s always some truth behind each sentence, each character and every novel.

Autumn
G (SLR)

Which one of your books are you able to relate to the most?

Erick
S. Gray

Shit, that’s like asking a mother who’s her favorite child. I can pretty much relate to all of my stories told. Each of them carries a significant piece in me. But each of my stories tells a different side of me. I try to show diversity when it comes
to story telling…from erotica, and relationships, to drugs and crime.

Autumn
G (SLR)

 

Well, right now, I’m familiar with Love and Gangsta, but name some of your other books.

Erick
S. Gray

I have Crave All Lose All, Booty Call *69, Booty Call, Money Power Respect, Ghetto Heaven, It’s Like Candy, Nasty Girls, Streets of New York, volumes 1-3, um….a few anthologies that I’m in…like Heartbreaker and Flexin and sexing. And then I’m dropping two new novels very soon, One Lyfe to Live and America’s Soul.

Autumn
G (SLR)

You’ve been busy over the years.

Erick
S. Gray

Yeah. I got to. I have goals that I’m trying to reach. My plan is to drop a book every year, and since it’s been two years since I dropped my last book, I gotta make up for it, so I’m dropping two this year, plus a short story in Guns and Roses. I made that promise to myself, after the death of my brother and the murder of a friend, and I plan on keeping it. I refused to go backwards. Every year I’m reinventing myself and keep my name relevant in this business, this growing
genre. So I started 3G publishing, which represent the three last names of myself, my little brother and my friend that was killed—Gray, Gray and Goff represents 3G. It’s significant to me, because we were all motivated, and go-getters before I lost them both. I miss ‘em a lot. So it’s to honor them. Coming from where I come from, and being where I’m at now, such a blessing.

Autumn
G (SLR)  

Who do you give praise to in this genre? Who are some of the people you look up to or
respect?

Erick
S. Gray

I respect quite a few of my peers, like K’wan, my ride and die dude since we started together back in 2003, Anthony Whyte, we both been through the grind and hustle from state to state, Mark Anthony, Tracy Brown and Wahida Clark, two of most phenomenal female writers out there, and then there’s J.M Benjamin, he came home a few
years ago and made it happen for himself, dude’s a natural hustler fo’ real, and then there’s Treasure Blue, he’s great writer, and also my home girl, Deborah, AKA Sexy, Yo, she just don’t talk about it, but she’s definitely about
her business, I mean, she looked out for me in a huge way, and I can’t never forget that. But you know why I love and respect these authors, cuz we all made it past that hump, and done showed and proved that we can do this and not just having one or two books in the game, I’m talking about between all the names I mentioned, there’s countless of novels between us—myself with thirteen and counting, K’wan with the same or more, Tracy and Wahida, almost dozen books between them and the list goes on with all of us. We don’t complain, each of us just go out there, show support amongst each other and make it happen….showing and proving that we have staying power in this genre…

Autumn
G (SLR)

In closing, can you offer to some of these up and coming authors some advice and words of encouragement?

Erick
S. Gray

In the words of Chris Brown, look at me now…lol, nah I’m just joking. But my advice to someone who’s trying to come into this business or any other business venture, take the time to shape your craft and let the world know, that you will not keep going on being unheard. You have to be ready to shout! I say that the key to success is to know what you do, believe in what you do, and love what you do. And believe that everything happens for a reason. If you get a chance, take it, if it changes you, let it. Nobody said it would be easy, they just promised that it would it be worth it.

Autumn
G (SLR)

Where can fans or readers buy your material and how can they contact you?

Erick
S. Gray

You can find my books anywhere, especially online. I’m on Amazon.com, I’m in the bookstores, my books are with the vendors and I’m now breaking into this e-books business,where a few of my titles are available for download via Kindle and Nook. But if you wanna get at me just Google me, I like saying that. But I’m on Facebook, Erick Gray. Twitter, Erickspencer and just reach out, I don’t bite. But holla at ya boy anytime, I’m out!