Spring Break
Riekki releases 'U.P.' with the help of Road, Web
by Daniel Baron
Staff Writer
Arts | 5/19/09
Posted online at 2:39 PM EST on 5/18/09
I learned from Riekki that selling books primarily through the Internet is common, as books these days, apparently, are similar to songs and pieces of the music industry. Blogs, e-mail forwards, word-of-mouth and similar marketing techniques are being used more and more to promote sales. Riekki calls this very piece in the Justice the result of an interview that is part of his "weird post-modern book tour." In the age of YouTube, in which homemade videos can be responsible for more revenue than more traditional media, it is not surprising that viral advertising has become king for authors. "My book's definitely underground," states Riekki, "but [it's] accessible to anyone who wants to pick it up."
Music is more than an analogy that Riekki uses to discuss business and technology trends. It is also like oxygen to him; he can't write in silence. With one of his characters, he listened to the rapper Ice Cube over and over again for inspiration and direction. In the ninth grade a friend told him to "check this out" and played Run DMC; Riekki was in love with hip hop from that moment on. It was more than just the music, though. Riekki was also captivated by the issues presented in the lyrics, like incarceration, class and race.
I wanted to know more about Riekki's experience with racial differences, so I asked, and in doing so I became "the first person to ask me about race" out of 35 interviews up to that point. Growing up, Riekki's neighborhood was all white (yes, 100 percent). In fact, the first black person he ever met was Muhammad Ali when he got the boxer's autograph in an airport.
He's taught at Moraine Valley Community College and is currently on the faculty of Auburn University. But what are his future plans? What happens after his jackpot four-book contract with Ghost Road Press is a thing of the past? I asked about settling down, but Riekki told me he is more interested in going wherever the money takes him. If the money took him to Los Angeles, however, then maybe he will settle down and just stay there, especially since that's where he plans on finding the woman of his dreams.
Music is more than an analogy that Riekki uses to discuss business and technology trends. It is also like oxygen to him; he can't write in silence. With one of his characters, he listened to the rapper Ice Cube over and over again for inspiration and direction. In the ninth grade a friend told him to "check this out" and played Run DMC; Riekki was in love with hip hop from that moment on. It was more than just the music, though. Riekki was also captivated by the issues presented in the lyrics, like incarceration, class and race.
I wanted to know more about Riekki's experience with racial differences, so I asked, and in doing so I became "the first person to ask me about race" out of 35 interviews up to that point. Growing up, Riekki's neighborhood was all white (yes, 100 percent). In fact, the first black person he ever met was Muhammad Ali when he got the boxer's autograph in an airport.
He's taught at Moraine Valley Community College and is currently on the faculty of Auburn University. But what are his future plans? What happens after his jackpot four-book contract with Ghost Road Press is a thing of the past? I asked about settling down, but Riekki told me he is more interested in going wherever the money takes him. If the money took him to Los Angeles, however, then maybe he will settle down and just stay there, especially since that's where he plans on finding the woman of his dreams.
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