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About Rope and Wire
The thought of starting a website had been bouncing around in my brain for some time. I enjoyed watching the old western B movies as a kid, (and still do). Getting lost in a good western novel is always a pleasure. In fact, I have a collection of some of the old classics by such authors as Zane Grey, Owen Wister and B. M. Bower, to name a few.
I knew I wasn’t alone, and that there were others out there who enjoyed the western genre as much as I did.
As anyone involved in writing westerns can attest, the genre doesn’t get the recognition it deserves. Getting your work stocked on a bookstore shelf is a near impossibility. Where topics such as sports, financial investment and self-help are allotted hundreds of feet of shelf space, westerns are lucky to get four or five.
But times are changing.
To the great benefit of the western genre, the evolution of the personal computer, self-publishing software, personal websites and online sales has opened up a vast array of new opportunities for authors, musicians and artists to promote their work. The brick and mortar bookstore is fast becoming obsolete.
There are people who consider themselves knowledgeable about such things as consumer trends and preferences, who say the western genre is all but dead, on its last leg, breathing its last breath.
Like I said, these are people who consider themselves knowledgeable. Others would disagree with their assessment and I include myself in that group. My thought is that if the western genre is correctly promoted to the world, online, through major websites like Rope and Wire, the world will respond accordingly.
So, with that objective in mind, I began to put into motion my plan for a website that would promote the western genre in a professional and wholesome environment.
Rope and Wire came online in February of 2007 with a western short story section for published authors and a unique section I named “The Bullpen”. This section was for those aspiring authors who were just beginning to get their feet wet. Western movies and humor were also part of the original features of the site.
Over the years a few sections have come and gone and Rope and Wire has continually improved and evolved into what you see today.
About a year ago (2009) I added the Authors Herald section, which gives published authors a great opportunity to promote their latest work, and just recently I’ve expanded the site to include western musicians and artists with two new sections called
Musicians Herald and Western Artists.
This is all in keeping with my original vision of helping to promote the western genre.
The popularity of Rope and Wire has steadily increased since the very first month it came online and currently has a world wide following.
To date, over 145 different countries have visited Rope and Wire, with the United States, Canada, China, United Kingdom and France rounding out the top five.
Our mission and our goal is to continually promote the western genre, including the work of new and established western authors, musicians and artists through a friendly, professional and community-oriented environment.
Thank you for your support of Rope and Wire.
Scott
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