Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Late on Posts - Busy With New Book

The new book is Michael Gresham. Michael is 55, Catholic and prays, divorced, spends hours cleaning up after a brother who refuses to take his meds, negotiates with ex-wife who needs money to buy hormones and get pregnant, and defends a client with diminished capacity who is accused of killing the wife of a federal judge. This is enough to get anyone rolling down the the thriller tracks.

The idea for the book--it will develop into a series--is the constituency of my readership. The great majority of my readers will relate to Michael's age and marital status because so many fall within the same general characteristics. Is this a ploy? You're damn right it is. I want to read about people I can relate to and I bet you do, too.

Michael Gresham is a legal thriller. There's enough going on between the covers to keep you up late, reading when you should be sleeping and getting ready for tomorrow's mini-drama down at the office, or store, or station, or wherever you earn your keep. The book is written in the first person--your author's notion of how Michael Gresham sounds when he speaks. His words, his dialect, his depth of appraisal of the world around him, his reaction to events: you will come away knowing who he is, I promise you.

Now the question is, do I let one of Amazon's imprints publish the book or do I self-publish? On the one hand, Amazon has access to all the readers any writer could ever want. On the other hand, I do love my freedom and independence and ability to turn on a dime if I decide to change this or that about my work or manipulate the book's price or cover or the jillion other little things authors like to fiddle with. There's always that. So I'm going to let my beta reader Maia decide what I do with the book. She won't know she's making this decision: but when I see her reaction I'll know exactly where to place it for adoption. Another wounded child on its way home.

And that, my friends, is how I view the publication of one of my books.

4 comments:

Eva said...

I devoured the book one rainy Sunday in Virginia. Will Michael Gresham become a series? I do hope you will stick with Amazon, I have Kindle Unlimited 😉

admin said...

Hi Eva, yes, Michael Gresham book 1 is out now. Book 2 will be out in about one month. It should go on preorder in about a week.:)

Elizabeth Arnold said...

Just finished Michael Gresham. Waiting with bated breath for the next one. I have read all of your books and consider you to be a great writer. Let me know if you need another beta reader/proof reader. I am retired and love to read. I spent 30 years in the printing industry so I have much experience with the printed word, grammar, spelling, et cetera.

admin said...

What nice things for you to say! Thanks Elizabeth. I have saved your name for beta/proofing.