Social Media

At the time my first book was published in 2007, I had a web site and began exploring other ways of engaging with readers. Now I have this blog where I post weekly. I participate in Facebook and occasionally Twitter.

I really don’t enjoy Twitter very much, but I do like Facebook. I catch up on friends' family activities with kids and grandkids, an occasional dog or cat picture, photos of travel and interesting events, author book activities and a political rant or two. My posts include a lot of activities with my 3-year-old grandson as well as other grandkids, pictures from walks, book activities and my own political rants.

Dealing with Unpredictable Publishers

Over my twelve year publishing career, I have worked with six different publishers. Of these, I am only working with two and a partial right now. One (Five Star) decided to exit the mystery publishing business and reverted print rights on seven of my nine books they had published. One publisher went out of business completely, one became unresponsive, and one decided to change his business model.

Change can be expected in publishing, so authors have to adapt to this. As of this moment, all of my fifteen books are back in print. Fortunately, Encircle Publications has re-released eight of my books as well as published two new novels. I have self-published two of my abandoned books.

Never a dull moment in the publishing world.

Left Coast Crime Conference

I will be attending the Left Coast Crime Conference in Vancouver, Canada, in March. This gathering of mystery fans and mystery authors is always an enjoyable event. This year I will again be hosting the Meet the New Authors Breakfast. So far we have seventeen new authors who will be giving a one minute presentation on the most important thing to know about their debut mystery novel.

Writing During Different Times of the Year

Many people make New Year’s resolution including writers. November has also been a time for some writers who participate in NaNoWroMo, national novel writing month, a time to attempt to write 50,000 words during one month. For some writers, summer may be a time of reduced writing with vacations and kids home from school. Others may cocoon during the winter and write less or more.

For me, it depends on where I am in my writing cycle and what I’m writing. For example, right now I’m not writing anything new, but I’m editing manuscripts in preparation for getting them published. Two of my books will be coming out in 2019, and I’m editing manuscripts to be submitted for 2020.

2019

Here we are in a new year. Some people make resolutions, some reflect on the past year and others get on with their lives.

Right now, I’m getting organized for the year. In my writing world, I’ll be attending the Left Coast Crime Conference in March and the California Crime Writers Conference in June. I have two books under contract to be published in 2019: Paradise Court: A Pickleball Mystery in May (this is a sequel to Court Trouble) and The Front Wing in October (this is a sequel to The Back Wing). I also have a number of presentations scheduled for service organizations such as Rotary and Kiwanis.

On the personal front, I’m looking forward to time with my wife, kids and grandkids.

May this be a good year for all of you.