Getting a Late Start

Louisiana native, June Shaw's debut novel, Relative Danger, received her publisher's "David Award" for Best Mystery of the Year. The novel also received glowing reviews from Publishers Weekly and Romantic Times, which described her protagonist as "a granny with attitude." Her latest novel, Killer Cousins, has been reviewed as "a bowl of spicy gumbo."


Getting a Late Start

by June Shaw

A new friend recently asked the silliest question: “Why did you wait so long to get started writing novels?”

My desire to become a writer surfaced when I was in ninth grade. Before then, I thought all good writers were old dead European men. I couldn’t relate. My English I teacher told me he was sending me to a literary rally. I knew grammar well, which most of the test would include, but we’d also write a paragraph. He told me to practice. I should write about a splinter.

A splinter? I slunk back to my desk. This would be the dullest paragraph anyone ever created. I described a sliver of wood, checked for grammar and punctuation, and carried it to his desk.

He skimmed it. “June, this is boring.”

“I know, but you told me to write it.”

“Yes, but do it like this.” He wrote Ouch! He said I should write from the splinter’s point of view. Somebody just sat on it.

Wow, that was it! My education. My inspiration. I was so excited to realize an author could create people and things and make them do or say anything.
What my teacher actually did was introduce me to modern creative writing that included humor.

I’d never read things like that before. None of my teachers ever had us do creative writing. I can’t recall the topic of the paragraph we had to write about at the rally. I did place first. I never forgot that splinter.

Throughout high school I was involved in band and lots of clubs and soon after graduation, married my sweetheart, who was a little older. During the next six years, I gave birth to five children. Sex fiend or good Catholic? some people asked. Both, I answered.

Over time I’d often think of that splinter and want to write, but instead ran with the children to their activities. My husband died when they were five to eleven years old.

Once my head started to clear, I knew I had to earn money. I wanted to write. They wanted to eat and wear shoes. I became a teacher, teaching English I. Over time I sold essays and stories. My one-act plays did well. I finally read novels and learned to write them.

My sweet children gave me eight wonderful grandchildren—and all of them were thrilled once I finally sold a novel! Relative Danger features a spunky young grandma and her hunky sometimes-ex lover. Is she me? I am often asked. She’s who I want to be.

Killer Cousins, the second book in the series, recently came out. Both books are receiving great reviews and much praise. I’m thrilled. My squeeze Bob and I recently did research for my third book. It will take place on a cruise ship.

I am in my second adulthood and having great fun! Thanks for letting me share.

Guest Blogger: Tony Burton

Tony Burton is a novelist, ezine editor and small press publisher who donates the proceeds from his anthologies to the Toys For Tots Program.

The History of Wolfmont Publishing

by Tony Burton

Wolfmont LLC is the parent company of two publishing imprints, Wolfmont Press and Honey Locust Press, as well as the parent of Crime and Suspense ezine. Originally formed in 2006 as a single company, Wolfmont Publishing, we decided to broaden our offerings and separate the primarily crime-fiction side of the house from the more family-friendly side. Thus, Wolfmont Press and Honey Locust Press were born.

Presently the two imprints have a combined publishing history of nineteen titles (including two ebook titles), with fifteen presently active and at least three more in the pipeline for the coming year.

With very few exceptions, the books printed by both imprints are produced using print-on-demand technology. We feel this is both the most ecologically sound and the most economically feasible business model for Wolfmont and Honey Locust. We are realists, and with an anticipated 2009 output across the industry of over 440,000 new titles in the United States, we feel it is a patently unwise move to produce thousands of books that may or may not move into the hands of buyers. The remainders market has been overflowing for years with titles from unknown authors as well as best-selling authors. To see tons of printed books being pulped as waste or sold for pennies on the dollar is a tragedy, and we are doing out best to alleviate that by printing what we must print rather than rely upon pie-in-the-sky estimates of hoped-for sales numbers.

As stated before, Wolfmont’s titles are primarily crime fiction. In addition to publishing novels, we are proud of our support of the short-story form, and we publish anthologies on a regular basis. We are also extremely proud of the anthologies we have created each year since 2007, that support the Toys for Tots efforts. The 2008 anthology, Dying in a Winter Wonderland, was our most successful yet, creating $3,300 for Toys for Tots and garnering a spot in the 2008 Top Ten Bestsellers List (Softcover) for the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association.

Honey Locust has diversified a bit more, with non-fiction, religious and inspirational titles as well as two cozy mysteries that are sold in both secular and Christian bookstores.

At the present time, we are being conservative in what we seek out to publish. Ours is a small press, with the emphasis on “small.” But, as a rule, I can say that very gritty, very “street” sort of work is not what we are seeking for either imprint. We like to think that an author can convey anger, disgust, frustration or even some degree of sensuality without resorting to street language or descriptions of the sexual act. Just because you can typically get away with more in today’s climate, doesn’t mean you should. A talented and skilled writer can communicate a great deal without pandering verbally to baser instincts.

As a small press, we found that we had to diversify somewhat to survive, not only in what we publish but in the services we offer. Consequently, we also offer promotional services, book packaging, book video creation, book cover creation and editing services to authors, and in fact have partnered with one other publisher, Squall Press, to provide editing, layout and cover design when their workload is greater than they can handle.

Most of Wolfmont’s and Honey Locust’s books are available through wholesalers in both the United States and in the U.K. and Europe, via Ingram and Baker & Taylor in the U.S., and Bertram’s, Blackwell, Cypher and Dawson in Europe.

Buest Blogger: Joanna Campbell Slan

Joanna Campbell Slan is the author of the Agatha-nominated Paper, Scissors, Death, the first book in the Kiki Lowenstein Mystery Series. In addition, Joanna has written ten non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles.

The Hours I Keep

by Joanna Campbell Slan

It’s 6:10 p.m. and I’m still working.

Last week I spoke to a group of high school students during a Career Day event. One girl asked, “Does your job leave you a lot of time to be with your family?”

I smiled. “Yes, it does, but I try to squeeze in every bit of work I can.”

Now that my son is away at college—and I mean AWAY because he’s a two-day drive from here—I have more time to work. I wrote my first book while he was still in grade school. Using Stories and Humor: Grab Your Audience is non-fiction, a textbook for those who wish to incorporate personal anecdotes and humor into their presentations. The speechwriter for Benjamin Netanyahu, the former and maybe future prime minister of Israel, says its one of his favorite resources. To get the book done by my deadline, I sat down with a school calendar, calculated the number of days I could possibly work, and divided them into the finished manuscript’s word-count. Every day I knew exactly how many words I needed to pound out to reach my goal.

It’s more complicated with fiction. My Agatha-nominated debut novel Paper, Scissors, Death couldn’t have been parceled out into a daily word count. You need stretches of time to write fiction because the ideas and scenes fit together like an unruly pearl necklace. If the string breaks, the pearls tumble away and roll under furniture. Getting all those beads rounded up, lined up, and tied together takes uninterrupted time. Time I now have.

In between writing my new works-in-progress (and, yes, I have several), I check my emails, answer questions from readers and friends, respond to my publisher, write articles that I hope will publicize my book, and schedule public appearances. Then, of course, I must prep for those appearances. No sense in saying you’ll show up if you don’t put your best foot forward!

So, when do I stop working? Um, I’m not really sure. I think about my work as I fall asleep. I visualize the scenes I’ll write before I get out of bed in the morning. I find that “twilight” time a great asset because you are both observer and creator. I can “see” what I want to happen, and I can experience the scene in an imaginary sensory way. I can’t really figure out when to take a break. And I’m not sure I want to.

I’m not complaining. All I ever wanted to do was to be a writer. I knew going into this that I’d have to work hard. I expected the long hours. I have the life I dreamed of having. And I don’t mind working late. In fact, it really doesn’t seem like work at all!

It’s 6:20 and my husband’s home. Time to stop…at least for a while.

Joanna blogs at http://joannaslan.blogspot.com and at http://killerhobbies.blogspot.com Visit her at www.joannaslan.com

Guest Blogger: Robert W. Walker

Author of The Edge and Instinct series, Robert W. Walker has also written the Inspector Alastair Ransom historical mystery series. His work has been created under four pen names.

Going for the Blogosphere

by Robert W. Walker

While an author needs be cautious with BSP-–Blatant SELF-Promotion-–as it can be as off-putting as SPAM, there are professional techniques. For instance, learn what is acceptable or not when on a given site/chat group. Below are acceptable forms of BSP-ing every author should look into:

Sig line: We all know to beef up emails with a signature line—always a good idea, but many folks on various groups are terribly put off by our doing a full-blown commercial for our books on their “space”. This said there are legit ways to gain attention for a forthcoming book.

Set up a blog from your series/main character’s point of view or your own perspective. Many authors are doing this these days. Setting up a blog is easy at www.blogspot.com--a Google spot easy to navigate.

Set up a Group-a-Blog! Yes, a group of us Chicago mystery and suspense writers are an example at Acme Authors(http.//acmeauthorslink.blogspot.com).It’s great as you’re only responsible for content one day per week. We began as Chicago authors but recently have added on, and we have frequent interviews and guests. A group-a-blog that involves many authors also means a built in support group!

Set up a website most assuredly! An author needs an online address to promote herself, set up free advice, contests, and giveaways as I have at www.robertwalkerbooks.com. It is so important that people can find you and your books—public figure that you are.

Join the web Bandwagon! How many times this week did you hear the word Twitter? Check out www.Twitter.com and join as with other seriously large social groups online like www.Facebook.com, www.myspace,com, www.Crimespace.com, www.Plaxo.com--all of which allow you to “network” online, building connections so that “your web” grows larger said the spider to the fly.

Cross pollinate! Once you’re part of a huge social network, lure readers to your work via your various addresses while being your wonderful self (if they like you, they buy your book!). Humor and interesting content is how you Pied Piper people to your blog and website. I’m on www.dorothyl.com and www.murdermustadvertise.com in addition to all of the above. You tell people at the various bandwagon sites in quick bites where they can find the whole meal deal at your site and your blog. You suggest, cajole, urge folks over without a smell of leftover Spam by providing a url, which allows Dick and Jane to decide and not you for them. Meanwhile, you can also duplicate your blog efforts (articles) to play on some of these bandwagon sites (cut and paste your original blog, and it does double or triple-duty at myspace, facebook, crimespace blogs. It’s how we got through college—making one research paper do double duty in more than one class/venue! You can also catch my articles on writing at www.speakwithoutinterruption.com. Does it keep me busy? Yes. Does it pull me away from my next book project? Yes. Is it worth it? By all means,

Guest Blogger: Carola Dunn

Carola Dunn's 50th novel, Manna From Hades, was released in March and set in her native British Isles. Her Daisy Dalrymple series, set in the 1920s, is intimately entwined with her story and characters as is her new Cornish series.


Writing Historical Novels

by Carola Dunn

I have been writing historical novels for thirty years. If you count the 1960s as historical--opinions differ!--I have had 50 published. Of these, 32 are Regencies. The other eighteen are mysteries, the 17 titles of my Daisy Dalrymple series, set in the 1920s, and most recently Manna from Hades, the first of a new series of Cornish mysteries set in the 1960s.

There are both advantages and disadvantages to setting a mystery in the past. On the one hand, you don't have to worry about the latest advances in forensic science and technology overtaking the publication of your book. However, obviously, it takes more effort to find out the methods used to solve crimes in the past.

Where the 1920s are concerned, it's easy to find countless mysteries written at that time which have more or less accurate information about detective techniques. For information about English police techniques, straight from the horses' mouths, the memoirs of Scotland Yard detectives are available, e.g. G.W. Cornish of Scotland Yard, as well as Mostly Murder by the great forensic pathologist Sir Sidney Smith.

The more distant from the present the time period you choose to write about, the less accurate information is available. Of course, you don't have to go far back to find that the science of forensics didn't exist. Those responsible for detecting criminals were not expected to provide anything we would call real proof. A book well worth hunting out is Clues! (UK: Written in Blood) A History of Forensic Detection by Colin Watson.

In twenty-first century America, guilty verdicts are quite often proved incorrect when genetic evidence is considered. You can imagine how frequent miscarriages of justice were in the past.

Luckily, the less information is available, the more leeway for the fiction writer.
Creating an impression of the spirit of the times is, in my opinion, the most important job for any historical fiction writer, mystery or other. If you're writing about Ancient Rome, your characters have to take slavery for granted; in mid-nineteenth century America, they should not. Religion reigned supreme in medieval Europe, even kings seeking the blessing of the papacy. To the upper classes of 18th century England and France, manners and etiquette were of enormous importance, even in dire circumstances. The class system was an unavoidable aspect of 19th century England that can't be ignored however little you like it. America in the 19th century boasted a feeling of boundless opportunity--unless you were a slave. The Depression era depressed not only economic life but people's spirits and expectations. Wherever and whenever until quite recently, and still now in many parts of the globe, women were subservient.

All these aspects of society influenced the way people thought and behaved and have to be a major part of your setting. They will change the motives for and kinds of crimes that are committed. Just consider one example: blackmail. These days, you couldn't blackmail someone for living "in sin." Too many people do it openly!

www.geocities.com/CarolaDunn/
Mar17:MANNA FROM HADES, 1st Cornish mystery,my 50th book!
Daisy Dalrymple mysteries-England 1920s-hc,pb,audio,LP
THE BLOODY TOWER-More death at the Tower of London!(#16)
IMBA BESTSELLER
Blog: http://tinyurl.com/66q19u

Guest Blogger: Beverle Graves Myers

Beverle Graves Myers made a mid-life career switch from psychiatry to mystery writing. A graduate of University of Louisville School of Medicine, she worked ten years at a public mental health clinic before her first book was published in 2004. Interrupted Aria introduced singer-sleuth Tito Amato and the Baroque Mystery series set in old Venice. Bev also writes short stories set in a variety of times and places.

Her short fiction has been published in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Woman's World, and numerous anthologies. She has earned nominations for the Macavity, Derringer, and Kentucky Literary awards. Her latest novel is The Iron Tongue of Midnight .


Disfunctional Family Circa 1740

by Beverle Myers

I was on my second book in the Tito Amato Baroque Mystery series when I realized I was really writing a family saga. I’ve never been a fan of the lone wolf detective who moves through life avoiding all ties. I prefer stories that feature sprawling, messy families. Steven Saylor’s Gordianus the Finder mysteries and Elizabeth Peters’ Amelia Peabody series are particular favorites. Since we tend to write what we like to read, each of my Tito novels presents my sleuth with an intriguing murder to solve, plus two important sub-plots. One has to do with family and personal relationships, the other a challenge to his singing career. Guess which bits turned out to be the most fun to create?

Tito is an amateur sleuth in an era that had little formal law enforcement. As a young boy, he was castrated to preserve his beautiful soprano voice and sent away from Venice to Naples to train for the opera stage. We first meet Tito in Interrupted Aria as he returns to Venice to make his professional debut. Besides feuding singers and a lecherous theater owner, Tito must reconnect with his troubled family. Some introductions are in order:

Alessandro: Tito’s older brother, a rough-and-ready merchant seaman who has no use for the opera. He remembers Tito as the little boy who used to follow him and his friends around Venice making a general pest of himself. He barely recognizes the elegant, polished young man who returns from the Naples conservatory. Despite his discomfort at having a singing eunuch in the family, Alessandro makes an effort to bond with Tito.

Annetta: Tito’s sister, just one year older, his closest confidant and staunchest supporter. Annetta eventually marries Englishman Augustus Rumbolt, who becomes Tito’s friend and sleuthing sidekick.

Grisella: Tito’s younger sister, just thirteen on his return. Highly emotional and a constant troublemaker, Grisella suffers from what we would call Tourette’s Syndrome. She shares Tito’s talent for singing, but not his high-minded ideals. I think of her as the fictitious love-child of Sarah Bernhardt and Rasputin.

Isidore Amato: Tito’s father, a cold loveless man, a widower since Tito’s mother died at Grisella’s birth. He is the organ master at the Ospedale Mendicanti, a girls’ school and orphanage. Isidore holds the secret to Tito’s most pressing personal question: Why did his father allow the surgery that made him into a castrato singer so many years ago?

Liya Del’Vecchio: A Jewess from the Venetian ghetto who makes masks and headdresses for the theater. The beautiful but opinionated Liya becomes the love of Tito’s life. His physical condition is only one of the barriers they must overcome.

Throughout the series, Tito’s loved ones become part and parcel of the mysteries he is called on to solve. Because he is an amateur sleuth, his reason for investigating a crime often hinges on his family’s involvement. Sometimes they provide assistance or turn up surprising clues. Often, one of them hampers his efforts though outright duplicity or misplaced concern. Besides providing plot points, Tito’s family helps to fill out his personality and bring him to life on the page. Tito would not be the man he is without Grisella, Alessandro, and the others making his life difficult.

Learn more about Tito and the rest of the Amato clan at my website http://www.beverlegravesmyers.com

I also blog about Tito’s back story and other goodies at http://CruelMusic.blogspot.com

If you like Beverle's article, please leave her a comment.

Guest Blogger: Ben Small

An honors graduate from Indiana University and an experienced trial lawyer, Ben F. Small has over thirty years experience handling complex antitrust, litigation and other legal matters worldwide for Fortune 500 companies. His first two novels are mystery thrillers and he's currently working on his third novel.


Ben Small: Marketing Maven

by Ben Small

Hah! My wife will see this title and fall over. She’ll be laughing like a hyena that’s discovered a rotting carcass, perhaps an appropriate metaphor when considering my marketing efforts.

See, I enjoy writing much more than I enjoy marketing. But I suspect I’m not alone in these sentiments. Many writers, given their druthers, would prefer being holed up somewhere writing than out and about selling their creations. And some hermits have been some our greatest writers. Take Henry David Thoreau: That recluse hung out in a ramshackle cabin on an algae covered pond to avoid marketing.

Now, I’m no Thoreau, not in any sense, although I do have a ramshackle cabin on a lake, which when the wind blows from the west may show some algae. Hmmm… maybe I should call my next book Waubesa…

Whaddya know? I’ve got marketing talent after all.

But lest I lead you astray and drive you to something more interesting, like maybe the Golf Channel television listings, let me address some of the marketing channels I’ve used. I haven’t been a total marketing stump. I need to do more, for instance, Facebook, but I’ll get around to that…

I spent thirty years building up contacts within the legal community and my former employer, a company with well over two hundred thousand employees. And I did ― still do ― employee training in addition to my legal responsibilities. I’m a good networker, make friends easily and I’m a good public speaker. I’ve kept careful records of my contacts, and my email contact lists are extensive. Some of these folks have really big mouths…in the good sense. My friends are my best marketing resource

But I also obtained two degrees from Indiana University, which has an alumni base in the millions. I send the Alumni magazine a copy of each of book, reviews and a synopsis, and they print the synopsis in their quarterly issue. Newsletter stuff goes into the Class Notes section. But I don’t stop there. Peegs.com (http://indiana.rivals.com/), a sports forum devoted to Indiana University sports, is the largest forum on the prominent Rivals sports network. I’ve become a personality there, and every time someone opens one of my posts, there’s an ad for my books and blogs (Make Mine Mystery Blog and Murderous Musings Blog). Short humorous stories I created for Peegs – Mike Pegram, the owner is a friend ― are permanent posts on the site’s Legendary Threads page. And every time I have a new book, I send copies to Peegs. He promotes the book with a sticky note, which stays on top for a week or more.

I also post on numerous fora, like SigForum (http://sigforum.com/), GlockTalk (http://www.glocktalk.com/), Smith-Wessonforum (http://smith-wessonforum.com/) and many others. Each one has a Classified section. So in addition to my ads on each post, I sell books in the site’s Classified section. Posting doesn’t take much time, maybe just a comment, and there’s my ad…

All free.

I’ve learned to focus book signings where I’ve lived or worked; otherwise one can go broke driving or flying around the country.

I’m proud of my website Http://BenFSmall.com, but realize I need to add a blog.

I’ll be focusing on my To Do list in the near future, along with developing contacts within the library community, perhaps the best cost/benefit focus of all. Robert Fate tells me he provides a free copy to libraries everywhere he goes, along with the standard synopses, book cards and promotional pages we all do.
I must say, my color laser printer does get a workout . . .

If you like Ben's article, please leave him a comment.