Libraries

I finally got my novel into the public library in New Orleans. This was a big deal to me, being that my novels are set in New Orleans, and being that I was born and raised in New Orleans, lived here my whole life, and still live here.  I would have thought the New Orleans Public Library would have been happy to have the novels of a local author, set in New Orleans, in the library.

This was not the case just a year ago. I emailed the acquisitions division of the library, which is what the website says to do if you are a writer or a publisher.  I explained who I was, my credentials, and provided a short summary of both books.  I made sure I mentioned I was published by Oak Tree Press, because I wasn't entirely sure if the library accepts self-published novels, and wanted to make them aware I had a real publisher.

I didn't hear back from them.  Despite the fact that the library system to this day is still recovering from Katrina, the website mentions that they received so many donated books they either sell most of them or donate them to a group that sells them.  So it wasn't a guarantee that even if I donated the books to them, they would put them on the shelves for the public.

Maybe I should have mentioned then that the public library system in Jefferson Parish, the unofficial sister parish to New Orleans, has 11 copies of my first novel and 3 or 4 copies of my second novel.  Maybe I should have mentioned that although I was agreeing to donate several copies of my novels to the New Orleans library, and send them at my own cost, the Jefferson Parish Library had purchased all of the books on their own, without me contacting them and without my knowledge that they had purchased them.  Maybe I should have mentioned a small town in north Alabama also has copies of my books, because I have an evacuation house there.  But I didn't.

Until last week.  I am nothing if not tenacious, so I emailed the library again, this time mentioning the facts above, as well as the third book, Chocolate City Justice, would be out before year's end.

I don't know if it was just luck, the fact that Jefferson Parish carried my books, or that my next book was called Chocolate City Justice (which seems to catch people's attention), but whatever it was, the acquisitions department emailed me back within a day and asked for two copies of each book.

It may seem silly that I worked so hard to give away four books, but I have a few reasons I think are pretty good for wanting my books in the N.O. library.  First, despite the fact that I have two books published by a reputable, if smaller, publishing house, and a contract to continue with the series, I still feel the need to legitimatize myself as a writer, particularly to people I actually know.  I don't know why, except maybe I believe those that know me will not think of me as a "real" writer.  Having books in the public library makes me more legitimate.

Second, I can refer people who aren't certain about buying my book, or who I know really can't stretch their budget to buy a book, to the library.  If they enjoy it, they may eventually end up buying the others in the series when they are able. 

Third, if enough people check out my book or request my book at the library, the library may buy more copies, and may purchase the series as it is published.

Fourth, I can consider doing a reading or an event, especially with another mystery writer, at the library if my book is already there.

As much as I hate to admit it, my town is not a reading town.  Most people I know don't even get the newspaper, much less read books.  And I'm talking about a lot of educated professionals.  Some people even brag about the fact that they never read, as if that's a good thing, so getting my books into the hands of those that do read is a big deal to me.

While everyone wants to make as money as possible, the way to do that as a writer sometimes involves giving something away for free.  The bigger picture is the more people who are exposed to my books, the more books I will eventually sell.

And if I never become rich off of this gig, at least I made a modest sum doing what I love, and not everyone can say that.

God bless the public library system. 

The Mystery Writers

A book of interviews of mystery writers and their advice on writing called "The Mystery Writers," edited by Jean Henry Mead has just been released, and it is a huge honor to be included among the writers. My interview and a short blog I wrote for the book is in the chapter for traditional mysteries, and I am in great company.

Other writers include Hank Phillippi Ryan, Leighton Gage, Pat Brown, Marilyn Meredith, Timothy Hallinan, Sue Grafton, Gerrie Ferris Finger, Julie Garwood, Mike Orenduff, Wendy Gager, Maggie Bishop, Chris Redding, Pat Browning, Sunny Frazier, and Vincent Zandri, just to name a few.

There is a lot of good advice from a lot of different perspectives, as well as interesting interviews of each writer. The book is informative and entertaining, and while I don't make anything from sales of the book, still recommend getting a copy or buying it on Kindle, for the advice on writing as well as the interesting backgrounds of the writers.

I have a little about my background as an attorney and can-can dancer, as well as the collision with a drunk driver right before Gumbo Justice was scheduled for release that pushed back my publication date and left me with a permanent limp.

Chocolate City Justice

With the book launch of Jambalaya Justice barely over, I finally had some time over the break to work on Chocolate City Justice. My publisher recently contacted me about a possible July release day, to time it to coordinate with the PSWA writer's conference, a conference in Las Vegas I try to attend every year.

The deadline was a little short, so I suggested a release date later in the year, but the question did bring working on the novel back into my focus again. I mainly worked on retooling the outline, something I'm still in the process of doing.

When I write, I do an initial outline. I then start writing, and after several chapters I realize it's missing something, whether it's one of the secondary plot lines, a supporting character, a scene, whatever it is, I go back and modify the outline.

Right now, I have the initial outline and about 30,000 words written, but I've had to change the outline and in doing that realized a few issues that have to be resolved. So I've stopped the forward progress of actually writing the novel to tinker with the outline and make the story better.

This is a process I'll do several times before the book is ready to go to my publisher. So while it won't be ready in July, it should be ready before the end of 2012.

In between the writing and the retooling the outline, I'll continue to promote Jambalaya Justice and Gumbo Justice until I can announce the release of the third in the series.

Jambalaya Justice Book Launch Party

I am finally having the book launch party for Jambalaya Justice, Saturday, December 17, at our bar, the Last Stand, 424 Destrehan in Harvey, LA. I say finally because the book was actually out in July, although we had it pulled once for some minor issues and re-issued. A few copies went out with the "issues", but I wanted to wait until the final version was out in hard copy and Kindle to officially launch the book.

Time kind of got away from me, as it has a habit of doing. I try to figure out where all the hours of the day go, and I can't seem to do it. I do keep busy with my youngest daughter's school as PTO president. Very busy. I also spend much of time on what I call my "job-job", criminal appeals for clients I get appointed to represent. Then I write legal articles every week for a publisher on Helium.

Oh, and did I forget to mention I write books? Not to mention have two kids, a husband, a cat, a dog, and some fish. Now I think I see where all the time goes, although I think I work on too schizophrenic of a level to categorize the time spent or put it on a chart.

I'm working on Chocolate City Justice right now. The third in the Crescent City Mystery Series will take Ryan, my protag, directly through hurricane Katrina. It kind of brings back bad memories, writing the book, but when I see how far we've come since then, it does tend to make me feel a little bit better. At least we don't have those post-Katrina flies the size of birds any longer. (My cup-still half full.)

BOB DOERR GUEST BLOG

Today, special guest and fellow PSWA member Bob Doerr, author of ANOTHER COLORADO KILL (and 3 other novels, with another on the way in 2012), joins me and explains why he chooses to write fiction. Bob has had a fascinating career in criminal investigations and counterintelligence in the military, which would explain why his books are so authentic and how he is able to come up with the ideas for his novels. He now writes full-time, which I greatly admire (and perhaps envy a little!)

FICTION OR NONFICTION

by Bob Doerr

As an author of four fiction books,I’ve often been asked if I ever plan on writing a nonfiction book. It’s a simple question that I can give a simple answer to. Yes, I would like to. However, there really is a lot more to it, and that reality I find somewhat intimidating.

In fact, I’ve had fellow authors, more successful than me, come up to me and say, “I write nonfiction. I don’t think I could ever come up with enough ideas to write fiction. I’m sure that I would get writer’s block on every page. It’s so much easier to write nonfiction.”

I hear them, and I want to believe them, but are they really just playing with me? I remember a high school teacher once admonishing me about the history paper I had submitted as part of a test. “Bob, anybody can make up stuff. I expect my students to do a little studying and write about what did happen.” The sad part is that I had studied.

Maybe, making things up simply comes natural for me. I remember one autumn day driving through Maryland with my wife and five year old daughter. “Look at those leaves,” I told my daughter. “All those colors are caused by little elves that come out at night and paint the leaves when the weather turns cold.”

“Daddy, I thought it had something to do with chlorophyll.” No lie, that’s exactly what she said. It floored me, but she explained her first grade teacher had explained the photosynthesis process that same day in school.

Writing book length non-fiction and making it interesting to read has got to be really difficult. I admire those that can do it. The research, documentation, organization, and everything else that goes into writing a nonfiction book infers hard work. I mean isn’t it easier to blame it on the elves than to learn the real science?

I enjoy reading nonfiction and there are a lot of real stories out there that interest me and beg to be told. I have a couple in mind and hope to get to them some day, but in the meantime, I’ll stay focused in my world of make believe, sinister plots, murder and mayhem. Oh, it’s so much easier!

ABOUT BOB

Bob Doerr grew up in a military family, graduated from the Air Force Academy, and thenhad a twenty eight year career of his own in the Air Force. It was a life style that exposed him to the people and cultures of numerous countries in Asia, Europe and to most of these United States.

Bob specialized in criminal investigations and counterintelligence gaining significant insight to the worlds of crime, espionage and terrorism. His field of work brought him into close contact and coordination with the investigative and security agencies of many different countries and with the FBI and CIA. This background has helped Bob develop the fictional plots and characters in his books.

His education credits include a Masters in International Relations from Creighton University. Bob is now a full time author, with four mystery/thrillers already published and a fifth to be released in the fall, 2012. Two of his books, Cold Winter’s Kill and Loose Ends Kill, were selected as finalists for the Eric Hoffer Award. Loose Ends Kill was also awarded the 2011 Silver medal for Fiction/mystery by the Military Writers Society of America. He lives in Garden Ridge, Texas, with Leigh, his wife of 38 years.

Emerging Novelists

I'm excited today to be featured on Emerging Novelists, a site that features, well, emerging novelists. It sounds so much better than unknown author or something like that. The interview is at http://emergingnovelists.com/Interviews.html and the background info is at http://emergingnovelists.com/index.html

Interviews are a part of promotion, and it's difficult sometimes to know how much of your personal life to reveal to strangers. On one hand, you want to be interesting, so you want to make sure you mention those things that will make readers want to read your books, but you also don't want to put your entire life on display for the world to see.

Fortunately, the most interesting things about me are public record. No, I don't have any convictions, although that certainly would make me seem more interesting. But I was in a serious head-on collision with a drunk driver, something people find notable. I also own a bar in the metro N.O. area, which sounds a whole lot more interesting than it is, although it does provide ideas for some pretty interesting characters.

So while I didn't reveal any deep, dark secrets, hopefully I provided enough personal and background information to draw a reader's attention.

Interview on Morgen Bailey's Blog

An interview for Jambalaya Justice is up at Morgan Bailey's blog at http://wp.me/p18Ztn-Xf
Morgan Bailey is an extremely nice person and an excellent interviewer. She has a way of making an interview spring from the page and not sound so, well, interview-ish. I have not yet had the chance to read any of her writer, but hope to soon.

There is also an excerpt from the third in the series, Chocolate City Justice, which is in progress.

On to another topic, my contest winner, Pamela Briggs, who won the naming of a character in Jambalaya Justice (she picked a stripper), and who I now consider a friend, visited me in New Orleans a few weeks back and I have to say we had a fantastic time.

I was a little nervous not knowing what to expect, wondering if she would run out of our bar screaming, thinking we were insane. I don't know is she thinks we're crazy or not, but she didn't run out and we had a great time talking about family, mysteries, reading, and our rival football teams. It's amazing how much you can have in common with someone you've never met who lives all the way across the country. I can't wait for her and her husband two come visit us again. (And Pam, I finally got my copies of Jambalaya Justice with the new cover, so I'll be sending out your copy soon if you're reading this!)

Now I am busy working on promoting, as well as writing Chocolate City Justice, working on my cases for my "job-job", writing legal articles for my other "job-job", and doing what I need to as president of my youngest daughter's school co-op (similar to PTA or PTO.)

I can always sleep when I'm dead.