Left Coast Crime in Santa Fe was great this year. I got to meet in person people I’ve come to know and like online: Peg Brantley, Jodie Renner, Marlyn Beebe, and more. I participated in two panels, Research: Getting It Right, and Publishing: Today and in the Future.
Both were well attended, and I got terrific feedback from the audience. Read more →
Every time you read a novel, you get a peek into the writer’s soul. Some authors are good at separating themselves from the story, especially if they write about a character unlike themselves (Jack Reacher, for example, who is not like Lee Child). Yet I believe that circumstances in each writer’s life affect what they write in at least small ways.
For example, if I have a headache when I’m writing, one of my characters Read more →
The fifth book in the Detective Jackson series is live on Amazon! Dying for Justice is off to a great launch and the first review is five stars. The e-book will be available for other e-readers soon. The print book is available from Amazon, and you’ll be able to order it from bookstores in a few weeks. When my copies arrive, I’ll do a giveaway here on my blog. Meanwhile, you can win a print copy on Goodreads. Read more →
I’m trying to decide what to write next—another Detective Jackson story or a futuristic thriller I’ve outline and started. My creative side really wants to write the thriller, but my inner accountant wants me to write another Jackson story first.
Money considerations aside, police procedurals and thrillers are different, and each has its own challenges. A procedural tends to be more structured Read more →
Last October I reduced the price of the first e-book in my Jackson series to $.99 to draw readers in. It was the best move I ever made. Now I’ve dropped the price of The Suicide Effect, a standalone thriller, to draw in new readers who focus more on suspense or thrillers than on mystery/police procedural. Read more →
I’ve been posting a lot of guest blogs lately, so I thought I’d share the links instead of writing a new blog here. Please check them out. 🙂
Joining the Indie E-Book Revolution: The story behind why I decided to focus on e-books and become an independent author.
In this Q&A, I ask the questions and provide the answers. Find out things about me you didn’t know before.
Here, I discuss the painful choice many authors face between respectability and earning a living. Read more →
I finished the first draft of the fifth Detective Jackson story and it’s now in the hands of beta readers. This is the nerve racking part! But the early feedback is great, and my husband loves the first two chapters. This is a very good sign because he’s my toughest critic. For those who have been reading the series from the beginning, I wanted to share some background on this story. Read more →
Always striving to improve my writing, I make notes when readers complain about what they don’t like in a story. I reviewed my notes recently because I’m working on a rewrite of a new novel. Here’s a long list of dislikes from readers on a mystery listserv I participate in:
A question from my ex-publisher stimulated me think about the pay structure in traditional publishing. The question she asked was: Why couldn’t you sell all those books when you were still under contract? Many factors came into play at the same time to quickly boost my e-book sales. Pricing strategy, volume of books, and massive effort all played a part. But one of the biggest issues Read more →
At the end of every year, the people on the 4 Mystery Addicts listserv submit their top 10 and bottom 10 reading lists. What’s fascinating to me is the number of books that make both lists. What one reader loved, someone else found disappointing or couldn’t finish. Reading is such a subjective experience! Beat the Reaper, which I loved, was an even split.
Here’s the combined list for 2010. Read more →
