Welcome to my first blog post. I’m not a blog kind of guy, so I won’t be blogging so often that you, dear reader, will roll your eyes and mumble, “Oh, not that guy again!” Many of you who are reading this have either purchased or read Children of the Sun and/or Dead Dreams, so at least there’s a connection we have and you know from experience that this will be entertaining and informative (no pressure on me here).
Over time, I’ll address common questions authors are asked (i.e., “How do you come up with your ideas?!”) and interesting subjects like how I approach going inside the minds of my characters. THAT is a lot of fun. I’ll pass along how recent book signings and comicons turn out, particularly shout-outs to some of the interesting people I meet along the way. I’ll also update you about the status of my next novel (I’m done writing and looking for a publisher) and ask you from time-to-time to refer my novels to your friends. I’m still a small-time guy, so I need all the readers I can get as I build my base of readership.
Most people like to read the “big guys”: Stephen King; John LeCarre (yes, he’s still alive); Nora Roberts; and other big names who could write the play-by-play of a baseball game and sell a million copies. I can’t fault anyone for reading them. That’s what I’m working toward (not the baseball play-by-play), but it’s the small-time authors who need their works considered as gifts for your friends and family, along with their works referred to readers you know. We small-time authors are plugging away, working on spinning the next great spellbinding drama with intricate plots and beautifully written stories, weaving tales which will not be soon forgotten.
Reviews are also a big, big, big deal for small-time authors. Because Amazon is the monster in the book industry, reviews at Amazon.com are the most helpful. Other important sites include Goodreads, Barnes&Noble, and Smashwords. At Amazon, once a certain number of positive reviews is reached (50, I have been informed), Amazon begins promoting the book more vigorously. If you can give a positive review, consider giving reviews at Amazon of books written by small-time authors.
That’s it for this blog. It will be a couple of weeks before I write another one. If I write too many, I’ll drive you crazy, which will defeat the purpose of keeping in contact with you. If I don’t write enough, you’ll never know when Wager of Death is published. Truth be known, I don’t know when it will be published, either. That is a whole other story...
Oh! And remember to check out the rest of my website, including the 13-minute interview I gave at Planet Comicon in Kansas City.
Cheers,
Brian W. Peterson
Somewhere on the edge of the Great Plains
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