Jean Henry Mead, Author of The Mystery Writers, Shares Her Views on a Once Dirty Word

“Self-Publishing is No Longer a Dirty Word”

By Jean Henry Mead

Not everyone agrees that independent publishing is the key to writing success, but a growing number of authors are proving the naysayers wrong. More and more writers are leaving their publishers to strike out on their own, some with unparelled success, such as Robert Walker, who has repeatedly said that the secret to success is to consistently turn out quality work on a regular basis.

But even Rob will admit that there’s more to it than that. We’ve all heard that writers need a platform and a fan base of readers who trust the author to turn out quality work. But how does one acquire a fan base? Not by hermitting him or herself at the computer without making contact with the outside world. Those days are over.

When I put together my second volume of mystery writer interview, I met some successful new writers, among them Canadian bestselling author Cheryl Kaye Tardif, who publishes not only her own work but others with her Imajin Press from Alberta.

She says in The Mystery Writers: “In 2010 Amazon opened KDP to Canadian authors and I went back to my roots—to indie publishing. For me it's probably the best fit. I am by nature very independent and a strong marketer. Plus I'm ‘an idea person.’ Even my old publisher saw this in me and often called me a "guru" or "marketing genius." While I don't consider myself a ‘genius’ I do know that I'm a risk-taker.”

Independent publishing isn’t for everyone. It requires not only writing talent but good marketing skills and industry know-how to succeed. A number of other self- publishers are included in The Mystery Writers as well as bestselling traditionally published novelists such as Sue Grafton, Lawrence Block, J.A. Jance, Vicki Hinze and James Scott Bell (former Writer’s Digest fiction columnist).

Tim Hallinan, award-winning author of the traditionally published Poke Rafferty mystery/thriller series, decided to self-publish his Junior Bender series—humorous stories of a burglar with a “moral code who works as a private eye for crooks.” Tim’s earlier novels earned him critical acclaim but not enough money to retire from his day job. He now earns thousands of dollars a month with his self-published ebooks.

He said the reason he decided to leave his agent and publisher is because “the money we were offered by the publishers wasn’t very good. I looked at the offers and thought, ‘I’d rather own my books.”

Rebecca Dahlke once managed her father’s crop dusting service in Modesto, California, and decided that her protagonist—a beautiful former model—should also be a crop duster. She then decided to independently publish her novels, with successful results. Rebecca, like Cheryl, is a promoter and a humorous one at that. She says, “Self-publishing is no longer a dirty word. . . Eons ago, back in the dark ages (of publishing)—was it really only five years ago?—all we authors could hope for was a good agent, a decent publisher, a slowly growing fan base, and a list of book stores that might, or might not, keep our books on their shelves for three to six months before returning the unsold copies to the publisher. We could send in Advanced Reader Copies to prestigious reviewers or magazines and hope they would say nice things about our books, or pay a publicist to tout it, take our dog and pony show on the road, eat bad food, stay in crappy hotels, be at that next book store, book fair, conference, and smile till our cheeks ached. .

“The changes have been exciting, and for this author, validation that I too can write books that readers enjoy. So, for all the august veterans who see the Internet as an encroachment onto their hard-won personal turf, let me paraphrase one of my favorite movie lines: ‘Saddle up boys and girls, it’s going to be a bumpy ride’!” You can read how Rebecca accomplished her success in The Mystery Writers.

And, after ten publishers of my own over the years, I decided to independently publish The Mystery Writers with my own small press. The 406-page book is featured on Createspace: https://www.createspace.com/3792541 and is available on Amazon.com, Kindle and Nook.

Amazon Buy Link: http://amzn.com/1931415358

The 406-page book is a veritable bible for fledgling writers because the advice offered by 58 bestselling, award-winning and midlist writers is invaluable for any genre. Twelve subgenres are represented and the authors write from as far away as South Africa, Brazil, Thailand, the U.S. and England. Some of the traditionally published authors from the U.S. are Lawence Block, Sue Grafton, James Scott Bell, J.A. Jance, Vicki Hinze and Julie Garwood.

To promote the book, I’ll be blog tourng from April 16-28 with the Mystery We Write blog group and my schedule is up at: http://jeansblogtour.blogspot.com/  I’ll be giving away a print copy of the 406-page book and an e-book copy in a drawing at the conclusion of the tour to visitors who leave comments with their email addresses.

About Our Guest:
Jean Henry Mead is a national award-winning photojournalist and former news reporter as well as a mystery/suspense and western historical novelist. She’s published 17 books, half of them novels and served as a news reporter; news, magazine and small press editor in California and Wyoming. She was also a correspondent for the Denver Post.

Please welcome our guest, Jean Henry Mead, by leaving a comment.

Please Welcome My Guest, Mystery Author, Jean Henry Mead

Today I'm happy to host Jean Henry Mead, a delightful mystery writer and Internet friend.
 

Jean Henry Mead

 Jean Henry Mead is a mystery/suspense and western historical novelist. She's also an award-winning photojournalist. One of her fortes is interviewing writers, actors, politicians, artists and ordinary people who have accomplished extraordinary things. She began her writing career as a California news reporter/editor/photographer,first in Central California and later in San Diego. Mead later transferred to Casper, Wyoming, to serve as a staff writer for the statewide newspaper. While there she served as editor of In Wyoming Magazine and two small presses. She also freelanced for other magazines, both domestic and abroad, among them the Denver Post.. Her first book was published in 1982. She's since published fourteen novels and nonfiction books.
You can reach Jean at http://www.jeanhenrymead.com/


Writing with Humor

by Jean Henry Mead

I’m not a comedian but I’ve found that adding humor to my books increases sales. In fact, I’ve received several reviews stating that the reviewer hoped I would add more humor in my next novel. A Village Shattered takes place in a central California retirement village where Sew and So club members are dying alphabetically. Nothing humorous about that, but I added a couple of quirky characters to the mix: a love starved widow and a rednecked cassanova, which not only makes it a fun read but enjoyable to write.

The second book in my Logan & Cafferty mystery/suspense series is Dairy of Murder, which takes on a more series tone when Dana Logan and Sarah Cafferty, two widows traveling in their motorhome, learn that Dana’s sister has died and her husband claims it was suicide. Dana knows her sister Georgi, a mystery writer, would never take her own life, so she and her friend Sarah set out to prove it was murder. Along the way they stumble over more bodies and a vicious drug gang. The only humor comes from Sarah’s dialogue and reviewers complained that it wasn’t as funny as A Village Shattered.

My first novel, Escape on the Wind, republished twice and retitled Escape, a Wyoming Historical Novel, was probably my most humorous as well as my best selling novel to date. It features a kidnapped young heiress, Butch Cassidy’s Wild Bunch, and a little known member of the gang, Tom “Peep O’Day, an alcoholic horse thief who nearly takes over the plot because he was so much fun to write about. Good-natured and bungling, he causes the gang to botch the Belle Fourche bank robbery.

I added humor to my first, recently released children’s novel, Mystery of Spider Mountain, as well as the second, The Ghost of Crimson Dawn, which I’m currently writing. I’ve also added humor to my nonfiction books. Casper Country: Wyoming’s Heartland, was researched by spending two years behind a microfilm machine reading 97-years’ worth of newspapers, dating from 1889. I’ll never do that again, but I found some funny incidents to add to the centennial history book, which was eventually used as a textbook at Casper College.

One of the things I remember was an article about three young boys stealing watermelons from a railroad boxcar. They were housed briefly in the county jail during the early 1900s. When police were asked about the case by a reporter, an officer remarked about how good the watermelons tasted. I doubt the young boys had watermelon for dessert.

In my latest novel, Murder on the Interstate, Dana and Sarah discover the body of a beautiful young woman shot and killed along I-40 in northern Arizona while traveling in their motorhome. The killer returns to make sure his victim is dead and disables their RV. A woman trucker then comes to their rescue and they chase the killer in “Big Ruby” MCurdy’s produce truck to record his license number. Along the way Ruby alerts other truckers to keep an eye out for his dark red Dodge pickup and the resultant conversations are humorous. When the two women find themselves trapped in a Hummer during a flash flood, they’re cracking jokes to prevent hysteria.

To research the book, I drove my own 36-foot motorhome along the same mountainous interstate while listening to truckers on my CB radio, so the language is authentic.

                                      To order Murder on the Interstate, go to http://tinyurl.com/3qvolo5.

                                      To learn more about Jean and her books, you're welcome to visit her at her website at http://www.jeanhenrymead.com/.

Please leave a comment below to welcome Jean to Acme Authors Link.

Interview With Jean Henry Mead About Her New Release and More

About Jean:
Jean began her career as a California news reporter, later serving as editor for a San Diego newspaper, Wyoming magazine editor, and freelance photojournalist. She also freelanced for the Denver Post’s Empire Magazine as well as other publications both domestically and abroad, earning her a number of regional and national Press Women Awards.

The first of her 13 books was published in 1982, four of them books of interviews with well known people: writers, actors, politicians as well as ordinary people who accomplished extraordinary things.



Her latest book, Mysterious Writers, is now available from Poisoned Pen Press, first in Kindle, Barnes and Noble and Sony ebook editions. The interviews were featured last year on her Mysterious People blog site and include several Acme writers: Morgan Mandel, Robert W. Walker, Tony Burton, Austin Camacho and former teammate, John Gilstrap.

Jean, tell us more about your new book, Mysterious Writers.

The book is a collection of interviews with mystery writers such as bestselling novelists, Elmore Leonard, Carolyn Hart, Jeffrey Deaver, Nancy Pickard and Louise Penny. I also included my A.B. Guthrie, Jr. interview, which was conducted just before his death in 1991. The other 68 interviews are lesser known but excellent writers who give good advice to aspiring mystery and crime writers. Some of them live and write in Canada, England, Scotland and Greece and all were a pleasure to interview. Collectively, they represent nearly every subgenre of the mystery/crime market.

Why did you write the book?

To help fledgling writers. I wish there had been a book like this when I was learning to write fiction, which is quite a bit different than journalism. Fiction is subjective while journalism is objective, or should be. The book is loaded with great advice as well as detailing each writer’s own struggles to get published.

Which subjects are covered in the book?

Advice to aspiring writers, writing schedules and techniques, research, character development, the best and worst aspects of writing, which writers influenced their own work, how they feel about the publishing industry and, of course, their own work. Those are only a few of the subjects covered. Most of all, we get to know each writer and how they operate.

How long did it take to interview all those writers?

It took about a year to interview close to a hundred writers. I was doing one interview a day plus a guest blog the second day. It cut drastically into my own writing, but I was rewarded for my efforts when Poisoned Pen Press offered me a contract.

Which other interview books have you published?

My first was Wyoming in Profile, published by Pruett in 1982. I interviewed Wyoming Governor Herschler, his wife, U.S. senators Alan Simpson and Malcolm Wallop, Attorney Gerry Spence, singer Chris LeDoux and nearly every well-known person in the state. It was the first and only time I left my five children and husband to travel the state to conduct interviews in person, something I no longer do.

My second and most successful book of interviews was Maverick Writers, published by Caxton Press. It features interviews from the homes of Louis L’Amour and A. B. Guthrie, Jr., as well as Will Henry, Janet Dailey, Hollywood screenwriters and some forty other well known writers of the West. I’m giving away five vintage copies of Maverick Writers tomorrow, June 10, at Facebook. To be eligible, click on the “Like” icon at the top of the page.

The third interview book, Westerners, is a collection of my best interviews, including Bill Cody, grandson of “Buffalo Bill,” who surrendered the most American troops in Germany during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II. And President Benjamin Harrison’s grandson, who was a U.S. Congressman. One of my favorites was Betty Evenson, a 68-year old confessions writer who ran the Bright Spot, a service station and café, 60 miles from the nearest Wyoming town, alone after her husband died. She was featured on the Phil Donahue Show and prime time TV programs.

What else have you written?

Four novels, and an unusual book I edited that was written by my daughter’s middle school students titled, What Our Parents Should Know: Advice From Teens. They wrote about drugs, coed sleepovers, friends, sports, homosexuality, dress codes, teachers, and much more. One of the students, unfortunately, was drowned in the Thailand tsunami not long afterward.

My first novel was a result of nearly four years research for my third nonfiction book, a centennial history of central Wyoming, researched by reading 97 years worth of microfilmed newspapers. I had so many notes left over that I decided to write Escape on the Wind (republished later as Escape, a Wyoming Historical Novel) . The following three books are mystery suspense novels, Shirl Lock and Holmes, A Village Shattered and Diary of Murder. I’ve also written a children’s book, The Mystery of Spider Mountain, which I’m currently marketing.

What have you learned from all the interviews with other writers?

That perseverance and courage pay off. Or as bestselling romance novelist Parris Afton Bonds once told me: “Talent is cheap. The difference between a professional and an amateur is persistence.” There are, however, differing opinions. Nancy Means Wright, my current online interviewee, says “A driving curiosity to discover what makes people tick” is most important, “and to virtually become these real or fictitious people , and vicariously live their lives.”

Thanks for your great advice, Jean.

Now everyone, please welcome Jean Henry Mead by leaving a comment below.