Bob Mayer – How Did I Become A Published Author?

How Did I Become A Published Author

by Bob Mayer

Thanks for having me guest post on your blog.  I appreciate the opportunity as my 51^st title, The Green Berets: Chasing the Lost is now out and #1 in Men’s Adventure, even though a woman is at the core of the story.  Aren’t they always?

The question is:  How did I become a published author?

The answer is, of course, convoluted.  I grew up in ‘da Bronx and to be able to afford college decided to attend this place that actually paid you to go there, called the United States Military Academy at West Point.  Hmm.  Let me tell you, you might not pay in money, but you pay.

My first tour in the Army was as a platoon leader in the First Cavalry Division.  Then I volunteered for Special Forces, went through training and became a Green Beret A-Team leader.  Eventually I got married and my wife was also military and we had to make a choice, so I resigned my active duty commission and followed her to her command in South Korea.  Besides studying martial arts six hours a day, I had a lot of time on my hands.  So I had the original 512k Mac, and since there wasn’t much to read, decided I’d write my own stories.  I wrote three manuscripts before someone read them and said “This is like a real book.”  Well, hmm.  Duh.  So it took three years from them to get my first agent and my first book published.  My 51^st just came out, The Green Berets: Chasing the Lost.

Let me back up.  As a kid in ‘da Bronx, I was always reading.  I think it was a form of escapism.  If I wasn’t reading, I was on my bike tooling around, inventing stories in my head.  I think the best preparation for becoming a writer is to read A LOT.  That’s why I’m a big fan of libraries.  My company, Cool Gus Publishing will actually give free eBooks to any library that asks.

I had 42 books published by New York, hit the NY Times and all the other bestseller lists, but in 2009 I went out on my own with my company.  The publishing world is changing so fast, large corporations really can’t keep up with the changes.  Because of my Special Forces background, I was trained to thrive in Chaos, so things have gone really well.

I use also my Special Forces background in my writing.  The two lead characters in Chasing the Lost both have Spec Ops histories.  One is a retired Green Beret, and the other served in Special Forces, Delta Force and some other covert units.  While they might be well trained in the dark arts, that doesn’t mean they can understand the heart and mind of a woman and that’s what the book is about.  The feedback I’ve been getting from readers is that the ending really blows them away.  And it blew me away, because I what I considered a great ending and was talking to my wife, who is a story whisperer, about it, and she came up with a twist I wouldn’t have thought of in a hundred years.  It is very, very wicked.

Hope you enjoy and feel free to visit us at CoolGus.com

NY Times Bestselling Author, former Green Beret and West Point Graduate, Bob Mayer.

“A pulsing technothriller. A nailbiter in the best tradition of adventure fiction.” Publishers Weekly ref Bob Mayer

Horace Chase arrives on Hilton Head Island to pay his last respects at the Intracoastal Waterway where his late mother’s ashes were spread and to inspect the home his mother left him in her will. He’s been recently forced into retirement, his divorce is officially final, and now he’s standing in the middle of the front yard of his ‘new’ house where a tree has crashed right through the center of it.

What could possibly go wrong?

Within six hours of arriving on Hilton Head, Chase is exchanging gunfire with men who’ve kidnapped a young boy and tried to grab the boy’s mother, Sarah Briggs. Soon he’s waist deep in an extortion plot to funnel a hundred million dollars of Superbowl on-line gambling money into an offshore bank account or else the boy dies.

Dave Riley has long retired from the military and living peacefully on sleepy Dafuskie Island off the coast of South Carolina. Sort of. Actually he’s bored, feeling old, and just a bit cranky running his deceased uncle’s small-time bookie operation.

Horace Chase, meet Dave Riley. Riley-Chase.

Chase and Riley assemble a team of misfits and eccentrics as they take on the powerful Russian mob in the lawless tidal lands of the Low Country to get the boy back.

Meet Erin: Chase’s long-ago summer fling, now a veterinarian and not interested in men any more, at least that way. But her suturing skills and her knowledge of the island bring assets the team needs. Especially after Chase’s first visit with the Russian requires a bit of the former.

Meet Gator: an ex-Ranger, iron-pumping, fire-breathing hulk of a redneck, with a soft spot in his heart for Erin, and steroids burning in his muscles to hurt people. As long as Riley and Chase point him in the right direction, the rest of the populace should be all right.

Meet Kono: a Gullah, descendant of the free slaves who fled to the barrier islands in the 19th century and developed their own culture. He nurses his own pain and secrets, but heeds Chase’s call to renew their childhood friendship. Especially when he learns the target is the Russians.

It adds up to a fiery confrontation to rescue the young boy, and settle some old scores.

But Riley and Chase need to remember a basic tenet from their days in covert operations: Nothing is ever as it appears.

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – Thriller

Rating – PG

More details about the author

Connect with Bob Mayer on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://www.bobmayer.org/

Night of the Purple Moon (The Toucan Trilogy, Book 1) by Scott Cramer

Night of the Purple Moon (The Toucan Trilogy, Book 1) - Scott Cramer

Amazon Kindle US

Amazon Kindle UK

Genre – Science Fiction

Rating – PG

4.4 (308 reviews)

Free until 30 September 2013

Abby Leigh is looking forward to watching the moon turn purple, unaware that deadly bacteria from a passing comet will soon kill off older teens and adults. The lightning-fast epidemic sweeps across the planet when the germs attack the hormones produced during puberty.
On a small island off the coast of Maine, Abby must help her brother and baby sister survive in this new world, but all the while she has a ticking time bomb inside of her -- adolescence.

Author Interview – Tracy Sweeney

Can you share a little of your current work with us? This is from something called “Floorboards”:

I loved our old house from the very first moment that we crossed the threshold.  My mother always told me that old houses have character.  And ours was certainly no exception.  The floorboards creaked as we climbed the stairs, the windows rattled with every gust of wind and the radiator hissed angry bursts of squealing steam.  In the winter, I wore scratchy wool socks to bed and in the summer, I blew out the circuit breakers running both an air conditioner and a fan to keep cool.  Our old house had character—it was just really pissed off.

How did you come up with the title? The concept of “living backwards” comes from Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass.  The White Queen isn’t one of the more well known Wonderland residents because clearly Walt Disney just wasn’t into her but she’s fascinating.  She knows what will happen before it comes to pass.  I thought that it fit the story so perfectly.  What if you’re able to go back and stop the crime from being committed?  What if in the process you committed an even bigger one?

Who designed the cover? My friend Liz Jaeger did an absolutely amazing job on the cover.  I swear she made me a hundred different versions – each one prettier than the next.  It was miserable picking just one.   I’m thrilled with the final product.

Do you have to travel much concerning your book? Unfortunately never back in time.  That would be awesome. I’m not Jillian. I’d tear the place up.

If you could go back in time what would or wouldn’t you change? Other than seeing to it that Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake never break up? (Sorry, Jessica Biel, but we’re all thinking it.) Well, I’m not Jillian but we do share some similarities.  I was ridiculously shy and quiet when I was in high school.  I’m so outspoken now, it’s hard to reconcile the two personalities.  It would be a totally different experience.  And I own a flask.

Are you reading any interesting books at the moment? I just fininshed The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater which is just so lovely.  I just started The Fault in Our Stars by John Green and it’s beyond amazing.  It’s probably going to gut me but the two main characters are killing me with cute.  I’m dying to jump on Laini Taylor’s sequel to Daughter of Smoke and Bone.

Are there any new authors that have sparked your interest and why? I tend gravitate toward New YA so I’m a big fan of Laini Taylor and Stephanie Perkins.  I have such a crush on Etienne from Stephanie’s Anna and the French Kiss.

Who is your favorite author and why? I’ve never been good picking one favorite but I can tell you that right now that Gillian Flynn owns me.  I’ll read anything she writes.  She can take the most unlikable, unredeemable character and actually make you pull for them, even when you don’t even like them.  That’s ridiculously hard to do.  She’s amazing and evil.  I would be remiss if I didn’t add that both Suzanne Collins and Veronica Roth are geniuses.

What do you do to unwind and relax? I wish I knew how to unwind and relax!  I’m always doing three things at once.  If I’m catching up on Dexter, I have my laptop, iPad and iPhone next to me where I’m probably working on marketing the book, posting a picture on Instagram, texting six people and on AIM with my best friend.  I’m probably folding clothes too.  I’m always folding clothes.

What inspires you to write and why? I live in my head.  I script conversations.  I daydream.  I run through plots.  There’s a lot going on up there.  My imagination is vivid.  I love developing characters and delving into their brains.  I love drama and a big sopping HEA.  Sometimes the simplest things inspire me.  A creek in the floorboard in the middle of the night spurred my most recent piece.

Can you tell us about your main character? I think people identify with Jillian because she’s like so many of us.  When we’re young and insecure, sometimes we just need a gentle nudge out of our shell.  In Jillian’s case, the nudge was more like a push. She went from one extreme to the other.  She has no happy medium.  Finding that is part of her journey.

Did you learn anything from writing this book and what was it? I’ve always written but not professionally—not for anyone to see other than myself or my friends or a professor.  I was pretty green when I started writing LIVING BACKWARDS but I had a really clear vision for the story that I wanted to tell.  That’s great but you need to be disciplined with outlining and storyboarding.  You need to have a basic grasp of grammar and punctuation (even if, like me, you reject the need for the semi-colon).

Twenty-nine-year-old Jillian Cross refuses to believe that a pair of skinny jeans has led to her untimely demise. Life just isn’t that cruel. But when an overly-enthusiastic attempt at squeezing herself into them leads her to fall and lose consciousness, she is faced with just that possibility. When she awakens with both a bruised ego and a bump on her head, she’s not in her tiny apartment but her childhood bedroom circa 1999-the spring of her senior year in high school. Jillian knows that time travel isn’t logical.

But then again, neither was her decision to wear skinny jeans. As she attempts to navigate her way through the halls of Reynolds High, walking the same path and making the same choices she made years before, she knows that any change she makes can have a catastrophic effect on her future. But when she strikes up an unexpected friendship with motorcycle-riding, cigarette-smoking Luke Chambers, can she pretend to be the same shy girl she once was? At least she has her pink sparkly flask to take the edge off. One little change won’t hurt, right?

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – Chick Lit

Rating – PG13

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Connect with Tracy Sweeney on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://www.tracysweeney.net/

Orangeberry Book Tours – After the Snow Falls by Carey Jane Clark

In the middle of a soccer drill, in an awful, awkward moment, Celia Bennett’s eight-year-old son Caleb lands on his face and chest in the grass. The diagnosis blindsides her, bringing her face-to-face with every parent’s worst nightmare.

Desperate to save her son’s life, Celia pursues a cure through alternative medicine, but her quest ends in frustration and disappointment. Facing despair, hope walks in on the most unlikely set of legs, when her father returns after a 30-year absence. Can she release pain to embrace hope? Will it make a difference, or is it too late?

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Genre – Inspirational

Rating – PG (some difficult subject matter)

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Orangeberry Book Tours – The Symbolon (The Sibylline Trilogy) by Delia Colvin

The Symbolon is the passionate second novel of the addictive Sibylline Trilogy!

For 3000 years, Alex has dreamt of a life with his mortal beloved, Valeria. And it appears that they will at last have a chance for a life together!

But when they approach the ancient council of immortals, for approval of the marriage,
they discover that sinister forces object to their union. Soon they find themselves faced with terrifying threats including a devastating separation that neither may survive!

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Genre – Paranormal

Rating – PG

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Website http://www.deliacolvin.com/

Orangeberry Book Tours – Refuge by NG Osborne

On a dusty, sweltering night, Noor Khan, a beautiful, headstrong Afghan refugee, comes face-to-face with Charlie Matthews, a brash, young American aid worker. To Noor’s fury, Charlie breaks every cultural norm and pursues her. She wants nothing to do with him: her sole aim in life is to earn an overseas scholarship so she can escape the miseries of the refugee camps.

However when Noor’s brother threatens to marry her off, she is forced to seek refuge in Charlie’s home, of all places, and suddenly everything Noor believes in is put into question.

Set in the mystical and seething city of Peshawar, where no one is without an agenda and few can be trusted, Refuge is a timeless and unforgettable love story about the struggle for love and purpose in a cruel and cynical world.

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Genre – Literary Fiction / Romance

Rating – PG13

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Website http://www.ngosborne.com/

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Orangeberry Spring Fling - Playing the Genetic Lottery by Terri Morgan

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"Caitlin’s story touched me deep in my soul" ~ Marina

"Terri Morgan's depictions of the disorder are realistic as well as haunting." ~ Allizabeth Collins

At fifteen, Ava ran away from home and changed her name to Caitlin to escape the chaotic childhood of having two schizophrenic parents. However, she lives with the constant fear of what lies in her DNA. Will she succumb to the disease that robbed her of a normal childhood? Will her children be the next victims of the family curse?

"its a roller-coaster ride of emotions" ~ Sandra

Looking for an emotional and touching story of human strength and overcoming obstacles? Read Terri Morgan's fictional memoir PLAYING THE GENETIC LOTTERY.

Buy at Amazon

Genre – Fictional Memoir (PG13)

Connect with Terri Morgan on Facebook

Website- http://terrimorgan.net

Orangeberry Spring Fling - Tongues of Angels by Julia Park Tracey

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Author Julia Park was married to a Roman Catholic priest for several years and heard many stories of wonder and woe. From those tales comes a novel, Tongues of Angels, an insider's view of the Catholic Church and the priesthood as it stands today.Tongues of Angels:Meet Rob Souza as he faces the challenges of the priesthood-gossip, innuendo, church politics, public scandals-and Jessica, a young woman with a secret past. Meet Lawrence, Rob's best friend, a gay priest who somehow becomes the third in this odd love triangle. While Jessica finds hope and healing, Rob and Lawrence discover that, despite their best intentions, a promise of celibacy is hard to keep. Tongues of Angels offers a peek behind the curtain of the priesthood, offering a funny, poignant look at Catholic angst and ambiguity. Based on a true story, Tongues of Angels is a canny, warm and surprisingly spiritual novel for our time.

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Genre – Romantic Suspense (PG13)

Connect with Julia Park Tracey on Facebook and Twitter

Blog http://modernmuse.blogspot.com/

Orangeberry Book Tours – She by Shireen Jeejeebhoy

 

 

Shortlisted for The Word Guild Awards, Novel-Futuristic category, this is the classic tale of betrayal and friendship — with an evil entity thrown in to confuse and enlighten the heroine.

An entity from nothing space and time, Akaesman lurks in his dominion, waiting, watching through his peephole into our world for the right prey. And when he spots a good one, he forces himself into our space and time, evading the Akaesman patrol, invading his chosen one. He spreads his evil to everyone, one by one, male and female, changing them forever into his image.

But the young songwriter and her fiancé, enjoying the end of their road trip, have never heard of Akaesman. On the eve of the summer solstice, they fly home to Toronto down a local highway past slumbering fields, toward a thick starlight-sucking forest, oblivious of their destination: Akaesman. He comes out of a green neon wind. He smacks their car; he cracks the window; he’s in her. Her songwriting career is dead. Her name is gone.

When she learns of his presence, she resists him; she wrestles with him; she seeks help in her battle. Yet she loses ground. She’s ready to quit. And that’s when she discovers that there is more than one kind of evil…

—–

5 of 5 stars: “Put simply this is the best urban fantasy story that I have ever read period …. you feel exactly how the main character feels. “She” is written with a pace that makes you feel every single word combined with hauntingly beautiful descriptions to forge a story that is anything but forgettable. That is the mark of a truly talented writer, someone who tells a story that you feel as opposed to reading words on a cold piece of paper. ” Shane Porteous on She, from his Goodreads review.

“Shireen’s pen has all the force of a great storyteller and the artistic skills of reviving a past scene in its most original form.” Ernest Dempsey on Shireen Jeejeebhoy’s award-winning biography Lifeliner: The Judy Taylor Story

“If you want a book you can’t put down, get Lifeliner into your hands…” Gloria Oren on Shireen Jeejeebhoy’s award-winning biography Lifeliner: The Judy Taylor Story

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Genre – Christian Fantasy

Rating – PG13

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Connect with  Shireen Jeejeebhoy on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://jeejeebhoy.ca/

June White – How to Avoid the Rejection Blues

How to Avoid the Rejection Blues

by June White

When I first wrote my book and decided to offer it to publishers I knew there would be those who wouldn’t be interested. I researched a great many of the publishing houses and what types of books they published, many are very specific about which books they are interested in publishing. This will cut the number of rejections significantly.

After creating my list I truly believed at least one publisher would be interested in publishing my book, and although there were two that showed a slight interest, it went no further than that. I always told my children when they wanted something but were afraid of rejection, “if they turn you down will you be any worse off for having tried, but if they say yes will you be better off.” This seemed to make the rejection a little easier to handle, in the realm of, “it’s their loss.” You need one person to like your book or see your potential. Keep in mind that authors like J. K. Rowling who was represented by a literary agency was rejected by 12 publishing houses and even when her book was picked up by a publishing house she was told by the editor, “she had little chance of making money in children’s books.” They offered to publish 1000 of her books and then it would be POD, (publish on demand), LOL. The manuscript, “The Help,” was rejected by 60 literary agents and it took the author 3 years to find a publisher. So as the rejections begin to roll in just remember you are in great company. Believe in yourself and your work and remain committed. Those who do succeed don’t listen to the negative words of others.

Self publishing is becoming much more accepted and respected, so if one door closes there is always another you can open. If a book is doing well as a self published book, publishers may become interested and approach the author with an offer. Don’t give up and know you’ve written a good book and rejection, unfortunately is part of the process.

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Genre – Biography

Rating – PG13

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Connect with June White on Twitter

Website http://junewhitemma.com/