What the First Month After Publication is Like
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Author's Note
New Releases (That I'm Excited About)!
Two Writers You Should Read
Events
It's Contest Time!
Other Writing
What It's Like the Month After Publication
Generally, not like that!
But I have a lot to tell you, so let's go the FAQ route.
What do you mean, "not like that?" Don't you always get shout outs from the New York Times?
I mean, no? But let's get to that in a minute.
Something I learned through publishing, and I suspect this is true of a lot of writers, is that most of the big stuff with your books happens pre-publication. That's when the blurbs come in and the trade reviews hit. With The Unrepentant and They're Gone, that was when most of my publicity occurred. Not all of it, of course, and I was super fortunate to get love by wonderful podcasts and sites like Buzzfeed and others, but those tended to be outliers.
Your book comes out amidst some degree of fanfare and, occasionally within days, things quiet down.
Did you just say "amidst?"
I know, I'm sorry.
So what happened this time?
Well, I don't know what happened, but this was different, and it was lovely. I'd had the reviews by Publishers Weekly (well...) and Kirkus (whee!) and a nice shoutout from CrimeReads (aww), and I wasn't sure what was left.
Is it because you sent everyone on Instagram a creepy mask?
Okay, look, I didn't send a mask to everyone. But, yes, I sent it out a lot. The team at Thomas and Mercer did an amazing job with the cover and, although I've been really happy with my covers in the past, this one just felt special, I had a feeling that it would resonate with the cool kidz in the Bookstagram crowd. So I worked with a PR person who sent the book out to zillions of people and I threw in a paper copy of the creepy mask, worn by the vigilante in the novel, that my friend Ange designed.
But did they like it?
If we're being honest, I'd say the mask actually freaked a lot of people out. LESSON LEARNED. But I also sent a pen, and people really liked that.
But some people DID like the mask! I've done some events and interviews, including with my buddy Vanessa Lillie and House of Mystery and the Rogue Women Writers and the Mystery and Thriller Maven (Sara DiVello) and the writers/hosts of Vox Vomitus (pictured below) and more:
Does the mug you're holding really say "World's Okayest Dad?"
The point is, there was some nice publicity after publication. You can count yourself as fortunate when you get to do events with fun people, and I had a blast with everyone I spoke with.
Was that mug a gift from your family?
I also thought that I was done with reviews, but I ended up receiving two more. Reviews are a weird thing and, again, I suspect this is true of a lot of other writers. I'm generally reluctant/petrified to read them, even though I understand their importance. But you don't know what people are going to say, and I was really worried because two of the most prominent voices in crime fiction, Oline Cogdill and Sarah Weinman, had agreed to review No Home for Killers for their respective newspapers
We're not going to talk about the mug, are we?
Oline's review came first. She writes a syndicated crime fiction column for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, and is known for her detailed analyses and keen insight. I had been utterly fortunate that she'd reviewed They're Gone in 2020 and gave it a glowing review, but No Home for Killers isn't that book.
So when Oline's column ran, and she enjoyed No Home for Killers, and did her usual amazing thing where she touches on things even I hadn't realized about the novel, I was happily overwhelmed. Oline is a powerful, necessary voice in crime fiction, and as a fan, reading her column meant a lot.
How did the New York Times come about?
My editor sent me a very excited note letting me know that the newspaper had agreed to review the book, and she and my agent digitally shrieked and high-fived while I doubled over in anxiousness and moaned. I was sort of dreading the possibility that the NYT would drag me through their newsprint, kicking and screaming.
I didn't know when the review would be published, and I assumed it would be a few weeks out. But about a week later, I got a message on Facebook from my friend Dave White, and he wrote something like "THE NYT GAVE YOUR BOOK A POSITIVE REVIEW." And I sighed contentedly and ha ha no, I ran upstairs and barged into my wife's office and held the phone in front of her face - distressingly close, probably - and said "look!" And she did, and she smiled.
Sarah Weinman is the crime writing editor of the NYT, and she (along with Oline, and reviewers like Kristopher Zgorski and Dru Ann Love and the folks at CrimeReads and more) mark the new wave of crime fiction. People traditionally use the word "tastemaker," but that's not really apt. At this changing moment of crime fiction, when the identity of the genre is undergoing a new level of introspection, these reviewers are the ones helping define that identity. Having your work read by them is an honor in and of itself. Having it recommended by them is a dream.
What's next?
I don't know! I have some events coming up this year, including some really fun local conferences in March and April. And I've been busily working on the next book, which should be out in February 2024.
I guess what's next is a thank you. When I started this newsletter, I made a promise that I would be as honest as I could, which is why I've shared negative reviews and the impact they have, and the complications of the pseudonym I once used, and even the death of our family's old bulldog. The shooting at my son's old school. All of this affected me in some way, and it affected my writing in ways I didn't realize at the time.
I do a lot of different things as a writer, some of them work, some of them don't. Obviously I want the books and short stories and essays to have an impact, but it's been so lovely that this newsletter has resonated with so many of you out there...particularly because I enjoy doing it. It's everything I like, a personal note and a chance to recommend writers I enjoy and a unique way to connect. So, if you've read this newsletter for a while now, you likely know how important No Home for Killers was to me. Thanks to everyone who bought and read and reviewed the book. You truly have no idea how much that means.
I'm glad we're here for each other.
Oh yeah! Here's a little infographic I made with those reviews, MARKETING.
A man hears a melody in the night and begins a dangerous quest to locate its source. Ghosts of the past haunt the present in hotels, at an office party, and on a date that takes a dark turn. And an elderly woman named Marple sets out to prove she's every bit as capable as Christie's own famous sleuth.This second short story collection from Edgar Award winner Art Taylor spans the spectrum of crime fiction-from light-hearted traditional mystery to noir-tinged tales and even toward speculative fiction-and features two previously unpublished stories and an introduction by Martin Edwards.
After barely getting out of Russia alive, Veronica thought her life would finally be at peace...
However, her problems have only just begun. In April 2024, she comes face to face with her reckoning from the shadows at a safe house in New York—her ex-boyfriend and Agency traitor, Kevin.
Misjudged as an ambush, Kevin comes with a warning that the FSB is after her and disappears into the night. The hunt to bring him to justice begins.
When F.B.I. agent Emily Gayle’s partner is brutally murdered, Emily forsakes her career at the bureau and returns home to the North Carolina mountains to care for her disabled father. Guilt ridden over leaving her partner alone to die, Emily takes a job as an end-of-life caregiver.
Deep in Appalachia, Jude Courtland is desperate for a fast buck to pay for his grandmother’s chemotherapy. Together with his brother Crispin and cousin Devo, the trio takes to hijacking insulin delivery vans and selling the stolen drugs on the black market. When Emily is assigned to cancer patient Hazel Courtland, the line separating right and wrong begins to blur.
As the hijackings escalate and turn violent, Emily’s intuition hones in on startling evidence she can no longer ignore.
Struggling with the truth, Emily is torn between her conscience and her loyalty to a dying woman. With her own life in jeopardy, Emily’s forced to take a side. Right or wrong, the consequences are deadly.
Just when everything is returning to the calm that Quinn Caine and her sidekicks, Ruff Barker Ginsburg and Sister Daria, are used to in their beloved town of Vienna, a Broadway star crash-lands into their peace and quiet. Former ‘player’, Chad Frivole, is Vienna’s prodigal son—the once notorious lothario has returned a Broadway star, ready to make a different kind of mark on his hometown.
Not everyone is celebrating the Tony-award-winner’s return. Chad’s a triple threat—with a cast of characters lining up to seek their revenge on him. So, when he turns up dead in his car, trapped with a sack full of snakes, Quinn can’t say she’s surprised—but promises handsome detective Aiden Harrington that she’s staying out of this local mystery.
That is, until someone starts threatening her brother’s life. It’s true, Sebastian ‘Bash’ Caine used to be a womanizer, just like Chad. And the killer doesn’t seem to care that he’s not that man anymore. Bash Caine is in the killer’s sights, and unless Quinn and her crew can find the killer in time, whoever it is will drag her brother into his final act on this mortal coil.
After every divorce, one spouse gets all the friends. What does the other one get? If they're smart, they get the benefits. Alyssa Macallan is terrified when she's dumped by her wealthy and powerful husband. With a devastating divorce looming, she begins to suspect her toxic and manipulative soon-to-be-ex is scheming to ruin her—leaving her alone and penniless. And when the FBI shows up at her door, Alyssa knows she really needs a friend.
And then she gets one. A seductive new friend, one who's running from a dangerous relationship of her own. Alyssa offers Bree Lorrance the safety of her guest house, and the two become confidantes. Then Bree makes a heart-stoppingly tempting offer. Maybe Alyssa and Bree can solve each others' problems.
But no one is what they seem. And the fates and fortunes of these two women twist and turn until the shocking truth emerges: You can't always get what you want. But sometimes you get what you deserve.
It’s hurricane season in New Orleans and vintage cookbook fan Ricki James-Diaz is trying to shelve her weather-related fears and focus on her business, Miss Vee’s Vintage Cookbook and Kitchenware Shop, housed in the magnificent Bon Vee Culinary House Museum.
Repairs on the property unearth crates of very old, very valuable French wine, buried by the home’s builder, Jean-Louis Charbonnet. Ricki, who’s been struggling to attract more customers to Miss Vee’s, is thrilled when her post about the discovery of this long-buried treasure goes viral. She’s less thrilled when the post brings distant Charbonnet family members out of the woodwork, all clamoring for a cut of the wine’s sale.
When a dead body turns up in Bon Vee’s cheery fall decorations, the NOPD zeroes in on Eugenia Charbonnet Felice as the prime suspect, figuring that as head of the Charbonnet family, she has the most to gain. Ricki is determined to uncover the real culprit, but she can’t help noticing that Eugenia is acting strangely. Ricki wonders what kind of secret her mentor has bottled up, and fears what might happen if she uncorks it.
In the second Vintage Cookbook Mystery, Ricki has to help solve a murder, untangle family secrets, and grow her business, all while living under the threat of a hurricane that could wipe out everything from her home to Bon Vee.
Berlin 1933. Following the success of her debut novel, American writer Althea James receives an invitation from Joseph Goebbels himself to participate in a culture exchange program in Germany. For a girl from a small town in Maine, 1933 Berlin seems to be sparklingly cosmopolitan, blossoming in the midst of a great change with the charismatic new chancellor at the helm. Then Althea meets a beautiful woman who promises to show her the real Berlin, and soon she’s drawn into a group of resisters who make her question everything she knows about her hosts—and herself.
Paris 1936. She may have escaped Berlin for Paris, but Hannah Brecht discovers the City of Light is no refuge from the anti-Semitism and Nazi sympathizers she thought she left behind. Heartbroken and tormented by the role she played in the betrayal that destroyed her family, Hannah throws herself into her work at the German Library of Burned Books. Through the quiet power of books, she believes she can help counter the tide of fascism she sees rising across Europe and atone for her mistakes. But when a dear friend decides actions will speak louder than words, Hannah must decide what stories she is willing to live—or die—for.
New York 1944. Since her husband Edward was killed fighting the Nazis, Vivian Childs has been waging her own war: preventing a powerful senator’s attempts to censor the Armed Service Editions, portable paperbacks that are shipped by the millions to soldiers overseas. Viv knows just how much they mean to the men through the letters she receives—including the last one she got from Edward. She also knows the only way to win this battle is to counter the senator’s propaganda with a story of her own—at the heart of which lies the reclusive and mysterious woman tending the American Library of Nazi-Banned Books in Brooklyn.
As Viv unknowingly brings her censorship fight crashing into the secrets of the recent past, the fates of these three women will converge, changing all of them forever.
If you've read this newsletter before, or follow me on social media, or have just been in my general vicinity, then you've heard me sing Art Taylor's praises. You've heard me call him one of the greatest short story writers crime fiction has ever produced. Or you've heard me talk about his all-encompassing knowledge of craft and literature. And, if not through me, then you've probably heard of him because his fiction has won every award crime fiction has to offer. Simply put, Art Taylor is the kind of writer who elevates an entire genre and, guess what, a new collection of his short fiction is now available! The Adventure of the Castle Thief and Other Expeditions and Indiscretions is out this month.
And a writer Art Taylor recommends?
I recently taught Naomi Hirahara’s Clark and Division in my "Crossing Genres" course at George Mason University, and I was thrilled that the students adored it as much as I do—even more for me on a reread. A brilliant mystery with a heart-wrenching twist, a thoroughly researched historical novel offering insight into the plight of Japanese Americans in World War II, a compelling coming-of-age story and family drama, and even more—Clark and Division excels on all counts. And hey, there's a sequel, Evergreen, coming in August too!
To learn more about these authors, click on the photos above.
The Writer's Center Live! A Literary Variety Show
This event has the very real potential to become quickly unhinged, so I'm very excited. I'll be reading with five other authors - Dan Brady, Lena Crown, Gabrielle Lucille Fuentes, and R.E.I.L. The event will be hosted by Amy Freeman and Emily Holland, with music by Zach Powers!
We'll probably be drinkin.'
Suffolk Mystery Authors Festival
Very quietly and unassumingly, the Suffolk Mystery Authors Festival has become one of the best events for crime fiction in the region. Featuring fun panels and an enthusiastic audience in the lovely town of Suffolk. It's a day-long and just a warm, loving environment perfect for tales of crime and murder.
Virginia Festival of the Book
I've had the honor of participating in the in-person version one other time, and it's just a great mix of readers and writers. I'll be on a panel moderated by Meredith Cole (a terrific writer) along with noted writers Gabino Iglesias and Deanna Raybourn.
It's contest time! The monthly contest winner wins copies of the books listed in my "Two Writers You Should Read" segment. And the winner is...
su____6@roadrunner.com
Congrats, and keep your eye out for a separate e-mail from me!
I'm still under deadline for my next novel, When She Left, but I should have a cool little item for this space next month. Definitely probably maybe, I think
Until next time, much love and happy reading!