Legal Thrilled

My latest book was just released. Yay!

It's titled PRESUMPTION OF INNOCENCE and is my first legal thriller novel. (Background/confession: My day job is prosecutor, so the hero of INNOCENCE is also a prosecutor, Assistant D.A. David Brunelle.) The ebook is selling well, already a Top 100 legal thriller on Amazon in both kindle and overall sales. Here's the cover (which I also designed) and the "blurb":

Homicide prosecutor David Brunelle faces the most difficult case of his career. An innocent young girl is murdered in a heinous, unforgivable way. The only evidence against the killer is the full confession of his accomplice--another young girl he also victimized. But the accomplice is charged with the murder as well, which means she has the right to remain silent. And she's so scared of the killer, she refuses to take a deal to testify against him. Brunelle can't just let the murderer walk, but how can he get a conviction when he has no admissible evidence and the killer is protected by the PRESUMPTION OF INNOCENCE?

And if you like the novel, I also have out two David Brunelle short stories: BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT and CASE THEORY, each only 99 cents on kindle.

For more info about all my books, visit www.stephenpenner.com

Scottish Write

I woke up to some exciting news today. My paranormal mystery novel SCOTTISH RITE cracked the top 3,000 books on Amazon kindle. Ranking was #2,834. That's the highest any of my books have ever ranked. When I first wrote the book, I had many industry pros tell me they liked the story but didn't think it would sell. I'm glad they were wrong. :)

Another exciting thing is the fact that the sequel, BLOOD RITE, cracked the top 10K. So not only is SCOTTISH RITE selling, but readers like it enough to seek out more. I've even started to receive emails from (I can't believe I get to use this word) fans, asking me whether I've started work on the third book.

Well, the answer is yes. And this morning's news just makes me want to get going on it all the more. I have other writing projects I'm trying to finish and others I've agreed to start, but I think Maggie Devereaux needs to start taking priority.

That being said, I will endeavor to keep you updated on my progress for the third RITE book. I had planned to title it DARK RITE, but now I think it will be LOST RITE. That better suits what I set out to do when I first began writing these books.

Hopefully soon I'll be able to blog about how well LOST RITE is selling. But no matter what, the absolutely most awesome thing is this: people are reading my book. Wow.

See more of my writing and art at stephenpenner.com

The Adventure Begins!

Actually, the adventure began last Friday, December 2, when I released my sci-fi thriller novel MARS STATION ALPHA on Kindle--all by myself! This is the follow up report to my last two blogposts, wherein (real word, properly used) I first contemplated following this course, then announced my intention to do so.

I couldn't be happier with my decision.

My sales are good and I can see the Amazon borg stretching out, connecting my book to similar works and similar authors. More importantly, I figured out how to format my own work for kindle, nook, and even paperback. Most importantly, I'm having fun.

So what's next?

Look for two more releases from me this month. THE DEAD SHOE SOCIETY short story anthology was just released December 12! It features stories from seven different authors, in different genres, with the only common elements being death and shoes. My contribution is a legal thriller titled Lady Justice Wears Heels. I've read all of these stories and already one of them may be my favorite story of all time. This is an amazing anthology. Don't miss it.

Then, in time for Christmas, I'll be releasing my next novel: SCOTTISH RITE. It's a paranormal murder mystery, set at the University of Aberdeen in the Scottish Highlands. Our hero is Maggie Devereaux, an American exchange student, who must solve a series of ritualistic killings before she becomes the next victim.



Thanks for stopping by. Check out MARS STATION ALPHA and THE DEAD SHOE SOCIETY, and keep your open for SCOTTISH RITE.

The Future of MY Writing Industry

Last week I blogged about the future of the writing industry, and in particular the future of my writing. Now I will officially announce the decision I hinted at then.

I will be releasing my new science fiction novel, MARS STATION ALPHA, all by myself. (*listens/hopes for applause*) It will be available this Saturday, December 3, in Kindle format, followed very shortly by paperback, Nook and Smashwords.

So, let the shameless self-promotion begin:

The colonists of the first space station on Mars have vanished.

Captain John Stanton leads a second team to the Red Planet, unsure what he’ll find. Originally assigned merely to relieve the first group, Stanton must now figure out what happened to them, and keep the same fate from befalling his own crew. As he investigates, the mystery deepens and the dangers multiply: remorseless sandstorms, virulent bacteria... perhaps even ancient Martian ghosts.

Stanton’s mission changes from relief, to rescue, to simple escape.

This will be the first of several novels I will be releasing over the next few months. In fact, MARS STATION ALPHA includes a preview of my upcoming legal thriller, AGGRAVATING FACTORS. The characters from that novel also appear in the soon to be released DEAD SHOE SOCIETY short story anthology.

I hope you enjoy the book, and I look forward to updating everyone on my journey into the exciting new world of publishing.

The Future of the Writing Industry

Read that title again. I said "Writing Industry" not "Publishing Industry." There have been a lot of articles and blog posts lately about the future of the publishing industry. I think the future of the publishing industry can be summed up in one word: Amazon. All the handwringing about its future stems from the fact that "publishing" boils down to taking someone else's work and putting it into a package that the consumer can enjoy. That was an "industry" when you needed a commercial building to house a printing press. Now it's a software program.

So this is about the future of writing, and specifically the future of my writing. To fully understand, here's a bit about my writing past, present, and future, following by a teaser non-announcement. Enjoy.

The Past

In 2000, I wrote my first novel. I didn't tell a lot of people though because unless you got your novel published you weren't really a writer. At least that's what I thought. I was fortunate to know a guy who'd had a couple of novels published by Simon & Schuster. His advice was clear: (1) get an agent, and (2) mine doesn't handle your genre.

So I queried agents--lots of them. And I got some full requests--several of them. But ultimately no bites. My story was a mystery with a supernatural twist. Commonplace today, but in 2000 the only thing I could compare it to were some cozies with a talking cat. And remember, this was back when querying--and submitting--was by mail. It was time-consuming and expensive. Moreover, agents expected 3-month exclusives. After a year, I had no agent but had busied myself writing the sequel. A year later, still no agent, but we'd had our first child. Whatever extra time and money I had couldn't be spent on trying to find a publisher. I saved the files on my old iMac, and stopped writing.

The Present

In 2009, two important things happened. One, I wrote a silly story for my son about a goofy paleontologist and a couple of kids travelling back to dinosaur times. Two, I listened to a radio show called Coast to Coast AM, where the guest said, "It's easy to get published anymore. Just write something, then post it on a website called publishersmarketplace.com." So I did, and I snagged a publisher: Nimble Books. I was published.

What I didn't fully realize was that my writing hadn't changed, but the publishing industry had. Nimble Books didn't and couldn't have existed in 2000. But with Amazon and print-on-demand, the big publishers didn't control everything anymore. Not surprisingly, agents no longer required 3-month exclusives. And genres that hadn't existed 10 years earlier will all over Amazon.com. Micropublishers were flourishing, and giving opportunities to writers like me.

But not totally understanding that, I figured it was just that my talent lay in children's books, not adult fare. Until a writer a met through Twitter, the incomparable Shelly Picarella, invited me to write a short story for an anthology she was putting together about the seven deadly sins. Not exactly kid stuff. But I agreed, and wrote a decidedly non-children's story about Wrath. What mattered most was what came when the other authors read it: they liked it. As in, "Hey, this is really good." Maybe I was an okay writer after all.

Then I got involved in a similar short story collection with some different writers. Again I wrote an adult piece. Again the other writers said it was good. I decided to believe them.

The Future

Throughout 2010 and 2011, I wrote not only those two short stories, but two novels, plus some more children's stories. I wasn't entirely sure what to do with them all. Querying agents takes forever, and the odds are long, and I wasn't even sure anymore why I wanted an agent.

Then I read these blog posts by Jonas Saul, Michael A. Stackpole, and Bob Mayer.

I think I've finally decided on my future as an author. Come back in a week and I'll share my decision with you. In the meantime, what to do you think is the future of the writing industry?

Evolution of an Illustration

I recently sent "Prof. Barrister's Dinosaur Mysteries #5: THE CASE OF THE CRESTED CRYPTOCLIDUS" off to my publisher, Nimble Books. Yay! But as an author-illustrator, sending a work to my pub means more than just the manuscript; it also means the illustrations.

Now, just like the text, illustrations can go through edits. Sometimes, an illustration is perfect (or pretty close) the first time I draw it. Other times it needs to be fixed. Here's an example from THE CRESTED CRYPTOCLIDUS that I thought was kind of interesting.

FIRST ROUGH SKETCH

Here, one of the books' heroes, intrepid 3rd grade dinosaur expert Nate, is swimming for his life from a giant Jurassic predator known as Liopleurodon.

Very rough, but conveys the idea. I knew when I drew it that I'd want to improve it. When I returned to this illustration, I realized two things: (1) I liked Nate's expression and body position (which is an extension of his expression), but (2) the illustration lacked the urgency and peril I wanted.

SECOND SKETCH
I realized the solution lay in the scale. Nate was too big compared to what I was trying convey as a gigantic marine monster. So I simply shrank Nate down (reduced on a photocopier) and tried again.

That led to also adding depth to the Liopleurodon's mouth. Much better. But still not quite right.

THIRD SKETCH
The Liopleurodon's snout was too blunt, and not like the scientific illustrations I'd seen. (I pride myself on paleontological accuracy). So I transformed it from stubby and dog-like to sleek and crocodilian.

Way scarier. Note that Nate hasn't changed from the original sketch.

FINAL ILLUSTRATION
Now just a matter of cleaning & adding color. Voila! The final illustration:

Very worth the edits, I think.

THE CRESTED CRYPTOCLIDUS is scheduled for December release, with this and 17 other full color illustrations. For information on the first four books (including links to purchase them!), check out http://www.professorbarrister.com/.

Bonus question: You may have noticed something about the Liopleurodon's nostrils. Free Prof. Barrister sketch to the first person who posts a comment correctly explaining what it is and why it was important to the animal.

Becoming a Better Writer

"A little bit of editing is a dangerous thing."
--Stephen Penner

I realized recently that I'm on the right path in my writing journey, although it was a bittersweet realization. The reason I know I'm becoming a better writer is because I'm not satisfied with what I've written lately. Not that what I've written is bad. It's not. It's pretty good, in fact. Almost very good. With the occasional gem of language or plot twist. But still not good enough.

I have two major works-in-progress which I've written but not yet edited. One is a middle grade adventure novel; the other an adult science fiction novel. I love each of these books and am very proud of what I've written. But I know they need more. A lot more.

I need them to pass the "Who cares?" test. Sure, I care what happens to my characters because I wrote it. But it needs to be better than that. It also needs to be better than my mom caring, or my buddy at work, or my best friend on Twitter. It needs to be better than the dream-literary-agent or acquisitions-editor-at-the-big-publishing-house caring. It has to be so good that the person who doesn't know me at all, who will forget my name after s/he has picked up the book, who isn't going to make any money or fame or friendship or anything off the book--that person has to care.

And right now, my books aren't near good enough for that person to care.

So I will return to them, and edit them, and step back, and edit again, and try to be patient. A year or two ago, I might have thought they were good enough. They were finished, after all...in the sense that I'd written "THE END" on the last page.

But now I know enough to know they aren't good enough. And that's a good thing to know.