Yesterday was the start of the sales and signings for the spring and summer months for me. I have to tell you, aside from the actual writing I do, I enjoy these events immensely. I meet people I otherwise wouldn’t have had the opportunity to meet. I get to exchange a laugh or two, and enjoy a visit. It’s a wonderful experience.
For instance, I met a family who has bought and read several of my books. My biggest fan from that family? A seventh grader, who loves my characters, Brett and George. In her words, “They’re awesome!” She picked up Shattered Lives. I met a husband and wife who bought two books, Caught in a Web, and Blaze In, Blaze Out. They wanted Caught signed to her mother, with the special inscription, “Happy 90th Birthday!” They didn’t know who would receive Blaze, so they asked me to write a generic message, which I happily did. I met a teacher who had read Stolen Lives previously. She bought Shattered Lives and Splintered Lives to complete the trilogy. I threw in Taking Lives, the Prequel.
The wind blew. It was cold. It started to sprinkle. The event ended earlier than the organizers had planned. For me, for the two hours I spent there, plus the 45 minutes it took for me to set up, and the 30 minutes it took for me to disassemble, it was well worth it. Fourteen books sold in two hours despite the weather. More than that, I got to meet some wonderful people, both young and old and in between. And hopefully, developed some new fans.
Unlike other events, there weren’t the questions I sometimes get from folks. Questions like, “How do you come up with the storyline?” “Where do your characters come from?” “When do you find the time to write?” No, this event was more matter-of-fact. Perhaps it was the weather. I enjoy those questions and the conversation they spark. Maybe next time.
The inscriptions I write to people vary. I ask the buyer his/her name or to whom they want the book ascribed to. And then I add a message. Things like, “Thank you for your support!” “I appreciate meeting you!” “Enjoy the read!” and I always sign my name, Joseph Lewis. It is always about them, not me, so I try to make it personable for them.
Previously, I had mentioned that I had the good fortune to have been interviewed by a UK radio station. A replay of that event takes place on Sunday, April 24 at 8:30 AM EST. In case you don’t have the opportunity to listen in, here is the link to the interview. I hope you listen to it: https://drive.google.com/file/d/11ObTqOVcE2D8Y5l8V2ODsdlZOSar8lhl/view?usp=sharing_eil_se_dm&ts=62407ee9
I have been working on my newest book, Fan Mail, about a fan who doesn’t like to be ignored. One of my catch phrases is: Your biggest fan is a stranger. Your biggest hater is someone you know. And in the words of W. H. Auden, “To whom evil is done, do evil in return.” Hmmm. That gives one pause, doesn’t it? I am currently at 75,607 words and 306 pages so far. Typically, my books run somewhere in the neighborhood of 85,000 words to 90,000 words, which is typical of my genre. Remember, each genre has a specific word-count range publishers prescribe and authors should abide by. I am nearing the end and I’m excited to eventually give birth to it.
As always, thanks for following me on this journey. I hope you enjoy the trip!
Connect with me on Social Media:
Author Website: www.jrlewisauthor.blog/
Twitter at @jrlewisauthor
Facebook at: www.facebook.com/Joseph.Lewis.Author
Amazon at: www.amazon.com/Joseph-Lewis/e/B01FWB9AOI /
Blaze In, Blaze Out: A Literary Titan Gold Book Award Winner! A Reader’s Ready Recommended Read! A BestThriller’s Editor’s Pick!
Eiselmann and O’Connor thought the conviction of Dmitry Andruko, the head of a Ukrainian crime family, meant the end. It was only the beginning. They forgot that revenge knows no boundaries, vindictiveness knows no restraints, and ruthlessness never worries about collateral damage. Andruko hired contract killers to go after and kill O’Connor and Eiselmann. The killers can be anyone and be anywhere. They can strike at any time. They care nothing of collateral damage. Andruko believes a target is a target, and in the end, the target must die. https://amzn.to/34lNllP
Betrayed: A PenCraft 1st Place Winner for Thriller-Fiction! A Maxy Award Runner-Up for Mystery/Suspense! A Literary Titan Silver Book Award Winner! A Reader’s Ready Recommended Read Award Winner! A Reader’s Favorite Honorable Mention Award Winner for Fiction-Crime-Mystery!
Betrayed is Now Available in Audio Book, Kindle and Paperback! https://amzn.to/3AfUUpS
A late-night phone call, a missing kid, a murdered family, but no one is talking. A promise is made and kept, but it could mean the death of a fifteen-year-old boy. Greed can be all-consuming, and seeing is not believing. No one can be trusted, and the hunters become the hunted. https://amzn.to/2EKHudx
Spiral Into Darkness: Named a Recommended Read in the Author Shout Reader Awards!
He blends in. He is successful, intelligent, and methodical. So far, he has murdered eight people. There is no discernible pattern. There are no clues. There are no leads. The only thing the FBI and local police have to go on is the method of death: two bullets to the face- gruesome and meant to send a message. But it’s difficult to understand any message coming from a dark and damaged mind. Two adopted boys, struggling in their own world, do not know they are the next targets. Neither does their family. And neither does local law enforcement. https://amzn.to/2RBWvTm
Caught in a Web: A PenCraft Literary Award Winner! Named “One of the Best Thrillers of 2018!” by BestThrillers.com
Caught in a Web is also available in Audio Book, Kindle and Paperback! http://bit.ly/2WO3kka
They found the bodies of high school and middle school kids dead from an overdose of heroin and fentanyl. A violent gang, MS-13, controls the drug trade along the I-94 and I-43 corridors. They send Ricardo Fuentes to find out who is cutting in on their business, shut it down and teach them a lesson. But he has an ulterior motive: find and kill a fifteen-year-old boy, George Tokay. Detectives Jamie Graff, Pat O’Connor and Paul Eiselmann race to find the source of the drugs, shut down the ring, and find Fuentes before he kills anyone else. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CKF7696
The Lives Trilogy Prequel, Taking Lives:
FBI Agent Pete Kelliher and his partner search for the clues behind the bodies of six boys left in various and remote parts of the country. Even though they live in separate parts of the country, the lives of Kelliher, 11-year-old Brett McGovern, and 11-year-old George Tokay are separate pieces of a puzzle. The two boys become interwoven with the same thread Kelliher holds in his hand. The three of them are on a collision course and when that happens, their futures grow dark as each search for a way out. https://amzn.to/34nXBH5
Book One, Stolen Lives: Editor’s Pick by BestThrillers! Literary Titan Gold Book Award Winner! A Crime Thriller finalist in the 2021 Best Thriller Book Awards!
Two thirteen-year-old boys are abducted off a safe suburban street. Kelliher and his team of FBI agents have 24 hours to find them or they will end up like the other kids they found- dead! They have no leads, no clues, and nothing to go on. To make the investigation that much tougher, Kelliher suspects that one of his team members might be involved. https://amzn.to/3oMo4qZ
Book Two of the Lives Trilogy, Shattered Lives:
The boys are home, but now they have to fit back in with their families and friends. Their parents and the FBI thought the boys were safe. They were until people began dying. Now the hunt is on for six dangerous and desperate men who vow revenge. With no leads and nothing to go on, the FBI can only sit back and wait. A dangerous game that threatens not only the boys, but their families. https://amzn.to/2RAYIk2
Book Three of the Lives Trilogy, Splintered Lives:
Three dangerous men with nothing to lose offer a handsome reward to anyone willing to kill fourteen-year-old Brett McGovern. He does not know that he, his younger brother, and a friend are targets. More than anyone, these three men vow to kill George, whom they blame for forcing them to run and hide. A fun vacation turns into a nightmare and ends where it started, back on the Navajo Nation Reservation, high on a mesa held sacred by George and his grandfather. Outnumbered and outgunned, George will make the ultimate sacrifice to protect his adoptive father and his adoptive brothers- but can he? Without knowing who these men are? Or where they are? Without knowing whom to trust? Is he prepared for betrayal that leads to his heartbreak and death? http://bit.ly/SplinteredLives
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