A SELF-MADE AUTHOR

My time being an "Author" has been a series of ups and downs, highs and lows, successes and disappointments. I love to write and have five books "Published". That is not my issue. My concern is the way authors are perceived, ranked, accepted and or rejected by the "Industry. It didn't take long for me to realize that a new guy trying to break into a crowded field was almost impossible. The first line of defense one hits is the "AGENT" wall. Some obscure person in an agency decides an authors future by either tossing your baby into a pile of "Read Later" manuscripts, send out a flat rejection, cold and impersonal, or take a quick read of your query and then toss it. My experience with over seventy query letters has been zero for seventy at-bats. At first I thought it was my writing, that I was a miserable writer and should seriously consider that Walmart greeter job, or join the ranks of homeless. I dug my heels in, and took on the "Industry"...The world of "Publishing". I came to realize it wasn't my writing, but the people in the industry who guarded their place in the food chain like a fat man guards his Oreos. Terms like. "Not quite ready yet.", Not Commercial ", "Mainstream"...not viable...sorry... booked up for the next fifty years.... go away, ad infinitum.
Never one to be shunned by my fellow brothers and sisters, I went to P.O.D., Print on Demand. The problem with POD is that there is no demand unless you create the demand yourself. A POD is like a boat, you keep throwing money into it and in the end it still sinks. Five grand later, I decided to do what all capitalists do, I took my writing destiny into my own hands...I "Self Published". Oh sure, the middle man is still there collecting his portion, but it's minimal, and well earned. Now all my sales and marketing effort is in my hands, sink or swim, it's on my shoulders...and I love the challenge.
The new world order is on my side, thanks to the Internet, Amazon, Smashwords, Blogs, Face Book, Twitter...the new age of publishing has been born, and made available to all of the excellent writers who have been shunned by the mainstream publishing world. It's a new day for the authors, and the readers. The days of twenty and thirty dollar books is gone, the Buck Ninety-Nine and Two Buck read is available. The mighty are starting to crumble, the arrogant humbled, new names and faces  are popping up, a whole new dictionary of terms is being created daily.
The Industry is slow to turn their ship, their rudders stuck in the past. Meanwhile, the Self Published are gaining strength and attention from the reading public, and are welcomed. Ours is the only industry in the world where prices are going down, demand going up. It's a great day to  be a self made author.

THRILLER WRITING vs POLICE PROCEDURAL WRITING

My Suspense Thrillers take crime to the extreme in the murder sequences. I study real CSI data , review photos of  murder scenes, and have actually accompanied local Homicide Detectives to murder scenes as research. My focus in writing thrillers is the build up to the murder or crime, rather than what goes on afterwards at the scene. The story building up to the crime is what makes for a good read, the forensics afterwards is a very disciplined step by step recreation of the crime that is best left to experts. I think this is what separates a Police Procedural novel from a Thriller. The thriller builds the anticipation of the crime, and the procedural reconstructs the crime . Two totally different types of  writing thought processes

My point is that Thriller writing , while not as difficult to write as a Police Procedural, is more fun..We get to trash the place, the Police Procedural has to clean it up.

HARD TIMES SET FOR AUGUST RELEASE

Mike Pettit announced today that HARD TIMES, the sixth in the John Locke Suspense Thriller Series will be released in August 2011. The Thriller takes John Locke down into the seamy world of the twenty billion dollar porn industry where money and drugs are the rewards for those that survive and make it to the top. A prominent Hollywood producer's daughter is killed in a snuff film and Locke is pulled down into the human sewer of peep shows, back alley film studio's, and men that will kill for the thrill of it. Beautiful women seeking fame, only to be trapped  in a world of dilussion, death, drugs, and brutal murder, leaves Locke thirsting for revenge and payback

This is my response to The Writers Digest at having lost the 2011 Poetry contest.

A Poet's Lament       

The Ides have past, the knife of rejection protrudes from my heart, my soul cries out for reason, my wail of grief goes unanswered, my sorrow runs deeper than the Styx, my life at it's end. Oh woe is this poet, not some mindless scribe, but words from the heart, and yet..and yet, I suffer the Ides, as Caesar suffered Brutus....

Oh, my sorrow runs deep, my tears of rejection are like burning embers in my eyes, My hand hath betrayed me, my tongue a lie, my uttering burnt offerings, my future no less than the malmsy butt. my life a copper lost in the ashes of Rome. Take no pity for this scribe, he hath succumbed to indifference and mediocrity.

Art Hansl Books: Recently Captain Honor,Commander of an aircraft ca...

Art Hansl Books: Recently Captain Honor,Commander of an aircraft ca...: "Recently Captain Honor,Commander of an aircraft carrier, was fired from his command for showing raunchy films to his crew in order to provid..."

...YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH

When I have writers block and can't seem to think of what to write next, I take a quick peek at my latest sales of my earlier novels, and that usually perks me up and the words flow from my finger tips. But, my sales are down, my fan base has maxed out at an even dozen, my web page is passed over, my blog sits idle, even my "Music to Write Thrillers To, You Tube channel is playing to an empty audience. Oh, woe is me. I sat feeling sorry for myself, thinking of my failure as an author, just when I was almost healed from my terrible experience at the Circus School in Sarasota, and my short lived gig as an actor with a local community group.... they changed rehearsal night, and never told me.
Well, I can handle the truth, I tell my self. The problem is not my writing, but my marketing effort. So I fired my agent, canceled my publishing contract and I'm taking matters into my own hands. I was a fool to think I could get full shelf price for my novels up against the BIG Guys that hog the shelves. So I am going ALL ebooks. I'm going after the guys that are willing to pump out a couple of bucks for a damn good read. I'm going where I can be a big fish in a big pond, where my peers are, where the industry is going, where a guy can make a enough to buy a six-pak every now and then and not worry about the electricity being cut off, maybe pay some back alimony.  So, watch out Amazon, look out Kindle...Iron Mike Pettit is coming out with a shoe shine and a smile. Willy Loman, eat your heart out.

THE BEGINNING OF THE END

Mickey Spillane

BORDERS CLOSING 200 BOOKSTORES.
This is it folks, the old domino theory. The Bricks and Mortar book stores are going the way of the Berlin Wall. People are screaming for E-Books, more titles, more Authors, more...more ...more. What's going to happen next? Will B&N go down for the count, Books A Million is already looking a little thin on new book selections. What about the huge offerings from the Big Box Companies, Drug Stores, Convienance stores.... are they all going down for the count. Coming around the far turn is...Amazon, breaking away from the pack. My money is on Kindle and their Kindle Book Publishing programs. A small time guy like myself can get his novel out to the Amazon shopper with out the hassle of the New York Agent ignoring your quiries, the big Publishers are scrambling...Lions and Tigers...and e-books, Oh My. This Author is liking what he sees going on out on the street. Fire up those Kindles People, Turn on those Nooks, it's all EEEzy street coming our way

BREAK-OUT AUTHOR OF THE YEAR

There is a new Thriller author among us that is finishing up one of the best stories to come out in a long while. I have read the first forty pages and it is one of those novels that catches you on page one and doesn't let go. Although the novel is not out yet, I am giving it two thumbs up and awarding the First Annual John Locke Thriller Series " BREAK-OUT AUTHOR OF THE YEAR" Award to Randy Welch, and his novel COLD COVERS.  It sizzles.

REACHING CRITICAL MASS IN WRITING A THRILLER

 I have reached the point in my novel, The 9 Monkeys, where I have to decide exactly how I bring all the subplots back in line with the main plot. I have several subs with interesting characters that I have come to really like. Unfortunately, a couple of them have to go...as in dead-go. My main man ,John Locke, wouldn't hesitate in getting rid of all of them, they are mutts that need killing, and have relentlessly chased John for days, wanting desperately to know what he knows about the Monkey House in Saigon. It's a tough decision that has to be made before I can go any farther with the story.
What do other writers do when they become attached to co-stars or B-part players. The old marketing term may apply here, " You have to be willing to eat your young."

BLOG "FOLLOW" PROTOCAL

WHAT DOES A GUY HAVE TO DO TO GET NOTICED? I bought "BLOGGING FOR DUMMIES, Followed the instructions word for word, built a blog, pretty graphics, cool fonts, nice pictures...everything it said to do. Then I signed up on Face Book and have almost 300 friends, I have a website with my five Thriller novels on the site. I have "Followed"200 Blogs and try to write on several each day....and I still can't get followers. I need to know what I am doing wrong. It's driving me crazy. Other blogger's have followings and make it appear easy to get them to 'Follow". PLEASE, fellow bloggers, can someone tell me the secret to get followers. That damn book cost $14.95, I hope it wasn't money wasted.