Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

Folks! Please stick up your hand if you're in this group and are a contemporary author actively promoting your books. I'd like to get some kind of count of just how many we have here. It may lead to some future project....

Feliks, In response to your post, my name is Kent Hinckley and the author of "Hearts, Minds, and Coffee," a Vietnam peace odyssey. I'm currently working on a Russian espionage thriller. Let me also say: I enjoy the book recommendations and comments. I have read a few books that I never heard of because of this group. Thanks to all.

Great. Adding you to my shortlist.

If more replies don't come in, I will reluctantly have to send a broadcast message to all members. Something I rarely do. But I really want to know this metric. Imagine, having to cajole authors to speak up on Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ--usually its the other way around!

I'm the author of A Kill in the Morning - commercially published by Transworld.

My author page: Graeme Shimmin

Not sure what you mean by 'actively promoting' my work, AKITM came out last June and the paperback comes out later this month so it is active in that way. I don't spam about it though.

Thanks. No deeper-meaning in my phrase, we have no issues with excess spam in this group; and my inquiry is totally made in good spirit. Just looking for any (let's say) currently-living authors among our members, those who have 1-or-more books anywhere out there in any marketplace. I'd just like to know.

Noting down your name. I thought we had several more..maybe just slow response..

I have published a good number of fantasy, science fiction and horror stories in small-market anthologies and magazines, but nothing of novel length and nothing in the espionage genre. And nothing for the last few years, unfortunately, because the day job ate up my writing time. That could change soon.

I have a small, but enthusiastic, following here on Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ:

/topic/show/...

Graeme wrote: "I'm the author of A Kill in the Morning - commercially published by Transworld.

My author page: Graeme Shimmin

Not sure what you mean by 'actively promoting' my w..."

Looks good, onto the list it goes!

Well now, see what just happened there? cool

Method to my madness.

Feliks, in response to your post I am an author and my first book Clear by Fire is being published by Simon and Schuster Aug 18.

I am published and I write for




Jinnik

Well done! I was reluctant to broadcast a message but at least its getting results. Thanks, you two.

I'm the owner of Grave Distractions Publications and the author of Steinbeck: Citizen Spy

Good man, thanks for speaking up. I've seen that title on Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ, looks excellent. There's a guy named Monty J around these boards, who is our resident Steinbeck guru--you and he should chat--will see if I can find a link--

Thanks, I'd appreciate that!

I am contacting him right now, and asking him to join this group. He has one of the best minds I've found on Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ. It would be a real treat to see you both discuss Steinbeck.

Here's his profile page:
/user/show/2...

Hopefully you're right Feliks. I've ruffled a few feathers in the Steinbeck community since the book came out. The Steinbeck Review, published by Penn State and San Jose State, is doing a piece on the book in their summer issue. It will be interesting to see what they have to say too. Thanks again.

Monty J is definitely a 'feather-ruffler' himself. But he's always open to other intellects and readily gives his respect to anyone who supports their opinions with reasonable points. Outrageous views won't disturb him, but un-researched ones will. Ha!

Folks!

Great response to my the net I cast yesterday.

Now, you can see the direction I'm moving in if you observe the new folders I've created at the top of our front page. I think you'll immediately grasp what's going on.

Please look over your name-entry, make any corrections, and submit to me:
1) the sub-genre your titles are generally under
2) any link to an external site which represents you

More discussion on all this later!

(returning)

Okay, here's basically what's going on.

I don't know exactly what I have in mind here but I think whatever it is, will be better enabled by knowing who our authors are.

It sorta dawned on me that our authors are pretty well-behaved. We haven't had a single fight here, and our authors hardly spam at all. In other groups, authors are very hard to manage. Not so, here.

So ..it struck me that instead of treating our authors with such a heavy-hand..why not use them to our advantage? Push them forward, front-and-center? Make them a frontispiece to attract new readers. In other words, stop 'burying' our authors. This doesn't mean we want to let you run rampant again with random outbursts of self-promo..but what if we carefully organize your marketing efforts and make it a highlight of our group?

What I want to see is any reader interested in espionage reads, to come here and sign up just to see our 'authors directory'. I want it to be well-known that this is the quick, easy way to find a new spy fiction title.

So at the very least what I'm doing is creating a form of 'roll call' area --at the front of our group page--and have a clean, readable list of new-releases for the prospective book-seeker to quickly thumb through.

This "cleaned-up look" will be more appealing, should 'Espionage Aficionados' ever be a 'featured group' on Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ. I personally believe our group leads all the other in this genre. (here I will thank Juliet, originator of the group).

Anyway. From such a devise as this 'author directory' I have in mind (its already underway) we can also arrange other events like 'author roundtable' or 'author spotlight' or such things as that.

So that's where I'm headed. Opinions? Questions?

Next post: what I need from you to complete these directories.

The format of the 'front door' threads will be this:


NEW AUTHOR DIRECTORY
NEW TITLE DIRECTORY
Two threads in ALL CAP letters, right up front.

Then, in 'authors directory', each author will have a one-line entry (as in the following sample)

Patrick Nolan Clark - WWII Espionage -

Then, in 'titles directory', this:
'The_Quicksilver_of_Deception' (Tom O'Brien OSS Agent #4) - Date - by Patrick Nolan Clark

What you should do now: fill in for me the sub-genre of your books and any external site links for yourself. Tack them onto this post.

Also:
1) correct any errors which my copy/paste (above) may have picked up
2) verify the first bit of 'author info' (above) is correct for you
3) if your name is not on the above list, let me know
4) add your books to our group bookshelf under 'authors in residence'
5) inform me what your latest or next book release is

Sam Reaves, aka - espionage/intrigue set in Europe, mostly in and around Barcelona.

Good. latest title link? external site link? is that contemporary intrigue?

My espionage novel, The Lebensborn Boy, was co-written under the pen name of Roy Havelland and published by Vanadis, the imprint set up by my wife and myself via Amazon. It is available via Vanadis () or Amazon. An excerpt from the novel can be found on my Wordpress site: The Lebensborn Boy More information and a couple of reviews can be found on Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ.

Feliks wrote: "Like this, remember?

"Hey Abbot, I'd like to know the names of those players so when I run into them on the street or in the ballpark I can say hello to those people!"

"Why, sure I'll introduce y..."

Thom Cahir, author of "9-11 Avenged," that can be found at

Great. You two guys--I'm inserting entries for you both this morning. Please check back and verify they are what you wish. cheers

Many thanks, Feliks, that's excellent.

Cool. Hey Thom, is '9-11 Avenged' a published book or a bit of writing you've done informally here on Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ?

I linked to it as best I could. As you can probably guess, every entry in the Titles Directory needs a link to a book page of some kind.

Woah! The number of authors we have 'in residence' dwarfs the number of their books present in our group bookshelf.

That means only one thing: authors have not uploaded their titles.

If you don't know how to perform this step, let me know and I will help.

My website is currently in a very rudimentary state and undergoing renovation. I hope to have a better site restored soon. The books are available as e-books from .

Sorry, for being late for this.
I'm the author of one short story and one full length novel (amazon link: ) - both international conspiracy thrillers.
I'm working on a second full length novel which hopefully will be published in December 2015.
More info about me;

/vetle

Thanks! Just what I need!

Update: successfully added. Verify your satisfaction when you have a moment.

Hi,

If you could update my listing with:

Author Directory
subgenre: alternate history
website:

Title Directory
A Kill in the Morning

Thanks,
Graeme.

Graeme, done.

Moving along handsomely. 16 of 26 authors set up in the 'author directory', with links...and 16 corresponding titles of theirs to represent them in the 'titles directory'. Hope I got everyone's name right. Goofed on Daniel Brownell, but caught it afterwards..

Added covers! Looking even snazzier!

Nice website. Looking forward to your stories.

The above comment was directed towards Graeme. I'll be checking out the others soon. Right now I'm anxious to get back to The Soul of Viktor Tronko.

almost done..had to extract a lot of info from people's pages myself :\

...but nevermind that. Worse was that I had to guess at writer's 'most recent title' in some cases..y'all should confirm I got them correct, because this is what I listed for you.

Paul Gilmour, your personal website has some issues..

Great idea, Feliks. My book is in the category "historical fiction," so I can't qualify for this project....but most of the books I've read over the years are espionage novels. I'm sure I'll discover some great new books from your directory of contemporary authors.

Samuel!

We list any in-house author no matter what their genre.

Thanks for the kind word...

Feliks wrote: "Samuel!

We list any in-house author no matter what their genre.

Thanks for the kind word..."

My historical novel THE CHEROKEE AND THE SLAVE focuses on the fact that some Cherokee farmers bought and owned slaves who worked on their farms and plantations. Some of these slave owners took slaves along with them on the "Trail of Tears."

Incidentally, descendants of those slaves, the "Cherokee Freedmen" are currently in US District Court trying to regain their treaty-guaranteed status as Citizens of the Cherokee Nation.

Thanks for the opportunity to share.

Cphe wrote: "Samuel, your book looks interesting but it doesn't appear to be a standalone (according to the amazon reviews)

Are you writing in installments?"

There will be a follow-up novel, THE CHEROKEE AND THE SCHOOLTEACHER. Both novels deal with the same two families, but cover different generations. The "Schoolteacher" follows the same "Trail of Tears" route from Alabama to Oklahoma that "Eagle Hunter" and his slaves traveled back in 1838. The difference is that she, the schoolteacher-"Willie Pearl" makes the journey voluntarily, not forced by the armed militia.

The two novels can stand alone.

I plan to finish the story this year. Thanks for asking.

Hi all

Just joined the group, and thought I'd say hello.

I am a writer of espionage novels and novels where the espionage leads to open combat.

I've been a little slow over the past twelve months with new releases due to other things impacting on time. I've recently finished a novella, but it may never see the light of day (PM me and i may send it you?)

Nevertheless, there are 12 books in the series with another at the 50k mark. There are also a couple of short stories and a novella.

Anyway here I am.

/author/show...

Yup. I've added you to our sister group and now I shall do so here! Impressive series of titles.

Welcome!

Chess plays or pieces, Feliks.

Both---you modeled each book on a chess theme, I saw that right away (nothing much escapes my keen eye).
Mighty clever 'gambit' to pull off. Savvy 'move'. ha

I gotta assume that will certainly attract a certain kind of cerebral reader.

p.s. I placed all of the works I could find in our bookshelf. Let me know if I missed any...

p.s. authors can add 'comments' to the 'tag section' of each book in our shelf, I hope you all realize this...

I'm wondering lately whether we might do some kind of 'featured book of the month' or similar...

That's pretty much it, Feliks, thank you.

Glad to have ya aboard both my hangouts

(actually I was not even the founder of these groups, now that I recall)

Feliks,
Featuring a 'book a month' kind of thing would be a great idea. Especially if we could do it in a different and more creative way than we see being done in all kinds of online book clubs (i.e. pick a book and leave it at that).

Would be interesting to know what others think should be part of such a feature (interviews, unpublished material, alternative endings, etc, etc). Especially, if someone has experience with a successful way of doing this.

/vetle

I've looked into the practice of BOTM to find out what 'best practices' are. I've got the guidelines.

But what I've determined is that I myself do not have time to run such a feature myself. To do it right takes a significant expenditure of attention and energy.