Happy Publishing Birthday to Me!
It hardly seems possible my first book (Death of an Ordinary Guy, June 2004, the first in the Peak District mystery series) was published twenty years ago this summer. Where does the time go?
That’s a good question, and I hadn’t thought about it very much until this little anniversary loomed before me, like a combination of Scrooge’s Spirit of Christmas Past and my own wispy recollections. The obvious peaks and valleys of these decades don’t take deep pondering: I’ve written four mystery series, two of which I’ve abandoned to concentrate on the current crop—The McLaren Mysteries that feature British ex-police detective Michael McLaren who investigates cold cases on his own, and The Cookies & Kilts Mysteries that feature Kate Dunbar, the owner of a pet bakery, who—with the ‘help’ of various peoples’ pets—investigates mysteries in her mid-Missouri hometown.
To put the highlights and lowlights of my writing stint into nutshells (and some of these are fairly nutty):
· A book signing at Tutbury Castle in England. A signing in a real castle! Wow! I was so excited when I set this up with the castle curator. Incredible! I’d be selling books (and selling them hand over fist) at the castle in which one-third of my book (Last Seen but at that time it was titled Swan Song) was set. The book was sure to be a hot seller, especially with the castle PR announcing the event! Plus, I had done a phone interview with BBC Radio prior to the date of my signing, so plenty of folks would know about the forthcoming book signing and would show up, eager to part with their quid to obtain my book. Well, the Big Day arrived. I’d spent the previous night at a B&B a few miles from the castle and arrived full of great expectations (a book different from mine) and my specially-designed and bought tote bags to give to the book buyers. I had a table in the castle’s café, sure to be a popular spot. I guess it normally was but not on my book selling day. The Saturday prior to my Exciting Day had been a Free Admissions Day to the castle, so people flocked there prior to my appearance. On my Pay As Usual To Enter the Castle Day I sold three books, held back my tears, and afterwards cried in the parking lot.
· Several years of selling books at the St Louis and the Broken Arrow Scottish Highland Games. Highs and lows. The Oklahoma venue is vivid for two reasons: I sold a ton of books and it was one of the hottest weekends I’ve ever endured. 96º on Friday, 99º on Saturday, and 97º on Sunday. Sitting in a field, heat blasting everything. I was in my tent with three sides rolled up and thought I kept out of the sun fairly well, but I ended up with horrendous sunburn on my feet and legs, and nearly collapsing of heat exhaustion (wearing my wool kilt didn’t help cool me down). In fact, two people had to pack up my things and load them into my car for me because I was so ill from the heat. The fact that some people were taken to hospital with heat exhaustion or stroke didn’t make me feel better.
The St Louis Games didn’t play havoc with my health although I still had to lug my tent to my spot, set it up, heave my crates of books and giveaways from car to tent, etc. Hot work in the summer...and in a wool kilt (don’t they make cotton ones???). But I met some really great people who bought my books and I got to hear glorious pipe bands.
· Teaching writing classes at the local community college. Throughout the span of ten years I taught three classes for the Continuing Education program. Sure, I had to get up quite early on Saturday mornings, had to create and print my handouts, divvy up the subjects of our “how to map a murder” class with my two colleagues and figure out who spoke when and for how long, lug handouts and some of my books to the rooms (“Here are some of my books so this proves I know what I’m talking about!”) and give up many mornings, but it was worth it. I also learned while I was teaching: learned that I was making a difference to these students because one woman took all three of my classes on different writing topics, learned what some people considered to be more interesting than other sub-topics, learned that things I take for granted (like creating book covers) are a foreign language to some. I learned a lot, for which I’m thankful.
· Getting information about Scotland and in particular the actual ancestral village of my fictional protagonist, Michael McLaren. I am a McLaren, by the way. Well, the original spelling is MacLaren, but either is accepted. I didn’t know I was a McLaren when I chose the surname for my ex-police detective, though, but that’s another story. I’m a stickler for research and getting things correct in my books. As such, when I first brought my English detective to Scotland to meet his Scottish grandfather, I wanted to know what the real ancestral village looked like: tarmac or concrete road, types and number of buildings in and layout of the village, description of the Balvaig bridge over the river, description of the two lochs and the terrain in the area. And so on. I emailed the chief of Clan MacLaren and was soon exchanging questions for answers with Chief Donald. Not only did he give me information that I specifically wanted, but he also gave me ideas for my character and for the plot of the book I was writing at the time (An Unfolding Trap)! Due to him I included the true 1750 escapade of Donald mor nam mart, the actual ruins of Donald’s cottage, existing shielings in the area, and a few other things that gave the book such rich color. I emailed him again a handful of years later for other questions I had for my books Photo Shoot and The Low Road, and he was as friendly and helpful as he had been previously. What a lucky happenstance!
· Becoming friends with some English police officers. This was during one of my vacations in Derbyshire (the home base of my protagonist Michael McLaren). I was spending a week at a B&B in Hartington, Derbyshire, soaking up the local color, roaming around to see where I could place my book scenes, etc. I hadn’t begun writing but I had the general story idea, so I was there to see where I could plop the thing. When I selected the B&B where I stayed I had no idea the owner was a water bailiff (a person who oversees a particular stretch of a river, makes certain the land and water are in good shape, and has the authority to give warnings/tickets and make arrests to lawbreakers). As such, the B&B owner knew police officers in Buxton, the headquarters of the Derbyshire Constabulary in that section of the county. Because the owner knew I was there to research my detective novel, he offered to drive me into Buxton so I could talk to an officer and get my police questions answered. In fact, he set up the appointment for me! Long story short (which I’m not doing), from that meeting with the police inspector, I got to know a police detective in another station. I latched on to him as my info-giver (since the original inspector wasn’t a detective), and we became good pen pal friends. When I wanted my book manuscript read to check the accuracy of police procedure and general “English stuff”, he suggested his boss who had recently retired, a detective superintendent of CID. Can’t get much higher than that! Throughout my books and the years, I’ve grown to know and like them as well as another colleague of theirs, have even visited them twice since our initial meeting. Funny how all that evolved from my innocent stay at a B&B.
· David, Paul, and Rob aren’t the only guys in my arsenal of police info. I have also become a very good friend with a local St. Louis-area police officer. This came about from me taking a series of Citizen Police Academy classes. The last class was a ride-along with an officer during his/her patrol. We hit it off well, and I think we talked about writing more than about police stuff on our first ride. I say first because I had other ride-alongs with him. He was interested in writing too, so we had a lot to talk about. He’s also helped me with my books, and although he can’t give me specific British police info, he has relayed feelings about officers and crime scene procedures that are generic. I feel very fortunate to have four police officers help me commit crimes.
· Becoming a friend of my audiobook narrator Callum Hale. The audiobooks all are in the McLaren Mystery series and, in my opinion, are superb. But I started out very nervous about him for I had had three other narrators who did my first three books, and those experiences were less than exciting. (In fact, one man never did finish the book he was doing.) Therefore, I was a bit apprehensive about trying Callum, my fourth narrator. But on hearing the first few sentences of his audition I was eager to sign him up. His voice was incredible; his inflections and accents bowled me over; he WAS McLaren! After he did three books for me, I offered him the on-going job of doing the rest of the series, however many books there ended up being or until he wanted to stop. I’m ecstatic to say he will have completed a dozen by this summer, of which several have earned him “best of” audiobook narrator and/or audiobook awards. I hope he’s glad we met. I know I am.
· Being a ‘guest author’ at a book club meeting. Whatever I write here, you will think I’m exaggerating. Let me assure you it is all true, straight forward without embellishment. There’s no need for embroidery. The event is bad enough without fabrication. I could go on and on about this, but I’ll hold myself to a few choice bits for examples of this evening. Now, I realize my perceptions of things don’t necessarily match others’. Reality isn’t automatically the same for everyone. But the word ‘guest’ in the invitation that I be their guest author for the meeting definitely conveyed the suggestion that I would be showered with praise about my book and my writing, asked numerous questions about how I came up with ideas for plots and characters, and receive all-around goodwill and fuzzy feelings as befits the meaning of the word ‘guest’. Their and my perceptions of reality, as I say, didn’t mesh. To begin with, prior to the meeting I GAVE every book club member a copy of An Unfolding Trap so they could read it prior to our discussion (as befits a book club, right?). The evening of the meeting, we sat in a circle, each person in turn saying something, even if it was merely one sentence such as “It was pretty interesting.” Thanks. Since the book was set in Scotland, I had a page of “Words You Might Be Unfamiliar With” in the novel’s front matter. One person said it was obvious what the words were in the story so there was no need of the list (geez, sorry you’re so smart) and it was rather stupid of me to assume folks were that dumb to need it. One woman asked if I wanted my book back (geez, I guess she loved it). Another person said she had started reading the book but bedtime was looming so she told herself ‘just one more chapter.’ Then she got to the end of the chapter but she couldn’t put it down so she said ‘One more chapter’ and then another... She finally stopped at page 92. But ya know, funny thing...the next day when she picked up the book to read again she just couldn’t get into the story. It was boring and she just couldn’t read it anymore so she didn’t finish it and gave it away. I think that if I ever set up a publishing house I’ll name it Page 92. Another person said she thought it coincidental and not believable that McLaren stayed at the B&B owned by a friend of the nemesis—that was explained in the book, if she’d read it carefully. She also said the writing was way too wordy, that she got tired of reading all the words. Yet, another said the book was awfully short (76,000 words) and she felt gypped by its puny length. Sheessh... And one woman remarked about McLaren getting punched or finding an item that she termed ‘coincidental’...does she know how many buttons J.D. Fletcher just happens to find on the floor of murder scenes, or how often Jim Rockford gets punched per episode? A mystery depends on the coincidences of life; it’s what makes the story. It would be an extremely long and boring book if there were no coincidences (like the bad guy just happening to be standing at the bar in Gunsmoke and overhearing that Matt was looking for him) and the protagonist took months to figure it out. Oh, and the book discussion leader that night (a semi-friend of mine) did nothing to steer the conversation. She just sat behind the circle, listening, never offering a question to elicit comments or further questions. Just a lump of flesh. Great director. I used to wonder if I was at the wrong meeting that evening, that perhaps this was a beta readers critique group and they tore the book apart via “helpful” suggestions so I could rewrite and republish. Hmmm.... Anyway, that was my one and only experience with a live book club meeting. Ugh. Ya live and ya learn...
What have I learned throughout this process and what would I do differently if I knew then what I know now? I had no idea I would have to do my own PR and marketing. Mentally, I was back in the good ole days of publishing when the publishing house did that. Nope. Not now. I’m rotten at PR, but I’m glad there are businesses who can do that. I had no idea how many books are released each day in the US (latest data I could find is 4,500 books/day and most don’t sell over 250 copies in their entire published life), so how do I get noticed? Which boils down to hiring PR companies or people, which simmers down to allowing money from my monthly living budget. Doable but it came as a surprise. I never realized how many friends I’d garner from this book writing venture—locally as well as around the world. I never realized the time it took to write, edit, allow for beta readers’ help, design the cover, publish, make book trailers and graphics for social media, create ad campaigns, etc. I never knew selling books at local fetes and holiday markets would be so important for name recognition, or that it would be so much fun to plan the look of my booth and set it up and buy the giveaways and meet people. I also never realized I’d do just about anything to garner more book reviews. Short of murder and bribery, of course. But I thought selling my first-born would be good as payment. :-) Except I don’t have a first-born, but there’s always adoption. And as to doing something different? Perhaps just knowing it takes a huge amount of patience to achieve anything, but the journey to the goal is really the fun part. At least it has been these first twenty years. Jo Hiestand
Giveaway -
Enter to win a mystery readers prize pack including a book-theme throw blanket, two McLaren mystery books —‘Hide and Seek’ and ’The Swim’, a hand-held reading panel light, a package of Novel Teas tea bags (English breakfast), and book themed socks.
Open to US and Canada Residents
Runs July 17 - August 7
Drawing will be held on August 8
Author Biography:
Jo A. Hiestand grew up on regular doses of music, books, and Girl Scout camping. She gravitated toward writing in her post-high school years and finally did something sensible about it, graduating from Webster University with a BA degree in English and departmental honors. She writes a British mystery series that stems from living and vacationing in England, and a Missouri-based cozy series that is grounded in places associated with her camping haunts. The camping is a thing of the past, for the most part, but the music stayed with her in the form of playing guitar and harpsichord and singing in a folk group. Jo carves jack o’ lanterns badly; sings loudly; and loves barbecue sauce and ice cream (separately, not together), kilts (especially if men wear them), clouds and stormy skies, and the music of G.F. Handel. You can usually find her pulling mystery plots out of scenery—whether from photographs or the real thing.
Social Media Links:
Booklisti: https://booklisti.com/johiestand
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BritishandUS/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/AnglophileJo
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/joahiestand
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/JoHiestand
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JoHiestand
Website: http://www.johiestand.com