On Mary Vettel

Mary Vettel passed away yesterday afternoon. None of you knew her. If you own any of my books, you'll find her on the “Acknowledgments” page of each. You'll find my last two novels dedicated to her as she dealt with pancreatic cancer.

From my perspective, she didn't battle cancer; she humored it. Of course, there was a fight, but she never mentioned it. Along with the chemo, she spoke of tests and procedures I'd never heard of, but she never complained, never a woe is me.

Mary Vettel was my best friend over the last 17 years. We never met in person. Never even talked over the phone. She lived in Hampton Bays, New York—I never even checked a map. Seems strange now, but I guess we just settled in as modern-day pen pals. Email seemed like our form of communication.

We met through a site called QueryTracker, devoted to assisting writers in their pursuit of a literary agent. I was finishing up my second novel, No Happier State, at the time, and Mary asked several times to read it before I took her seriously. She grudgingly agreed to let me read her novel Death at the Drive-In (Amazon: https://a.co/d/4hbesSG – buy it, it's terrific!). Since then, she read everything I've written, offering constructive criticism and suggestions, as did I with everything she sent me. We kept each other busy.

We talked about everything. We helped each other with life. It wasn't till a couple of weeks ago that we told each other how we really felt. Sometimes you don't have the luxury of time to tell someone how much you love them. I'm glad we were able to do that.

On statistics

Facebook just flashed up a memory from New Year's Eve 2014 where I declared that I was going to begin a self-publishing venture (and also predicted that Joe Mauer would contend for another batting title).

In 2015 I sold 105 copies of the three titles published. I published two more in 2016 and totaled an even 100 for all five novels. For whatever reason sales plummeted this year: now six titles combined for a meager 19 books sold. Each book has sold less than the one before—which, I believe, is the opposite of how things are supposed to work.

On the other hand: I'm having a blast writing these books. With everything that could've brought me down in '17, writing has kept me sane and sober. That's your upside to an 81% drop in sales.

And, for the record, Mauer did finish 7^th in the league in hitting this year.                                                                                                                                                                    
Happy New Year!!!

On sale now!

The Adventures of Hank Fenn is out and available in paperback and digitally at Amazon. The hope is that Magers & Quinn will be carrying it by the end of the month (I'm not even due to receive my copies till Jan. 27).

2015 saw me publish three books which all started out fine sales-wise then fizzled over the last half of the year. Somehow I have to get beyond Facebook and business card word of mouth and move on to another level. All in all, the 103 copies sold were far more satisfying than the 100-plus rejections I likely would've received had I continued on the more traditional path.

There's talk of a trade show this spring (at which I may be the only writer) at the Union Depot in St. Paul. I'd have to figure out how to set up some sort of slide show (been watching Youtube videos) involving book covers and blurbs. And what if someone wants to buy one? Taxes, credit cards... And what if no one buys one? Then I'm stuck with a bunch of books... So much to learn.

Meanwhile I work on book #5, The Great American Scrapbook. It's the long-awaited sequel to Alice and Her Grand Bell. The much-anticipated sequel to No Happier State, too. And The Adventures of Hank Fenn, for that matter. Come to think of it, if you're worried about those quadruplets born on that train, it serves as a sequel to Bonus Man, as well. And a prequel to more...

ON REUNIONS AND BOOKS

Attended my 40^th high school reunion this past weekend. A wonderful time. Having self-published three books this year, any conversation I engaged in involved either compliments on a book someone read (thank you!) or congratulations at such an accomplishment (drinking having been my only claim to fame over the years). I soaked it up, believe me.

I had promised myself I wouldn't bring along any books to sell (no teacher classmates of mine had ever brought along their students, no medical professionals their patients). Jim Pokorny, a friend I hadn't seen in quite a while, demanded on the first night that I bring him in a book to buy the second night because his wife had demanded that he bring home a signed copy. Best I could do was steer him toward Magers & Quinn Booksellers in Uptown, which carried two copies of each book. He swore he'd buy 'em all. (Did I mention that both nights were held in bars?)

I coaxed a ride on the second night from my buddy Greg Grahek. He showed up with all three books, asking me to sign them for his sister's birthday present. Now I believe all the compliments I received over the weekend were sincere but you can't beat having someone give your stuff as a gift to someone who probably doesn't even remember you as a kid growing up. At the bar, Dale Fujimoto told me how proud his mother was to have had one of my characters modeled after her and Pokey showed up with a bag of books—he had indeed bought 'em all out. (M&Q has since doubled their order. Yeah!)

My literary successes may be meager, my fame may be limited to these good folks every five years, but it sure makes all the time before this computer well worth it. Thanks, all!

On bookstore shelves

Magers & Quinn Booksellers, that fine Uptown establishment, has agreed to carry my novels—two of each, for starters. Doesn't seem like much but I've probably exhausted my FB friends and those where I work. This means selling to strangers. We'll see how that works.

One thing I have discovered through this bookselling journey: The surest cure for writer's block is researching self-publishing, promotion and marketing. Twenty minutes of reading articles or opinions on Facebook ads or review sites is enough to drive anyone to write. Consequently I've made great strides in getting my fourth book done by the end of the year.

Until then, expect to be inundated with 'suggestions'—here, on FB, maybe even that Twitter if I figure the thing out—that you shop M&Q for my books. Promotion is part of our agreement. And it's a wonderful store.