Tag Archives: bookfest

Spring the Woods Anew

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We had a busy April at Eagles Hill Publishing, my LLC. Mostly good stuff, little bit of bad. Such is life.

It kicked off with a fun visit to Blake’s Backyard Book Club, where I got to speak to about two dozen new readers and answer a lot of excellent questions. Their club reads a new book every month, alternating between suspense/thrillers and romance, and they chose Crying Call for their April read. I’d never before had the privilege of talking about writing to that big a crowd. It was a lot of fun, and I hope I get to do it again soon!

Then, we had a brief health crisis. Becka ended up in the hospital for a week — don’t panic, she’s fine. It’s a little scary when something like that happens to the woman who is my everything. My wife, my best friend, and now stepmom of our rampaging teen kaiju. My editor, my co-author, and the reigning queen of pub trivia. She does it all. She’s my Swiss Army wife.

The dust from that is still settling as she and I make some subtle, healthy life changes. I had to cancel a signing event over in Ann Arbor, but was still able to vend at a few night markets where I sold and signed oodles of books. To my surprise, Blood Game tends to outsell Crying Call at these events. Personally, I think Crying Call is the better book, and they can be read in either order, but when I pick up new readers they usually insist on reading the first book first. I guess that’s not surprising.

In all the hullabaloo surrounding that stuff, plus the end of my Winter semester at UDM, I found out that Crying Call won a few awards! Specifically, it took the bronze at the Spring 2026 BookFest in the categories Thriller/Espionage and Thriller/Literary. Blood Game won silver last year … I guess the competition was tougher this time around.

It’s kind of nice doing well in contests, I suppose. It feels validating. But in the end, all it means is I get to call my books “award-winning” on Amazon or elsewhere. But it doesn’t make me feel appreciated — that’s something that only comes from talking to my readers. What my readers think and how my books make them feel are what truly matters. Everything else is just the superficial trappings of the business.

So on that note, I’m lining up several more events for May and June, getting out there to meet new readers. On Saturday, May16th, I’ll be at a Boozy Book Fair at Coyote Joe’s all evening. That’s a country music bar not far from me, which I hear is a jumping place with good crowds on the week-ends. The Saturday after that I’ll be down in Toledo at the Muddy Maumee Book and Art Festival, another night market.

It’s finally warm enough in Michigan for farmer’s markets, so I’ll be sprinkling some of those into the week-ends between major events. That’s a bit of advice I’d give to any new, independent authors — hit a lot of farmer’s markets in your first year. You’ll do better at them than you think, and it’s a great place to practice your repartee before setting up at major markets and book festivals.

Maybe my next long post should be a general advice post: what I learned in my first year as an indie author. Secrets revealed! Scandals exposed! Inquiring minds want to know!

Summer Bookfests and Markets

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One of the activities that most writers do, and pretty much all independent authors, is go to week-end book signing events. These events can take many shapes and forms.

For example, one thing I haven’t done yet is set up an individual signing at a bookstore. Maybe in the Fall I’ll try that, at a Barnes and Noble (if they’ll have me) and a few independent bookstores. That’s where I have a small table, maybe give a reading from my book and/or answer questions beforehand, and then sell and sign copies. Usually, when you do that, you’re the only author, which is why I’m hesitant. I don’t think I have the name recognition or clout yet to pull that off yet. I might try it anyway, though.

Then there are book festivals, like the “Creative Slingers of Ink” festival in Novi, about a week-and-half ago, which featured fifty different authors. We set up tents at the Crossing Walk Mall in Novi, and got a fair bit of traffic. Or the “Third Coast” festival I did in Grand Haven back in March.

Those are fun, and you get to meet other authors, but … actually those aren’t the best sales days, ironically. I only sold eight books at the recent Novi festival, and the people at the booths near me sold far less. The lady next to me didn’t sell a single copy of any of her books all day!

My best sales days seem to happen at … SURPRISE! … Farmer’s Markets.

Becka and I braved the 100+ heat index this past Sunday and set up our tent at the New Baltimore farmer’s market. We were between the guy selling overpriced fancy cutting boards and a nice couple who claimed their herbal tea could cure gout in horses. Not making that up. Everybody there was very nice and we chatted a lot between sales and helped each other here and there.

Best sales day I’ve ever had. We went through a lot of bottled water and Gatorade, and needed to take air conditioning breaks once in a while, but it was worth it, and a lot of fun too. Farmer’s markets … who would have guessed?

So I’m taking this week-end off from that, but then doing markets next Thursday and Friday nights. It’s just something authors have to do until they “make it,” whatever that means. But it’s fun!

And another cool thing is I can sell both books at them. Technically, my sequel Crying Call doesn’t come out until February 2026, or at least it won’t be on Amazon, B&N, or bookshelves until then. But as the copyright owner, I can sell it myself anytime I want — here on my website or live at book events. About a couple dozen people have read Crying Call in advance now. No reviews yet that I’m aware of, but they’ll be coming.

That’s about all for now. Still only about a quarter of the way through the first draft of Drawing Dead (Book 3), and about 40% done with my first book of crossword puzzles. The artistic grind continues….

Oh Yeah, I Forgot To Mention…

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It suddenly occurred to me … I haven’t mentioned my awards in this blog yet. Oops! Well, as it happens …

…Blood Game won two silver medals at BookFest! It finished second in the categories:

Best Thriller/Espionage and Best Mystery/Espionage.

And in true spy fashion, I sneakily forgot to say anything this for about a month. Guess I’ve had a lot on my mind. Blood Game is also up for other awards, but I won’t know those results until the Fall. What I’m really hoping for is a nomination for Best Book at the GPI (Global Poker Index) awards in February, but that might be a longshot.

Meanwhile, I’ve been getting some good feedback. A handful of the folks who’ve read Crying Call early have told me they liked it and considered it better than Blood Game. Not surprising — most writers improve as they go, especially from the first book to the second.

Some of them liked the secret, sort-of-experimental thing I did near the end of Crying Call, while some didn’t quite get it. I don’t want to say exactly what it is here and spoil the surprise. I’ll just say that there are a few spots in Crying Call where I deliberately change the voice of the narrator, and for some people it provokes the strong emotions I want, while other readers seem unfazed by it. To each his own, I guess.

That’s all for now. I’m jamming away at the first draft of Drawing Dead, about 25% of the way. The explosive opening gambit is written, and in another chapter or so the main action of the book will kick off. It’s always more fun writing the action bits.