After I retired I asked what to do with so much time. After doing a personal inventory of my experiences and background I decided to write a book. In school I had been told that I should be a writer. My father was a plumber and as the story goes he steered me to a real man’s job. I didn’t even think about writing as I raised a family and worked.
Turns out writing the book was the easy part. Selling it, getting it recognized in the public eye has been the real challenge.Chapter fourteen takes place at the 10,000-person Dallas Margarita Ball in Dallas. Because of this, the charity's Ball Director gave me exposure to their attendees and helped me get on a local Barnes & Noble New Mystery shelf. I made cold calls to Barnes & Noble store managers and gave them free copies to read and maybe stock. This resulted in another Barnes & Noble store stocking my book. It is too early to tell how many more stores will chose to stock my book.
I was able to round up over 3,000 email addresses to send personal memos to describing the story and asking for their consideration. I included the story line pulled from the back of The Tear in the body of the email. This effort has been difficult to measure though I have confidence that it has increased my exposure and maybe word-of-mouth advertising.
In addition, I have sent copies to soldiers overseas to Iraq and Afghanistan as well as other military bases. I was able to find the addresses and requests from the website Books for Soldiers. This again is difficult to quantify but my feeling is that it will promote the book. The books will be passed around from soldier to soldier getting a lot of exposure. In the final analysis, whether the book is a good read or not will determine its real success.
About the Author
Marion Mathis is the author of of a debut thriller, The Tear of Ra, The Second Coming of 9/11. His book can be ordered via his website at http://www.MarionMathis.com.Prior to writing his first novel, he served as an Electronic Officer in the Navy aboard an aircraft carrier operating out of the Pacific Ocean and the Far East. During his tenure with the Navy he occasionally worked with the Navy’s Intelligence group.
He graduated from Southern Methodist University and resides in Dallas, Texas.
