The Chicago Sun Times newspaper picks up on my book

Thankful to have appeared in my hometown newspaper. Here's the link: Ex-Chicago Cop faithful in fiction.

Make Money Writing

Want to do some freelance work? AssociatedContent.com, pays contributors from $3 - $30 (including $1.50 for every 1,000 page views) for articles that cover everything from gardening to tech innovations. You can also browse their library for more than 2 million articles, videos, and images published by contributors.  Check it out.

Straight From Hel: Book Review: Targeted

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Book Review: Targeted

 Targeted, a Christian thriller by John M. Wills, is the third in the Chicago Warrior Thriller series. It weaves together two different threads. Here is the cover blurb:

A sniper is targeting and killing cops in Chicago, leaving no clues or witnesses. Detectives Marilyn Benson and Pete Shannon are on the task force charged with capturing this serial killer. These random police executions rock The Windy City and impact the investigators on the job and in their personal lives.

Father Ed Matthews, a Catholic priest, is arrested for child molestation. Freed on bond, he flees Chicago embarking on a journey that will cause him to question his faith and his future with the Church.

John M. Wills has written about a subject he knows well. He’s spent 35 years in law enforcement, receiving two of the highest awards given for valor by the Chicago Police Department. He’s also been an FBI agent.

With all his experience, he gives the reader an insider’s look into the police force and the lives of those who work there. Shannon and Benson are portrayed as real people, with their own lives and problems, foibles and blessings. And even in the toughest of situations, they have their faith.

Readers spend parts of the book with Father Matthews who is on the run and creating a new life outside of the church. They also are with Benson and Shannon as they try to track down the virtually invisible cop killer who strikes silently with immediate and deadly force. Wills does a good job of bringing the two seemingly disparate threads together in the unexpected climax.

Targeted
Amazon
Barnes & Noble

I give Targeted by John M. Wills a rating of Hel-O! since Wills is a new-to-me author.

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FTC Disclaimer: Targeted was sent to me by the author, John M. Wills. This did not influence my review. I believe this was the first Christian thriller sent to me. The deeply religious convictions of the two protagonists stand out in Targeted. And before you think I consider this was a negative, I don't. Every book has a “thread” that ties it together. It might be horrifically graphic murders or a search for true love or the loner who becomes the toast of the town. In this case, a big part of the story was how faith carried the characters through hard times. Sometimes, it’s informative for both readers and writers to read a book and ask, what is this about? Sure, it’s about the story, but what is the unifying theme? Ask yourself as you read or as you write, under the love story or the murderer on a spree or the search for a missing child or whatever, what ties it all together?

http://straightfromhel.blogspot.com/

On The Radio Again

Tune in on your laptop this Thursday night @ 10pm. I'll be joined on The Cop Doc Show by two other authors who are former law enforcement. Here's the link: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/the-cop-doc/2011/03/25/thecopdoc-cops-turned-authors

The Trend Continues

I've blogged in the past about the surge in ebook sales. Now, according to Publishers Weekly, the trend continues as they report ebook sales jumped 115%. Read more . . .

Why not grab this wave and get your work out there?

Are You A Writer?

How do you define yourself, is being a writer part of, or the sum of who you are? Do you have a clear understanding of what the term, writer, means? I explore that topic as a guest on Mark Young's blog today. Please click on the link and check it out: http://hookembookem.blogspot.com/

Finished writing a review for New Journal of Books, now on to an article for OdotCom.

The Future? eBooks!

In my opinion there is nothing more rewarding for a writer than opening that box delivered by UPS and seeing your first or latest novel. To actually hold your work in your hand, see the cover and read the text, is gratifying beyond belief. Fast forward to 2011--that tangible representation of your work may not be practical or even  profitable.

Big brick and mortar book stores, e.g., Borders, are having a difficult time selling books. There are myriad reasons why bankruptcy may become a virus that strikes more stores, but the bottom line is in this economy books are expensive, and publishers are not getting the same bang for their buck that they did in the past. The advent of eBooks has sent the industry spinning out of control, it's purported to be the future of the industry. And ironically, this new trend may strengthen the many indie book stores while weakening the giants.

Why? Price. A writer has virtually no cost involved to sell his eBook, and on Amazon he reaps a 70% profit on each one sold.(Most traditional book deals pay the author 30%)  The author prices the book himself, the best selling eBooks are priced between $3 and $7 because this low price attracts more buyers. More books sold equals more money made.

My book sales are equally split between eBooks and conventional books (Kindle and Nook), but the trend is for more eBooks to sell than traditional. For a more in depth look at this phenomenon and a story about a young woman who has been making great money on her nine self-published eBooks, follow this link: http://tiny.cc/zv64y