Dave Conifer Books

New Cover, Title for (Trenton Makes)

2012-01-23T12:12:00.006-05:00

I'm hard at work making over the book formerly known as Trenton Makes. It's been a huge flop, and I think a lot of that is that the cover and title just didn't grab readers enough to make them investigate further. That was the strength of Wrecker but it just ain't happening here.

The new title is "Primary Justice." I supplied the "Primary" and my friend and successful thriller-writer Michael Wallace supplied the "Justice." Both words have double-meanings with regard to the story, and it's a much edgier and appropriate title for this kind of book.

I think the original cover is beautiful, but it just isn't getting the job done. I've been working with Tabatha and Glendon Haddix of Streetlight Graphics on a new one. They are terrific to work with. Glendon got the feel of the book even before was finished describing it, and has created an image that captures the mood.

Here are the candidates (the bluish one has the old title). I like the warm orangy ones, but the steely looking one might be better. What do you think? I'm going to post this question on Kindleboards as well...

Sold my Soul -- to Amazon?

2011-12-19T23:43:00.002-05:00

Well, I got tired of the stagnating sales that, in my opinion, are due to the flood of free books on Amazon that's resulted from the new KDP select program. I couldn't beat 'em so I joined 'em. Tonight I enrolled three of my books in the program, the most important benefit being that now MY books can be offered for free for a total of five days over the three month period.

It feels weird, almost wrong, but my brain knows it was the right thing to do. I knew I was in trouble as soon as KDP Select started a couple weeks ago and all of a sudden my hard copies were outselling the e-books...

"Sorry, Not for Me"

2011-12-14T12:27:00.003-05:00

I was surfing the Amazon reader forums recently when I came across several threads in which independent writers are being thrashed. I can understand some of the hate. Many of the books on Amazon by “indies” are shabby efforts that aren’t ready for prime-time. That’s an undeniable fact, and those of us who take a professional approach to writing suffer for it.

One common refrain in these threads, though, really bothered me. Over and over I read words to the effect that any decent writer wouldn’t have to “go indie” because he or she would be spotted and picked up by a publisher.

That’s just not how it works. There’s a misperception here. Submitting work to a publisher is nothing like trying out for a football team or a ballet company. In those cases, the abilities of the player or dancer are observed and evaluated, and presumably the most deserving will make the cut.

That’s a lot different than the process known by most writers as the “agent query cycle”’ (some call it a lottery). This process begins with the writer sending a query letter to a literary agent, describing the work and inviting the agent to explore the notion of representing the book/writer to publishers. Based on my own experiences and on what I hear from other writers, here’s my completely unscientific and unsubstantiated breakdown on what usually happens:

Agent reads query, does not reply – 50%

Agent reads query, sends cut-and-paste rejection - 30%

Agent asks for partial or full ms., eventually rejects after reading– 15%

Agent asks for partial or full ms., offers contract for representation – 5%

Sure, my percentages might be overly cynical and pessimistic, but it's safe to say that in most cases the work of the writer is never evaluated – or even seen. Only the query letter was. Yeah, the argument can be made that agents are skillful at extrapolating from what they see in the query letter. It’s more likely, though, that agents have to be knocked over with “the next Harry Potter” before expending any effort on the unwashed.

Reformatted / Cheapened All my DTBs

2011-12-13T11:37:00.006-05:00

I finished revising the formats for my hard copy (dead tree books, aka DTBs) formats. It had always bothered me that I'd left too much spacing between the lines, and also that I couldn't push the price down as low as I wanted to because of the page count.

Obviously, duh, these two problems were related. I converted to basic single-space, shrunk these books down, and cut the prices by about 80%. I've seen results already -- lots of sales. This was probably a good time of year to get this straightened out.

I had no idea so many people were even considering buying these but didn't like the price. The books look better too, without all that white space...

Thank God it Went Into the Trunk

2011-12-01T10:37:00.007-05:00

Well, all the fuss about what's going on at Penn State has led me to revive work on a story I started in 2005. It's gone back and forth from the trunk several times because I struggled with setting up some character motivations, and also because I thought there might be a believability problem. I now feel like I can fix the former and I don't think the latter is going to be a problem in the current atmosphere.

But I've got to say "wow" at some of the stuff I wrote in 2005. I'm no Shakespeare here in 2011, but I'm almost having to rewrite from scratch using what's there as a template. That's how bad it is. Who was I trying to impress with some of that phrasing? It was so stiff and voiceless, thank God it never saw the light of day.

2011DaveConifer tries to write economical, muscular prose. 2005DaveConifer liked words. Lots of them. He couldn't hit the reader over the head enough times with obvious platitudes and cliches. He had a gift for showing and then telling. He'd lay a scene out, recap it as a narrator, explain every thought that went through everybody's head, and then tell the reader what to think!

I've already chopped this down from 110K words to 68K words.

Jeez, 2005DaveConifer, you don't have to account for every synapse -- let the reader live it and make up his or her own mind!

Moving to a "Mainstream" Price Next Week

2011-11-06T18:03:00.002-05:00

As I said when I introduced it, the price for Trenton Makes will rise from .99 to about 2.99 in the coming weeks. I'm doing this not out of greed but because I'm increasingly afraid that a growing number of readers simply won't consider any book for which the price is too low.

I didn't come to this decision without a lot of thought and observation. A year ago at this time I was a low-price hawk. I don't know if the marketplace has changed or if I've simply looked closer at what I hear when readers are talking, but my views have changed. I now believe that the pool of readers who will jump at anything less than a buck is dwarfed by the ones who are indifferent to, annoyed by or even repulsed by cheap books (which they assume are shabbily-written homemade dreck).

It's an ongoing experiment, of course...

Blurb for Trenton Makes now in Wrecker

2011-10-19T20:18:00.004-04:00

Well, after inserting a blurb for my upcoming book in the back, I set the price for Wrecker to free. I figured that a bunch of people would eventually see that blurb, and this kind of in-your-face advertising would be effective.

It went free last night and a lot of copies went out the door. I think it's up to 7,000 (#8 in Kindle Free store). Giving away books is nothing to brag about but I'm excited for the head start this may give to Trenton Makes...

Trenton Makes

2011-09-15T14:39:00.003-04:00

Here's the cover for my next book, which will be out in early October. It was designed by Stacey Thompson-Geer. Here's her book cover design website:

Stacey

Life after prison isn't going well for Billy Fargo. Especially now that he knows he's the skeleton in a very important person's closet...

Tracker

2011-05-31T08:47:00.003-04:00

First chapter of Tracker, just for the halibut...

Chapter 1

Weary from being on the road for hours, Billy Fargo counted traffic lights as he drove along Route 73 after crossing the Delaware River from Philadelphia into New Jersey on the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge. At the sixth one – there should be a Texaco and a Wawa – he knew to turn right. After that it would only be a few more miles along Delancey Road. Three and a quarter, to be exact, he reminded himself after glancing at the now-grimy directions sheet he’d printed off the internet. It was the last thing he’d done in the law center at West Penn medium security correctional institution near Erie, Pennsylvania, his home for the past eleven years. Inmates weren’t supposed to have access to the internet but nobody ever said a word when he slipped over to the computer behind the counter and started pounding keys. Over the years he’d gotten pretty good at finding people, places or things on the net. In fact, that was how he knew where to go that day.

He’d traveled nearly four hundred miles since walking out the side gate of West Penn the night before to board a non-descript shuttle van. He had been the only occupant other than the driver. In his possession was nothing but a small wad of cash that he’d earned working in the prison and a yellow envelope that contained his battered wallet. Walking into the barber shop to get cleaned up for his re-introduction to the world had been nerve wracking, despite knowing that the visit had been pre-arranged and they knew he was coming. Hell, so had the quick stop at Burger King that preceded it. The people working behind the counters in both those places knew where he’d spent the last three thousand or so nights of his life, and were clearly uncomfortable around him. That was something he was going to have to get used to, and learn to make the best of. He was relieved that anybody on the outside was willing to deal with him at all. Part of him, his brain, he figured, knew that money was money and nobody would care who he was or where he’d come from. Deep down, in his heart he guessed he could call it, there were doubts. For the most part he didn’t know what to expect, so it was a relief that his first two stops went without a hitch. If nobody treated him like a long lost brother, he wasn’t about to raise a fuss about any hurt feelings.

For the most part, the first hours back in the world weren’t as scary as he thought they would be. After buying a ticket at the Greyhound station he sat nervously in the waiting room, but it had only taken a few minutes in the tall, padded window seat on the near-empty bus before he started to feel comfortable. The February air rushing in through the window that he’d immediately slid open as he cruised east on the turnpike was cold, numbingly so, but he couldn’t get enough of it anyway. Two soft-looking men in the back were pissed off about the open window after a few miles, but they didn’t look to Fargo like the type that would do anything about it. Probably a couple of faggots, he decided. It had been so long since he’d felt more than a stale breeze on his skin. It was nearly three in the morning when he finally grew tired of the chattering of his teeth and the passive-aggressive comments from behind him, and sealed it back up.

Doing time in a state prison had been horrible, but he knew it could’ve been a lot worse. He’d seen how bad it could have been with his own eyes. Lucky for him – or maybe it was the curse that put him there – he’d grown up around so many ex-cons that he’d benefited from advice that probably saved his sanity, and maybe even his life. Fight whenever anybody crosses you, and fight loud so everybody knows you’re not a chump. Most of the important rules of survival were “don’ts.” Don’t disrespect others but don’t be disrespected, either. Don’t mess with anybody’s property and don’t let them mess with yours. Don’t try to be popular. Don’t talk too much. Especially to the guards. And never squeal, no matter what. Never. Punishment for ratting out other inmates was a lot worse than anything the guards would come up with if he wouldn’t tell them what they wanted to know. There were worse things than a few weeks in solitary or a few bruises or broken knuckles from a guard’s club. Best advice he’d ever gotten before going in. Well, maybe second best.

It hadn’t been fun. His time behind at West Penn had worn him down, and changed him. He knew he was a lot meaner now than when he went in. He also knew he was a lot smarter, having completed enough high school courses to earn a GED. More importantly, he was sure, he’d been forced to grow up, and he knew he’d learned discipline. No man would choose a decade behind bars, but oddly, he was sure he was a better man for it. Often times he wondered if the reckless twenty-five year old he’d been before going in would even have survived those years if they’d been out on the streets rather than in a cell.

The driver acted like he was both surprised and annoyed when the sun rose in the east high enough to hover above the roadway ahead. Instead of squinting behind a pair of sunglasses the way the driver was, Fargo savored it. A clear view of the sun was something else he’d done without for years, and he was going to enjoy every minute of it no matter how much it hurt. He didn’t get so much as a passing glance from anybody when he slipped out of his seat and staggered up the aisle to the front where he could bask in the sun without anybody screaming at him that his time was up and he had to go back inside the cell block.

The car had been waiting for him just where it was supposed to be when he stepped off the bus at the terminal in Valley Forge. It had been left there by Russ Bismarck, a mentor from his earlier life, the one that had seen him end up doing time for rape at West Penn. If he’d had anybody else to turn to, Fargo would have, but Bismarck was one of the few friends he had left on the outside. He didn’t even know why this man, now approaching sixty years old, wanted anything to do with him. Fargo knew Bismarck had flirted with crime his entire life. You could just tell. But he’d managed to stay ahead of the cops and out of trouble, a boast that Fargo couldn’t make. If he was willing to lend a hand after all these years, Fargo was in no position to turn him down. As he turned the key and the engine roared to life he knew that his day would end on a couch in whatever dumpy apartment in the gritty Tacony section of Philadelphia that Bismarck now called home.

He knew exactly where he was heading but calling ahead was something he’d decided against. Eleven years was a long time, plenty of time to consider it from every angle. There were pros and cons either way, but the bottom line was that he just knew the look of surprise on Kevin Morris’s face was going to priceless. He was certain he’d made the right call by the tingle of excitement he felt when suburban shopping plazas began to appear on both sides of the road. One more light and I’m there, he thought. Even before he reached it he saw the sturdy brick Walgreen’s tucked behind a grassy berm.

He couldn’t be sure that Morris would be there, but somehow he just knew he would. And he was right. As soon as he walked inside and locked in on the pharmacy counter he saw a tall, dark-skinned man that he instantly recognized. The internet doesn’t lie. At least it didn’t this time. My man Morris really is a pharmacist at Walgreen’s. He always was pretty smart, Fargo recalled. The last thing he remembered was that he was taking classes at some community college in his spare time.

Even if Morris had looked up, Fargo doubted that Morris would know who it was that was marching at him, at least not until he’d closed to within a few feet. He didn’t look much like he had before prison. Doing time had aged him on the outside the same way it had on the inside. Gone was the long hair and bad mustache, and most of the melanin in his skin. Clean-shaven with a sturdy crew cut, the only thing left for Morris to recognize were a pair of ice blue eyes and the eleven year-old sweatshirt and jeans that had been returned just before he walked out of West Penn. And that was just the way Fargo wanted it.

A bubbly twenty-something woman asked Fargo how she could help him when he reached the counter. “I need to talk with Morris,” he said, pointing to her colleague who was in the back counting pills. She looked at him, not sure how to respond. “Go ahead,” he urged, waving his hand dismissively. “Ask him, okay? He knows me.”
If Morris knew him, he didn’t show it. He squinted helplessly at Fargo after she relayed the message. Fargo nodded back, with no change to the grim expression on his face. Finally there was the tiniest spark of recognition. With his mouth falling slightly open Morris carefully placed whatever he was holding onto the table in front of him and came around a barrier filled with racks of paper bags containing filled prescriptions, never taking his eyes off Fargo.

“Good God,” he said when they were face to face, with the chippie pharmacist taking it all in from five steps away. “Fargo?” he asked, turning his head at an angle. “Is that you?”

“In the flesh. How ya' been?”

“Good God,” Morris said. “Sweet Jesus. I never thought I’d see you again.”

“Well, here I am,” Fargo answered. “Guess you thought wrong. Just got sprung last night.”

Morris wiped his forehead. “Jesus. I never expected to see you again.”

“We need to talk,” Fargo told him.

“Who, me?” Morris replied. “Don’t tell me what I need.”

“Maybe I will.”

“What about?”

“Stuff. There’s some stuff I got to say,” Fargo said, “and some stuff I need to know. What time do you get off?”

“See, Billy, I don’t have a lot of time after work,” Morris explained as he eyed the small but growing cluster of customers lining up behind Fargo. “I told the kids I’d – there’s something I’m doing with them.”

“The kids?” Fargo demanded. “You still with Gail? You got kids now?”

“Hell, no,” Morris answered quickly. “I haven’t seen her in years. Not much since, well, you know. I hooked up with somebody at Rutgers. Six years now.”

“Damn. Now I got even more questions. It’ll just take a few minutes. Come on, man, I drove all night to see you.”

Morris sighed. “Okay, I can squeeze out a few minutes. I don’t know what you want from me. I’m not your friend. Never was. But lemme’ get these people taken care of. Then we can work it out.”

~~~

Fargo walked across the parking lot to McDonald’s where they agreed to meet when Morris’s shift in the pharmacy was over. Out of habit he checked his back several times as he crossed the expanse of asphalt. As he ordered a Big Mac and a chocolate milk shake he listened to himself and wondered if he would always sound so mean. He decided that he probably would. Prison does things to a man, he thought. Bad things.

The sandwich was gone and Fargo was taking the final drags on the shake when Morris appeared. Fargo watched as he threaded his way through the near-empty dining room and took a seat in the booth. “This shit’ll kill you,” he said, gesturing at the Styrofoam Big Mac carton on the plastic tray.
“Beats what I’ve been eating,” Fargo answered. “I’m not worried. I never thought I’d make it this far.” He waved at a puff of cigarette smoke that floated over their table after drifting across a partition. “I thought they passed all those laws that you can’t smoke in public anymore,” he snarled.

“Not everywhere. What, you don’t smoke anymore?”

“I gave it up. Ciggies are too valuable inside. It was easier not to have any. One less thing to get killed over.”

“So what was it like in prison?” Morris asked. “As bad as you hear in the movies?”
“Worse. It sucked. What do you expect me to say? That’s the point of it.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Morris conceded. “But, you, know, what was it like?”

“What sucked the most was I shouldn’t have been there in the first place. I didn’t kill nobody that night.”

“You didn’t go to jail for murder,” Morris pointed out.

“I didn’t rape nobody either.”

Morris looked around the restaurant before turning his attention back to Fargo. “What do you want me to say? Is that what you wanted to tell me? Because I have to be honest. I really couldn’t care less.”

“I heard you told them I didn’t kill those kids. If there was a trial you wouldn’t testify against me. Thanks.”

“It wasn’t because I thought you were innocent,” Morris snapped. “I thought you were guilty as hell. I didn’t want you going to prison because I wanted a clean shot at you. I was going to make you tell me what you did with the bodies, one way or another.”

“Damn,” Fargo said softly. “Now I wish I didn’t say nothing. All those years, I was thinking you were on my side.”

“Nope. Not even close. I wanted you dead. But then you went down for rape, anyway. Now it’s too late.” He paused. You’re not going to tell me where you put those little girls, are you? Because they could still nail you for murder. Right?”

“I can’t tell you because I don’t know,” Fargo argued. “I didn’t kill them. I don’t know shit about it. I wasn’t even there. Hell, I know from my shit ass lawyer that you told them I wasn’t there.”

You screwed me up big time,” Morris said. “Gail was never the same without those kids. I loved her. Unlike you. For you it was just a place to shack up.”

“I loved her first, until you stole her from me,” Fargo said with no emotion. “Let’s not forget why she left me. You came along like a fucking snake. And I didn’t kill those kids. Why would I? It was already over between me and her.”

“That’s why you did it,” Morris retorted. “That’s the damn reason right there. She dumped your ass and you didn’t like it.” Suddenly leaned in across the table. “And don’t give me any of your bullshit rap about love! I know how you treated her, you drunk motherfucker!” He glared at a woman who was staring from across the dining room. “She told me all about you. So don’t even start.”

Fargo clamped his lips together and stared at the pile of Styrofoam chips that he’d reduced the cartoon to as they talked. “The hell with all that. You won. I lost. But I was framed that night, Kevin,” he finally said without looking up.

“Sure you were, Isn’t everybody in prison innocent?”

“No, but I was.”

Morris sat back into the padded backrest with his arms folded. “So, how bad was it in there? Did you get your bones jumped every night?”

“Not even once,” Fargo answered smugly. “I had a secret weapon.” He spent the next few seconds pulling up his sleeves and then the front of his shirt, exposing a gallery of tattoos. “Worked like a charm.”

“Wow,” Morris said. “You’re a neo-Nazi? I don’t remember all that ink on you.”

“I got them just before I went in,” Fargo explained. “All in one night. It saved my life.”

“I don’t know what half those things are besides the swastika,” but I guess the good people up in that prison of yours did.”

It’s the only way I knew I could survive,” Fargo explained. “The only white guys who get left alone are the ones that the Skin Heads protect. So I made sure to be one of them and I made sure everybody knew it.”

“I’m sure it wasn’t a stretch,” Morris remarked. “You called me a nigger plenty times.”

“My first cell mate was a little white kid. Couldn’t have been more than twenty. One night I came back to my cell and they had a train going, and not just his ass. I knew I couldn’t do nothin’ about it so I turned around and walked back out. He killed himself a week later. That woulda’ been me if I didn’t have protection. Most white dudes are on their own inside. They don’t stick together.”

“So all that stuff you hear about what goes on really is true?”

Fargo nodded. “It’s true. I saw some shit that I’ll never forget.”

“I can only imagine.”

“Best you keep it that way,” Fargo advised. “So here’s what I wanted to ask you about. “Do you know whatever happened to Gail’s old man? Mankato? Because he’s the one that I really want a shot at.”

“Rip Mankato. The evil stepfather,” Morris said. “Talk about a white supremacist. He used the N word way more than you did.”

“Don’t take it personal. He hated me just as bad. None of us were good enough for his little Gail.”

“That’s for damn sure,” Morris said.

“She wasn’t even his. I never knew who her father was.”

“Me neither,” Morris told him. “And I don’t know jack about where Rip Mankato is either. I put all that shit out of my mind after it was all over. You got a beef with him? That guy scared me.”

“I know what you mean,” Fargo said. “But here’s the thing. That girl who said I raped her? He knew her. Did you know that?”

“What do you mean, ‘said you raped her?’” Morris demanded. “Your junk was all over her plain as day from what I heard. You can’t hide from DNA, man.”

“This is exactly what happened at the trial, all over again,” Fargo said. “I had that crap lawyer, didn't cost me nothing, but he didn’t care about me. He didn’t want to be there. See, I never said I didn’t have sex with her. I did. So of course my stuff was in her. But I didn’t rape her. She raped me, if anything.”

“And she threw herself over the side of the Scudder Falls Bridge into the Delaware River when she was done with you?”

“It’s all BS,” Fargo insisted. “I don’t know how the hell she got down on the river bank. I doubt if it was off the bridge. She didn’t have a scratch on her. No bones were broke, or anything like that.”

“Why didn’t you say all this at the trial?”

“There was no trial. That lame ass public lawyer made a deal behind my back. He never even asked me shit about what happened. He just figured I’m white trash, must be guilty. Next thing you know I’m chained up in an orange suit in a van going for a long ride.”

“I’d be more pissed at the lawyer than Mankato,” Morris said.

“It’s close,” Fargo admitted.

“Even if you really did get framed,” Morris said, “which I’m not sure I believe.”

“Believe it. And I think I can prove it. But I need your help. Why do you think I came straight to you the day I got out?”

Next Up for Conifer...

2011-05-24T20:41:00.003-04:00

I was poking along writing the next Snodgrass book, which is going to be a spoofy, silly time travel book featuring the same characters from Snodgrass Vacation.

But...

I got itching to do another thriller. The main character is a rough around the edges guy who's just gotten out of prison after doing time for rape. He would have been convicted for murder, too, except they couldn't find the bodies. But he says he innocent, and when he gets out he's intent on proving it -- and nailing the fellow who framed him.

[I'm probably going to delete this part in a few months, because it's a spoiler.]

At first I was a little worried about one thing. There's going to be a Jaycee Dugard type angle near the end. But it turns out that sometime during the summer Jaycee Dugard is going to be publishing her memoir of what happened to her. So my book will either be seen as a Dugard tag-along (although mine's fiction of course), a complement to that book, or some kind of warped fan-fic...

Outlandish!? Outlandish, You Say?

2011-04-25T14:27:00.005-04:00

Outlandish is a broad brush, man!

A few reviewers have mentioned that while they enjoyed Wrecker, they found parts of the story to be “outlandish.” This is something that I’ve been giving a lot of thought to, as you will see. I’ve decided that there are three flavors of outlandish when it comes to fiction. Two of them are bad, but not the one that Wrecker is. See what I did there?

Here are the three basic flavors as I see them.

1) Outlandish as “impossible.”

Not too much to explain here. No suspension of disbelief would be enough to accommodate a story in which impossible events occur.

2) Outlandish as “That character wouldn’t have done that!” or “Oh sure, he forgets to check at exactly the same moment that…”

In the past year alone I’ve come across far too many that are written in this flavor. Simply put, people in the story are doing dumb things or things which are out of character simply to move the plot where the author where the author wants it to go.

Even more than flavor 1, I think this version of 'outlandish' is unforgivable because it’s an attempt, whether the author realizes it or not, to deceive the reader.

3) Outlandish as “I didn’t expect that but I could see it happening that way.”

Not surprisingly, this is where I think Wrecker is. (Duh, if I thought it was number 1 or number 2, I’d have fixed it.)

Remember, we’re trying to write interesting stories. These often involve extreme and unexpected choices.

The story where the dejected software entrepreneur fades away, taking a job managing a donut shop in Wildwood and tacking photographs of his dead wife and daughter above his desk? Snooze city. That shouldn’t be a novel (see my previous blog post about “Why is this a book?”) Sure, it’s possible that it could unfold that way. Maybe it’s even typical or likely. But who wants to read that?

Good fiction is often the story of the people who don’t make the safe, expected choices.

In Rob Manteo’s case, it’s simply more engaging if he carefully plots brutal revenge and goes about it in a devious way, with surprising revelations about his past as the story progresses. The key is whether or not the author has created characters and situations that could happen. Not necessarily would happen, but could happen. As long is the foundation for his choices and actions have already been put into place by the author, outlandish behavior is okay. As a matter of fact, it’s good. In some corners of the literary world, outlandish is downright interesting.

"Indie" Stories Still Need That Hook

2011-04-14T11:04:00.005-04:00

My new story is coming along slowly but surely in my head. For the first time I’m roughing it out with an outline. I’m doing that because I realize I got a bit lucky with Wrecker, pulling some compelling twists out of my arse as I went along. I’m not sure I’d be so lucky again. Before I get too deep I want to be sure that my story is something that's interesting enough to keep a reader’s attention (and mine as I write it!).

That leads me to something that I’ve been thinking about. For the past year I’ve read nothing but independently published books. When comparing these to their traditionally-published counterparts, we usually focus on technical aspects such as editing and covers. Is it riddled with errors and plot holes? Does the cover scream self-published?

I think there’s something else that we’ve lost by discarding the gatekeepers to publishing (not that I’m against the new way of doing things, mind you.) What’s missing is the requirement that a story be compelling. Unless the writing is phenomenally engaging and trumps everything else, there has to be a hard-hitting hook, or a clever catch, or something else that makes a reader say “Wow, that was interesting!”

Sadly, several of the stories I’ve read in the past year lack this. They may be technically sound, with tight editing and professional covers, but they leave me saying to myself “So why is this a book?” One could write a story about doing the laundry, complete with protagonists, bad guys, a climax, everything we need in a plot. But just because a story has all these parts doesn’t make it interesting or compelling.

There just has to be a hook…

Other Shoe's Coming

2011-04-08T09:07:00.003-04:00

I have this feeling of impending doom about Wrecker. That other shoe is bound to drop any day now. Yeah, a ton of copies have sold. If I wasn't so warped I'd be jolly about that, but I've managed to turn that into a bad thing. I'm rather thin-skinned about my writing and I just know that many of those readers aren't going to like it, and are going to leave bad reviews.

That's what they're supposed to do, and there's no book that everybody likes, but even so I know it's coming and I'm so dreading it.

In general, my reaction to having a book that does well isn't at all what I expected. Instead of feeling proud and fulfilled, it's been a letdown. Besides what I already said about thin skin, I realize that I've been waiting for some kind of validation or reward that isn't going to happen. I no longer check book sales more than once a day, but each morning I'm certain that everybody who wants this book already has it and I actually say this out loud --> "It's all over."

I just don't have the right personality to be a writer.

Right now I'm getting more enjoyment out watching Ed Talbot's book, New World Orders than I am watching my own. We inserted a blurb about it in the back of Wrecker and I'm really hoping it helps it to take off. Ed and his co-writer are good guys and it's a good book that deserves some attention. On top of that, there's less pressure and tension involved when I'm cheering for somebody else's book because it obviously isn't personal for me.

Amazingly enough, I'm one of the most laid back people on the planet except for about this stuff...

Happy Friday!

Chapter 0 of Wrecker

2011-04-03T20:16:00.003-04:00

It's a little-known fact that the first draft of Wrecker included an opening chapter that I deleted pretty quickly after the initial re-read. If you are interested you can read it right here in this post. I hope that anybody who's planning to read the full book doesn't look at this here spoiler until afterwards.

It was a solid chapter which fit well into the kind of book Wrecker started as, but didn't work well with the kind of book it finished as. (If you don't know what I'm babbling out, read this post about the history of the book and how it evolved as I wrote it.)

Simply put, "Chapter 0" gave away too much. That was okay until it was clear that there was an element of mystery to the plot. I hated to see it go, but it goed.

I've done some editing, but not as heavily as I would have had it been included in the book. Hopefully I haven't left any horrible errors. I wrestled with the POV (point of view here) and never really nailed it down, so please accept my apologies for any distracting head-hopping. I'm also unsure if never referring to the central character in the scene by name worked at all. Since I pitched this out I didn't worry about that either.

Here's Chapter 0.

Chapter 0

The two women looked like they didn’t have a care in the world as they pushed through the revolving door and out onto the Atlantic City boardwalk. They turned a corner between casinos and headed towards the setting sun, away from the gleaming oceanfront skyline. The sidewalk turned to a dingy, crumbled moonscape after only a few steps. A yellowed page of newsprint swirled from underneath a battered porch to paste itself against the bare leg of one of the women, where it remained briefly until the winds shifted and it blew into an alley. When they reached a stone building with a glowing neon Harley Davidson logo in the window they paused, had a brief conversation, and approached the door.

The man who followed them into the tavern saw that their body language had changed drastically once inside. As his own eyes adjusted to the dark surroundings he knew they’d made some kind of mistake, and he knew they knew it too. The chattering and smiling had stopped. Their eyes are adjusting too, he thought with a snort. What were they thinking? They didn’t know they were walking into a shit hole until it was too late.

He kicked out a chair and made himself at home at an empty table. Before long the man from behind the bar walked over. “What’ll you have, brother?” A minute later a tall glass of frothing draft something or other rested on the tabletop in front of him. He picked it up and chugged half of it as he watched. The two women were still conferring. One pointed towards the empty bar. They had to be wondering if they were even in Atlantic City anymore. They were, of course, but this was a long way from the boardwalk. Much longer than the hundred yards that separated them from the glitzy casino they’d spent the afternoon in with their husbands.

They couldn’t have looked more out of place. Each wore light-colored capri pants and a pastel blouse, casual enough for dinner at Planet Hollywood but nice enough not to be a blemish at the roulette wheel. The one-size-fits-all wardrobe didn’t work in the tavern, though. Everybody else was wearing denim, flannel and leather.
When they reached the bar and climbed atop stools, each clutching a stylish pocketbook, he looked around and saw he wasn’t the only one watching. The staccato roar of rowdy conversation ebbed, and most eyes were on the new arrivals. He watched from his table as the short, barrel-chested man behind the bar asked them what they’d be having. They looked at each other, at the bottles and beer taps behind the bar, and then at each other again. They still had no idea what they’d gotten into.

The barkeep hoisted an imaginary glass at him from behind the bar while he waited for them to make up their minds. The man nodded back. Seconds later the barkeep came around from behind the bar and was at the table with a full glass, beer running down the sides and through his fingers onto the sticky floor. “Yo,” he said as he slammed the glass onto the table. “Have I seen you here before?”

“Nope. Never been here.”

“Oh. Well how ‘bout my new customers?” he said with a gap-toothed grin. “And they say this ain’t a classy joint. By the way, name’s Ham. Glad to meet ya’.”

“You never seen them before?” he called to Ham, who was already on his way back to the bar. “Why would they come in here?”

Ham shrugged. “I dunno, but I hope they stay,” he said after doubling back. “Nice to look at. Only trouble is, they don’t know shit about what they want to drink. Get this – they asked for a glass of wine. I told them we don’t have no pink chablis,” forcibly pronouncing the silent ‘S.’

Even before Ham was back behind the bar the two women had an apparent change of heart. They dropped from their perches and click-clacked into the corner where an empty booth waited. The man at the table winced as he watched them slide into the beaten vinyl seats to face each other across the table. That was the worst thing they could have done, he thought. Their second mistake would only compound the earlier one, which was coming inside in the first place. There was no way out of that corner booth, or there wouldn’t be after another minute passed.

Ham changed directions to follow the women without breaking stride, wiping his hands first on his dirty apron and then on the seat of his pants. He was leaning into their faces with his palms on the table even before they’d finished settling in. It was easy to read what was being said. Ham told them they served nothing but beer. Draft, or in a bottle. Brown or clear. No green bottles here. Sorry ladies. You can’t get a fucking cappuccino or a cup of Earl Grey here. They conferred before finding something to their liking. After Ham was gone they huddled, looking around as they whispered. He wouldn’t have been surprised if they got up and left, but at the same time he knew they wouldn’t. Ironically, they wouldn’t want to make a scene.

It wasn’t long after Ham brought the women their beer that the trouble started. Three men, each with at least one bottle in hand, appeared from the other side of the tavern. The women had to have seen them coming, but did their best not to make eye contact. Even after the men squeezed into the booth – two on one side, one on the other – neither woman acknowledged their presence. That would change. It would have to. The new booth occupants would make sure of it.

He studied the men, but there was no way of knowing what was in their heads. A fourth wandered over and pushed his way into the booth, and then several more wandered over Ham looked worried. “I gotta’ do something,” he said after walking returning to the man’s table with another beer, which he placed beside the half-empty one. “I can’t have no more trouble in here. Maybe you could say something. You look badass. They’ll listen to you.”

He took a gulp from the new glass and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “I’ll bust it up. I want to see what happens first.”

“Don’t wait too long,” Ham begged. “Please. I don’t need no trouble. I’ll get shut down again.” He shuffled back over to the bar where two men were waiting with empty pitchers in their hands.

By then the women were no longer visible. If it was going to get out of hand, this was how it would start. He finished both his beers while he waited for the right moment. When there was a lull in the din, he stood slowly. His chair grated on the floor as he pushed it back. A tavern full of bearded faces turned in his direction. He looked over at Ham, who nodded frantically, before walking slowly over to the table.

Two minutes later the women scrambled out the door and back toward the boardwalk. Hopefully the husbands were too engrossed at the blackjack tables to have noticed that they hadn’t been gone for as long as expected. Too afraid to look back, they never saw that somebody else came out of the tavern and headed in the same direction.

Wrecker Sales Plot with Promotions Marked

2011-03-31T19:35:00.008-04:00

It's the last day of March, and Wrecker's been out about 80 days (since January 11). I thought I'd show the sales plot and mention the days where there was some kind of promotion. Some of the peaks and valleys don't correlate to anything. Maybe this can help other writers decide what kind of ideas to try.

In general, my experience has been that reviews are less important than being featured on blogs that get a lot of traffic. If a book is in front of a reader, they just might give it a try -- they don't necessarily need to hear somebody's opinion.

Red circles
1/17 Featured on Frugal eReader
1/28 Dropped price from $1.99 to .99
1/30 Featured on Frugal eReader (again)
2/4 Featured on Spalding's Racket

Green circles
2/27 Featured on eReader News (this seems to have been a breakthrough)
3/7 Featured on Daily Cheap Reads

Purple circle
3/14 Featured on Pixels of Ink

Uncircled (it's the last upturn near the end)
3/28 Featured on Holly Hook's Bargain eBooks

There's a huge spike between Pixels of Ink and Bargain eBooks that I can't explain.

Giving Back, aka Paying it Forward

2011-03-30T08:03:00.007-04:00

To try to pay forward for the help and encouragement I've received from other independent authors, For the month of April I'm inserting a blurb for a book by an up and coming author in the back of Wrecker. With any luck this will bring Ed (actually, Ed is part of a two-man writing team) some exposure.

New World Orders

I'd been using that space for a blurb for my Man of Steel and it had resulted in lots of sales. At the same time I'd been looking for a partner to swap back-of-the-book blurbs with. Preferably somebody with big sales numbers. It turned out that no big sellers were interested, and I didn't see the point in swapping with a less-than-big seller. So I'd plugged my own book instead.

Then I remembered how it was (and could easily be again) when my books didn't have any traction in the market. I'm sure it's obvious where I'm going with this. I'd have been thrilled to get this kind of exposure back then but there was nobody offering. I decided that maybe I can do that for somebody else. And maybe someday they'll do it for somebody else.

And then there's this (here's a snippet from a note I sent to Ed when we were shaping this up):

To be honest, I have kind of an empty feeling about how well Wrecker is doing. It's the first successful one I've had, and in the back of my mind I became aware that I'm waiting for something. You know, the writing angel to come to me and bestow a halo or something. I'm just now understanding that there isn't that kind of payoff. The payoff is the angst of hoping the book keeps selling and the realization that I can't do much about that either way. It's been a letdown, but doing something like this is making me feel better about it.

I chose Ed because I can tell he's a great guy, the book sounds really good, and it was recently given a four-star review on Candy's Raves. It's worth giving a boost to.

So, that's why I'm doing this. Will I do it again after April is over? That's something I'm weighing. If I'm in a position to pay it forward again, meaning that if I still have a well-selling book, perhaps I'll look for somebody else who might need a hand.

And now, time for crunchy frog. It's not what you're thinking -- I'm a vegetarian...

Holly Hook: The Sinister Shadow! (and Wrecker)

2011-03-28T21:01:00.008-04:00

Wrecker is being featured on Bargain eBooks.

This site is hosted by Holly Hook, who writes some bangup YA. Her Tempest was a big hit and now Rita Morse and the Sinister Shadow is moving up the charts...

http://bargainebooks.blogspot.com/

The Sinister Shadow at Amazon

The Sinister Shadow at Barnes and Noble

Wrecker: Kite Up in the Air

2011-03-20T15:30:00.003-04:00

I've always thought that the sign that a book has taken off is when it sells without never-ending promotional churning by the author. Kind of like a kite -- once you find a way to get it high enough where there's a constant breeze, the flyer no longer needs to work very hard to keep it from crashing to the ground.

Hopefully I won't jinx this thing by saying it appears that the Wrecker kite is up in the air. It's had sales spikes before, but not like the one it's having now. More importantly, I didn't do anything at all to make the current one happen. It's hovering around a sales rank of 200. It takes a lot of sales just to stay there, and even more to climb even just a few slots at that level.

Here's what I think has happened. Thanks to a steady rise in sales, it's appearing in more and more "Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought" windows on Amazon -- and with bigger-selling books as it's own sales increase. It only makes sense that the more readers see it, the more will buy it.

Whatever the reason, it's pretty exciting to an author who's never been here before and may never be again.

This is Wrecker's all-time sales plot.

Rarified Air: Top 200

2011-03-14T23:23:00.004-04:00

Yeah, I'm not supposed to use my blog for boasting, but I'm rather psyched that Wrecker spent an hour in the top 200 a little while ago (at # 199).

I've been messing around with a few ideas about what I want to write next, but David Dalglish gave me some good advice today that I'm going to take. Write another one like Wrecker and take advantage of what it's doing.

Only trouble is, I'm still trying to have an idea, as Stephen King put it in Misery.

Back in the Saddle

2011-03-11T08:51:00.007-05:00

I haven't been ignoring this blog -- I just wasn't able to access it due to apparent changes in permissioning. This morning I finally figured out how to associate it with the proper email address and I'm back in the saddle now.

Wrecker has really taken off in the last two weeks. For all I know it could all dry up today, but it's hanging around in the #600 ranking at Amazon. That's pretty good for a Dave Conifer book! Here's the sales chart.

Remember when I was lamenting about it after two weeks? LOL at me.

People really like this book. That's a relief because it's the best I can do...

Sorry, I need this on the blog so I can post it on my Kindleboards profile...

Four Stars from Candy's Raves

2011-01-27T22:59:00.002-05:00

Nice review from Candy of Candy's Raves. It won't run on her blog until Monday but here it is. This is the first time anybody ever accused me of talking too much...

- Four Stars -

I absolutely did not see this one coming. What a wild ride of twists and turns and general insanity. The story line for this book is really wonderful. Fairly unique and it opens up at a nice pace, I didn't feel rushed and I didn't feel like he was dragging it out. The pacing is perfection.

It falls a little left of believability. The author had me completely on his side until a final "reveal" and then he kind of lost me. I felt slightly cheated because there really was no foreshadowing there, it seemed to come out of left field. This doesn't distract from the book itself, just one thing I noticed.

The writing is, as I've come accustomed to with this author, superbly done. The grammar and flow of words is fine, but the dialogue is where I think we get bogged down a bit. There's a LOT of it. I really think we could have done with some narrative as far as finding things out. While it didn't feel stilted, it just seemed overly explained at times and I kind of wanted the characters to just shut up.

I found Mateo's character to be very sympathetic and even liked the wife. My problem came with the husband. I absolutely hated him. He seemed kind of wedged into the family and story itself, kind of a non-entity. I could have done without him all together *laugh* At one point, I told my husband that if they didn't make this guy come through in the end, I was going to write hate mail to the author. I won't tell you if the author got a letter made out of magazine letters or not... :)

Overall, the story is really good - really good. The writing is fabulous and the storyline is unique enough to have kept my attention. Where this novel truly shines is the pacing - not a dull moment in the bunch.

Recommend this book to everyone that enjoys a good thriller.

Covers

2011-01-27T09:54:00.003-05:00

At Peace with my Failure

2011-01-25T19:10:00.005-05:00

It looks to me like Wrecker is going to fade into oblivion. For it's first two weeks it's done well enough, hovering around the 10,000 ranking. Sales are rather erratic, though. On some days only one or two sell. I see no reason to think that it's going to maintain even that mediocre level. Why would it? The one sale days will slowly crowd out the big sale days, there'll be a big day here and there when it appears on a blog or gets reviewed, and that'll be it.

I'm at peace with my failure. In the past I wished I'd written a better book, had a better plan, found just one more place to promote, etc. With this one -- I have no regrets. It's a really good book, and the readers who found it have all loved it. It's the best I can do. I took my best shot. I could never say that with any of my previous books. It's really the best book I can write.

But it's not going anywhere. I'm okay with that. Very disappointed, because I think it's as good as many independent books that somehow catch on, but I'm okay with it.

Because I made my best effort. Whateva. Maybe I'll write something else someday!

The Evolution and the Writing of Wrecker

2011-01-19T13:58:00.005-05:00

Wrecker at Amazon

At its conception, Wrecker was nothing like the thriller it turned out to be. Rob Manteo’s background and history remained the same but what he did about it changed by about 180 degrees. Originally, he was found randomly by Steve and hired to work around the house. Anybody who has read Wrecker knows that this doesn’t even scratch the surface as to how he became a fixture at the Havelock’s place.

In the beginning the story was going to be more of a romance than a scary thriller. In fact, here’s what I posted on my blog on May 23, 2010:

I think I've finally gotten the writing bug back because in the past few days I've done a lot of work on a new story. Surprise -- it's not like anything I've written before. I do that a lot!

For now the best way to describe it is that it's probably “Nicolas Sparks-ish." Maybe I'll post some of it here at some point.

A romance involving who, you might ask? Jane and Rob. There really aren’t that many other choices. Jane was seeking escape from her crummy marriage and Rob was looking for a new start. The only action I anticipated was when Steve figured out what had happened and went after Rob. I figured I could squeeze a few explosions and a good fight out of that. I wasn’t sure whether the story would be told from Steve’s or Rob’s perspective, and the answer to that one was a surprise as well. Here’s what I posted on my blog on May 30:

Surprisingly, the story I'm currently working on is coming off more feminine than I expected. It's turning out that a female character is pretty much the main character (I thought it was going to be somebody else) and the story seems to be rolling out from her point of view. I didn't expect this. I wonder if the world is ready for a chick book by Dave Conifer.

Rob was actually going to turn out to be a handsome guy under that scraggly beard. He and Jane were going to be quite the couple. But it didn’t turn out that way. Rob – as I wrote the character -- didn’t want to be a vulnerable, charming man who arrived just in time to save Jane from her boorish husband. The biggest change came just a few days later, June 3, as chronicled on the blog:

Remember that so-called chick book I'm working on? Well, yesterday I had THE IDEA! Anybody who writes will know what I mean. I don't want to give too much away but it's something like this. Instead of somebody with an interesting back story showing up out of the blue -- there's an intriguing reason for his sudden appearance. Intrigue abounds, actually. Even better is that it has the potential to lead to explosions and car chases. Cool! THE IDEA!

Yeah, Rob and his intentions just changed radically. As of that blog post Wrecker was roughly on target to be what it is today: no longer a romance but a story of vengeance. There were still problems. Something didn’t feel right. The plot was too soft for what the book was turning into. The transition from romance to thriller was difficult for me but at least I recognized the problem. But what to do?

Enter big-time epic fantasy writer David Dalglish. He probably doesn’t know how much he helped me shape this story those nights when we chatted on Facebook. He urged me to put a harder, more aggressive edge on it. Rob, especially, had to be toughened up. Dalglish was absolutely appalled and disgusted that Rob was going to turn out to be so handsome and likeable (I believe his exact words were “Ugghh!! No!!!!!!!”) Here are my comments on my rap sessions with Dalglish as blogged on June 8:

I recently chatted with [my friend Dalglish]. Besides being a great writer he has great business sense, so I knew I'd be getting some gems from him. When I told him about my WIP, the one with the working title of GRIME, he thought it sounded good. He also gave me some insights on a few directions I could take it in order to make it more commercially viable. Hopefully I'll be able to weigh in with him from time to time...

By July I had what I wanted, and it was just a matter of writing it. Here’s my comment from July 14:

My new story is coming along really well. I've been busy incorporating my many ideas on how to make my antagonist more interesting, unstable and scary while at the same time lending a basic logic to his mission. I'm really liking where this is going. Actually, this guy is what I would call a sympathetic antagonist, if such a thing is possible. I like him better than one of the major so-called protagonists and I'm pretty sure readers will too. I suppose there have been many stories where the bad guy has his reasons, reasons which readers can relate to even if they wouldn't choose the path he chooses.

There was still work to be done. A lot of work. Rob was no longer showing up out of the blue – there was a reason. So I had to go back and plant the seeds, so to speak, in the first third of the book. That took several weeks but it was well worth it, considering that his motives are the heart of the story and would provide a huge twist that would be delivered with a whopping kick. In late July I put my head down and started typing even faster than I had been already. My strongest memory from September 2010 is of myself sitting at the dining room table in front of my lap top with a glass of wine and a pile of scribbled notes at my side. I wrote over 40,000 words in September alone (I’m a serious word count tracker).

Did somebody say ‘twist?’ Well, there was another one in store. I don’t want to say too much, but as I got into October I realized that Duane Rockingham was becoming too prominent a character in proportion to his involvement in the basic plot. I took a few weeks and made the needed adjustments for the last significant modification. This added another twist which pales in comparison to the first one, but was still pretty good. Here’s are some excerpts from my October 21 blog post (heavily edited to eliminate spoilers):

Last time I added a pretty cool twist. … Without getting into it, because I haven't worked out the details anyway, the off-duty cop?... Mr. off-duty cop just became a major character.
It's going to take a month just to go over the 70,000 words already written and work in enough clues before I write the conclusion …so that the reader won't feel cheated. … I also wanted to get something new out there when everybody gets their new ebook readers for Christmas. But that ain't happening now, I don't think. It'll be worth it, though.

After I typed THE END and began editing, I immediately saw a serious problem with a painful solution. The opening chapter was my favorite, and it was strong, but it just gave away too much to the reader right off the bat. It was okay when the story was “Nic Sparks-ish”, which it was when I wrote that chapter, but not for a suspenseful thriller. As much as I loved that chapter, it took away my capability for surprise. So I sucked it up and pulled it out. Goodbye. It hurt, but it hurt good.

There was one last thing -- the title. By October I was calling it Wrecker. At the last minute, however, I did some Googling and found that there were a bunch of books with the same title. That's not necessarily a killer, but it bothered me. I considered several other titles and sought the opinions of many, but in the end I left it the way it was.

And that’s how Wrecker became what it is today.

[Note: excerpts from blog posts have been sanitized to eliminate spoilers.]

Post-release Blues

2011-01-14T12:29:00.005-05:00

I'm having a weird, post-release letdown. I wonder if I had this before? I don't remember it. It's ridiculously early to feel bad about Wrecker since it's only been out for three days, but I do. I'm having thoughts like "I guess all those early sales really were from my aunts and uncles."

See, when I wrote in the past it was more for myself. This time I took a look at the Kindle market and tried to write something with broad appeal. I also think this is the best book I've ever written. So my feeling is that this is my best effort and if it flops, well, good thing I didn't quit the day job.

I don't even want to quit the day job. Writing is just a hobby for me and that's all I ever intend it to be. Even so, I guess I was hoping I'd written something really good...

Wrecker is Out

2011-01-13T10:56:00.003-05:00

Wrecker is out! Here's the cover, designed by T.M. Roy (Terry).

So far it's selling rather well, and some complimentary reviews are coming in. I feel pretty good about this one. Funny thing is that sales of my other five books has jumped with this release.

Amazon US Sales Page

Amazon UK Sales Page

Barnes and Noble Sales Page

Smashwords Sales Page

Wrecker ARCs Given Out

2011-01-05T19:55:00.005-05:00

Wrecker is done except I'm modifying the cover. Last night I gave out about thirty advance review copies, hoping that some reviews would be posted by release day (and I provided some motivation). I've had some positive comments -- I can't lie, that feels pretty good...

Daily Cheap Reads Feature = Big Sales

2010-12-27T21:50:00.004-05:00

Snodgrass Vacation is currently being featured on Daily Cheap Reads and I can't believe the number of sales it's generating! Every time I look there are more!

New Banner for Man of Steel

2010-12-27T20:11:00.001-05:00

Wrecker Release Date: Jan 22, 2011

2010-12-21T11:37:00.002-05:00

I've finished the initial round of work on the first draft of Wrecker. It wasn't nearly as bad as I expected.

Right now I'm listening to it on Kindle, which I've found to be a great way to pick up missing word mistakes (which I do a lot of) and get a feeling for how it flows.

The cover is in development. My goal is to capitalize on having a strong female protagonist by using a cover that will appeal to women -- because women read a lot of books!

As of now my plan is to release the book on January 22. I've already booked ad space on The Frugal eReader for that date and also on January 30.

Pretty excited, I like this story...

New Cover for FireHouse

2010-12-16T08:00:00.003-05:00

I finally switched the cover for FireHouse. I loved the guitar but it just didn't show what the book was really about. My other wrestling book (Throwback) sells a lot in paperback form during the season but not many readers seem to find this one. Now, maybe FireHouse will get more looks.

Here's what it looks like:

It really does look like Zach. He's got a chip on his shoulder and it shows in this pic...

Wrecker is Finished!

2010-12-03T16:05:00.003-05:00

Yeah, I finished the first draft of this book on Tuesday night -- just a few minutes before December. It was about nine months but I feel good about it.

Here's what my bad guy, the Wrecker, looks like:

He's actually more likable than some of the good guys :-)

The very next day I started editing. I expected the first draft to be rubbish but I was surprised that it wasn't that bad. So now I've decided that I can get this out by the end of the month. That's kind of cool because I bought a banner advertisement day on Kindleboards for January 3 -- just in case (otherwise I would have used it for another book).

So much to do! I already sliced out the opening scene. I loved that scene, but after I finished the story and could see how it arced I realized something. It gave away too many secrets, stuff I wanted to (and did) spring on the reader later.

I also need to get cracking on having somebody do a cover. I've contacted somebody from Kindleboards who's really talented. Hopefully that will work...

Some Nice Reviews

2010-11-24T16:09:00.003-05:00

I picked up some nice reviews recently on Smashwords...

"I wish I could give this book more [than five] stars. This book was a page turner from page 1. I think it should be required reading for middle and high school aged children both. Things are so different now for our children than they were for us. I've allowed both my 17 and 13 year old children to read this story. It's opened up some great dialogue between us. Highly recommend, especially to parents of teenage children."

"The author does a wonderful job handling such a difficult subject. He handles it in such a way that I would encourage those with teenagers to talk to your kids about the book and let them read it. There's nothing too graphic in here and it's a great young adult (middle school level) book. The only way to combat situations like this is to talk about them and talk loudly. Kids need to know that it's okay to 'tell' their parents and it's NOT okay to let a bully get away with it."

"Though I don't know anything at all about wrestling, I still really enjoyed this book. After just a few pages I felt very invested in the characters, and found myself cheering Ben on each time he took the mat. I felt like this was a wonderful story from a teenage boys point of view, which is definitely outside of my normal reading. Overall I really enjoyed the book. My teenage daughter is reading this now and is also really enjoying it."

Createspace / Snodgrass Banner

2010-11-16T20:45:00.007-05:00

Eulogy for Dave Jevik

2010-11-15T13:29:00.002-05:00

Eulogy for Dave Jevik as read by Vinnie Zandanel (both are characters from Snodgrass Vacation).

Check out this eulogy contest on Red Adept's review site!

Eulogy Contest

eBully Banner

2010-11-13T19:42:00.004-05:00

I Need Professional Help!

2010-11-09T16:43:00.005-05:00

I'm very close to finishing the first draft of my WIP, which still has a working title of Wrecker. As I write I'm also making some decisions about what's next before I release this. I think I'm going to invest a few bucks for some professional help this time because I really like this story. So far I've resisted the temptation to rush and cut corners. Why start now?

I'm probably going to pay somebody to do a professional edit job, both for mechanics and story (plot, pacing, all that stuff that makes a story readable and enjoyable). A writer/editor named T.L. Haddix is probably going to be my choice for that, assuming she's still available when I'm ready.

I'm also leaning toward hiring out the cover. Every cover I've done myself has been hideous. Last May J.L. Penn came to my rescue for my existing five books. This time I'm hoping to go with either Ronnell Porter or Carl Graves.

Ronnell is a KindleBoards guy who has done some nice work. His standard price is $ 50. Here's his website/portfolio:

Ronnell Porter

Another option is Carl Graves, who has done covers for some big name authors including Jack Kilborn. Here's his site:

Carl Graves

His work is ideal but I don't think I can afford $300 when I know Ronnell's price is significantly lower.

By the way, I don't think I've communicated with any of these folks yet. If they see this post they're probably going to say "Who the hell is Dave Conifer?"

eBully on Bargain eBooks

2010-11-09T03:12:00.001-05:00

eBully is currently featured on Bargain eBooks...

Got Plugged on Konrath!

2010-11-04T16:54:00.000-04:00

A couple of weeks ago independent writer god Joe Konrath asked us to help him push his latest book up the charts at Amazon. In return he agreed to supply each of us with a book plug on his heavily-trafficked blog. Here it is. Got to give him credit. I thought he'd just put out a list of bland links but he actually spent the time to cut and paste a brief summary of what each book was about.

Plug on Joe Konrath Blog

Four-star Review for eBully

2010-10-29T11:56:00.001-04:00

Check out this review on Candy's Raves:

eBully on Candy's Raves

The "Idea" Again!

2010-10-21T20:39:00.004-04:00

I've been stalled on writing the "thrilling" finish to Wrecker -- because I can't think of a thrilling ending. Then, for the second time I had "The idea" (see my blog post from about "the idea" number 1.)

Last time I added a pretty cool twist. The handyman who's working around the Havelock house isn't just some random guy looking for work. The Havelocks think they chose him, but he knows it was he who chose the Havelocks.

Without getting into it, because I haven't worked out the details anyway, the off-duty cop? Same deal. He's not just some cop that took an interest. It's going to turn out that he's got a connection to the handyman, and that's why he is on the scene. Mr. off-duty cop just became a major character.

It's going to take a month just to go over the 70,000 words already written and work in enough clues about the cop that the reader won't feel cheated. I've really been pushing to finish this in 2010 because I've finished something every calendar year since about 2006. I also wanted something new out there when everybody gets their new ebook readers for Christmas. But that ain't happening now, I don't think. It'll be worth it though.

Plot Twist or Double-Cross?

2010-10-20T14:48:00.004-04:00

I learned something very important as I made the recent change to the last page of eBully (see previous post).

First, some definitions (my own):

plot twist: Author surprises reader with an unexpected development that doesn't contradict anything already read and doesn't rely on information that hasn't been supplied.

double-cross: Author surprises reader with an unexpected development that has no basis in anything already read and perhaps even contradicts something already read.

There is a zinger of a plot twist at the end of this book and I have no regrets about it. I'm actually quite proud of it. But Carly's lack of remorse was not a plot-twist. It was a double-cross. From what I can tell, most readers were sympathetic towards her until they reached that last page. After reading that page, many were angry with her -- and with me.

Carly seemed like a sweet girl who, while not infallible, was not a malicious or devious person -- online or in person. So when she told Tom what she had done in such a casual, flip way with absolutely no regrets, it was unfair to readers who had no way to see that coming. What a dirty trick!

Initially I did this with a purpose. I was trying to make the point that many people take on a completely different persona when they go online, one of the many dangers that need to be reckoned with in the cyberworld. The point went largely ungot.

Sorry for the double-cross, people. I thought it was a plot twist!

New Ending for eBully

2010-10-17T19:22:00.005-04:00

I changed to ending to eBully. Many readers who otherwise liked the book have told me that they were unhappy with Carly's lack of remorse in the last pages. Book reviewer Red Adept was the first to say it. Recently, readers "Arkali" and "CaseyF6" said the same thing.

I was stubborn at first, and even when I started to agree I wasn't sure whether it was "right" to modify a book that's already been written. But in the end I knew they were correct -- her lack of remorse countered the message of the other 99% of the book. So I changed it in all electronic and hard copy versions. Below here is the new ending, followed by the old one.

[This is Dave, a few days later. I think I'll pull out some of the spoilage here.]

Here's the new ending:

Tom and Carly followed them outside. “He should be here soon,” Tom said. He leaned on a brick pillar while Carly sat on the curb to wait.

“This whole thing was crazy, wasn’t it?” Tom asked. “It turned out to be like a Scooby Doo episode. WXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.”

“Jenny really fell for that whole Dylan thing. Nobody else would have been so easy to trick.”

“That’s pretty harsh.”

“We were friends until Lakeland. Then I saw the real Jenny. She moved in on the guy I liked, right in front of my face.”

“Weren’t you just in fifth grade?”

“If anything that had to do with boys came up, she was always, like, bonkers,” Carly continued. “Like the whole Dylan thing. Some guy nobody’s ever heard of IMs her with a cute story and she buys every word of it.”

Tom kicked a stone from the curb into the street. “I guess I didn’t know her as well as you did.”

“He moves in from Florida. He knows all about her but can’t explain why. She doesn’t even ask. No phone number, no address, no school. He’s Mr. Perfect and she just believes every word of it. Then he asks her to go steady and she says ‘Yes.’ To a guy she’s never even met! I couldn’t believe it. I thought she’d stall for time on that but she answered back right away.”

Instead of kicking another stone Tom turned and stared. “Carly, you’re scaring me. You’re making it sound like you were there. How do you know so much? You know way too much.”

“Come on, everybody knows.”

“No they don’t. Not like this. You weren’t there were you? Tell me you weren’t there. Please.”

Carly stood up and began walking down the line of storefronts. Tom ran ahead and blocked her path. “What are you saying, Carly? Tell me. Right now.”

She looked into his face, her eyes pleading. “It was me, Tom. I did it. I’m the one who picked on Jenny. I know all about Dylan because I’m the one who made it all up. I did it.” Tears filled her reddening eyes and rolled down her face. “I guess Mrs. Ford figured out it was me, or she knew it all along.”

“Carly! What are you saying? You can’t be serious! Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Because then you wouldn’t have helped me.”

Tom heard rock music an instant before he saw his brother’s Duster roll to a stop. “Come on!” Kevin Seidel mouthed at him through the open window.

“But what about Jenny? She needed help too! Who was there to help her? I can’t believe this!”

“I know,” Carly sobbed. “It just didn’t seem real. I thought it was all just on the computer. I never thought she would do anything like that.” She sniffed and wiped her nose with the back of her hand. “I guess I didn’t know how bad it felt until somebody did it to me.”

“How could you not know? She slit her wrists, Carly!”

The horn of the Duster blared. “You should go,” she said. “I think I’ll just walk home.” She stepped around Tom and walked away.

“Hey!” Tom yelled at her back, but she didn’t stop. She didn’t even turn around. He walked to the Duster and looked in at his brother, who gestured for him to get in the car. He still wasn’t sure what had just happened. When he turned back she was gone. It didn’t matter. She probably wasn’t ready to talk about it anyway. And he wasn’t sure he was ready to hear it.

THE END

And here's the old ending:

Tom and Carly followed them outside. “He should be here soon,” Tom said. He leaned on a brick pillar while Carly sat on the curb to wait.

“This whole thing was crazy, wasn’t it?” Tom asked. “It turned out to be like a Scooby Doo episode. WXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX..”

“Jenny’s not too smart, the way she fell for that whole Dylan thing. Nobody else would have been so easy to trick.”

“That’s pretty harsh.”

“We were friends until Lakeland. Then I saw what she was really like. She moved in on the guy I liked right in front of my face.”

“Weren’t you just in fifth grade?”

“If anything that had to do with boys came up, she was, like bonkers,” Carly continued. “Like the whole Dylan thing. Some guy nobody’s ever heard of IMs her with a cute story and she buys every word of it.”

Tom kicked a stone from the curb into the street. “I guess I didn’t know her as well as you did.”

“He moves in from Florida. He knows all about her but can’t explain why. She doesn’t even ask. No phone number, no address, no school. He’s Mr. Perfect and she just believes every word of it. Then he asks her to go steady and she says ‘Yes.’ To a guy she’s never even met! I couldn’t believe it. I thought she’d stall for time on that but she answered back right away.”

Instead of kicking another stone Tom turned and stared. “Carly, you’re scaring me. You’re making it sound like you were there. How do you know so much? You know way too much.”

“Come on, everybody knows.”

“No they don’t. Not like this. You weren’t there were you? Tell me you weren’t there. Please.”

Carly stood up and began walking down the line of storefronts. Tom ran ahead and blocked her path. “What are you saying, Carly? Tell me. Right now.”

“What are you getting all freaked out about?” Tom heard rock music an instant before he saw his brother’s Duster roll to a stop. “Come on!” Kevin Seidel mouthed at him through the open window.

“You better tell me right now if you know more than you’re saying. I mean it. You owe it to us. God, you better be yanking my chain, Carly,” he warned.

The horn of the Duster blared. “You should go,” she advised him. “I think I’ll just walk home.” She stepped around Tom and ambled away like she didn’t have a care in the world.

“Hey!” Tom yelled at her back, but she kept walking. He walked to the Duster and looked in at his brother, who gestured for him to get in the car. He wasn’t sure what had just happened. When he turned back she was gone. It didn’t matter. She probably wasn’t going to tell him what she was talking about anyway. And he wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

THE END

Insightful Column About the Burgeoning Cyberworld

2010-10-03T10:59:00.005-04:00

There's an interesting column in today's Philadelphia Inquirer about the newness and potential pitfalls of the burgeoning cyberworld. It really ties into the message of eBully.

Rick Riordan Column

Lots of what Rick Riordan says is relevant to the message I tried to send in eBully. This is all so new that we not only need to tweak existing laws and create new ones, we also need to come to grips with the entire concept of "24/7" as he calls it.

From the column:

Yet my peers and I are now part of an experiment far freakier than any of the crazy stuff we got into 30-plus years ago.

We're eager participants in the great pandemic of social networking/digital exhibitionism, which is transforming personal lives into reality shows - available 24/7 to whomever we're texting, tweeting, blogging, YouTubing, or Facebooking.

We produce and consume this content instantly and relentlessly. But unlike our fragile, fallible selves, our reality show is forever; those 1s and 0s into which we convert our experience and distribute it to the universe will never really go away.

No matter how tech-savvy we are as individuals, as a species we have no idea what we're getting into, even less what we might be doing to ourselves. We're all freshmen when it comes to this stuff.

What's private?

What isn't?

Where are the boundaries? Are there any?

Snodgrass on Spalding's Racket.

2010-08-09T12:11:00.005-04:00

Snodgrass Vacation, my satirical beach-read book that pokes a little fun at Disney World (one of my favorite places) is being featured on Spalding's Racket! Swing on by if you get a chance!

Spalding's Racket

Dave Conifer Mentioned!

2010-07-31T19:37:00.002-04:00

I'm kind of tickled because my name was mentioned in a blog post by Tamora Pierce, a well-known YA writer.

"But as to no boy authors on the teen shelves? Maybe she and I aren't looking in the same places, or in small stores, because I can think of: Gary Paulsen, Walter Dean Myers, Terry Trueman, Chris Crutcher, Robert Parker, Will Hobbs, Roland Smith, Dave Conifer, Brent Hartinger, David Levithan, Ned Vizzini, Dave Lubar, Gordon Korman, Paul Fleischman, Joseph Bruchac, David Klass, Gary Soto ... I'll stop now. "

Read the blog post here:

She was making a point in an argument by listing writers who write YA for boys -- and I was on her list! Right there with some well-known guys. I don't have any delusions about this. She probably just did some kind of search on the genre and my name popped up, and she cut and pasted it. But even so, it was pretty cool to see...

WIP Coming Along: a Sympathetic Antagonist

2010-07-14T13:43:00.003-04:00

My new story is coming along really well. I've been busy incorporating my many ideas on how to make my antagonist more interesting, unstable and scary while at the same time lending a basic logic to his mission. I'm really liking where this is going.

Actually, this guy is what I would call a sympathetic antagonist, if such a thing is possible. I like him better than one of the major so-called protagonists and I'm pretty sure readers will too. I suppose there have been many stories where the bad guy has his reasons, reasons which readers can relate to even if they wouldn't do what he's doing.

Here Here -- no wait -- Hear, Hear

2010-06-22T16:50:00.003-04:00

That commenting guy on Mobile Reads actually pointed out a legitimate mistake. I wrote "Here here" in Snodgrass instead of "Hear, hear," which I agree is the correct form of what I was trying to say. So I tucked my tail between my legs, fixed it, and when over there to thank him. Hopefully it won't go to his head.

By the time I got over there a new comment from somebody in Austria was up. How should I interpret "isn't snodgrass a pecker/weiner operation?" I feel like answering "damn right it is!"

Books at EZRead Now / My New Pricing Attitude

2010-06-17T21:25:00.004-04:00

My books are now for sale at EZRead.com. Here's a 'meet the author' interview I did with them the other day.

Meet the Author

I set the price at $1.99, same as Amazon. As I was browsing the books there I couldn't help noticing that mine were among the cheapest. That reinforced something that I was coming to believe -- the price of a book is something a reader considers when they're deciding if something is good enough to bother with. I realized that I was subconsciously ignoring the books that were two bucks or less -- phrases like "these must suck" went through my head. I remember being skeptical when other writers warned me about this as they saw me giving my books away or selling them for pennies.

How much money I make doesn't matter to me, but I've come to believe that too low a price is counterproductive (sorry if I already posted about this). I'd give them away for free if I thought that would get more of them read, but I no longer think that would be the net effect. My books will always be on the cheap end of the scale but I'm not going to give them away for practically nothing anymore -- because that makes reader think that's all their worth.

New Review of Snodgrass at KindleObsessed

2010-06-14T15:06:00.001-04:00

New review of Snodgrass Vacation is up at KindleObsessed.

Wormers are the Worst!

They awarded 3 / 5 stars. I don't think a book as empty-headed as this should be eligible for more than three stars so I feel like I maxed out.

The best part is that there was no mention of my use of the horrific phrase "Another thing coming" -- you know, the one that began the demise of the English language...

"Happy reading my fellow Kindle-ites and remember: if you find yourself in an underground tunnel sporting an oversized dwarf head… something has gone terribly wrong."

Think or Thing?

2010-06-11T20:34:00.002-04:00

A reader over on MobileReads chided me for "word choices that made him wince." I asked him if he could remember any examples and he pointed out that I wrote "...you've got another thing coming" instead of "...you've got another think coming."

I thought "Huh? Think?" I've never seen or heard of that in all my life. I posted about this on Kindleboards and also at the University of Maryland off-topic board. I also did some extensive Google research. I now think that there is a chance that the expression might have originated as "think" -- much to my surprise. However, "thing" has overtaken it over the last half of the Twentieth Century. This isn't the ubiquitious "should of" vs. "should have" that makes me cry every time I see it on an internet forum. No, this is a legitimate shift.

I wouldn't say that "thing" is correct and I wouldn't say "think" is correct. But I most certainly wouldn't go on a forum and trash a book because the author used one or the other. I'm rather certain that there would have been even more abuse had I used the "think" version because it's much less common. Common doesn't make it right but it's so prevalent that I don't think it's wrong either. Most importantly, I don't think my book should be peed on over this.

Chatting about GRIME

2010-06-08T16:23:00.002-04:00

I recently chatted with an up and coming fantasy writer. Besides being a great writer he has great business sense so I knew I'd be coming up with some gems from him. When I told him about my WIP, the one with the working title of GRIME, he thought it sounded good. he also gave me some insights on a few directions I could take it in order to make it more commercially viable. Hopefully I'll be able to weigh in with him from time to time...

Nice Review for eBully

2010-06-05T12:52:00.000-04:00

Found a nice review from MobileReads:

"I think this is a great story following a case of cyber-bullying in a
middle school. The story caught my attention from the beginning, I think
the whole ending really clinched the five star rating, as it forces you
to think a little more about the whole issue of cyber bullying. Great
...book!"

I Had THE IDEA!!

2010-06-03T21:14:00.004-04:00

Remember that so-called chick book I'm working on? Well, yesterday I had THE IDEA! Anybody who writes will know what I mean. I don't want to give too much away but it's something like this. Instead of somebody with an interesting back story showing up out of the blue -- there's an intriguing reason for his sudden appearance. Intrigue abounds, actually.

Even better is that it has the potential to lead to explosions and car chases. Cool! THE IDEA!

Disney Contest Starts in about Ninety Minutes

2010-06-01T19:33:00.001-04:00

If you're not doing anything at 9:00 p.m. EST, drop by the daveconiferfanpage on Facebook and enter the Disney contest that's being run in the Discussions tab. Top three finishers win a signed copy of Snodgrass Vacation...

Lots Going on Today

2010-06-01T09:33:00.007-04:00

Man of Steel is being featured today at Indie Spotlight!

http://www.theindiespotlight.com/?p=1558

Also, my interview at TwoEndsofthePen is up:

http://twoendsofthepen.blogspot.com/2010/06/interview-with-dave-conifer.html

Tonight is the first round of the Disney Contest. Check the Discussions tab of my Facebook fan page (see above) for details on how you can win a signed copy of Snodgrass Vacation.

A Chick Book?

2010-05-30T21:55:00.004-04:00

Surprisingly, the story I'm currently working on is coming off more feminine than I expected. It's turning out that a female character is pretty much the main character (I thought it was going to be somebody else) and the story seems to be rolling out from her point of view.

I didn't expect this. I wonder if the world is ready for a chick book by Dave Conifer. maybe I need a pseudonym for this one!

Disney Contest!

2010-05-29T10:18:00.001-04:00

Think you know Walt Disney World? Care to put your knowledge to the test?

There's a twist and it involves Snodgrass Vacation, the comedic novel about a Disneylike adventure.

Check “Disney Contest Rules” under the discussions tab on the Dave Conifer Fan Page (see link above).

The contest will start on Tuesday, June 1 at 9:00 p.m. EST. Good Luck!

Snodgrass Vacation #1 at Smashwords Again

2010-05-26T23:43:00.002-04:00

I just noticed tonight that Snodgrass Vacation is back to the number one slot on the humor chart at Smashwords (on online ebook store). It was there at some point in the winter but then tailed off. I think it's my new presence on Facebook that's getting attention attention. Cool...

2010-05-24T15:44:00.002-04:00

So I saw two really nice comments on two different message boards today (see below). Like most writers, I live for feedback -- especially positive feedback! There's no way to explain the feeling when you get this kind of validation.

Of course I posted these comments on Kindleboards, a message board where lots of Kindle writers hang out. As usual, the post dropped from the front page like a rock, the way mine always do. I guess I haven't made any friends there who might bump my post for me, although I certainly do that for others who, like me, don't get much time on the front page.

But I can still feel proud of these comments!

--From MobileReads--

"I tore through it and it was a fun book! I really enjoyed it. I kind of wish there was a sequel where the two families go on another family vacation somewhere else the next summer.

-- From Barnes and Noble Nookboards --

Dave,
I read Snodgrass Vacation and was quite impressed - very funny stuff and you captured the theme park visitor mentality to a tee. I look forward to reading Man of Steel and eBully in the future.

Everyone out there should take advantage of his offer. This guy can flat-out write!!!!!

Work in Progress

2010-05-23T20:09:00.002-04:00

I think I've finally gotten the bug back because in the past few days I've done a lot of work on a new story. Surprise -- it's not like anything I've written before. I do that a lot!

For now the best way to describe it is that it's probably "Nicolas Sparks-ish." Maybe I'll post some of it here at some point...

Throwback Cover Boy

2010-05-21T13:21:00.002-04:00

For any of you who I asked for pictures for the new Throwback cover -- I guess you saw that I gave up that idea -- nobody wanted to be the cover boy. I ended up using a stock picture that actually turned out really nice, whoever that kid is.

I'm still trying to figure how to make FireHouse look more like a wrestling book without losing the garage band angle. If anybody has any ideas let me know. If you've got a wrestling photo that looks like Zach Bowie I'd like to see it...

Change to Throwback

2010-05-17T15:23:00.006-04:00

In January I made a revision to Throwback based on reader feedback. Normally I don’t think it’s a good idea to change a book that’s already done. For one thing, there’s the butterfly effect. As we all know, there are repercussions in the plot for any change, no matter how small. What are the odds that I successfully made every adjustment needed to accommodate the change? Even something trivial like the color of a shirt or the make of a car could have been indirectly referenced later.

Then there’s the problem of trying to please everybody. Most readers didn’t mind this supposed flaw or didn’t feel strongly enough to mention it. Why cater to the few that did?

On a higher level, I think once a story exists it should remain in whatever state it was conceived in. Tinkering with something that’s five years old is taking a risk with the mood and tone that was in my head when I wrote it, which could distort the story. Nuance is important and it has to be consistent. That’s hard to do when merging what I thought and wrote five years ago with what I thought and wrote a few months ago. Am I making any sense?

But I did it anyway. After a few years intervened and I cracked the book open I realized that I agree with the criticism. It made me feel sick to think about what my character was up to. In the original version Ben was a cheater. This put off many, many wrestling fans, especially one man named Dave from Maryland (and isn’t that ironic?) Us wrestling people associate our sport with discipline and honor. The premise of the book is a dishonest course of action by the protagonist. Naturally that didn’t sit well with some fans of the sport and I found that it didn’t sit well with me anymore either.

I still felt that it was key to the tension of the story that Ben was hiding a secret so huge that revealing it would be catastrophic for him. Instead of a cheater he’s now a criminal – but his crime was one that he feels is morally defensible. What Ben did in the new version is actually worse in the legal sense, but somehow I have less of a problem with it (and wrestling fans feel the same way, I suspect).

Hopefully my plot surgery was complete and I smoothed over all the unintended consequences of the change. I still don’t think it’s a good idea to disturb a book already written but for me this one had extenuating circumstances.

New Interview Up

2010-05-16T19:35:00.002-04:00

A recent interview has been posted on the "Closing my Eyes Helps Me to See Clearly" blog, hosted by fellow writer Kipp Poe. Check it out! The same questions were answered by other writers so it's interesting, if that type of stuff grabs ya'.

http://kippoe.blogspot.com/2010/05/dave-conifer-interview.html

Building my Facebook Fan Page

2010-05-15T13:51:00.002-04:00

Last night I embarked on an important project -- building the Dave Conifer Facebook Page.

In this day and age when everybody lives on the net it's important to set up a professional author presence there. It won't even cost anything to do, and the possibilities for exposure so vast that they approach infinity!

I'm a Facebook clown. But I'm building a nice page anyway. Here's my secret: a new guide written by big-selling author Jon Merz. "Facebook Pages" is only the first in Jon's upcoming "Social Media for Authors Series." If you're looking for clear, simple instructions for developing your page this book is where you want to start.

Promoting...

2010-05-14T08:36:00.003-04:00

Currently working on the promotion end. I just bought a cool "how-to-promote-on-Facebook" guide that looks really good so I'll attack that this weekend. I've also submitted a few books to various review sites.

Just got word that Snodgrass Vacation will appear on WhizBuzz on June 7. Cool...

Crossroads

2010-05-13T09:39:00.000-04:00

I'm struggling to get back into the groove of writing*. I really got serious about writing about seven years ago. Since then I've finished quite a few books (Three Point Star 2002, Throwback 2004, FireHouse 2007, Man of Steel 2008, eBully 2008, Snodgrass Vacation 2009). I've also got a good sized manuscript of a nearly finished book called Sugar Bowl on the back burner for various reasons.

In the past year I've immersed myself in other aspects of writing. For one, I've spent substantial amounts of time in promotion. This includes sending out samples, doing blog tours and interviews and being involved in various online message boards, forums and communities. When I do these things a lot more books sell (mostly e-books, actually).

Lately I've slowed down drastically on promoting, and sales dropped off just as radically. There are several different messages that a writer could take from that. Being a pessimist, the one I settled on was that my books aren't good enough to grow "legs" and sell themselves. That's a bit of a drag, but I don't write because I need to be a best seller -- I do it because I enjoy it. So I'm over that.

What I'm not over is this -- I'm having trouble getting back to writing. I have several ideas for what I want to do next but can't seem to get going on any of them. Maybe that's the proverbial other shoe dropping after years of intense writing.

* disclaimer -- I'm not pretentious about what I write. I'm sure my books aren't classics and they might even suck. I just want to make sure nobody thinks I'm putting on airs about this. The opposite is true; sometimes I don't even feel worthy of the label "writer."

New Man of Steel Content on Nookboards!

2010-05-11T09:38:00.001-04:00

I just posted some new stuff over at Nookboards and for once the Nookers seem interested. Since we're reading chapters 1-11 I added some content supporting what's in those chapters.

There are a few pictures of Dallas, Charlotte and Pittsburgh. More importantly, I posted the April 1962 article about Steel vs. JFK -- one of the articles that Abby found and showed to Joe.

Also, I posted a copy of the "Welcome to Dallas" ad that appeared in the Dallas Morning News on the day of the assassination. It's a vicious and personal attack on JFK and his policies. It makes the John Kerry Swift Boat flap look like a nursery rhyme.

It's all about showing that I didn't just make this stuff up. Go over to Nookboards and check it out!

http://www.nookboards.com/forum/index.php?board=31.0

Man of Steel -- May Book Club at Nookboards

2010-05-10T16:30:00.000-04:00

I'm going to use my first blog post to remind the literary world that Man of Steel is the subject of the May Book Club at Nookboards.

http://www.nookboards.com/forum/index.php?board=31.0

Same as with all previous book clubs over there, the interest has been underwhelming. If you want to learn a thing or two about the JFK assassination, the flawed Warren Commission Report and some conspiracy theory possibilities, head on over. There's a thread that contains a 100% off coupon code for Man of Steel.