A Common Evil – A Bailey Crane Mystery (Book 6)
Authored by Billy Ray Chitwood
The Beginning of a book launch?
First, an admission, I’ve never been very good at my own book launches. With this book, I would really like to get it as right as I possibly can. You see, I think my previous eleven books, five of them part of ‘The Bailey Crane Mystery Series’, are very good books – there are aside from ‘The Bailey Crane Mystery Series’ a romance-suspense novel, two other mystery-suspense novels, and two memoirs. Some of these fictional books are inspired by true stories.
The truth is the manuscripts of some ‘Bailey Crane’ books sat and gathered dust for a few years before I cleaned them up, rewrote and edited them. Then, the books were published one after the other without any fanfare, without reviews, and put on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk. In short, I did no pre-launch, very little social networking, and tried to catch up by tweeting like crazy – it was not a professional marketing effort at all. Good Twitter followers, LinkedIn, Google Plus, and Facebook friends supported as best they could. Ergo, the sales never kept up with the hopes.
Look, I’m a humble guy and understand that my writing style might not please everyone. I do inject some musings, dabs of humor, and some diversionary little bits here and there, but I know the books are good, some close to damned good, have great characters and plot lines. I also know that there are millions of readers and books, so it behooves me to start doing something right in launching/marketing my books.
So, with this twelfth book, A Common Evil – A Bailey Crane Mystery (Book 6), I’m after some folks reviewing the book prior to publication, designing a dynamite cover, blogging some sample sections, tweeting, using Facebook, LinkedIn, and other platforms. I want to make sure that every best effort is made to make this book and all my books known to the reading public with the strongest launch effort I’ve ever attempted.
‘The Bailey Crane Mystery Series’ are books that can stand alone, but the progression in age and circumstance of the central character, Bailey Crane, is evident book to book… One side note, one ‘Bailey Crane’ manuscript was lost in all my wandering – it was a book titled “Stranger Abduction” (it was to be Book 2 in the series – “Satan’s Song” is now in that position). “SA” was about a mother and daughter gone missing from Arizona who were never found (based on true events). As each book stands alone, the only missing elements with no “SA” have to do with some of Bailey’s personal life. I have searched everywhere I know to search for the missing manuscript, and, if it’s ever found it will be published.
So, now I have honestly shared with you my ineptness in launching my books and what I hope for in a new invigorated launch attempt. Now, here is a brief description of A Common Evil – A Bailey Crane Mystery (Book 6)…
Bailey Crane and wife Wendy have retired to a small fishing village in Mexico, living the good life in a most beautiful resort – a penthouse no less. Early one pre-dawn morning gunshots ring out at the resort and Black Hawk helicopters swoop in from the sea. Thus begins another adventure for Bailey. Several cartel people die in the ‘sting’ operation at the resort, most notably one of the more notorious cartel leaders. In many respects Bailey is partially responsible for the raid as the story will report, forcing him and his wife to reflect on safety issues and other living quarters.
Wendy will be kidnapped, and Bailey will be frantic in his attempts to find and rescue her. Bailey will have an emotional desert experience like no other experience he has ever faced. Other bad guys will be killed while the Mexican government and the principal Cartel boss attempt a coup of sorts. There is an abundance of romance, mystery, suspense in this book about corruption and evil, and the ending will come where the Sonoran desert meets at an estuary and the beautiful Sea of Cortez.
Next week I will share some of Bailey’s narrative in the book, perhaps have a cover design for your preview and acceptance.
Now I’m off to find some reviewers for A Common Evil – A Bailey Crane Mystery (Book 6). If anyone reading this blog would like to give me a review, just contact me at the Twitter link below. Please include your e-mail address. Thank you.
Billy Ray Chitwood – June 12, 2014
Your comments are welcome.
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