The combination of glorious weather, a huge crowd, and some neat books led to our greatest day of sales ever at the 40th Annual Trumbull Arts Festival. We actually sold out of three titles: Curse of the Fairfield Witch (T.J. Jackson), The Rovers: A Tale of Fenway, and our newest book, The Beatles Must Die. We saw some old friends and made many new ones. Thanks to Emily Areson for coordinating such a great event. Hope to be back next year!
|
Now that our new book, The Beatles Must Die, has been released, it's time to thank those who assisted on my maiden voyage into self-publishing. So, thanks to author Sam (Curtin) Dambach for her info on CreateSpace, Denise Meinstad for the editing, Kat Sheridan for the blurb consultation, Judi Fennell at Formatting 4U, Carol Young (The Creative Barn) for the great cover art, and Caroline Ferrante (The Majors Productions) & Sean McCabe for the video teaser. Don't forget to share the book info with others!  We're happy to report that a new shipment of The Rovers: A Tale of Fenway has been ordered for this summer by the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Coooperstown, NY for sale in their book store. Meanwhile, a few copies of Robertos's Return: A T.J. Jackson Mystery are still available on site. This has been quite a run at the HOF for both books, as the Hall's inventory turns over constantly. Thanks to Drew Taylor at the HOF for continuing our business partneship! This past week we made an appearance at Fairfield Warde High School to discuss the writing process, specifically historical fiction, which is the basis of the T.J. Jackson Mysteries series. I was blown away to see my face on the electronic message board in the hallway, and by the turnout-close to 100 students and faculty. We talked about the steps in writing a historical fiction novel, from research, to drafting and editing, developing compelling cover art, and using social media for publicity. With Curse of the Fairfield Witch as a focal point, we also showed the book's promotional trailer. The students were attentive and asked great questions at the end, and books were purchased by the district. Special thanks to FWHS head librarian Gayle Attruia for the invitation, and headmaster David Ebling for his warm welcome. We hope to make school visits such as this a permanent part of our yearly events! Hi everybody, today is the last day of Mardi Gras 2018, but you can keep the "spirit" going with a great read that takes place in the Big Easy. Let the good times roll!  Hi Everybody, T.J. here. Well, we had a great 2017, with the release of The Voodoo Cult's Treasure in the fall. And, as usual, Paul met a lot of T.J. Jackson readers at the various events we attended, and made some new friends. And there are still some stories to tell! As for right now, word is that Paul is working on a stand-alone YA novel that involves one of his favorite subjects...and no, it's not baseball! So stay tuned for updates. Until then, from myself, Bortnicker and LouAnne, have a happy and healthy new year!  This past week saw the T.J. Jackson Mysteries make two stops. On Thursday we gave a talk at the Bigelow Senior Activities Center in Fairfield to discuss The Voodoo Cult's Treasure, and we had a great time, as usual. Thanks to Margaret Andrews (a real T.J. fan) for making the evening happen, as well as my Iona brother Bobby Sherwood (who was a character in Curse of the Fairfield Witch, you may recall) and his lovely wife Sylvia for attending. Then it was on to the second annual Halloween on the Green in Fairfield on Sunday...only it wasn't on the Green! A driving rainstorm sent the event inside the Fairfield Museum (also featured in Curse of the Fairfield Witch) where we had a table. I'm happy to say we gave out HUNDREDS of lollipops, sold a bunch of books, and lined up some possible speaking engagements for next spring. And, as you'll see in our gallery, we met some interesting folks, including Ichabod Crane, Stormy the Sound Tiger, and even Beetlejuice! Thanks to museum director Christine Jewell for the invitation, and we hope to be back next year. HAPPY HALLOWEEN FROM T.J. AND THE GANG! On Sunday, September 10th, we had the pleasure of setting up at our third Trumbull Arts Festival, and it was a great time. We surpassed last year's total sales by 1/3 and made many new friends. Thanks to Emily Areson, event coordinator, for the invitation. We hope to be back next year. Hi everyone, this is just a heads-up that book #5 in the T.J. Jackson Mysteries, The Voodoo Cult's Treasure, can now be found in both paperback and electronic version on both Amazon and Barnes & Noble websites. We hope you enjoy it and submit a review to the websites!  Recently I had the pleasure of attending a small get-together of my Iona Gael teammates from the 70s...coincidentally, all of them have appeared as characters in my books! (That's one of the fun perks of writing...you can slip your family and friends into the story). Anyway, from left to right, Pat Garvey was in T.J. Book #1 AND The Rovers, Matty Paul was in T.J. #1, Kenny Ali was in T.J. #2, Mike Florio was in T.J. #3, and Paul Jarboe was in T.J. #4. Altogether, a dozen Iona luminaries have graced the pages of my novels, and there should be at least one more in The Voodoo Cult's Treasure, coming out in August.  |
Author BlogMy thoughts on past, present and future ideas relating to my writing. Archives
August 2018
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed