"The Good Killers" Publication Day
What happens at the deadline of publishing a book?
Hello amigos! I received the paperback proof of The Good Killers yesterday and have been working since then to identify all the defects and tweaks.
Ignoring the advice of my editorial assistant, I went ahead and re-read the novel for the umpteen bizillionth time and found just a few defects and things that need to be tweaked…
… so I’ll be busy today making those updates to the base manuscript in Scrivener and the print proof in Word. I’m doing it in two places because I don’t want to reflow the entire manuscript in Word again. Then I can output the e-book manuscript version from Scrivener and check the formatting on that version.
Any clown can write a story, but only a determined clown can write a novel. And only a serious clown will try to indie publish that novel.
Overall, I’m pleased with how the print version looks and feels. The output from Amazon Print on Demand is pretty darn good. Not professional quality, but definitely Good Enough.
The novel should premiere later tonight!
Five Years In The Making
A review of the project history in Scrivener and my notes shows that I started working on this novel in January 2018, shortly after finishing the short-story version of Coyotes in Winter. This novel was a test bed for new writing techniques and represents a huge change from how I was taught to write by my mentors, Peter Marchant and Greg FitzGerald. For one thing, the new process was faster: I had a solid 4th draft at the end of 2019, had it edited, made revisions, and started shopping it around to agents. But there is never a guarantee of success. More than twenty rejections later, I set it aside at the end of 2020 and focused on other projects.
In 2022, I did some additional market research and decided to cut the 4th draft by a third, down to a goal of 80,000 words. (The lean, mean writing of the brilliant Walter Mosley remains my inspiration.) After lopping off the beginning, removing characters, and correcting continuity errors, the final version of The Good Killers came in at about 86,000 words.
I started the My Favorite Suspects Substack in 2023 and, halfway through the year, based on the lessons learned from publishing the print & ebook versions of my nonfiction book Security Issues of Personal Medical Devices, and two novelettes, decided to put this novel into publication on my own.
The Good Killers is my third novel and the first one that’s really worth publishing. I started writing for publication in 1985, finished my first novel in 1993, and the second in the early 2000s.
Writing can be many things. For me, I write for publication, and I strive for nothing less than the best writing I can produce, whatever that may be. As an indie writer, I also strive to create the best ecosystem, best cover art, best layout, best advertising campaigns, etc. that I can.
It’s said that any clown can write a story, but only a determined clown can write a novel. I’ll add that only a serious clown will try to write and indie publish a novel worth a reader’s time.
Hi there. I’m Todd Brasel. Serious Clown.
TL;DR
Rossi and Lopez (from Coyotes in Winter serialized here on MFS and as an ebook on Amazon) are back in their first, full-length mystery novel!
Inspired by the Coyotes in Winter novelette, this novel pushes Rossi to the limits of his abilities as he is trapped inside a criminal organization. It also pushes the limits of Rossi and Lopez’s relationship as they are now on opposite sides of the law. You’ll meet new characters, see some familiar faces, get to know more about Rossi, and encounter completely new villains! Also guns and fights and a twisty plot!
The novel will be available on Amazon in Kindle format and paperback, just in time for the holidays.
Congratulations!