KEEP NO SECRETS is now available!

Now available!

("Buy the book" links below)

KEEP NO SECRETS

(the TELL NO LIES sequel)

After the ultimate betrayal,

which is more important:

trust or forgiveness?

After surviving the private and public fallout from a one-night stand four years before, St. Louis DA Jack Hilliard wants nothing more than to be trusted again by his wife, Claire, and to earn back the respect of the community he serves. Since the day Claire accepted him back into the family, he's vowed to be true to these goals, and so far he's succeeded.

But all of Jack's efforts begin to crumble when the woman involved in his earlier downfall, Jenny Dodson, returns to town claiming threats on her life and asking for his help, and resurrecting for Jack long-buried emotions and questions of her guilt for the murder of a client. Just when he thinks the pressure can't get any worse, his son's girlfriend, Celeste, accuses him of sexual assault, and he suddenly finds himself on the wrong end of a criminal case, battling for his freedom.

Can Jack trust his freedom to the legal system on which he built his career? Or will the ghost of his one-night stand four years before come back to haunt him, causing him to be convicted on the mistakes of his past?

BUY an eBook edition:

Amazon Kindle

Amazon UK Kindle

Barnes & Noble Nook

Kobo

BUY the PRINT edition:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Signed edition

You can also ask your local bookseller or library

to order it for you (tell them it is distributed by Ingram)

Note about ebooks: Did you know you don't need a specific e-reader (Kindle, Nook, Kobo) to buy and read books from the companies that make those readers? You have choices, no matter what type of device you have. Here are links where you can download FREE reading apps to your iPad, your phone, your PC, and other devices.

  Kindle apps
BN Nook apps
Kobo apps


THANK YOU to all of my readers for your continued support and encouragement!
www.julie-compton.com
 

      

Why I Decided to Self-Publish

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In case you missed my recent announcement, my next book, Keep No Secrets (the sequel to Tell No Lies) will be hitting the virtual book shelves very, very soon (ebook and print), and this time I've decided to self-publish it. Also, I recently got the rights back to my first two novels, Tell No Lies and Rescuing Olivia, and I've re-released Tell No Lies as an ebook on Amazon (only $2.99!). Rescuing Olivia will follow any day now.

Of course, the first question I received from many folks after making this announcement (primarily other writers, but not always) was this: Why did you decide to self-publish?

The answer is a lengthy one, and it's multi-faceted. There really isn't just one reason.

So in the interest of saving myself the trouble of having to answer the question over and over, and also realizing that there are probably people who want to know but are too afraid to ask, I've decided to discuss it here on my blog. The full answer will come piecemeal – one, because as I said, it's long and multi-faceted, and, two, because on any given day I remember more of my reasons. (I'll also add the answers to my website, so by the time I'm done, all of my answers can be found in one place.)

Today, I'll start with two, very simple reasons.

Reason #1 why I decided to self-publish: As I write, it's been twenty days since I first released Tell No Lies by uploading it as an ebook to Amazon. In those twenty days, I've sold more copies of the book than I've sold in the past two years. Surprised? So was I, but only a little.

See, with traditional publishing, your book is released and it hits the shelves in some bookstores (but not, as some think, in most bookstores – I'll discuss this further in a later post), where it remains for two months or so (if you're lucky), and then any leftover copies are returned to your publisher to make room on the shelves for the next crop of releases. After that, the print book can still be purchased (1) from the bookstore if you want to wait for them to order it and get it in, or (2) online, either as a print book or as an ebook, but the print book is now competing with the used copies being resold for two cents, and the ebook, priced at $9.99 or sometimes even higher, is competing against all of the other $9.99 books by New York Times bestsellers and the free, 99 cents, $1.99 and $2.99, etc. books by authors doing it themselves. In other words, once you reach this point, you won't be selling too many more copies. The heyday of your book's life is behind it.

By getting my rights back and re-releasing Tell No Lies and Rescuing Olivia, I'm able to give the books a little CPR and bring them back to life. Forever. Plus, I can set my own price so they stand a chance of competing against the books mentioned above. It's amazing how many people are willing to give a relatively unknown author a chance when they're asked to spend only $2.99 to do it. You don't get the benefit of that “sampling” when your book is priced at $9.99 or higher.

You might ask, why do traditional publishers set the price of ebooks, especially for lesser known authors like me, so high? Beats me. Or rather, I know why – I simply don't understand why. Again, that's a whole other post, but if you want a great explanation now, I'll refer you to a short book (free!) called Be the Monkey - Ebooks and Self-Publishing: A Dialog Between Authors Barry Eisler and Joe Konrath. Frankly, I'd call it required reading for anyone considering any kind of publishing in this day and age. Do I agree with everything they say? No, but the discussion of print and digital publishing is spot on, in my opinion.

Reason #2 why I decided to self-publish: The traditional publishing route isn't as glamorous as it's cracked up to be.

I could try to explain this, but I would never be able to write such a funny, yet honest explanation as given by Adam Mansbach in this essay he wrote for Salon.com. If you really want to know what it's like, all I can say is: What Adam said!

So that's it for today, folks. Time to get back to preparing Rescuing Olivia for its re-release. Stay tuned for more reasons . . .

I welcome all comments or questions about my decision and my experience. I'll try to answer as best I can. (If a question would be answered by an upcoming “Reason why” post, I may defer my answer to then so I can answer it adequately. Please be patient. I still have to find time to actually write fiction.)

Don't get me wrong: I'm not here to declare one way is better than another. My intent is to discuss why I've decided to do this at this point in time. Will I always do it this way? Who knows? This is a new venture for me and I may end up loving it or I may end up hating it. Would I consider going back to traditional publishing? It depends. I know plenty of authors who are doing both, and I can see that as a possibility if the terms were right. After all, there was a time when I didn't think I'd ever write a sequel to Tell No Lies. But I did. So if I've learned anything, it's never to say never. The beauty of what I'm doing is that I can be flexible.

So, if you're interested in the details of my journey, stick around and follow along. If all you care about are the books – that's great, too! I recommend signing up for my mailing list, though, so you won't miss the news of any upcoming releases.

Talk to you soon!

North Carolina Events!

I'm North Carolina-bound later this week. I'm heading up to the Raleigh-Durham area for a "Dangerous Dames" tour with fellow authors Deb Sharp and Joanna Campbell Slan, two of the funniest (and fun-loving) women I've ever known.

Molly Weston, of Meritorious Mysteries Blog fame and author escort extraordinaire, has done the heavy-lifting for us and scheduled the following events:

October 14, 2011 (Friday)
Noon
Flyleaf Books
Chapel Hill, NC

October 14, 2011 (Friday)
7:00 p.m.
Page-Walker Cultural Arts Center
Cary, NC

October 15, 2011 (Saturday)
2:00 p.m.
McIntyre's Fine Books
Pittsboro, NC

October 16, 2011 (Sunday)
2:00 p.m.
Halle Cultural Arts Center
Apex, NC

October 17, 2011 (Monday)
Noon
Holly Springs Library
Holly Springs, NC

October 17, 2011 (Monday)
3:00 p.m.
West Regional Library
Cary, NC

Should be a lot of fun! If you're in the area, stop on by!

RESCUING OLIVIA is in Stores! (A bit early . . .)

Stopped by the Barnes & Nobles on Colonial here in Orlando to see my book on the shelf. (When I was talking to the manager the day before, he mentioned he already had the book out.) I'm so pleased to see that it's not only out, it has its OWN TABLE! And a wonderful window display, too. Barnes & Noble really does advertising well. Thank you, Geoffrey at BN!

US Cover for RESCUING OLIVIA

You know, it dawned on me that I never posted my US cover for Rescuing Olivia here. I remembered to do it on my Facebook page, and hopefully my website will be updated soon to give readers much more information about the book (coming on February 2 in the US, May 7 in the UK), but for some reason I neglected my blog . . .

It's a very different type of image than the UK cover, but I think the two complement each other perfectly. This cover does a wonderful job of symbolizing the plot, while the UK cover captures the theme of the novel so well.

What I especially love about this particular image is how the road almost looks like sand, and the mirage suggests the ocean. And seeing as a large part of the story is set in Florida, well . . . you get the idea.

UK cover for RESCUING OLIVIA

I'm so pleased to be able to share the cover art for the UK edition of my second novel, RESCUING OLIVIA. My editor at Pan Macmillan sent it to me late last week, and I haven't been able to stop smiling. I'm thrilled with it! The designer did such a fabulous job of capturing the essence of the story with just this one image. (Of course, you'll have to read it to know why I say this . . .)

Though the US edition comes out on February 2, the scheduled release date for the UK edition (with this cover) is later -- May 7. I'll be sure to post if that changes.

ThrillerFest blog

When I attended ThrillerFest 2008 last July, I had the pleasure of meeting Carla Buckley, whose debut novel OUT OF THIN AIR will be released next year. If you're following the swine flu story closely, you'll definitely want to check out Carla's book. (Just a teaser there . . .)

Carla and I had a conversation over at the ThrillerFest blog today. We get silly as we talk about why we weren't too sure at first that we belonged at ThrillerFest. (ThrillerFest is a conference held in NYC each July for writers and fans of thrillers. If you love thrillers and mysteries, you'd love ThrillerFest.)

Here's the link. Check it out and join in our crazy discussion. ;-)

Joanna Slan: Scrapbooking + Passion = Paper, Scissors, Death, A Murder Mystery

On October 11, I'll be at the Big Read Festival in St. Louis. I'll be on a panel with mystery authors Tess Gerritsen and Emilie Richards. (Okay, I'm nervous just saying that! I mean, those are some big names in the book world!) But I think my nerves will be calmed somewhat because Joanna Slan, the President of the local Sisters in Crime chapter, will be moderating.

In our discussions about the upcoming panel, Joanna and I got a chance to know each other a little bit, and it's apparent to me that Joanna has one of those plucky personalities that can make even the gruffest person smile. She's full of energy and positive attitude, and it rubs off on anyone who crosses her path.

Joanna's celebrating the recent release (September 1, 2008) of her first novel, Paper, Scissors, Death, the first in The Kiki Lowenstein Scrap-N-Craft Mystery Series. She took a few minutes out of her busy schedule to answer some questions. I hope you'll take a few moments to learn a bit about Joanna and her novel, and if you're in the St. Louis area on October 11, come out and see all of us!

Julie: I must admit, this is the first time I've ever seen a novel in which scrapbooking played a major role. Why scrapbooking?

Joanna: Scrapbookers are very passionate people. We create pages—which are very artistic and time-consuming—about our families, our friends and our lives. Seemed to me that with all that emotional investment (plus sharp tools like craft knives and chemicals like glue), murder was bound to happen. Besides, one in every three homes in the US has a scrapbooker in it. There’s bound to be a few who either have or have wanted to strangle someone!

Julie: Tell us about your heroine, Kiki Lowenstein, and how you came up with her story.

Joanna: She’s a lot like me. She looks a lot dumber than she is. She ticks people off, although she doesn’t mean to. She apologizes to grocery carts when she bumps them. She worries a lot, but probably about all the wrong things. She loves animals, hates bullies, adores scrapbooking and she’s very hard on herself.

Ironically, now that other scrapbookers are reading Paper, Scissors, Death, they tell me they see themselves in Kiki!

Julie: Ironically, you were born in Florida and now live in St. Louis, and I was born in St. Louis and now live in Florida. But we both made the choice to set our novels in St. Louis! What made you choose that city as your setting?

Joanna: I felt that St. Louis was underused as a setting. This is such a quirky place. You’ve got mystery and history. Where else can you visit the zoo and not get a straw in your drink because it could hurt the animals, but you CAN buy yourself a beer? We finally slipped to #2 in murders in the country, so I figured I better hurry up and write this before we became all boring.

Julie: Since everyone asks me this question, I'll ask you: Are any of the characters in your novel based upon real people?

Joanna: Yep. Me. And there are aspects of people I’ve known in a lot of my characters. Mert, Kiki’s best friend, is also her former cleaning lady. She carries around business cards that read, “Got dirt? Get Mert.” And she’s patterned after a cleaning lady we once had who bragged to me, “I got me a vacuum cleaner that can suck up a bowling ball.” Luckily, we don’t bowl. I did make sure the dogs were in their crate before she came.

Julie: You've been a writer for some time, but this is your first novel. What made you want to write a mystery (a series, in fact)? How did the process differ for you, if at all, from writing non-fiction? And tell us a little about the road to getting your novel published.

Joanna: Oh, I think lying is fun. And even though I wrote fiction, I was always interested in stories. In fact one of my books is a college textbook on using stories when you are public speaking. It’s called Using Stories and Humor: Grab Your Audience. Sounds faintly violent, doesn’t it?

The process is different in that you have so much bigger of a canvas, of a universe when you write fiction and it’s a challenge to narrow that down so your plot is zingy.

I started working on the book and then went to SleuthFest. There I pitched a young man from New York who thought I was nuts. “Who cares about scrapbooking?” he said. Yeah, well, hell-oo. The entire world does NOT revolve around Times Square, bud.

The second agent I pitched loved the idea, and thought I was a hoot.

Julie: Any advice for aspiring writers?

Joanna: Enter at your own risk. Woooo-ha-ha-ha. This is a weird world, and if you aren’t absolutely compelled to write, it might be tough going. Find some good friends in the business. Learn as much as you can. Smile and be professional. And write a darn good book!

Julie: Thank you, Joanna! Good luck with Paper, Scissors, Death!