Killer of Killers - a Martial Arts Thriller

I've already talked about the general lack of martial arts novels that have been published. If you were to google it, you'd find a list of some. And some on that list, I'm not even sure would be considered martial arts novels. But I wouldn't know. I haven't read them. I have picked up some of them. The "Rain" books were some that I tried to read a couple years ago. But I couldn't weather them.

I'm not dissing them. I'm sure they're good books. But at the time, I was writing Killer of Killers, and my mind was probably geared more to writing than to reading. I picked up the Rain books from the library, because I read somewhere that you should read in the genre that you are writing. But as I said, I couldn't last through even the first one.

But I'm not so sure that you have to read books in the genre you want to write. Maybe for some genres, but for martial arts novels? I don't think so. You do have to do research. And I did. I researched like crazy. I researched martial arts dojos, and actually spent a lot of time at one. It's the one my son attended for ten years. I got to know the Shihan pretty well. I interviewed him for the purpose of writing the book, even. I talked to a lot of the senseis over there, too.

I researched the moves, the throws, the blows, the philosophies, the history, and incorporated all of that into Killer of Killers. You might say that the Shoji Tokyo Dojo is based on the dojo my son attended.  And that's a good thing. It gives a realistic portrayal of a dojo, and the people who train there. But I also researched a ton of medical data, too. Because Trent Smith is an expert at attacking nerves and the circulatory system. He can kill with a single strike. But he doesn't have to kill. He can also paralyze, blind, cripple, and alter the way he strikes to exact any range of the above.

So, no. Trent Smith isn't just a killer of killers. He can do and does everything in between. And as far as I know, Killer of Killers is the only book with a character who does all of those things in a single story. Yes, Trent Smith is a great hero. He's up there with James Bond and Conan. Two of my all-time favorite heroes. There's always room for another great hero. Trent Smith has arrived.

Other Journey Continues

I was talking about my journey to publication being completed yesterday, but really it's only one of many journeys. Now the other journey must continue. And that is the journey to publication for The Vase. I just submitted it again yesterday, and we'll see how that goes. It's a good publisher, I think, and would be a nice fit for a book like The Vase.

My goal is to have Melange publish the Killer of Killers books, meaning Killer of Killers and the two sequels I have planned. And another publisher publish The Vase and even John Dunn. But goals sometime must be adjusted to accommodate reality and/or alternate plans. So it's a 'we'll see' type of thing.

In the meantime, I will get back to perfecting Killer Eyes, and maybe outline The Killers Guild. I have learned so much about formatting and POV and making a manuscript the way it should be when Killer of Killers got published. And I don't want to be making last second changes for that one. When it's at he level of Killer of Killers, then I will submit it to Melange.

Same thing for The Vase. But that one's already there.

Journey Completed

So now that my journey to publication is completed, I'm wondering about this blog. Do I keep blogging? This was supposed to be like a journal on or about that journey. And I have reached the end of that road. But only for one of my books. Do I keep writing about the others?

It was a strange journey in many ways. I had written Killer of Killers first, but it seemed for a while that The Vase was going to get published first, thus the name of the blog. But two publishers failed to publish it, and I am hesitant to go with the other two who said they would.

I haven't proposed it to Melange yet. I thought maybe it's better to have more than one publisher, but I'm not sure about that any more. The other publishers who were supposed to be reviewing The Vase seem to be taking their time. And that is to be expected. I was spoiled there for a minute when Melange offered a contract the day after I submitted the full ms.

So yeah, that was definitely the exception to the rule. You better be prepared to wait for months to hear back from a publisher, and that's what I've been doing for The Vase.

But if this year ends with no word, I think I will submit The Vase to Melange. I know they will publish Killer Eyes. I told them about it, and they were interested. They should be. It wraps up the story from Killer of Killers. If I ever do write The Killers Guild, it will be more like an addendum to the story or a sequel. Still it will be connected to the story, more so than being just another episode in the life of Trent Smith. But one thing I better make sure of is that it is as exciting and adventurous as the first two. Well, it will be. Don't worry about that.

Melange Works Hard

Although I've never met anyone at Melange Books personally, I happen to know that they all work very hard at what they do. How do I know? Well for one thing, Nancy, the publisher, never backed off from my continued requests to improve the manuscript. So you may say it's to her advantage, also, to have a better book out there that's one of her publications. And that may be so, but she also has a lot of other authors, and I can't believe that I'm the only one who is picky about his/her manuscript.

And everything she did for me, I would think she does for them, as well. Now other authors may or may not be as picky. It could well be true that once their books are published, they leave it as is. But I didn't do that. I had already revised Killer of Killers countless times. And it underwent an editing round at Melange, too. But I went over it again, and again. And then after it was published, still again, and again. Being a POD publisher has its advantages. Seeing that a ton of books weren't printed and distributed, I was able to improve the prose and correct the typos and have it "reloaded."

And that's what happened. But still I wasn't satisfied. I did it yet again. The reason was because I learned a lot more about paragraph formatting. And even though much of that could be subjective, I decided on a specific way to do it, and wanted the book to be consistent. And now it is. But it took a lot of emails between me and Nancy, and every time she responded and acted on my requests. What more could I ask?

And don't forget how hard Caroline worked on that cover. I mean she had to put up with almost the same kind of thing that Nancy did. I would scrutinize that cover every day after she designed it. And at least three times, maybe even four times, I had something to say about it to make it better. And she did. Every time.

So now, Killer of Killers is as good a read as possible. I mean there is nothing more I can do. It's finished, like I was talking about in yesterday's post. Kudos to Melange.

Now What?

So no more work on Killer of Killers. It's a done deal. No more revisions. No more edits. No more worrying about what could be better, or what might have been written better, or what should be changed to make it better. No more of that. It's a done deal.

And that's that. Or is it? So who's reading it? I know a couple people who said they would buy it. Still, I'm not even sure if they did. As far as I know, it sold two copies. Although, I'll admit that I don't really know anything about sales or figures.

As far as what's next, I'll take the copies I ordered from Melange to Barnes and Nobles. They were kind enough to me to at least tell me that they would stock it on their shelves. At least the one in the area where I live. It would be nice if the Barnes and Nobles chain would stock it. But I guess this is just a start. I suppose they'll stock the few that I provide, and if they sell out, then maybe they will order more straight from the publisher.

As for a book release party or a reading, well, I'm too shy for that. Maybe I might agree to a signing event, but I would rather not even do that. I figure what for? Say I sit at some table for two hours, or so, and only one person buys a book for me to sign, I'll feel pretty bad. I'm not someone anyone knows. So it would probably be a bad idea.

Word of mouth will take time. Let's see how things are in about a year from now. Then maybe we'll talk about signing events and such. That's okay. I waited four years for it to get published. I suppose I can wait a little longer for it to sell. Fingers crossed.

Let it go Global

Final reload is today and that means Killer of Killers is absolutely done. No more revisions. No more edits. No more changes or paragraphing formats. It is set in stone, so to speak. And I'm good with that. Because I truly believe that every error and every typo has been corrected.

And when the distribution is global, the sky's' the limit. I hope people buy it. Fingers crossed.

Books Arrived

So my books arrived yesterday, but I didn't see them until I got home which wasn't until about nine o'clock at night. Still it was great to hold Killer of Killers in my hands and open it for the first time.

My oldest son seemed the most excited. It really wasn't real for him until he, too, saw and held the book. He began reading it right away. It was funny when he told me he found a typo. But I had to tell him that the word "absentee" is not a typo, that it is in fact a real word.

He also didn't know the word paramour. Well, he's only sixteen, and I have said time and again that this book is not for kids. But I wasn't going to squelch his enthusiasm for the book his father wrote and got published. He is a great son. And so is my younger one. I'm a lucky dad.

But I can't wait for the final reload. That's when I'll order more of the books and take them to the bookstores. Should happen by tomorrow.