Please keep those reviews coming on both Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Thank you for choosing my book and investing your time in reading my novel. I hope you found it enjoyable and thought provoking. I welcome comments and questions. There is a contact form on my website and I answer all email.

I am an “Indy Author” with essentially zero marketing clout. If you like my novels, posting a reader review on the online retailer sites is especially helpful.

WHY DO I CHOOSE TO BE AN INDY AUTHOR, VERSUS GOING WITH A BIG PUBLISHER?

The question comes up in almost every interview I do with media that tracks the publishing industry. There are some good interviews on my web site with Suspense Radio, the broadcast arm of industry-leading Suspense Magazine.

I own the rights to my works. Conflict and angst in the publishing industry is extreme these days and resolving that issue is something way over my pay grade. My focus is on writing the best novels I can, learning my craft and pleasing my fans.

For now, I choose to be an Indy author. I have three publishers, one for Amazon (Create Space), one for the other major paper book channels (Ingram Sparks), and one for all the E-Book channels (Book Baby). Why I have chosen that path is a long story.

The main thing is this: You can get my novels in paper or as E-Books anywhere books are sold, but you will probably have to ask because most bookstores don’t stock Indies. If you prefer to purchase over the Internet, here is the link to my order page: https://www.johntrudel.com/order.html

At some point, we may the license rights to one of the major imprints. Creative control will be part of any negotiation as I have a lot of time and effort invested in this, but if a better way to publish my books and get them to fans presents itself, all options are open for discussion.

I have an agent, Tony Outhwaite. We’d love to entertain offers, as the big publishers can offer advantages. If someone puts money on the table, we will listen attentively. We are particularly interested in licensing the French and German language versions of my novels, which are featured (though in English only) on Amazon and other websites in those countries.

Audio books are coming, the first in 2017. There have been some preliminary discussions about making screenplays from my novels. We are interested, but this is probably premature.

With all that said, there are many stellar examples of successful Indy Novels. The most discussed are novels like Wool and Fifty Shades of Gray, and Harry Potter. The first is the poster child for what terrifies the old line (declining) publishers. The others are books that, once successful, were licensed and turned into franchises.

My personal favorite tale of Indy success is that of the famous Thriller author, Vince Flynn. Vince started off selling copies of his debut novel Term Limits (released in 1997, the theme resonates strongly today) from the back of his car. Vince was soon picked up by Simon and Schuster and the rest is history.

One reviewer said, “It cannot be said often enough: Flynn gets it. He understands how the world operates and infuses his characters with a consistent and coherent realism.” Still at the top of his game, Vince died too soon, on June 19, 2013, at 47, from cancer.

I never got to meet him in person. Vince was one of the great ones, a spiritual man of high integrity, and an example of the old American exceptionalism. A friend and classmate of his, Fr. Laird, said this, “For the last six months of his life, there were always two things in his hands: In his right hand, an iPhone, and in his left, a rosary.”

Shortly before he slipped into unconsciousness, he was still texting his final message to friends, “Amen. Everything to Jesus. Amen.” Some 2,700 people attended Vince’s funeral. His voice will be sorely missed in the Thriller community.