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Richard Brawer has 4 books in print with 3 publishers! When I discovered that I just knew I had to ask him for his story. This is it. My comments are in brackets.

I finished my first mystery novel, The Nurse Wore Black in 1993. Being a complete novice, I did the usual things most new writers do, I sent out query letters to agents and received a stack of rejection letters. Lamenting my woes to a friend, he told me about a publisher, Vista Publishing, right here in Long Branch, New Jersey, the town next to mine who specializes in publishing books about nurses.

Excited, I dropped in cold to their office. They extolled their virtues and told me about the most successful book which sold 50,000 copies. I was impressed. They took the manuscript I brought with me. Two weeks later they said they wanted to publish it. Wow!

I had given them the book in the spring of 1994 and asked them if they could get it out before the summer ended. If they could, I said I would host a book signing party at my beach club where I would invite all 250 members.

They said no problem and published the book, printing a thousand copies. They did not ask me for a nickle. The first time I saw the finished product was when the publisher brought the books to the beach club for the signing. They had gotten it back from their printer only a couple of days earlier. It was then that “Wow factor” fell into the depression factor. The cover was not well done and leafing through the book I saw a number of typos. But the party was on and I had no choice but to smile and sign the books.

This first publication process was a major learning experience. The publisher never discussed the cover with me nor did they give me a proof of the typeset book to look over. At the time I didn’t know to ask for them. As far as I knew, I thought they would do the editing as well as create a proper cover.

Not one person mentioned the typos to me, and the only comments I got on the book was “nice story.” Friends or acquaintances you see all summer are not going to say anything bad, but I could tell from the lack of enthusiasm in their voices and on their faces, they were not thrilled with the book. I knew the story was good with all the clues well laid out, the red herrings pointing in the wrong direction and the uncovering the killer well done, but the number of errors in the publishing, I counted over 100, made the book a difficult read. I did not personally promote or sell another copy of this book.

The moral to this story is, be involved in every step of the publishing process. View the cover. Don’t take it for granted. Demand a proof of the book. If you find poor editing, demand the publisher re-edit or pay to have it edited yourself.

My second mystery, Diamonds Are For Stealing was published in 2000 by Hilliard and Harris. [NOTE: this firm will be at Murder in the Grove] With the above experience still weighing heavily on my mind I was totally involved in the publishing process, especially proof reading. Hilliard and Harris did a wonderful job editing and publishing this book. I could not find one mistake. So what happened that made me not want to give them my next book? It was in their contract, which here again was a learning experience.

While not asking for any up front fees, Hilliard had a clause that said they did not pay royalties until they recoup their publishing expenses from book sales. Again, my naiveté let me pass right over this clause without a thought.

As we all know, writing is a dual process, creating the product and publishing the product. Neither party has anything without the other. In another analogy, a publisher is like a venture capitalist putting up money because he saw a great idea (in this case a book) that could give him a good return. The venture capitalist does not tell the creator of the idea he cannot draw a salary from the invested money while the idea is being developed for market (in the the case of publishing it would be while the the book is being promoted and sold) until the capitalist recoups his investment. I felt the same way about royalties. Since I created the product and would be spending my money, not the publishers, to promote and sell the book, I felt was entitled to some return from the sale of book one. Hilliard and Harris wanted my next book but would not negate that clause in their contract so I did not give it to them.

As Hilliard and Harris also had a clause that they had the right of first refusal for my next book, I offered them The Nurse Wore Black. I had bought the rights back from Vista Publishing. It was originally written with a fictional setting and I had re-written it with the real Monmouth County New Jersey setting and made it the first book in my David Nance mystery series. They declined that book and we left with a rather strained relationship.

The moral, read your contract carefully. Study every clause. If you don’t like something try and get it changed. If the publisher balks you have two choices, agree or don’t sign, but at least you know exactly what you are getting into.

My third book, Murder Go Round was self-published with iUniverse in 2003 in a special arrangement iUniverse had with The Mystery Writers of America. It cost me $99.00. The book had an antique carousel as the motive for the murder. There are two national antique carousel associations as well as “Friends of” so-and-so antique carousel in every state. They all have newsletters and membership lists. I promoted this book heavily to antique carousel aficionados all around the country. It sold very well.
[ * Richard tells me that "Mystery and Suspense Press is an imprint of iUniverse to make it sound like it is not self-published."]

The moral in self-publishing is, you must know what market you will sell your self-published book to before you self-publish it. Don’t try to get any chain bookstores to host a book signing or carry your book, even in your home town. Also be prepared for the publishing trade to “look down their noses” at you.

Okay, now for Silk Legacy my best book so far. This is historical fiction. It is loosely inspired by vignettes my mother and uncle told me about my paternal grandparents. For example, my grandfather was chased out of Ireland by the priests for fooling around with the parish colleens. Thus the prologue. Also my grandmother’s parents did not want her to marry my grandfather because he was such an extremely domineering man (and she was 19 and he was 29) thus the main conflict that runs through the book. She gets involved in the suffrage movement and reproductive freedom. When a strike shuts down the Paterson, NJ silk industry, she gives food to the strikers while he is trying desperately to end the strike and save his business.
[ * Hidden Treasures is another "masking" imprint from Page Free Publishing]

It took me ten years, in between writing the mysteries, to research and write Silk Legacy. I tried to get a publisher interested, but couldn’t land one. Still, I truly felt I had a wonderful book, and since I was sixty-four, I didn’t want to wait any longer to get the book in print, so again I published it myself.

As it turned out, Silk Legacy has gotten fabulous reviews from everyone who reads it. I have sold it as a tumultuous love story, a family saga and a slice of American history. I got a number of reviews, even one from a European reviewer, Euro Reviews, who loved it, and as a result I sold books to a bookstore in Australia. [NOTE: in a search for Euro Reviews I landed at a site that popped a new window of what I would classify as porn, they would call it erotica, right on top of the site. I quickly closed the offensive content, but found myself reluctant to look at the actual website.]

The moral to self publishing is, look at your work HONESTLY. If you feel you have a good book and a marketing plan to sell the book, go for it. Don’t let the publishing trade discourage you.

My regrets, probably not giving Hilliard and Harris my third mystery in the David Nance series, Murder On The Links. I have yet to find a publisher for it and do not want to publish this one myself. I want to keep that series alive in case I find a publisher for it. I will be starting on a fourth David Nance mystery soon. Sometimes my paranoia kicks in and I wonder if other publishers that I send my query letters to wonder why I don’t offer my books to Hilliard and contact them. I have never had a bad word for them. As I said, they did a wonderful job publishing Diamonds Are For Stealing. I hope they have the same respect for me. As a matter of fact I am getting very small royalty checks from them now. I guess they finally covered their costs.

What am I working on now? I have just finished Beyond Guilty, a high concept thriller based on the reality where the wrongly convicted spend years on death row then are found innocent, and the development of the latest nanotech drugs that have the potential to virtually wipe out all disease.

I have a couple of small publishers reviewing it. If one wants it, you can bet I will examine their contract with a fine tooth comb and even give it to a lawyer to review.

I hope my experiences will help some of your readers with their publishing efforts.

Cheryl: Just one follow-up question. Why did you switch from iUniverse to Page Free?

Richard: I chose Page Free on the recommendation of Janet Elaine Smith who published many books with them.  iUniverse is an excellent publisher, but they give bookstores a very small markup.   Page Free allowed me to set the price on my book to give the bookstores a maximum  markup.  Yes I said there is no chance of getting a self published book in chain bookstores, but I have been successful in getting the book in a couple of independent bookstores.  One of the first things they check when they go into Ingram to check the book is the markup which to them is 40%.

Cheryl: Thanks, Richard.
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