- What
inspired you to write this book?
I have been a huge fan of the
paranormal since I was small and have lived in four houses that have had
paranormal events. I wanted to include a paranormal spin to the
criminal/detective novel I was working on and I like how it turned out. My last
novel was a paranormal suspense/thriller. Following in the same manner, I
wanted to include a ghost that would help a detective solve cases.
- What exactly is it about and who is it written
for?
This novel is about a ghost who
happens to be the former deceased partner of the surviving detective that was
shot in the head during the same confrontation with drug dealers. These two
detectives have been working together for over fifteen years and were as close
as sibling brothers wisecracking, bickering, and playing tricks on each other.
After receiving his late partners lucky fifty-cent piece from his wife,
Detective Martin can see and hear his old partner. Martin thinks he’s going
crazy, but the old partners team-up to work cold cases with Martin’s new
African American female partner just out of the academy. They don’t know how
long this arrangement will last so they are going to make the best of it while
it does.
I believe anyone who enjoys
crime/detective and paranormal genres will like my book. This book can be read
by all age groups including young-adults. I would have loved to have read a
book like this when I was a young adult.
- What do
you hope readers will get out of reading your book?
I hope to open people’s minds
to the possibility of the afterlife interceding with the living. It’s really
more for their enjoyment. I happen to enjoy books with witty banter between the
main characters instead of stoic characters going about the business of law
enforcement. All of my books have a fair amount of action in them, so does this
one. If a book doesn’t have some action, they can be somewhat boring (but
that’s just my thoughts).
- How did
you decide on your books title and cover design?
The title was easy to do and
conveys the simple fact that they are going to continue to work together. Since
detective Martin’s partner died in the line of duty, he can now help him in
different ways now that he’s dead (Ghost Partner). For the cover design, I wanted to have a
detective kneeling next to a corpse with his dead partner’s ghost hovering over
him while they review the crime scene. Having it taken place during the night
makes Martin’s partner stand out more in the background. I used a professional
designer which helps a lot.
- What
advice or words of wisdom do you have for fellow writers – other than run?
My advice would be to not stop
writing. As a self-published author, it may take 10-20 books before you get a
steady following. Even I’m not there yet, but I just enjoy writing books. I
just finished writing my seventh book, the fifth book in my young adult western
series (Hands Faster Than Lightning). Writing may be a hobby, but I take do it
seriously. I always want to put out a good product. Get yourself a good editor
and graphic designer. You need to find your go-to behind-the-scenes people to
help you make your book shine. These people have become extended family.
- What
trends in the book world do you see – and where do you think the book
publishing industry is heading?
We need to stay away from AI in
books. You could use it to help create a cover or build a website. Never, never
use it to write any portion of your book.
That’s cheating to the umpteenth level. Authors before us wrote by hand,
typewriter, and now we use a computer. Using AI is not writing from your own
creativity. It’s hard to write a book. It should be. There are long pauses from
authors to come up with an idea and flush it out. I often find myself with
writers block not knowing what should happen next. But eventually an idea will
pop into my head on how to proceed. Stay away from AI.
The publishing industry may be
changing further since more and more people are self-publishing. It’s hard to
get an agent and then you have to wait for them to get a publishing firm to
take a chance on your book. Trying to get an agent turned me off to publish
traditionally. Every agency wanted to know why their agency should take a
chance on me and my book. I’m not going to stroke their egos and provide a long
dissertation on why I am a good fit with them. Sorry, that’s just wrong. I’m
the one with the creative product that will be used to pay their salaries. They should be doing everything they can to
go after and help new writers without the ego.
Once you provide your submission, the book
takes on a whole new life and almost all creativity is out of your hands. They
may want to edit it away from what you sent in and be something completely
different from where you started because they think they know what sells. They
will pick how your cover will look. Me personally, I don’t want to give up any
control of what I have written or any choices in how it looks. I may never get
as much money out of my books as there would be going through the big five publishers,
but I’m okay with that. I just want people to enjoy my books.
- Were
there experiences in your personal life or career that came in handy when
writing this book?
Yes. It helped that I wrote a
paranormal suspense thriller first before starting on the paranormal
crime/detective novel. This way I had some experience for writing paranormal
situations. Having lived in four houses with paranormal incidents has helped too.
I haven’t had any experience
with law enforcement procedures, so I had to rely on contacting and
interviewing former policemen and detectives. I’m not trying to follow police
procedure to the letter, so law enforcement people don’t jump down my throat saying
that’s not how this works. I’m well aware that former law enforcement people
scoff at non-law enforcement people trying to write
like we know what they do. I’m
just trying to write an interesting book, not a procedure manual.
- How would
you describe your writing style? Which writers or books is your writing
similar to?
I have an irregular way of
writing my books. I don’t write every day. I don’t have a specific time of day
to write. I may take a week, month, or months off from writing before getting
back to it. I can write anywhere and at any time. Once I wrote several chapters
at a glass business while waiting for my windshield to be replaced on my truck.
Most of the time I am working on a small raising table, like you find in a
hospital or nursing home, in front of my television. I try to write while
listening to music, new age from the 80’s and 90’s, or classic rock.
I’m not sure which writers or
books my writing is similar to. Nor do I really care. I’m not trying to compete
with them or emulate their works. But I have used some other authors examples
to base my characters after and I used Michael Connelly’s Bosch for detective
Martin. An older detective with a gruff disposition. I also used Jim Butcher’s,
Harry Dresden’s helper which is a skull with its previous spirit/presence
inside to help the warlock out.
- What
challenges did you overcome in the writing of this book?
The major challenge for this
book was learning about police procedures. I knew very little except what you
see on television. The problem with police procedures is that all law
enforcement departments from city to city and county to county have their own
procedures. There are some similarities, but they tend to want things their own
way. So, I generalized them for my needs.
- If people
can buy or read one book this week or month, why should it be yours?
If people like action-packed,
snarky detectives, witty banter, and a smattering of the paranormal in the
books they read, then they’ll love to read my book. If I saw my book cover on
the shelf, I would certainly pick it up to read the back cover narrative. I
would also buy it just because I like detective novels and the paranormal.
What’s not to like!
About The Author: Began writing
in 2018. Born and raised in Northern Virginia and retired after 36 years of
Federal government service. Avid reader of many genres including
crime/detective mysteries, westerns, fantasy, sci-fi, horror, and ghost
stories. We live with two dogs, a tuxedo cat, but we also feed birds, bunnies,
and deer in Warren County, Virginia. Please see: www.brentabohn.com.
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About Brian
Feinblum
Brian Feinblum should be
followed on www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum. This is
copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2024. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now
resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue
dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog. His writings are often featured in The
Writer and IBPA’s The Independent. This
award-winning blog has generated over 3.9 million pageviews. With 4,900+ posts
over the past dozen years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs by
BookBaby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs and recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018
as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by
www.WinningWriters.com as a “best resource.” For the past three decades,
including 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book
publicity firm, and director of publicity positions at two independent presses,
Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres,
right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark
Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay,
Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan
RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler. He
hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and
has spoken at ASJA, BookCAMP, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah
Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association,
Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, Morgan James Publishing, and
Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. His letters-to-the-editor have
been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY
Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington
Post. His first published book was The Florida Homeowner, Condo, &
Co-Op Association Handbook. It was featured
in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald.
