Author Spotlight: The Hiro Complex with Susan Spann

Dear Bloggolicious! I'm thrilled to bring back my marvelous friend, mystery writer Susan Spann, today to discuss her latest release in the Shinobi Mysteries and writing in general. Before diving in, I must say how much I love her books Claws of the Cat and Blade of the Samurai (read my reviews to know more about them); they're they kinds of stories that transport you, and have enough twists and intrigues that you want to read them more than once. Take it away, Susan!

1. What in the world made you want to write about 15th century Japan and samurai culture?

I’ve loved medieval Japan since I saw the Shogun miniseries in 1980 (the one starring Richard Chamberlain, for those old enough to remember). The following day I went to the library, got the book, and I’ve been hooked on Japanese culture and history ever since.

When it comes to the Shinobi Mysteries specifically, I had a slightly more dramatic experience. While standing in front of the bathroom mirror getting ready for work in 2011, a voice in my head said, “Most ninjas commit murders, but Hiro Hattori solves them.”

I was startled, but I also knew immediately that this was a series I had to write.

2. How much research do you do, and does most of it occur midstory or before you start writing?

Short answer: LOTS of research. And it happens both before and after I start writing.

Each book in the series is set in or around a different aspect of medieval Japanese culture—for example, the murder in Blade of the Samurai takes place in the shogun’s palace. Before I start writing, I usually read at least two books (and lots of articles) on the subjects that form the “sets” for the mystery. In this case, that meant the Ashikaga shogunate and samurai in Kyoto.

While writing, I always come across finer details I need to research—for example, the precise location and layout of the shogun’s palace in 1565. I don’t stop drafting—I’ll usually just insert a note, like ***find location of palace*** and keep on writing. If the scene or detail is still in the story by the time I reach Draft 4, I stop and find the answer through research.

A lot of the background “research” comes from things I already know, because my undergraduate degree is in Asian Studies, with a concentration in Chinese and Japanese history—so fortunately I wasn’t flying blind when I started out!

3. Now that the first two books are released, what's next for the series?

The third Shinobi Mystery, Flask of the Drunken Master, will release in July 2015, and I’m already working on book 4, working title Blood of the Outcast. I’ve got a series outline that continues beyond that, and I’m hoping to have the chance to write more books in the series.

4. Do you have any side projects, either in the Shinobi series setting or extraneous to it?

I do! But if I told you…I’d have to kill you….

Kidding aside, I just finished a new novel in what might become a second mystery series. I can’t say much about it now, except that it’s also set in feudal Japan. Hopefully I’ll be able to say more about it soon.

The Publishing Paradigm

5. You and I do a lot of cross comparison of indie vs. trad. Have you ever considered the indie route? Why or why not?

I considered all of the options before deciding to take the traditional publishing route with my mystery series. I think it’s important for every author to handle his or her writing career like a business (a value you and I share!) and to consider all the options and make the business decision that best fits the author’s business needs.

For me, the decision to pursue traditional publishing relates to my desire for business partners to handle certain aspects of the publishing process, allowing me to split my time between writing/promotion and my other day job, where I’m a publishing lawyer.

Writing, and the author’s side of promotion, take lots of time. Editing, cover design, and distribution are also time-intensive. The best way for me to operate my business was to obtain “partners”—in the form of a traditional publisher—who would take on some of the heavy-lifting for me, without me needing to keep an eye on that part of the process. In that way, I could work both “jobs”—writer and attorney—without sacrificing the quality of either. However, that also required me to finding a publisher I trusted, with a good reputation, so I could have confidence in the other part of my “business team.” (Fortunately, I’ve found a great partner in Minotaur Books.)

6. What are your thoughts on the hybrid model? Relates to the side-project question. In other words, would you ever consider publishing something unrelated to your Shinobi series on your own?

Short answer: I consider all the options for every project on an individual basis. For me, it’s all about what works best for the project and how it fits in my business model.

The hybrid model (some traditionally-published works and others self- or indie-published) offers great opportunities for authors to reach an audience through different channels. Smart authors are always looking for new and effective ways to deliver high-quality content and reach readers, so I’d never shut an option down without considering how it might work for the project at hand and for my career as a whole.

For the moment, I’m focusing on the Shinobi series, and haven’t really had time to think about much else!

7. You do a lot to give back to the writing community, things like PubLaw and legal advice. What's your motivation for this and what can other authors learn from your example? 

My father used to say that every morning, each of us has a choice: we can help make someone’s life a little better, or we can make the decision to make the lives of those we meet a little worse. He also said he hoped I’d always go with option 1.

Dad passed away suddenly in 2009. He never saw my books in print. I like to think that my work with #PubLaw and offering legal advice to authors and editors in need is a way of honoring his life and creating a legacy for those important words. I also hope that people will “pay it forward.”

It really is true that we have that vital choice to make every morning, and also that it doesn’t take a heroic act to improve a life you touch. Sometimes, even little things like a smile or an unexpected kindness makes a far bigger difference than people know.

8. Do you have any upcoming appearances?

I do! Here are my signing dates for the rest of July and August:

Pleasanton, CA: Tuesday, July 29, 2014: 11:00 AM
 Reading & Signing: Towne Center Books
 555 Main Street
Pleasanton, CA 94566

San Diego, CA: Saturday, August 2, 2014: 2:00 PM 
Reading & Signing: Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore
7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111

Citrus Heights, CA: Saturday, August 16, 2014: 1:00 PM
 Reading & Signing: Barnes & Noble, Birdcage
 6111 Sunrise Boulevard
Citrus Heights, CA 95610

I’ll be in Denver, Colorado at the Tattered Cover on September 3, and also at the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers’ Conference the weekend of September 5-7.

Thank you so much for hosting me!

Susan Spann writes the Shinobi Mysteries, featuring ninja detective Hiro Hattori and his Portuguese Jesuit sidekick, Father Mateo. Her debut novel, CLAWS OF THE CAT (Minotaur Books, 2013), was named a Library Journal Mystery Debut of the Month. The second Shinobi Mystery, BLADE OF THE SAMURAI, releases on July 15, 2014. Susan is also a transactional attorney whose practice focuses on publishing law and business. When not writing or practicing law, she raises seahorses and rare corals in her marine aquarium. You can find her online at her website and on Twitter (@SusanSpann).

Book Review: Blade of the Samurai by Susan Spann

Blade of the Samurai by Susan SpannMy rating: 5 of 5 stars

Having only read one or two mysteries prior to beginning Susan Spann's Shinobi series, I had no idea what to expect. Now, I am a huge fan! Masterfully interweaving the deeply textured 16th century Japanese culture with the subtly and intrigue of a murder mystery, Blade of the Samurai draws readers in from page one and holds on relentlessly until the last page is turned. The first book in Susan's series, Claws of the Cat, hooked me instantly with its marvelous characters and rich world, and Blade of the Samurai kept me on the line. With a promise of more to come in next year's release of Flask of the Drunken Master, I am truly a diehard fan.

Exciting news! Susan will be here on Monday to tell us what it's like to be a master of mysterium tremendum and share a little about her Hiro Complex. Don't miss it!

See all my reviews

Book Review: Claws of the Cat by Susan Spann

Claws of the Cat by Susan SpannMy rating: 5 of 5 starsAdmittedly, it’s been over a year since I read Susan Spann’s debut novel, Claws of the Cat. The biggest side effect (I know of, at least) of being a reader and writer for a living is that the constant Victoria Falls of new stories, characters, plots, and worlds that submerge my brain tend to make them all jumble and slosh into sometimes indistinguishable tales.Not so with Claws of the Cat.Set in Kyoto, Japan in the fifteen hundreds, Claws of the Cat is a crime fiction mystery and the story of two men, a shinobi in disguise, and his ward, whom he is sworn to protect, a Portugeuse-born Jesuit priest, both drawn into investigating the brutal murder of a samurai in a local teahouse. If the mystery remains unsolved, the price is the Jesuit’s life.Now, you may be saying to yourself, But I don’t know a thing about fifteenth-century Japan. The beauty of Susan’s storytelling is her talent for drawing readers into this rich and culturally intriguing world with delicacy and subtlety, and her stripped-down, dry-witted style is the perfect complement to her equally sharp-as-a-tack and canny main characters, Hiro Hattori and Father Matteo. When you’ve finished reading Claws of the Cat, you will feel as if you’ve taken a minivacation, both in time and place, to old-world Kyoto, sipped tea in the local teahouses of the Pontocho District, felt mud from the streets squishing beneath your getas, barely dodged the lethal swipe of neko-tes wielded by an adept and dangerous kunoichi, and plotted conspiratorially over cups of sake against the shogunate with other rulerless, wild ronin. In short, this is a whodunnit mystery that will paint your imagination vivid, rare, and intoxicating colors. Don’t miss it! And most exciting of all, the follow-up novel, Blade of the Samurai, is coming soon.View all my reviews

A One-Shot Kill – In Half a Million Rounds

Readers, please welcome guest poster and mystery author Susan Spann to the halls of blogdom today. Many of you know Susan as a multi-featured guest here, and the reason is obvious. She's just so darn awesome. Join me in congratulating her on the recent release of her debut novel, Claws of the Cat. And there's two more on the way!

All it takes is fortitude and the will to put enough words on the page.

Top-notch snipers always hit the bulls-eye when it counts.One shot, one kill, one mission accomplished.Watching a sniper in action, it’s easy to think that every shot a sniper fires always strikes the target. The observer doesn’t see the ten thousand rounds that sniper put down range in practice, many of which went wide of the bulls-eye mark. But every good sniper knows the way to make a one-shot kill is half a million rounds of practice time.The same applies to success in the publishing world.My debut Shinobi mystery, Claws of the Cat, required only one conference pitch to land an agent, and sold in a three-book deal two months after that agent sent it on submission. To outside eyes, that looks a lot like a sniper making a thousand-yard kill with a single bullet. It’s almost a miracle—even to me, and even now.But what most people don’t see are the four completed manuscripts (five, if you count the 80,000-word epic fantasy novel I wrote in high school) lurking in my digital “trunk.” They don’t see the seven years of daily writing and polishing craft that it took for me to write those other manuscripts—or the dozens of rejections those novels earned along the way.Today, I’m shining a light on those dark corners of my road.I’ve wanted to be an author since my preschool days—essentially from the moment I learned to read. Stories buzzed incessantly in my head, and by high school, I believed myself “good to go.” In 1986 I penned a full-length novel set in the fantasy world of Terinthia—basically “Generic_Fantasy_001 [With Dragons].” It took two years to write and five to edit, and I never showed it to anyone but my high school English teachers.In retrospect, that’s a good thing—the story sucked like a Dyson.Flash forward to 2004. By then, I’d graduated from law school and spent almost a decade practicing law, but publication remained a distant dream. That year I made a commitment to write “as often as I could.” I attended the Maui Writers Conference, and my historical fiction manuscript was a finalist in the writing competition. I was psyched! My time had come!Or maybe not ...I queried agents about that manuscript and received some requests for reads, but every one of them ended in rejection. I had to face a difficult truth. My writing wasn’t ready.I mourned my beloved novel, and wrote another one. I queried it. Again, I faced rejection.I kept on writing.By 2011, I’d written four more novels—a total of 500,000 words. All four manuscripts were rejected, multiple times, by dozens of agents. Many of those agents wrote me encouraging notes or emails, but at the end of the day, they rejected me, along with my manuscripts, more than once.I kept on writing.Early in 2011, inspiration struck again, this time for a mystery novel about a ninja detective. Writing a mystery sounded hard, but I figured I couldn’t do any worse than I’d already done with historical fiction.I wrote my ninja mystery under the working title SHINOBI (an alternate word for “ninja”). In the process, I fell in love with mystery writing. I finished the novel in record time. That September, I attended the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers’ Colorado Gold conference and pitched SHINOBI to literary agent Sandra Bond. What happened from there it looks a lot like a one-shot kill.Except that it wasn’t really, and now you know that too.Publishing success, like a sniper’s skill, is achieved through and many, many hours of work—which means many words on a page. It took me seven years of focused study to do it right. Some people succeed much faster than I did. Others take longer. But one thing my journey has taught me, without a doubt, is this: I didn’t succeed because I am any brighter or any better than anyone else. I succeeded because I was just too stubborn and too determined to fail.It took me half a million words to learn to write Claws of the Cat (which, if you’re wondering, contains just over 62,000 words), but I did it. I succeeded. And if I can, anyone else can, too. All it takes is fortitude and the will to put enough words on the page.Bio: Susan Spann is a transactional attorney and former law school professor whose practice focuses on publishing law and business. She has a deep interest in Asian culture and has studied Mandarin and Japanese. Her hobbies include Asian cooking, fencing, traditional archery, martial arts, rock climbing, and horseback riding. She keeps a marine aquarium where she raises seahorses and rare corals. You can find Susan online at http://www.susanspann.com, or on Twitter @SusanSpann. Her debut Shinobi mystery, Claws of the Cat (Minotaur Books) released on July 16, 2013.

Claws of the Cat Cover Reveal and Contest

Welcome to Day 1 of the Claws of the Cat cover reveal tour in which you are privy to a first glimpse of what is going to be one of the HOTTEST mystery novels of 2013. Do you feel that tingling in your toes? I do. In my toes, not yours, er...The first novel in Susan Spann’s Shinobi mystery series doesn’t release until July 16, 2013, but the fun begins today. For the next three days, three different blogs will post a piece of the cover – a clue to the final cover art for Claws of the Cat. Susan will reveal the full cover this Friday, November 9 on her blog (www.SusanSpann.com).There’s also a contest involved. Leave a comment on Susan’s blog some time Friday for a chance to win a $20 Barnes & Noble gift card!Here’s your first clue to the mystery:So… what are those pointy objects in the image? And what are they sitting on? Take your best guess…A little more about Claws of the Cat:When a samurai is brutally murdered in a Kyoto teahouse, master ninja Hiro Hattori has just three days to find the killer before the dead man’s vengeful son kills both the beautiful geisha accused of the crime and Father Mateo, the Jesuit priest that Hiro has pledged his own life to protect. The investigation plunges Hiro and Father Mateo into the dangerous waters of Kyoto’s floating world, where they quickly learn that everyone from an elusive teahouse owner to the dead man’s dishonored brother has a motive to keep the samurai’s death a mystery.Claws of the Cat is available for pre-order at Barnes & Noble (http://www.barnesandnoble.com/), Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/), Powell’s Books (http://www.powells.com/) and independent booksellers near you.You can find the next two clues tomorrow at Julianne Douglas's blog, Writing the Renaissance (www.writingren.blogspot.com) and Thursday at Between the Sheets (www.heatherwebb.net/blog/) – and don’t forget the full cover reveal and contest happening Friday, November 9 at www.SusanSpann.com.

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All content copyright unless otherwise specified © 2008-2013 by Tammy Salyer, writer. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to use short quotes provided proper attribution is given.

Author Spotlight: Susan Spann, Mystery Writer

Two years ago, I had just moved to Colorado and wanted to meet more writer-types like me. As luck would have it, the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writer’s conference in September was just down the road, so off I went. For those in the area, I highly recommend attending this one if you can. There is so much great information shared by both local and national professionals, you just can’t help but finish the three day event feeling more pumped to keep writing than you ever have!The speakers and events were excellent, but I have to tell you, the best thing of all was getting to meet some fantastic—and by fantastic I mean INCREDIBLY AWESOME—people. Susan Spann, mystery writer and publishing attorney, is exactly that. Knowing her and seeing her reach her publishing goals has been one of the coolest experiences for me. She is hands down one of the warmest, smartest, and funniest writers you’ll ever meet, and I feel fortunate to call her a friend.So without further ado, an interview with Susan.First, tell us about yourself. Your background, your writing history, what you’re writing right now and what it’s about. Most of all, tell us all the juicy details about your exciting publishing contract!I am a transactional publishing and business attorney, which basically means I specialize in contracts. I represent a variety of publishers and authors (both traditionally and independently published). I also speak at writers’ conferences, blog and tweet about writing issues, in the hope of helping share information with authors at all stages of their writing careers. I see the transfer of information – to clients and interested authors both – as an important facet of my legal career.As an author, I write mystery novels. My current series focuses on the adventures of master ninja Hiro Hattori, who solves crimes in 16th Century Kyoto with the assistance of his friend and sidekick, a Jesuit priest named Father Mateo. The first three books in the series recently sold to Thomas Dunne publishers, and the first novel (currently titled SHINOBI) is scheduled for publication in Spring 2013. I’m very excited to see it in print!On to more general, writer-ly questions.How long have you been writing?I plagiarized my first book when I was five. Not, perhaps, the most auspicious start for a future author and intellectual property attorney, but I loved birds and “The Bird Book” was one of my favorites. I spent a week copying the pictures (and some of the words) onto construction paper, tied it with yarn and “created” a version of my own.I’ve been making up stories ever since. Fortunately, my originality has improved.What made you first pick up a pen (or laptop, computer, etc.) and want to write?I’ve made up stories in my head for as long as I could remember. My practical inspiration for writing fiction came from my ninth-grade English teacher. Her “short story” assignment prompted me to refine a fantasy world I’d been building in my head for several years. In the end, I asked her if I could turn the short story into a novel-length manuscript, and she agreed to read it. By the end of the year, I’d written almost 50,000 words. I was hooked on writing novel-length fiction, and in one form or another I’ve been writing it ever since.Why mystery? When we met, you had written at least one historical fiction book; have you written in other genres? What type of story do you have the most fun writing?I’ve written full-length manuscripts in fantasy and historical fiction as well as mystery, but I self-identify as a mystery author. It took me several manuscripts to get there, but once I started writing SHINOBI I realized that mystery is really “my thing.”  I love the puzzle element and all the “moving parts” – and I enjoy murdering my imaginary friends. (Sick, but true.) I still love the other genres, and read widely, but when it comes to writing I’m going to stick with mystery for now.What or who are your inspirations and influences?They are far too numerous to list, so I’ll give you a sampling.  A list of my writing influences would have to include both Orson Scott Card (Ender’s Game is one of my all-time favorite novels) and James Rollins (author of the Sigma Force thrillers). I’ve probably read Ender’s Game a dozen times, and it never loses its power to captivate me and make me think. I’d love to write a novel that impacted readers that way.James Rollins is an inspiration on both a personal and a professional level. I’ve met him and seen him present at writers’ conferences – he’s a New York Times bestselling author, but he genuinely cares about helping other authors and about talking with writers, even those at the beginning of their careers. He also writes a rollicking good story. I own every one of his novels and most of them are tattered from multiple readings. I aspire to write as well and to interact as personably a she does.Is being a soon-to-be-published writer what you thought it would be? What expectations did you have for yourself, and how is your current trajectory comparing with that?I’m really enjoying the process. I see so much of publishing in my day job that I have a fairly accurate impression of the process, but there’s a surreal quality about it happening to me. The morning after I learned my novels had sold to Thomas Dunne, I literally woke up and told myself “Curiouser and Curiouser” – because life looks very strange on this side of the looking glass.The biggest surprise to me was discovering that publication doesn’t actually move you along the “worry curve” –it merely shifts the curve along the spectrum. Before an author finds an agent, she worries whether she will find one. After she finds an agent, the worry shifts to finding a publisher … and from there, to whether anyone will actually like the book. Since I spend a significant part of my professional life counseling other authors not to worry, it surprised me to find that I wasn’t immune to the emotional effects.Why do you write? What motivates you?I write to silence the voices in my head.In some ways, that’s literally true. When I don’t write for a day or two, I feel a pressure in my mind, as if I need to sit down and get back to the writing process. That feeling, and the motivation that accompanies it, have grown stronger in the last four years since I made the decision to focus on my writing and work toward publication.I don’t literally “hear voices” – but I’m not truly happy if I haven’t spent some part of my day on writing (or editing, which counts as writing where I’m concerned).In your opinion, what makes a great story?Anything that keeps me from thinking about the dirty laundry.For me, a “great story” keeps me up at night when I should be sleeping, and stops me from remembering there’s laundry in the wash. In some cases, it’s the characters that draw me. In others, it’s the plot or pace. Mostly, though, a great story is defined by an author’s ability to draw me into a world that replaces my real one while I’m reading and makes me long to return there after I’m through.What are some of the challenges you experience with writing?I have the attention span of a hyper-caffeinated squirrel. I am easily distracted by shiny objects, the Internet, my aquarium and cupcakes. Mmm…cupcakes. My biggest challenge is keeping my behind in the chair.Who are your favorite authors or books in your genre? In other genres?In addition to Orson Scott Card and James Rollins, I’m a big fan of Lee Child (who writes the Jack Reacher series), and P.D. James (who I consider one of the masters of modern mystery). In nonfiction, I like Jon Krakauer (Into Thin Air is a good one) and John Elder Robison. I think Be Different is mandatory reading for authors.What is your writing process? Are you a dedicated everyday writer, or catch-as-catch can? Do you have any special rituals or activities you do that help you prepare to write?I write first drafts without editing. I don’t allow myself to make even minor changes until the entire draft is complete. Then I go back and revise. The first 4-5 drafts are for my eyes alone. The next 2-3 drafts pass through my peer editors and critique group, and by draft 8 or so I’m comfortable calling the work “complete.” On balance, I’d say 80% of my writing hours are actually spent in editing.I try to write (or edit) every day, even if only for an hour or two. My daily goal is 5,000 words (if I’m working on a first draft) or 2 chapters (if I’m editing). Five days a week I write at the office, after I finish my client work for the day. Five days a week I write at home (three weeknights and two weekend mornings). The other evenings a rededicated family time with my husband and son.I don’t know if I’d call it a ritual, but I usually feed my seahorses before writing. It keeps them from banging their noses against the aquarium glass while I write. Also, I drink coffee. Lots of coffee.What made you decide togo the traditional publishing route of becoming agented then going through a publishing house over the new wave of self-epublishing?I made the decision to pursue a traditional road after considering all of the benefits and disadvantages – on balance, traditional publishing met my goals and needs better than the independent road. For example, as a publishing attorney I do business with other authors and publishers every day. It’s easier for me to avoid conflicts of interest if someone else is proposing my work to publishers – and I couldn’t think of anyone better for that job than my agent, Sandra Bond. I trust her completely and am thoroughly pleased with our business relationship. In addition, having a publisher handle typesetting and production frees me up to focus on my clients’ needs.Ultimately, I think the decision to pursue traditional publishing was exactly right for me. I also think it’s avery personal decision that each author needs to make for him-or-herself – and I’m doing a lot of blogging and personal appearances this year to help authors learn how to make that very decision.You have been speaking at writer conferences about the legal side of publishing for authors. Is your law background in copyright/intellectual property law? What has your experience as a speaker been?My practice has focused on intellectual property and publishing law for ten years now, and I’ve seen a lot of changes during that time – far more than I’ve seen with regard to my other business clients. I love being on the “cutting edge” of publishing and helping authors –published and unpublished – learn more about publishing and copyright law. That’s one reason I enjoy speaking at conferences – authors are generally bright and eager to learn as much as they can about managing their careers.More and more often, I’m finding that venues (writers’ conferences, blogs, libraries, and radio shows) are asking me to speak about the various options available to writers and how authors should choose among them. The message has shifted from “this is how you do it” to “how you decide what to do” – and I’m pleased to see authors taking responsibility for managing their careers as they would any other business.You also started the brilliant and invaluable #publaw hashtag on Twitter and your blog. I personally want to thank you for bringing such immeasurably important information to the writing world. What has your experience with this feature been like? Do you get the sense that you’ve been able to help a lot of writers who otherwise might not have had access to this kind of legal advice and information?Thank you for the compliment! I started the #PubLaw hashtag to fill a void in Twitter’s otherwise strong support for the writing community. Twitter’s hashtag system offers fantastic resources for authors – from community building (#MyWana and #AmWriting to name two), to agent advice (#AskAgent and #10QueriesIn10Tweets) and much more. I started #PubLaw to offer information about contracts and publishing law, as well as are source for authors with questions best answered by an attorney.I do have a sense that #PubLaw is filling a gap in a positive way. It lets me reach a broad audience of authors who might otherwise have no access to legal information – and I think that’s a very good thing.Do you have any advice for other writers? Anything else you want to mention or elaborate on?Nora Roberts probably said it best: “Ass in the chair.”Writers write. It’s what we do. Even if you have to start slowly – 10 or 15 minutes at a time – the only way to make progress is to write. And edit – under-editing is like under-baking a cake. Youmight call it dessert, but if it’s indistinguishable from the soup course, nobody’s coming back for seconds.Thank you so much for having me here – I’ve really enjoyed the interview!**Thank you again, Susan. It’s been a treat to have you on my blog and spend more time getting to know you. For everyone reading, please visit Susan’s super-informative blog here, talk with her on Twitter @SusanSpann, and don’t miss #PubLaw on Wednesday afternoons. And mark your calendars for the debut of Shinobi in Spring 2013!UPDATE: Susan will also be speaking at the 2012 Rocky Mountain Fiction Writer's Conference for the second year in a row! W00t! Her two scheduled talks will be on how to choose between publishing options, and a class called "Law for the Lone Wolf," giving business and legal advice for independent and self-represented/self-published authors. The conference is September 7-9. I hope to see some of you there.

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All content copyright unless otherwise specified © 2008-2013 by Tammy Salyer, writer. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to use short quotes provided proper attribution is given.