Chasing your tail...

...Or what's better known in the writing world as chasing trends (maybe I should have titled this, Chasing your tale, get it?). Every now and then, a blockbuster book is published, the likes of Harry Potter, or The Hunger Games, or The Da Vinci Code. The latter is the only thriller written by a US author that I've seen sold in both the Vatican bookstore and The Uffizi in Florence. That's how popular it is. I'd be surprised if it hasn't yet been translated into Apache.

The point here, dear reader, is that when a book and/or a series goes absolutely ballistic, we as authors with more (clears the frog from his throat) humble sales, relatively speaking, sometimes get the urge to follow the trend and jump on board. The urge to write my version of the Da Vinci Code came to me in the form of an itch in the middle of my upper back that I couldn't possibly scratch. It didn't go away until I wrote the first novel in the unbelievably wildly popular and successful Chase Baker Thriller series, The Shroud Key (Ha-ha).

So here's the point: Under normal circumstances, I would not suggest writing to market. I would not suggest one chase a trend just because it's presently super popular. I would instead suggest one stick to one's brand because in the long run, the brand is what will make an author an artistic and financial success. There's a reason McDonalds hamburgers taste just like the McDonalds hamburgers I used to buy as a kid (for less than a dollar).   

But I did sort of chase the Da Vinci/Dan Brown trend with Chase. However, I did so many years after Da Vinci was published and I also did so by incorporating all the typical Zandri pile driving plotting, romance, mystery, and action. I also...and this is key here...love the genre to death (if you don't love what you're writing it's gonna suck). In the end, the series has gone on to serve me well with tens of thousands of units sold. Chase Baker isn't being sold at the Pope's house yet, but hey, you never know. Maybe I should email him or ring him up next time I'm in country ("Hey, Pope, there's a guy named Zandri on the phone for you").

I don't always stick to the same genre. But all my books have one common denominator. They are thrillers through and through. Some series and stand-alones are darker than others, but all of them contain the Zandri thrills you've come to know and insist upon. And hopefully, I'm still learning and still getting better at my craft.

Speaking of switching up genres, I'm dipping my arthritic big toe into the Cyberpunk and Dystopian Thriller genres with Primary Termination, which is presently available for pre-order (launch day is August 16, but it's presently available in paperback) at a special, limited time price (the point is to sell a lot right out of the gate and impress the Amazon algos). My editor and beta readers tell me it's one of my best novels to date, and I believe them because I wrote it (ha-ha again). But I'll let you and Pope be the judge.

   Grab Primary Termination today, before it's too late...

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