Email Correspondence with Anne Rice

One of my all-time favorite books is Anne Rice’s The Witching Hour. When I read it, I wasn’t a big into books, reading maybe one every few months. But this book grabbed me and pulled me in enough to where I read Taltos and Lasher, the two follow-ups to The Witching Hour. I didn’t feel they were as good, but sometimes you just need closure.

I have never read Interview with a Vampire, but I saw the movie. I am not a big vampire or religious fan, so I never continued to buy her books.

I love that Anne Rice is about New Orleans. I’m not up to date on her present status, but last I heard she was living in Metairie, which is basically a suburb of New Orleans. Since I have a book coming out, I was naive enough to think that she might want to throw a quote at me, being that we were both from New Orleans. You don't know if you don't ask, right?

I emailed her, wondering what assistant would read it and then get back with me months later. I was surprised to see a response the same day, graciously declining the quote, of course, but very kindly. I emailed back thanking her, but joking ‘if it really was her’ writing me back.

Big mistake.

Anne Rice practically yelled at me through the email that she answers all of her email personally and goes to great lengths to be available to her readers. I was very embarrassed. I wrote back telling her it was a joke and that I believed it was her and was telling my wife and friends that I had corresponded with Anne Rice. It was a misunderstanding.

She calmed down and apologized for getting worked up and we had a little laugh over that. After a few more emails back and forth, I signed off telling her that I would be seeing her in similar circles and that we’d laugh again about it.

I can’t wait for that day, but let me tell you; you do not want to make an enemy of Anne Rice.

The cover of UNHINGED

Medallion Press just posted the cover they created for Unhinged, my detective thriller ebook coming out in May. I think it's pretty sweet.

Now the clock is really ticking. I'm trying to get all of my marketing ducks in a row; advertising, Facebook, the website, business cards and anything else that goes along with it.

I'm still trying to land an agent and kind of tapered off on going straight to publishers, so for all I know, this could be my one and only shot. If this thing gets going and word of mouth spreads, I think it will easier to convince an agent to take my work seriously.

I still have the Katrina project going and is coming out fantastic. I will surely blog on what my potential agent has to say about it.

In the meantime, I've got lots of creative marketing to do!