Back in Time -- the Book Signing

After an encouraging meeting with Linda Lauby of the Outer Banks Press on Wednesday, I looked forward to the book signing at the Island Bookstore on Thursday in Corolla. The day was warm and sunny. Not good. On bright and beautiful days people head to the beach, not bookstores. However, Meaghan (I believe she helps manage all three stores which are owned by Bill Rickman--Corolla, Duck, and Kitty Hawk) was determined the signing would be successful.

The store is set up in a house-like building designed to reflect the style of the old Corolla village. Two floors are packed full of a variety of books. My table was situated on the front porch so no one could get into the store without seeing me. Meaghan joined me for most of the two hours, and we managed to sell about 15 books. Not bad for a slow day. Meaghan told me she had majored in art history and started her career working in a New York Gallery featuring New Realism paintings. Her love for books and the Outer Banks changed the direction of her life. I think she made the right decision. She loves to talk about books and instantly connects with people.

Later that day Meaghan called to tell me they needed more books. Murder at Whalehead was selling exceptionally well. Feeling ecstatic, I dropped 15 more off to them. Then another call came in--the one I had been waiting for. The Board of Directors of the Whalehead Club had made their decision about selling my novel in their gift shop. I knew this decision would be crucial. The Whalehead Club is a popular and historical tourist attraction on the northern Outer Banks. I knew that if the novel was approved, they could sell a lot of copies in their shop.

Tomorrow I'll tell you about their decision and how it impacted my thinking about the future of this book.

Talk to you later,

Joe C. Ellis

Here are some links to my novel, Murder at Whalehead:
CLICK HERE to view video trailer
Link to front cover: CLICK HERE (Click on cover to enlarge)
Link to back cover: CLICK HERE (Click on cover to enlarge)
Link to first eleven chapters:CLICK HERE
Visit my website at http://www.joecellis.com/

When Doors Open

If you believe in your work, and other knowledgeable people recognize its potential, then when the door of opportunity opens, go through it.

Last week when I met with Linda Lauby, the president of Outer Banks Press, that door opened. Linda runs a successful company on the Outer Banks, publishing and distributing magazines and books to most of the bookstores and gift shops on the Outer Banks. She has offered her company's services as a distributor for my novel, Murder at Whalehead. I'm excited. Two days ago I ordered 500 copies of the novel to be sent to one of her warehouses. It's a financial risk, but I'm willing to take the chance.

Currently eight bookstores or gift shops are selling the novel. With Linda's help, that number will probably triple.

Yesterday I received an email from the owner Beach Books and Music. She informed me the novel had almost sold out and she wanted to order 10 more. Great email! The kind that makes my day.

Talk to you later,

Joe C. Ellis

Here are some links to my novel, Murder at Whalehead:
CLICK HERE to view video trailer
Link to front cover: CLICK HERE (Click on cover to enlarge)
Link to back cover: CLICK HERE (Click on cover to enlarge)
Link to first eleven chapters:CLICK HERE
Visit my website at http://www.joecellis.com/

Book Selling on the OBX

When we arrived in Corolla last Saturday, I was anxious to get started. Waiting for our vacation house to be cleaned, we headed in different directions. The kids made a bee-line for the beach. My wife and oldest daughter ventured to Food Lion to shop for groceries, and I organized and signed my books for delivery to a couple of local bookstores.

My first stop was Beach Bag Books and Music, a neat store located in the Corolla Light Resort Shops area. A huge Newfoundland named Finnegan greeted me. I learned later that the gentle giant spent most of the day welcoming customers. Sarah Keating, the owner, took ten books and told me she planned on adding Murder at Whalehead to her reading list; she wanted to be well informed when recommending it to customers.

Next I headed to the Island Bookstore near the historic village of Corolla. Bill Rickman, the owner, wanted 30 books for the Corolla store and her two sister stores in Duck and Kitty Hawk. Meaghan, a sharp gal who seemed to be the go-to person at the store, had scheduled me for a book signing on Thursday. I wondered what would happen between now and then--five days. Would the books sell out? Yeah, right. Would anybody show up at the signing? My thoughts teetered from positive to negative. I kept telling myself to be patient. Time will answer all questions.

I'd already sent a half dozen books to Gee Gee Rosell at Buxton Books on Hatteras Island. Gee Gee wrote a great review for Murder at Whalehead the week before. It will appear in a July issue of Island Breeze, a monthly Outer Banks publication. I still waited for Loretta Robinson, manager of the Whalehead Club Gift Shop to get back to me. She was excited about selling the novel, but first it had to meet the approval of the board of directors.

After the deliveries, there wasn't much for me to do but wait. My next important meeting was scheduled for Wednesday. The president of Outer Banks Press, Linda Lauby, wanted to meet me and talk about the possibilities of her company distributing the novel to bookstores and gift shops on the Outer Banks. I knew the outcome of this meeting could make a big difference in the success of my book. More on that meeting tomorrow.

Talk to you later,

Joe C. Ellis


Here are some links to my novel, Murder at Whalehead:
CLICK HERE to view video trailer
Link to front cover: CLICK HERE (Click on cover to enlarge)
Link to back cover: CLICK HERE (Click on cover to enlarge)
Link to first eleven chapters:
CLICK HEREVisit my website at http://www.joecellis.com/

Living with No Regrets

A couple of weeks ago I heard a radio personality comment on the major regret of people in their eighties. Looking back on life, most octogenarians regretted that they never went for their dream during mid-life when opportunities arose.

I just returned from the Outer Banks where I spent the week meeting with booksellers and promoting my novel, Murder at Whalehead. I'd decided I didn't want to turn 80 with any regrets.

What a week it was. Tonight I am too exhausted after a long drive home to go into detail about my experiences. Tomorrow I hope to post a detailed account about the trip, the meetings, the book signings, etc. Things are looking up. Murder at Whalehead has a chance of becoming a bestseller on the Outer Banks. I'm glad I took that step of faith. More tomorrow.

Talk to you later,

Joe C. Ellis

Here are some links to my novel, Murder at Whalehead:
CLICK HERE to view video trailer
Link to front cover: CLICK HERE (Click on cover to enlarge)
Link to back cover: CLICK HERE (Click on cover to enlarge)
Link to first eleven chapters:
CLICK HEREVisit my website at http://www.joecellis.com/

Making Rounds

Yesterday I spent the day making rounds to bookstores in the Ohio Valley. I gave the owners/managers a copy of Murder at Whalehead, a promotional flyer about the novel (quotes and reviews, book description), and a sheet detailing the terms of sale. All seemed very receptive. The manager at Waldens was not there, so I left a book and the info for him to look over.

A couple of the owners seemed very positive when I mentioned the terms: Retail price--$15.95; discount to stores--50%; payment isn't due until bookstore is ready to reorder; contact and reorder by email or phone; returns accepted. All said they look forward to looking it over and would get back to me next week.

With the deal I have at Lightning Source, I can get a thousand books for about $3.30-$3.50 a book depending on shipping costs. That makes my profit about $4.50 a book. By the way, Lightning Source already has Murder at Whalehead posted at Amazon.com. Here's the link:

http://www.amazon.com/Murder-Whalehead-Joe-Charles-Ellis/dp/0979665507/ref=sr_1_1/105-4112597-2793225?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1181779952&sr=1-1

Next week I'm meeting with the president of Outer Banks Press to talk about distribution of the novel to the giftshops and bookstores on the Outer Banks and North Carolina. On Thursday the 21st of June I'll be signing books at Corolla's Island Bookstore. Things are starting to roll. I'll let you know what happens.

I'm still looking for a good Ohio distributor. If you know one, let me know.

Talk to you later,

Joe C. Ellis

Here are some links to my novel, Murder at Whalehead:
CLICK HERE to view video trailer
Link to front cover: CLICK HERE (Click on cover to enlarge)
Link to back cover: CLICK HERE (Click on cover to enlarge)
Link to first eleven chapters: CLICK HEREV
isit my website at http://www.joecellis.com/

The Chair III and My First Review

Before I finish my story about The Chair, I have some good news to share with you. A writer for a monthly Outer Banks publication sent me her review for my novel, Murder at Whalehead. Gee Gee Rosell's review will appear in the July issue of Island Breeze. Here's what she had to say: “Murder At Whalehead,” Joe C Ellis. Upper Ohio Valley Books, $15.95
A rip-roaring murder mystery set in Corolla (NC). Mr Ellis does a great job of setting a sense of place on the Northern Outer Banks. Featured heavily in the story are the Currituck Lighthouse, the wild ponies and the humid sandy vacation atmosphere. The plot twists and turns like the two lane roads and the story is convincing. The characters keep you guessing until the very end to find out who done it. Joe Ellis lives in Martins Ferry, Ohio. This is his second novel.


Another encouraging email I received today came from Outer Banks Press. They are interested in distributing my novel. I'll be meeting with the president of the company next week. I'll let you know what happens.

Lots of good things are falling into place right now. I feel like I'm standing on the edge of a new beginning, a window of opportunity. I want to leap through it now before it closes. Of course whenever you jump into something new, something challenging, something out of your comfort zone, Fear always makes his swaggering appearance. Fear of financial loss. Fear of failure. Fear of contacting people. Fear of criticism from others. That night when I left Bruce and Mike behind on that dirt road amidst howls, barking, and screams, my heart filled with fear.

When I saw those eyes flash in the darkness and heard the growls, fear overwhelmed me. I ran faster than I'd ever run in my life. If my track coach would have been there with his stop watch, I'm sure I would have set a new school record for the 440 yard dash. Unfortunately Mike and Bruce didn't run with me. With every stride I distanced myself from the screams and barking. After about a quarter mile I stopped, caught my breath, spun around and stared down the road into the darkness. The barking and screams had stopped.

Should I have run? Should I have stuck by my friends and fought off whatever attacked them? Will I ever see them again? Why did they sit in The Chair?

Three minutes went by. I was ready to give up hope when I heard voices and footsteps. Bruce and Mike emerged from the blackness, laughing and talking.

"Well, looky there," Bruce said. "Mr. Chicken himself. If you'd run that fast in our races, we'd win more cross country meets."

"What happened back there?" I asked.

"A pack of wild dogs attacked us," Mike said. "We had to fight them off with rocks."

"Thanks for helpin'" Bruce said.

"I thought the curse got you."

"It almost did," Mike said. "Let's get on home before something else happens."

Looking back, I'm glad I ran to The Chair that night. I'm not too proud of my cowardly sprint to safety, but fear's a funny thing. It makes you fight or flee. That experience inspired a novel that started me on my writing journey. With this new opportunity to self-publish Murder at Whalehead before me, I've decided to fight, to give it my best, to take a chance and put myself out there--financially, artistically, socially. I just hope there's not too many wild dogs waiting in the woods.

Talk to you later,

Joe C. Ellis



Here are some links to my novel, Murder at Whalehead:

CLICK HERE to view video trailer

Link to front cover: CLICK HERE (Click on cover to enlarge)

Link to back cover: CLICK HERE (Click on cover to enlarge)

Link to first eleven chapters: CLICK HERE

Visit my website at http://www.joecellis.com/

The Chair II

It's funny how a vivid memory can inspire a novel. Looking back, I remember the three of us standing in front of the ominous monument, the moon casting its light through the waving branches above us. Splatters of moonglow danced across the ashen tombstones like small ghosts. Years later that memory became a key scene in The Healing Place: Christine Butler, the twelve-year-old preacher's daughter, and her two friends, Joshua and Billy, mounted the hill at midnight and faced The Chair. Josh and Billy chickened out, but Christine challenged the curse and sat on it. The next day she disappeared.


When Mike, Bruce, and I climbed the church's driveway and faced The Chair, I was the one who chickened out. Mike, always a little impulsive, declared he'd go first. He placed his hands on the scroll armrests, leapt, and spun in the air, his rear end landing on the seat. He threw his head back and cackled at the moon, possessed by some devilish spirit.

Mike slid off, whooped, and hollered, "Who's next?"

Bruce hated to be outdone. "Outta my way, Bozo. I ain't afraid." Lanky and blond, Bruce extended his thin arms and positioned his hands on the seat. Up he jumped, planting his butt on the stone slab. Like Mike, he tossed his head back and yelped with glee, the moon flashing off his black-rimmed glasses.

After Bruce dismounted, he and Mike stared at me. All the courage I had gathered on the journey to the graveyard drained into the inky tones of the shadows at my feet.


"Well, Joe, what're ya waitin' for?" Bruce said.

Just then the wind whipped through the dead branches above us, clicking and rattling the dry wood. A large limb broke off, fell, and landed on a nearby tombstone, splintering into a thousand pieces.


"I dunno, boys," I said. "Those branches are breaking off that tree. What if a big one would fall on me?"


They badgered me, but I wouldn't do it. They hooked their thumbs into their armpits, flapped their elbows like chickens and buck-buck-bucked. Didn't faze me. I refused to sit on The Chair. Finally they gave up, and we headed down the driveway.

On the way home, jogging along Scotch Ridge, my two friends gloried in their courage, but I noted a hint of insecurity in their voices. I wondered if I was a coward or a wise man. As we plodded along I heard rustling noises in the tangled greenery along the road.

"Stop," I said. "Did you hear that?" When we stopped, the noises stopped.

"Can't hear a thing," Bruce said.

We started again and the rustling resumed. This time Mike and Bruce heard it. "Hold up, boys," I said. "Bruce, shine your dad's flashlight into that patch of woods."

When he panned the light into the weeds and trees it seemed like a hundred eyes lit up. Then growls and barking erupted. Adrenaline charged my body, and I bolted down the dirt road.

There are sounds in life that make eternal recordings on the tracks of our memories. I will never forget the blood curdling screams of my companions as I left them in my dust.

I wrote my first novel, The Healing Place, to see if people would enjoy my writing. I self-published about 700 copies. They sold out. At Amazon.com there is one used copy for sale. The guy is asking $98. That's a high price to pay for a 6" x 9" trade paperback. Good luck selling that one. But one of the most chilling inspirations for that novel was the screams of my friends. Funny where we get our inspirations, isn't it?

I'll try to post Part III of The Chair tomorrow, hopefully. As you know, our tomorrows are never guaranteed.

Talk to you later,

Joe C. Ellis

Here are some links to my novel, Murder at Whalehead:CLICK HERE to view video trailer
Link to front cover: CLICK HERE (Click on cover to enlarge)
Link to back cover: CLICK HERE (Click on cover to enlarge)
Link to first eleven chapters: CLICK HERE
Visit my website at http://www.joecellis.com

The Chair

The Chair was a legendary monument in the graveyard of the Scotch Ridge Presbyterian Church. It rose from the ground resembling a tree trunk, limbs supporting the back and arms. Intricately carved ivy vines climbed the trunk and bordered the stone-slab back. The seat was a scroll, the rolled ends becoming armrests. Barely readable, the text on the scroll declared: You will be missed because your seat will be empty. I Samuel 20:18. On the side Alvin Mitchel's name was inscribed. He died in 1878 at the age of twenty-one. On the other side an eerie placard pronounced: MEET ME IN HEAVEN.





Mike, Bruce and I, like many high school kids who visited The Chair, believed the curse--if you sit on The Chair at midnight you will die within twenty-four hours. Two years before a group of senior boys from Martins Ferry tested the curse and paid the price: On the way home their old Dodge Duster plowed into the Gaylord Overpass, killing one of them. Everyone claimed the boy who died had sat in The Chair.



We met at Bruce's house one late October night. Bruce borrowed his father's scuba diving flashlight. All three of us were good distance runners. We decided to jog the three miles to The Chair. The one-lane dirt road climbed a mile up an Appalachian hill and traversed another mile across a ridge--Scotch Ridge. No street lights guided our steps, only the full moon, splattering its beams onto the ground through the leaves of overhanging trees. We cautioned Bruce not to turn on his father's flashlight unless we absolutely needed it.



Farm fields and thick woods lined the road on each side of us. As we jogged along, Mike mentioned something that bothered me. He'd heard rumors about livestock mutilations along Scotch Ridge. I didn't like the sound of that. Wolves? No way. Not in the Ohio Valley. Aliens?
Riiiight. I tried not to think about it. Halfway there the wind picked up, scattering dead leaves across our path. The breeze chilled me, gooseflesh tingling my back, neck, and arms.



We finally arrived at the bottom of the church's driveway. It ascended about one hundred yards to the highest hill in Belmont County. At the top, under the bare branches of a dead oak tree, the silhouette of The Chair stood out against the starlit violet sky. Something inside me said to turn back, but Mike and Bruce started up the hill.



Remembering this teenage excursion inspired my first novel, The Healing Place. What happened that night remains etched permanently in my mind. You are probably wondering if I sat in The Chair that night. No, I didn't. But Bruce and Mike did. And something definitely happened on the way home. I'll tell you more in my next post.



Talk to you later,



Joe



Here are some links to my novel, Murder at Whalehead:

CLICK HERE to view video trailer

Link to front cover: CLICK HERE (Click on cover to enlarge)

Link to back cover: CLICK HERE (Click on cover to enlarge)

Link to first eleven chapters: CLICK HERE

Visit my website at http://www.joecellis.com

On the Edge, Ready to Leap!

Where are you? Halfway through your first novel? Finalizing a query? Waiting to hear back from a literary agent? Numbed by a hundred rejections? Holding on to the hope that the editor to whom your agent just subbed will love your manuscript?

Where am I? I've been there. Two literary agents have represented my novels. A third is currently reading my latest work, trying to decide whether or not to represent me. I've had editors at major houses praise my writing and pass around my manuscript. But to no avail--"Excellent writing but can't find a niche for this one."

I've decided not to sit still and wait any longer. I refuse to allow my last represented novel to rust in the junkyard of books-that-almost-made-it. I'm standing on the precipice of self-publishing ready to leap.

When I was seventeen I scaled a steep hillside and stood on a crag overlooking the green-gray depths of a strip-pit pond in eastern Ohio. After several minutes of steeling my nerves, I jumped. The water was cold, deep, and dark. But it felt good to jump.

Next week I head to the Outer Banks. I'm taking 200 copies of my self-published novel, Murder at Whalehead, with me. Bookstores have ordered copies, signings have been and are being scheduled, and a review will soon appear in Island Breeze, an Outer Banks publication.

Here I go. I'm jumping. I'm in mid-air . . .

Come with me and see if I make a big splash, sink, thrash around awhile, or swim to the other side.

Here are some links to my novel:

CLICK HERE to view video trailer
Link to front cover: CLICK HERE (Click on cover to enlarge)
Link to back cover: CLICK HERE (Click on cover to enlarge)
Link to first eleven chapters: CLICK HERE

Talk to you later,

Joe C. Ellis
Author or Murder at Whalehead
http://www.joecellis.com