Jeff Haws

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What happens when someone steals your book title?

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When I was getting ready to publish my first novel, “Killing the Immortals,” last year, I did a good deal of research on the title to make sure there was nothing similar in the marketplace that it would be confused with. I was excited about the title, and wanted to have something unique. Fortunately, there was nothing like it out there, so I plowed forward with it last July.

Suddenly, though, I noticed last week that a Bosnian author self-published a book on June 30 with the title “Killing the Immortal.” So, basically the same title as mine. I don’t publish a book for 37 years, put out my first one, and then somebody essentially rips off my unique title within a year. It was a little bit frustrating. [Read more…] about What happens when someone steals your book title?

Does the book’s title really matter?

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I had this discussion on Facebook recently, as I consulted with various people on what the title of my upcoming novel should be. On my first book, once “Killing the Immortals” came to me, it was one of those proverbial light bulbs popping up above my head. Maybe literally. I can’t say for sure. But it was fairly bright in the room at the time, so perhaps.

Anyway, I knew right away that was the title. It was striking, a little mysterious, and had a seemingly contradictory nature that I liked. I love forcing readers to ask themselves a question they can only answer by reading whatever it is I wrote. “How can you kill immortals?” Know how you’re gonna find out? Buy my book and read the thing, damn it. [Read more…] about Does the book’s title really matter?

Radio Didn’t Kill the Book Star

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In case you didn’t see my social media teases leading up to Saturday afternoon, I was on an online radio/podcast show Saturday afternoon called “Tag Team 2*4*5,” in conjunction with the Rave Reviews Book Club. The numbers refer to two hosts, four authors, and five minutes each, just to solve that baffling mystery for you. [Read more…] about Radio Didn’t Kill the Book Star

The Interview with Ellen

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question-1262378_1280I want to quickly introduce you to Ellen Smith, author of a terrific and well-received book from earlier this year called Reluctant Cassandra — she describes it as Southern Fiction, which could interest a number of you — and the curator of a cool little blog at ellensmithwrites.com, where she does much of what I do here … talk about what motivates us to write, our challenges, share a little something from behind the scenes with those of you watching this whole crazy process from the outside. [Read more…] about The Interview with Ellen

Speaking at A Novel Idea in Canton

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speaking

For those of you who missed me at the Decatur Book Festival, you’ve got another chance to catch my book-readin’ self out in the wild very soon. Next week, I’ll be reading an excerpt from “Killing the Immortals” at the Snug Gastro Pub in Canton for the “A Novel Idea” event on Wednesday, Oct. 19.

The theme for the event is “scary stories,” and I’ll be joined by other local authors Lee Gimenez, Alex Hughes, Lynn Hesse, Frank Reddy, and Marsha Cornelius. I won’t be able to get up there until 7:30 or so, and I’ll probably be speaking around 8. I’ll bring some bookmarks, and I’ll probably read Chapter 1 because I think it’s a great introduction to the book. [Read more…] about Speaking at A Novel Idea in Canton

What Should You Talk About at a Book Festival?

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close-up-of-microphone

This Saturday, I’ll be speaking about my book, “Killing the Immortals,” at the Decatur Book Festival. I’m actually the first speaker after the main guy in the Emerging Writers Tent (10:10 a.m.), which is for highlighting indie and small-publisher authors. I got that first spot because of my immense fame, and the crushing amount of interest in my talk. Or because I signed up first. I’ll let you decide which.

I’d love to see any of you there. It’d be great to have more than just my mom — who’s going to roll her way up there on a broken foot — and some friends who want to lend some eyeballs for support. If you want to come, definitely do it. It’s free, and there’s tons more to see and do there. Especially if you have kids. They love them some kids at this fest.

So, what am I going to be talking about? This will be my first time speaking publicly about it. I’m used to answering questions from people by now. And, I don’t know if you’d heard, but I also have a blog where I’ve written about it a lot. But talking extemporaneously about it to a group is going to be a new experience. I don’t really understand stage fright, so that’s not an issue. How do I keep them engaged, though? How do I not bore everyone away? [Read more…] about What Should You Talk About at a Book Festival?