Interview With Prolific Author Mike Faricy

 

 

 

1.        Why did you write this book?  P. I. Apprentice is my most recent work, the thirty-fourth book in my Dev Haskell series. I write every day, seven days a week. I always have at least a dozen ideas for my next work of genius bouncing around in my head and I simply have to write and get some of those ideas out. It’s not so much a task as it has become a daily adventure to learn, at the end of the day, what is going to happen next.

 

2.        What is it about and who is it really for? My Dev Haskell series a humorous series about a private detective. No one is targeting the president or attempting to take down the economy. The crimes P. I. Dev Haskell is investigating are based on peoples bad decisions, but then bad decisions can make for interesting stories. In my book P.I. Apprentice, Dev Haskell is contacted by Melissa Carter, the daughter of Dev’s former mentor. Both her parents were killed in a hit and run car accident two years earlier. She believes the ‘accident’ was intentional and she would like Dev to investigate. At the same time, Dev is instructed by local crime lord Tubby Gustafson, to take Tubby’s nephew, Erik, under his wing and introduce him to Dev’s version of law enforcement. Tubby’s thought is could be no better way to curtail college graduate Erik’s desire to pursue a career in law enforcement, then to pair him up with Dev Haskell for a week. Of course, the story only improves with Erik meeting Dev’s client Melissa, and beginning their relationship.

 

3.        What do you hope readers will get out of reading your book? As an author, I consider myself to be involved in the entertainment business. I do not send any sort of political or social message. I prefer to have my readers escape their day to day world and revel in the humorous exploits of Dev Haskell and a host of crazy individuals. With any luck, once they finish the book, they’ll think things actually aren’t all that bad in their own lives.

 

4.        How did you decide on your book’s title and cover design? The books title, P. I. Apprentice, relates to the activities of college graduate Erik Gustafson who is assisting Private Investigator Dev Haskell for a week. The cover design, a brass badge with the word ‘Apprentice’ and the book title in the specific type font hopefully suggests that the story has humorous quality. The bottom line listing this book as the 34th in the Dev Haskell series suggests a successful series. If you are a newcomer it suggests thirty-three other books in the series. Or, if you’re a regular, this book is the most recent addition.

 

5.        What advice or words of wisdom do you have for fellow writers? The book business is a very difficult business that changes constantly. Keep your nose to the grindstone and work at it every day. If you have a job, spouse, children, or all three that clearly limits your time. My first six books were written in the dark, either before sunrise or after sunset. Keep at it, writing is a long game. Talk to writers and listen. The book business is not what it was even just five years ago. I’m an independent (Indie) writer. I’m able to make my living writing because the industry has changed so drastically from what it was just ten years ago. You do not need a publisher to publish your book on Amazon. You can hire editors and cover designers. Whether you are indie or traditionally published you will be doing your own marketing.

 

6.        What trends in the book world do you see -- and where do you think the book publishing industry is heading?  Trends in the book world are many and constantly changing. I believe at the moment we are seeing something like four million new books per year, that’s all genres, fiction and non-fiction. About a million of those are published by traditional publishers. In any given month I’m selling a handful of printed copies compared to a few thousand eBooks. I love bookstores, absolutely love them. Barnes and Noble is the largest book retailer in the US. At their peak they had seven hundred and twenty-six stores, as of February 2023 there were five hundred and eighty-nine Barnes and Noble stores. Meanwhile, independent bookstores have increased by roughly fifty percent over the past decade to more than 2500 in the US. And then there’s Amazon, where you can order an ebook for one tenth the cost of a paperback. You can order an eBook twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and the book arrives in seconds. If you’re enrolled in Amazon Prime, you’ll be able to read my books for free. All of which brings us to the audio market, which is forecast to do nothing but grow exponentially over the next eight years. People are listening to audio while driving, flying, or multi-tasking. I see it in the not-too-distant future as a mandatory requirement for any book, whether traditionally or indie published.

 

7.        Were there experiences in your personal life or career that came in handy when writing this book? I believe the experiences were ones of enjoyment. From my early days we were read to every evening by my parents and once a week we visited our local library where we could pick out books. My favorite book was George The Pig. It was his birthday and he wouldn’t share his birthday cake. On the last page of the book he explodes from all the birthday cake he ate. We were read fiction books for maybe ten or fifteen minutes at the end of the day in grade school which continued to encourage reading beyond the classroom. As far as experiences, I have a number of acquaintances involved in various aspect of law enforcement and a few on the other side of the coin which led to my desire to write crime fiction.

 

8.        How would you describe your writing style? Which writers or books is your writing similar to?  My writing style is meant to be relaxing, enjoying, and entertaining. No matter what your day has been like, at the end of the day I would like you to look forward to my book. I love getting emails from people who tell me they couldn’t put the book down. My writing style is more along the lines of hearing a great story from a friend. I believe my books are similar to the works of Robert B. Parker, Laurence Shames, Carl Hiaasen, Elmore Leonard, and Janet Evanovich.

 

9.        What challenges did you overcome in the writing of this book? Other than the usual challenges of maintaining a description consistency, the car was red and now I’ve suddenly described it as black, or my protagonist hasn’t called or talked to a particular individual in ten days. The biggest challenge was the general story line. My chief protagonist, Dev Haskell, is investigating a hit and run accident that killed friends, who were the parents of the young woman who is now his client. That could take a turn toward the dark side very quickly and I found it to be a constant concern. I did not want to head toward the potentially heart breaking aspect of the story. I wanted to move forward and close with an upbeat, yet emotional ending. I believe I was able to accomplish that.

 

10.    If people can buy or read one book this week or month, why should it be yours? It should be P.I. Apprentice which releases April 6, 2023, because it is entertaining and once you begin reading you’ll be hooked. It’s the sort of book where you look at the remaining pages and think, ‘Well, I’m still awake. So maybe if I just read for another thirty minutes, and then you do the same thing all over again thirty minutes after that, because you can’t put it down.

 

About Mike Faricy: He is the author of over eighty crime fiction books. He has written four different series, the Corridor Man series, all gritty, violent works covering the activities of disbarred attorney Bobby Custer. The Hotshot series consisting of free-standing, humorous crime works. The Jack Dillon Dublin Tales series, where US Marshal Jack Dillon is assigned to the Special Branch unit in An Garda Síochána, Dublin’s police force. The Jack Dillon series is written with a touch of humor. The Dev Haskell Private Investigator series is written with a touch of humor as well. Dev Haskell is the character we all knew in high school and you wonder what he’s doing now, but common sense suggests you shouldn’t get too close to him. Mike Faricy lives in St. Paul, Minnesota and Dublin, Ireland and writes full time. For more information, please see: http://www.mikefaricybooks.com.

 

 

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About Brian Feinblum

Brian Feinblum should be followed on Twitter @theprexpert. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2023. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog. His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent.  This award-winning blog has generated over 3.3 million pageviews. With 4,400+ posts over the past dozen years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs by BookBaby  http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs  and recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” For the past three decades, including 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and two jobs at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler. He recently hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America, and has spoken at ASJA, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. He has been featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald. For more information, please consult: www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum.