In just a couple of weeks, Book 10 in the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles series launches: Linda Pirtle’s The Doggone Diamond Dilemma.
Back in 2021 I attended a virtual three-day writer’s workshop. It was, in fact, an extended sales pitch to pay the host thousands of dollars so he could make your book a USA Today bestseller.
I didn’t bite. I don’t have thousands of dollars lying around. Let alone thousands to pay someone just so I get bragging rights about being a USA Today bestselling author. Titles aren’t important to me.
However, I did walk away with some information and an idea. That idea was to create a multi-author series.
I brought the idea to The Underground Authors, the writer co-op I’m a member of. After all, we’d just published a super collection of short stories (check it out on Amazon), so why not take that idea to the next level?
There was some hesitation at first; after all, no one had heard of such a thing. But finally the idea caught hold. And the result was 9 books all set in the fictional town of Magnolia Bluff, Texas.
Check out the series on Amazon!
What’s the key to making a multi-author series work? There has to be a unifying factor. Something that is common to all of the books in the series.
That unifying factor could be anything. It just has to be present in each of the books.
Taking a page out of Anthony Trollope’s The Chronicles of Barset, we decided the unifying factor would be a town. Just like Trollope’s Barchester.
We then set about giving the town a few buildings to start off. And a name: Magnolia Bluff. Then as each of us peopled the town in our books, the town began to come alive.
We had people with lives. People with problems. And people who’ll resort to murder to solve those problems.
Each book is as different as the author who wrote it. And each one explores a different side of our little Texas Hill Country town.
This year we’ve added two new authors to the series: Joe Congel and KD McNiven. And we’re excited to have these experienced writers on board.
For 2023 we’ll have 10 new novels for you and the first two are going to start the series off with a bang.
So stay tuned for more murder and mayhem in the sleepy little town of Magnolia Bluff, Texas. A wonderful place to live and visit. Just keep looking behind you.
The Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles on Amazon!
Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!
CW Hawes is a playwright; award-winning poet; and a fictioneer, with a bestselling novel. He’s also an armchair philosopher, political theorist, social commentator, and traveler. He loves a good cup of tea and agrees that everything’s better with pizza.
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