Hi!
I'm J.T. Ellison, one of the co-founders of Killer Year, the Class of 2007. Killer Year was developed nearly 18 months ago, back in May of 2006. My online buddies and I were discussing ways our mass market paperbacks could get reviews. This conversation blossomed into a marketing organization, led by Brett Battles, Jason Pinter and myself. We were joined by an amazingly talented group of writers: Robert Gregory Browne, Toni McGee Causey, Marcus Sakey, Derek Nikitas,
Marc Lecard, Bill Cameron,
Sean Chercover, Patry Francis, Gregg Olsen, and David White. Most of the books were published in hardcover. Most of the authors have multiple book deals. As I write this, many of us are about to see our second books hit the shelves. As you can imagine, it's been quite a ride.
In the beginning, we were looking to increase our name identification, raise the profile of our books, and help each other out. What we morphed into was a group of exceptionally close friends navigating the tenuous waters of the debut year, and doing it in an incredibly public manner, with a website, blog, attention from the media, and the ultimate adoption of our group by the International Thriller Writers. A few short months after our initial discussions, we even had mentors, some of the most successful writers in our genre, to guide us through the murky waters.
We were a few months into this crazy, cooperative endeavor when it became apparent that not only was this a group of smart and savvy folks, people willing to step out on a limb, to work together instead of compete against one another, there was a wee bit of talent in the ranks. Over the course of our debut year, our books have been optioned for film (Marcus Sakey's THE BLADE ITSELF), optioned for television (Sean Chercover's BIG CITY, BAD BLOOD), been published in multiple foreign countries (just about all of us), appeared in major review outlets like the New York Times, Chicago Sun Times, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Kirkus . . . I'm sure you're catching the drift. My cohorts are amazingly talented. The books are incredible.
And I figured if they could write such alarmingly good books, they could write some seriously cool short stories.
With Lee Child at the helm, MJ Rose and Laura Lippman manning the boat, Duane Swierczynski, Ken Bruen and Allison Brennan on the Promenade Deck sipping pina coladas and tossing off original stories to boot, we felt we were up to the challenge. With that kind of support, we could weather any storm.
The result is KILLER YEAR: Stories to Die For, coming from Minotaur next week. NEXT WEEK! Amazing.
We'll be blogging here this week, stopping in to answer your questions, talking about what being a debut was like, looking at the marketing aspect of cooperatives, all that jazz. I hope you'll join in, ask some questions, and buy the anthology. Because I have to tell you, it's got some of the finest stories that you'll read in 2008.
Please come by our website, www.KillerYear.com, to find out a little more about the group. On my days to post this week, I'll give you a short intro into each of the Killer Year mates, tell you a bit about their books, and give you tantalizing hints about their upcoming shorts in the anthology.
Be well!
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