How to market your unpublished novel… or not

I've been listening to the Ringo Starr song, It Don't Come Easy. The song is (forgive the pun) easy on the ears, and it's also kind of an anthem for anyone trying to do something extremely daunting. Like trying to get someone to represent, publish (or heck, read) literary fiction. So, ya want to be …

Introducing “But I Digress”

I'm very lucky. I know a lot of great writers. But like most writers, I'm a bit of a recluse, which means I don't see or talk with them very often. This is my avatar, Michael Missing, drawn by and given me by my late friend Michael Hoover. So I've had a wonderful idea: an …

The Factory: A Novel: The Pitch

What my brain looks like when trying to pitch my fiction. The good news is that I’m done with The Factory: A Novel. Now I need to pitch it (to an agent, a publisher, a movie producer, a doormouse… I suck at pitching my own stuff. There is a short pitch and a long pitch. …

Exquisite New Stories

I know it's just terrible to write so infrequently. As a child I was a terrible pen pal. I will try to do better. Now, I'm not bragging when I say Exquisite. These stories have been published in Exquisite Pandemic, an online magazine recently launched by Rick Whitaker, whom I have known for (Jesus, really?) …

Finally: I Lived in France and So Can You

I’m thrilled to announce that my new book, "I Lived in France and So Can You," is now available through Dzanc Books. Huge thanks to Dan Wickett, who continues to believe in and support my work! Thanks also to Molly Elliott for allowing me to write about part of her life, and to Carol Edwards Hickins for being the …

Baseball, Burgers, and Biere

I recently finished the first draft of a book about my experiences in France managing baseball teams and running an American restaurant. It's all true -- and I decided to write this book because every time I meet new people and they ask about my past, they seem fascinated -- you ran an actual business …

The Review that Got Away

While I'm on the topic of reviews remembered and best forgotten, there's one I just found today that I never knew about until today, and wish I had. (This was all pre-Internet, and I only learned about reviews that my publisher saw fit to send me. Fortunately, Jaz has my back.) Turns out that Spy …

Getting Panned

I had a conversation this afternoon about having a thick skin, and it reminded me of the one really terrible review I got for The Actual Adventures of Michael Missing. It's not really so bad in retrospect, but at the time it felt awful, especially because it came from Kirkus Reviews, which along with Publishers …

Michael Hickins Interviewed on Inside Scoop

Listen in as Michael discusses Blomqvist, religion, vioklence and more on Inside Scoop! Catch the podcast / archive at http://insidescooplive.com/author-pages/Hickins-Michael_Blomqvist.html

Blomqvist Free Fridays on Kindle

Michael's novel Blomqvist is free all day today on the Amazon Kindle Store, and is flying off the shelves at an incredible pace. If you haven't read Blomqvist yet, why not pick up a copy today? http://amzn.com/B006QZHA92

Kindle eBooks free for Prime Kindlers

Two Hickins shorts are now in the Kindle Lending Library, Prime Kindlers can get these titles for free at http://amazon.com/author/mhickins - please borrow them and leave a review on Amazon!

Who is the Little Guy?

I moved to Paris, France, in April 1985. It was cold, and the people were anything but warm. Getting anything done was a chore because people weren't interested in getting anything done, they stopped whatever they were doing between noon and two in the afternoon, they closed on Mondays, and they generally don't like anyone …