We were lucky to catch up with Mike Brown recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Mike, thanks for joining us today. Do you wish you had started sooner?
My wife encouraged me to write stories three years after we moved to Newnan Georgia in 2010 with retirement in mind. She saw that I needed something to do as a legacy to our grandkids. She told me bluntly, our grandkids will not remember you because of the spiritual and academic writing you have done. I asked her, what should I do. She said, write stories. The grandkids will read and cherish stories. So that’s how I began writing novels with the help of a writing coach who became my longtime editor. Looking back, there is so much I wish I knew before I began. Had I began this journey earlier in my life, I would have avoided some of the pitfalls that time and age blind one from. Writing a great story requires a marathon not a sprint–self-perceived deadlines as we get older hinder that process.
Mike, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My novel writing began late in life. After retiring from the 9-to-5 life in 2013, my wife encouraged me to transform my writing to stories that my grandchildren might read. Thanks to my writing coach and now longtime editor, Kari Scare, I launched my first southern fiction novel in April 2017, Sanctuary, published by Deeds Publishing, Athens, GA. After Deeds stopped its traditional publishing later that year, Sanctuary was became Sanctuary, A Legacy of Memories in February 2018 under Palmetto Publishing Group in Charleston, SC, followed closely by Testament, An Unexpected Return in March 2018–the first two books in the now Shiloh Mystery Series. The third, Purgatory, A Progeny’s Quest, re-released January 2022 by Blue Room Books Publishing, Decatur, GA.
In 2023, I departed from the small-town southern mystery series, and launched The Last Laird of Sapelo, a historical novel about Georgia’s tidewater at the outbreak of the Civil War. It was based upon the legacy of the Spalding family and their enslaved Geechee workers on Sapelo Island in the months that lead up to and immediately following Secession in 1861. (Koehler Books, August 2023)
My love for history and southern life has been at the root of all my story writing. As I quoted in my second novel, “The testament of a man lies not in the magnitude of possessions and property left to his heirs, but the reach of his legacy long after his death.” This theme is captured in each of my four novels. A message relayed to me by my grandfather and father growing up.
I am most proud how three of my four novels have received recognition in various awards and contests, including nominated for Georgia Author of the Year in 2018 and for the upcoming 2024 GAYA Awards. Sanctuary continues with the biggest audience followed by my new historical novel which keeps me busy with book talks and signings.
I am a long-standing member of the Atlanta Writers Club, Georgia Writers Association, Southeastern Writers Association, and founding President of Hometown Novel Writers Association, Inc. based in Newnan, GA. And, most recently, a Board of Trustees member of Newnan Carnegie Library Foundation.
More information about my books, background, and my interests are found on tmbrownauthor.com
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Over the course of writing and publishing my four novels, the publishing industry has revealed itself with its many challenges for writers. My first novel’s publisher fell victim to the greed found with many smaller publishers. Fewer and fewer small publishers can afford to offer traditional contracts and have shifted to hybrid models costing authors the upfront money to publish books under the publishers label. Likewise, authors have had to absorb more and more of the marketing and promotional expense. Only the rare NY Big Five Publishing contract offers advances and a initial marketing budget to launch new books. And those book deals are fewer and fewer for new authors.
In 2019 I signed a contract for republishing my first two books and my third title in the Shiloh Mystery Series, but before Purgatory launched in May 2020, COVID hit and SFK MultiMedia Publishing folded. I reverted my publishing rights back to Palmetto Publishing for Sanctuary and Testament, and worked with Blue Room Books to re-release Purgatory as the third and final story in the Shiloh Mystery Series, January 2022.
In 2022 I also completed the writing of The Last Laird of Sapelo and attended writers conferences to pitch the story. A northern publisher and a NY literary agent requested copies of the completed manuscript, but both ultimately rejected signing the story–New York’s literary realm would not accept a Civil War era story based on a southern perspective with slavery in the story. Thankfully, Koehler Books, Virginia Beach, VA agreed to publish the story and it has been well received since it released August 2023. Pre-release accolades and reviews helped the launch and emphasized that HISTORY MATTERS to readers.
A famous NYT Best Selling author offered the best advice that I believe is true: “Don’t worry about publishing your story until long after you have written the very best story you can write. If it is a good story it will find a publisher.” That also makes it clear that writers should never set a deadline for themselves to complete their manuscript. Keep wiring and rewriting until it is completely done then focus on getting it in front of literary agents and publishers.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
For me, discovering the network of other authors who have shared the trials and tribulations of writing and getting published has been most rewarding for me. I wish I had a longer history with these accomplished writers–I would have likely had more success and less frustration in the past dozen years. Getting nominated for Georgia Author of the Year twice has been a thrill, I have gotten to know a couple of the previous GAYA Award winners and I am in awe that I even received a nomination.
In 2018, I and a group of fellow local authors formed “Hometown Novel Nights” which began with the mission to introduce local authors to local audiences south of Atlanta. That group has since held regular author programs, currently hosted by the historic Newnan Carnegie Library in Newnan GA, and introduced over 100 published authors and now grown to include writer workshops and groups to help aspiring writers to publish their stories. In 2022, the group formalized and is now known as Hometown Novel Writers Association , Inc. To me helping writers and authors to get their stories into the hands of eager readers is the most rewarding aspect of my life at this time.
Contact Info:
- Website: tmbrownauthor,com
- Instagram: @t.m.brown.author
- Facebook: @tmbrownauthor
Image Credits
photos taken during t. m. brown events and he has full rights to their use.