Sam Henrie

About Sam Henrie

Sam Henrie is President and Founder of Wheatmark, Inc., and Past President of the Arizona Book Publishing Association. He is Co-Chair of the Book and Movie Business Genre of the Literary Committee for the Tucson Festival of Books, the third largest book festival in the United States. Sam is also a Senior Faculty at the Authors Academy.
15 December, 2024

B.J. Harrison / Boomsters Wins Voice Arts Narration Award

By |2024-12-15T16:56:24-07:00December 15, 2024|News|Comments Off on B.J. Harrison / Boomsters Wins Voice Arts Narration Award

We extend our warmest congratulations to B.J. Harrison for winning the 2024 Voice Arts® Awards for his narration of Boomsters: An Unexpected Adventure written by David Marks. You will find the audiobook on Audible, Amazon and the iTunes app.

Retired, David Blazen reinvents himself as a detective, stumbling into crime, chaos, and comedy. His first week on the job throws him into a murder disguised as suicide, gang wars, political corruption, and dangerous secrets—forcing him to blur the line between hero and criminal to uncover the truth.

“We’re all searching for purpose and fulfillment in our lives, and this crime fiction adventure is both heartwarming and inspiring, An action-packed and surprisingly poignant yarn about a man’s search for himself as he enters his golden years.” – Kirkus Reviews

Boomsters is a 2023 BookFest Awards Winner: 1st Place in Cozy […]

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15 December, 2024

The Electric God and Other Shorts by Michael Thomas Perone gets writeup in Islip Bulletin and Suffolk County News

By |2024-12-18T15:46:54-07:00December 15, 2024|News|Comments Off on The Electric God and Other Shorts by Michael Thomas Perone gets writeup in Islip Bulletin and Suffolk County News

Congratulations to award-winning Wheatmark author Michael Thomas Perone!

The Islip Bulletin recently included an article about Michael Thomas Perone and his new book of short stories, which is also being run on the website of Suffolk County News:

https://www.suffolkcountynews.net/stories/part-fractured-fairy-tales-part-nightmare-fuel,96039

Also, Michael was recently named a “Notable Person” on the Wikipedia page of his hometown of West Islip, Long Island. Other names include actors Ken Marino (“Wet Hot American Summer”) and Edie Falco (“The Sopranos”). That’s pretty good company! Here is the link:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Islip,_New_York

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3 November, 2024

B.J. Harrison / Boomsters Nominated for Voice Arts Narration Award

By |2024-11-03T20:37:25-07:00November 3, 2024|News|Comments Off on B.J. Harrison / Boomsters Nominated for Voice Arts Narration Award

We extend our warmest congratulations to B.J. Harrison for being nominated for the 2024 Voice Arts® Awards for his narration of Boomsters: An Unexpected Adventure written by David Marks. You will find the audiobook on Audible, Amazon and the iTunes app.

Retired, David Blazen reinvents himself as a detective, stumbling into crime, chaos, and comedy. His first week on the job throws him into a murder disguised as suicide, gang wars, political corruption, and dangerous secrets—forcing him to blur the line between hero and criminal to uncover the truth.

“We’re all searching for purpose and fulfillment in our lives, and this crime fiction adventure is both heartwarming and inspiring, An action-packed and surprisingly poignant yarn about a man’s search for himself as he enters his golden years.” – Kirkus Reviews

Boomsters is a 2023 BookFest Awards Winner: 1st Place in […]

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11 January, 2019

Book Signings and Back-of-the-Room Sales

By |2023-06-09T11:53:41-07:00January 11, 2019|Authors Academy, Marketing|Comments Off on Book Signings and Back-of-the-Room Sales

You may know that here at the Authors Academy, we’re strong advocates of using the Web to build your author platform.

But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t strive to build an audience face-to-face, too: either locally, regionally, nationally, or beyond.

The truth is, there’s nothing quite like the thrill of meeting your readers (and gaining new fans) in person!

And, of course — in addition to being a great way to build buzz for your projects — book events can be just plain fun.

Join us next week as we tackle “Book Signings and Back-of-the-Room Sales” with one of our favorite Tucson-based publicists, Lynn Wiese Sneyd.

Lynn Wiese Sneyd coordinates national, regional and local publicity campaigns for authors of non-fiction and fiction books. She’s scheduled author appearances on major television networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX and PBS affiliates), Sirius Satellite, syndicated AM/FM radio shows, and internet podcasts.

In addition, she’s worked with […]

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3 December, 2018

You Only Need to Get It Right Once

By |2018-11-30T14:21:43-07:00December 3, 2018|News, Publishing, Writing|Comments Off on You Only Need to Get It Right Once

I’m right in the middle of listening to The Witch Elm by my favorite contemporary mystery novelist, Tana French. So far the book is as good as I would expect, having read all six of French’s previous novels. French’s masterful use of language and deft psychological characterizations make her novels qualify as both literary and genre fiction. That’s one of the reason that I (like so many of her readers) am addicted to her writing, and read each of her novels as soon as it is released.

Out of curiosity about the author, I recently spent some time rooting around the web looking for articles by and about her. One particularly interesting one I ran across was “5 Writing Tips from Tana French,” Publishers Weekly, 2012. (I highly recommend the article to all fiction writers) In it she says that […]

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31 October, 2018

‘Tis The Season

By |2023-06-09T11:03:35-07:00October 31, 2018|News, Writing|Comments Off on ‘Tis The Season

It is common knowledge among my family and friends that I’m in love with this time of year. I don’t know what it is about October, but there is something about this month that makes me feel warm and giddy. It doesn’t matter if the weather doesn’t perfectly cooperate with my seasonal hopes and dreams (although I would much prefer cooler temperatures and rainy days), I still feel enraptured by fall’s embrace.

To me, the beginning of fall means the holiday season is right around the corner. October ushers in seasonal change that brings cooler weather, beautiful decorations, special time with family and friends, and just general congeniality between strangers. Just as the leaves begin to change, so do our priorities and focus. Fall seems to ignite a flame that warms our hearts and minds as we approach Thanksgiving and Christmas.

I am partial […]

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20 September, 2018

Is It Brain Surgery?

By |2023-06-09T11:04:03-07:00September 20, 2018|Publishing, Resources, Writing|Comments Off on Is It Brain Surgery?

There’s an anecdote which I’ve heard attributed to a few different famous authors, including Margaret Atwood, though I read somewhere that she says it didn’t originate with her. It goes like this:

A famous writer is at a party. She’s chatting with a brain surgeon. The brain surgeon, upon hearing who she is, gets excited, and says that when he retires he’s going become a writer. The writer quips snidely, “Oh really? When I retire, I’m going to become a brain surgeon.” The author, here, implies that writing should be left to professionals.

Here’s where I think she gets it wrong. Of course there are activities we wouldn’t ever do without years of formal training and professional licensing, like brain surgery, nuclear-reactor design, and fighter jet piloting, because lives depend on our performance. But there are also activities that many of us do as […]

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20 August, 2018

Tell Me a Story, Friend

By |2023-06-09T10:50:13-07:00August 20, 2018|News, Publishing, Writing|Comments Off on Tell Me a Story, Friend

This Summer I had the pleasure of seeing three people, who in various ways I connect with through book publishing, tell stories from the stage at storytelling events. For years I’ve been a big fan of The Moth storytelling radio hour and similar podcasts, so it was a real delight to hear people I actually know tell stories from the stage.

The first two storytellers I saw at one of the amazing monthly shows put on by Odyssey Storytelling of Tucson. The theme for the show was Different. Terry Filipowicz, my cohort on the Book and Movie Biz Genre of the Book and Author Committee for the Tucson Festival of Books (wow, that’s a mouthful), Vice President at Great Potential Press, and Instructor at Pima Community College, and Ethel Lee-Miller (etheleemiller.com), Wheatmark author, writing editor and coach, public speaking coach, […]

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9 July, 2018

Publish, Baby, Publish!

By |2023-06-09T11:04:58-07:00July 9, 2018|Publishing, Resources, Writing|Comments Off on Publish, Baby, Publish!

Billionaire oil magnate J. Paul Getty quipped: “Formula for success: rise early, work hard, strike oil.” He was, of course, highlighting how important luck is as a component of success. This same sentiment can easily apply to writing and publishing a book, “Formula for success: rise early, write well, and get discovered.” If you try to get published by a major New York publisher, you will soon find, that unless you have published with them before, or are a famous movie star or politician, you have little chance. Even if your book is incredibly well-written and interesting, you, as a first-time author have to somehow get discovered by the right person at the publisher. Without some lucky accident, like a personal or professional connection on the inside who can champion your manuscript, it’s very tough. If you decide to self-publish, luck will […]

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