Alright! My second novel is out now and available to purchase!
Get it HERE!
Jose Leyenda and the Wailing Woman is a suspenseful, spooky ghost story that takes place in the vibrant community of Milwaukee’s South Side. You’ll see many of your favorite landmarks from this neighborhood in the book. It’s for kids of all ages and it’s just in time for Halloween!
It’s a very different kind of book than Claude Hartel. It’s an adventure. Claude Hartel was more of a drama. This one’s magical. Claude was rooted in truth. Jose Leyenda has absolutely no autobiographical elements (besides the connections to Latino/Hispanic/Mexican-American culture). My 1st book was for mature audiences while my 2nd one is for kids.
I wrote a contrasting kind of book on purpose for several reasons…Mostly to see what kinds of books I am better at writing. I am excited to see what people think. Is Claude Hartel a stronger novel? Or is Jose Leyenda? Should I write for young and new adults? Or write for middle schoolers? I hope to get the results of that survey in the next month or two as people begin to purchase the book and read it.
Very structured. But very messy handwriting. LoL!
Surprisingly, I wrote Jose Leyenda and the Wailing Woman before I wrote The Closeted Life of Claude Hartel. When I finished it and revised it a couple times, I suddenly got the idea for Claude Hartel. Although I tried to find a literary agent to represent Jose Leyenda, I mostly focused on Claude Hartel at that point. I really thought that Claude Hartel would be my “perfect manuscript.” It had my unique voice in it. It had a marketable storyline and premise. And it had a creative take on the LGBT experience. In other words, I put all of my eggs into that basket, so to speak.
As Claude Hartel was in its final stages and was being prepared for publication, I came back to Jose Leyenda. I love the story. It also has a good commercial potential. It’s part of a planned series of seven books, and anyone in the publishing industry will tell you that a series of books is your #1 money maker. I knew that if I could also get this book published then I could maybe write six other books and get those published and have seven books that people are buying. Hook, line, and sinker. Cha-Ching!
The problem though is that I have so little time to write. Although I am making some money off this, it’s mostly a hobby, something I do after work. It’ll be almost impossible for me to find the time to write the next six books (though I did write half of the 2nd one already!). I have to really choose my projects carefully.
That’s why I have already started to write my Cozy Mystery series starring the Drag Queen Lucky Summers. I think it has the ability to sort of appeal and entertain a broad audience. And I think that it might be smarter to focus my attention on LGBT Literature and grow that audience and produce a real fan base, so to speak. My cozy mystery idea has series potential as well. So it could bring in the dough too. We shall see.
Although I have two other books written (Flint James and Athens Prep), I don’t think I’ll be working on those any further and publishing them anytime soon. They just need too much work.
My next book probably won’t be published until next summer. Be patient ❤
Anyways, essentially this blog post was to announce that Jose Leyenda is available on Amazon now and you can get your copies today and read it. I’m really thrilled for you to experience a scary tale during spooky season (if that’s when you’re reading this blog) that takes place in the city I live in and adore.
I cannot wait for y’all to tell me which book was better and how I should focus my craft and career from here on out!
Read a book today people. Preferably one of mine 🙂
P.S. Check out a blog post I wrote for The Surrogacy Center HERE.
Joe Neman : Writer 