A new, and frankly, pretty darned fun, experience in the whole publishing process is chasing endorsements. You know, writing to authors you admire and saying, "Hey, would you read my book and tell me what you think?"

I've been told publishers usually do all of this, packaging up an Advance Reading Copy with a letter, then shipping it off to the author/author's publisher/author's agent. And, I know the fine folks at Bethany House Publishers have plans to send my book to plenty of authors for possible endorsements. But I've also been given the green light to approach authors myself, and I'm thrilled to do so.

I mean, come on, it's a chance to write to authors I really admire, gush about their work a bit, and ask if I can send them a book. Why would I let my publisher have all the fun?

So far, I've only sent out emails, but I'm getting great responses. CJ Box, Edgar-winning author of the Joe Pickett mysteries, and James BeauSeigneur, author of the "Christ Clone Trilogy," have already agreed to do blurbs. (Both of these fine, fine authors have previously read portions of the book, so I was more than thrilled to get their emails.) I've also received emails from F. Paul Wilson (author of the "Repairman Jack" novels) and Tess Gerritsen (author of some wonderful thrillers you may have seen on the NYT list), telling me to send along ARCs when they're available.

Odd as it sounds, it makes me feel like the proverbial kid in a candy store. I got an email from Tess Gerritsen! I got an email from F. Paul Wilson! I got an email from Peter Straub!

Okay, so the email from Peter Straub was a kindly-worded note saying he's not doing any blurbs, but...I got an email from Peter Straub!