M. E. May
Fiction-Crime, Thriller, Police Procedural
M. E. May (Michele) lives in the far Northwest Suburbs of Chicago, Illinois, with her husband, Paul, and white Husky, Iris. She was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, the fourth of five children to working class parents. Both of her parents were avid readers who loved mystery, fantasy and romance. They often encouraged her to read as well. Her son, Brian, and daughter, Marie, and four wonderful grandsons, Kodey, Kaleb, Kameron, and Gustin all live in central Indiana. M. E. attended Indiana University-Kokomo studying Social and Behavioral Sciences. This sparked her interest in the psychology of humans and the curiosity to ask why they commit such heinous crimes upon one another.
My Road to Publishing
by M. E. May
I’ve always loved writing whether letters, poems, essays, journals, or stories. I wrote my first book of poems when I was in third grade, and believe it or not, it still sits in my remembrances box. Before email, I used to write letters to my sisters who lived out of town and instead of one or two pages; they received a very descriptive short story of at least six to ten pages.
For many years, I believed I “had that fiction novel in me, however, I let life get in the way of attempting it. However, seven years ago, with grown children and a bit more time on my hands, I discussed my desire to write with my husband who very quickly encouraged me to take a year off from working and get started.
I chose to write mysteries because solving puzzles is one of my favorite pastimes. I thought the only thing better solving them would be to create puzzles for readers to solve. It took almost two years to complete the first book in what I call the Circle City Mystery Series and another year of submitting it to agents, because most of the big publishing houses will only take submissions from agents. Hiring an agent was more difficult than I expected since there are so many people writing novels these days making it difficult to get an agent’s attention.
I didn’t let that discourage me. After attending the Love is Murder Mystery Conference in Chicago in February 2010 and was approached by a small press who was willing to publish my first novel, Perfidy. It was in print by November 2012 and I won the Lovey Award for Best First Novel at that same conference in February 2013.
When I parted ways with my initial publisher, I was determined not to let down my growing group of fans. I knew it would take a long time to find another publisher and a couple of years once I signed a contract to see it in print. That is when I decided to publish it myself through CreateSpace with the help of a good editor, cover designer, and formatter to make sure my series to be of highest quality.
This decision gave me the opportunity to move forward. The Circle City Mystery Series, which includes Perfidy, Inconspicuous, Ensconced and recently released Purged, is doing well and in 2014 caught the attention of the mystery editor at Harlequin. I have received contracts from Harlequin to publish the mass-market paperbacks for the first three novels and they will soon be reviewing Purged. I also have a company who has started production on the audio books of these novels and I hope to see Perfidy out in the spring.
In conclusion, my advice to writers starting out would be don’t give up. Continue to hone your craft by attending writing conferences and classes on the college level. If you decide to publish yourself, make sure you have a good team to edit, format, and design covers for you. It will be well worth it. There’s nothing like having a reader come up to me and tell me they love my series and can’t wait for the next one.
Michele won the Lovey Award for Best First Novel for her first book, Perfidy in February of 2013.
Recent News
Perfidy will soon come out in mass paperback distribution from Harlequin sometime in mid-summer 2015. Harlequin has also picked up the mass paperback rights to Inconspicuous and Ensconced and will soon be reviewing Purged.
You can reach Michele through her website at
www.memay-mysteries.com
Books by M.E. May
Circle City Mystery Series
Circle City Mystery Series
Copyright 2015 -Midwest Author Club. All rights reserved. No content may
be copied or reproduced without written permission from Webmaster Anna Grob
be copied or reproduced without written permission from Webmaster Anna Grob