Margaret Koch and I share a background in psych, a love of suspense and mystery, as well as a blend of reverence and skepticism for the Iowa Writers Workshop. And boy…do I love this lady’s attitude. Read on, because I think you will, too.

I planned to retire from my practice of psychology and write. I didn’t intend to write serious self-help books. I’d write fun, action-packed beach books — mystery thrillers in series — the books you cuddle up with on snowy afternoons or take to the beach on vacation. So that’s what I did. I started writing the Barb Stark series of mystery/thrillers. Like most newbie writers, I thought I’d send the first one off and they’d fall all over themselves publishing it. “They” would do marketing, editing — all the professional stuff I’d never encountered and didn’t know how to do. It was “their” business. “They” would know how.

I live in the same town as the internationally-famous Writers Workshop (WW, U of Iowa). The Workshop even lets townie writers make appointments with New York agents who come to town to find the next-big-thing among its students.

My first clue that all would not go as I envisioned was the parade of nonverbal cues that flashed across the agents’ faces and bodies when I walked in the WW door. Some, even ones who’d really liked my pre-appointment samples, put their reaction to me into words, disbelief shadowing their raised eyebrows: “Are you in the workshop?” Unspoken was the observation, “Geez, isn’t she a little old to be a new author starting a series?” One was so startled his chair fell over. They all took a full manuscript and liked the premise and characters, but soon would come the letter — “I’m just not in love with your story.” They must learn that line in agent school.

But I couldn’t stop writing. I just stopped making those appointments. The manuscripts grew. I edited and polished them. Good brain exercise, I told myself, even if they never see print. I don’t market worth a hoot. I don’t do PR. I’m shy, even. Maybe I’d be a recluse if I had a choice.

Then came the e-book revolution — a real revolution that will forever change the way we write and buy books. There’ll be bad e-books, but there’ll be good ones, too — and those good ones (like mine) will give rise to easy ways readers can cull the bad ones and select the good ones, without anyone (except good reviewers not paid by a publisher) telling us what we should or should not read.

A lot more changes will occur in publishing, but right now I can publish, retain rights, make changes as I decide, choose titles and covers, keep the agent’s cut, and still get them into the hands of readers without the long time lag that paper and ink demand. The hardest part was formatting for e-book production. I’d been using my computer like a chimpanzee at a typewriter, and so, with a good friend who knew Microsoft Word backwards and forwards, I had to go back and clean up the manuscripts. Now my first four books are in Amazon’s Kindle store, and they’re selling. They’re on Smashwords.com, and they’re selling. People I’ve never met are reading and liking my books…and I haven’t even gotten very far into my marketing strategy, which, strangely enough, I find I can now do.

Will I get rich? Probably not. Will I make money? Yep. Do I have a “made it” moment here? Without a doubt. I am Margaret Koch, author of BLONDE JOKE, CAMP SOUL, SONG OF THE MONSTER and POWER IN THE BLOOD, with more to come. Yippee-Skippee! (just type my name on Smashwords.com and Amazon.com. or you can Google “Margaret Koch, author of”)

Margaret J. R. Koch, Ph.D. is a psychologist with many years of experience. She’s returned to her first love, writing, and rather than write self-help books, she’s turned to suspense and mystery.

So don’t expect her to address your bad habits. She hopes to become one of them.