#CelebritySaturday is back with #Kindle author Sean Sweeney! #bnff #amwriting

Thanks for joining us here on Life, Muse and Coffee – Sean! And for re-launching Celebrity Saturday after a few months of hiatus. I hope my readers are just as excited to have them back as I am! Aside from being a world-famous Best Nerd Friend Forever (#BNFF), you are also pretty famous for your Jaclyn Johnson Agent series too.

So without further ado I invite you all to grab a second cup of coffee or delicious, relaxing beverage of your choice and enjoy the return of Celebrity Saturday, with a real Tweetheart Sean Sweeney!

Sean, thanks again so much for joining us!

1. Can you tell us about your agent Jaclyn Johnson and her two books, Model Agent and Rogue
Agent?

Hi Claire, thanks for having me! I appreciate the opportunity to speak with your blog readers.

Well, Jaclyn Johnson, have to love her! She is a partially-blind CIA counterterrorism agent who was orphaned in the 9-11 terrorist attacks. She’s pretty, vivacious. She turns the heads of both sexes. She uses her cover as a fashion model to get close to targets, and then, under the alias Snapshot, manages to defeat her enemies.

The first two AGENT books, those are just the first in a long line of novels featuring Jaclyn. I wrote Rogue Agent first after a conversation I had with British author Steven Savile. At the time, I needed something to write, and I told Steve about this pretty blonde character I had dreamed about. I made Jaclyn the protagonist and sent her overseas to London for what was, at the time, her first mission. A few months later, after I had finished the first draft of RA and decided that I would self publish it instead of sending it to a publisher, I decided to write a second AGENT novel, this one being Model Agent, which I set in Boston. I had read that Michael Connelly flies back to Los Angeles to do detail research for his Harry Bosch novels, so I went into Boston one Tuesday last August – if you saw a guy walking around wearing an Arsenal jersey and a clipboard, that was me – to do research. Instead of making MA the second story in the series, I pushed the production forward, created a couple of new characters that I knew would be one-time shots, and then adjusted RA’s details slightly to fit the new continuity.

2.    How many books would you like to have in the Agent series?

As of right now, there are four AGENT novels planned, but I do plan to expand the series with a new set of stories for Jaclyn to undertake. But that’s a couple of years down the road; it’s definitely in the planning stages, but it won’t be for awhile.

I also have a Jaclyn novella planned, which I probably won’t write until September or so.

3.   Is thriller / suspense your favorite to write?

As of right now, yes. I’m liking the way Jaclyn is so easy to write. I’m an action/adventure guy, so putting Jaclyn into situations where it is imperative for her to kick ass is incredibly fun. I can’t wait to see what she wants me to do to her next!

4.    Also available on Amazon is The Rise Of The Dark Falcon (Obloeron
prequel series)  and Royal Switch…can you tell us more about both
stories?

With pleasure. DF is an extension of the first three books I ever wrote, which are under my old pseudonym John Fitch V. DF goes back in time – I took the Star Wars route with this series – to about 50-plus years before the events in The Obloeron Trilogy. This is a fantasy series that I wrote after conversations I had with New York Times Bestselling author R.A. Salvatore. Bob lives in Leominster, Mass., while I live next door in Fitchburg. We met while I worked at the local WaldenBooks and we discussed writing in general. The titular Dark Falcon is Krampel Paddymeyer, the grandfather of the main protagonist in the Trilogy, Grumpet.

Royal Switch is a mild thriller that I set in the mid 2020s and is, for all intents and purposes, the follow-up to my 2010 bestseller Turning Back The Clock, which is a baseball time travel novel under the JFV pseudonym. RS follows a sportswriter, Harry Edelson, as he covers the Oklahoma City Royals following the Royals’ purchase by a Russian billionaire as well as the acquisition of a high-priced free agent.

5.    Do you like writing series or standalones better?

To be honest, I’m starting to like the series a little more than the standalones. I’ve written a few standalones, and some readers have called for more stories with those characters. With those characters, though, the story has ended and there are no more stories to tell – at least not right now. I do want to do something regarding Turning Back The Clock and the way I ended it, maybe an extension to it revolving around the (deleted).

Oops, sorry. Can’t say anything about that. You’ll have to read TBTC to find out what I’m talking about.

But right now, I’m really enjoying writing Jaclyn’s adventures. The Obloeron novels, including the prequels, were fun to write back to back to back, and that’s kind of what I’m doing now with Jaclyn’s stories.

6.    What do you love most about writing?

I love conceiving – giggity – the storylines, I love the research part. The actual sitting down and letting my fingers fly over the keyboard as I take the characters on their respective journeys.

7.    What do you hate the most about writing?

The first edit. Ugh.

8.    Did you know when you first thought about publishing it would be
via Amazon, or did you try the traditional way first with an agent and
a query letter?
I had no idea what I wanted to do, actually. I looked into self-publishing through Lulu at first, but when they wanted to charge my readers X amount more to get the book onto Amazon, I looked into other avenues. My girlfriend told me about Kindle, so when I went that route, I found it easier than writing the actual novel.

9.    Do you recommend e-publishing?

I do. It’s fairly simple and you, as the author, have control. It’s a great time to be an author.

10.    Some people think you don’t make as much money on e-publishing,
especially with low priced books….how do you feel about the business
side of e-publishing?
Heh, they need to do their homework, then. I don’t necessarily enjoy the business side, but it’s a necessary evil. I don’t like doing excessive promotion, but in order to sell books and get your name out there, you have to do it.

11.    Do you own an E-Reader yourself? If so, what kind?
I have a Kindle, yes.

12.    What book are you planning next?

My next release will be a zombie novel entitled Zombie Showdown, which comes out next month from Bucks County Publishing. I’m set to start writing the next Jaclyn novel starting this weekend, at some point.

13.    Do you drink coffee while writing? What is your favorite coffee drink?

I’m a coffee-a-holic! If I’m at home, I’m a Caribou Coffee Daybreak Morning Blend kind of guy. If I’m at Starbucks, a venti caramel latte with whip and drizzle.

14.    Thanks again so much, Sean! Anything else you’d like to add for our readers?

Keep reading, because I’m going to keep writing. Thanks,Claire!

Thanks all for stopping by! Feels good to be back 🙂 Sorry for being a lazy blogger for a while. Finishing a book and getting a new job and traveling took a lot out of me lol.

But I’m home now both mentally (arguably) and physically so LMC is back in full swing! Watch out for new posts about writing, life, and other stuff I find interesting, hopefully if I find it interesting, you will too!

Feel free to have any questions, comments or love for Mr. Sweeney in the comments below, or if you’d like to be next week’s Celebrity to promote your writing (published or not) on Saturday.

Thanks again guys!

Keep Writing,

❤ Claire