Success Stories

Entering a writing competition takes a certain amount of confidence. I didn’t have it. It took a long time to work up the courage to enter DAUGHTERS OF BAD MEN in the Killer Nashville Claymore competition. This manuscript had been my secret project for a few years, and I had only shared it with my…

If success begets success, I’ll be successful. Does that make sense? I’ve been writing for over 40 years, but always for business or the Army, never for myself or for attribution. The most I ever got was a signature block that authorized me to sign “For the Commander” of my Battalion, my Group, or my…

Networking Works I’ve been to four Killer Nashville writers conferences, and one thing they always tell you is to network. Talk to other authors, even if that means prying open the clamshell and forcing your introverted psyche to trick your recalcitrant legs to walk up to a stranger, open your mouth, and ask what they’re…

“Wow! I’m thrilled with Bonnie Bailey‘s success which she attributes to Killer Nashville. Way to go! It just goes to show you what hard work and participation in one of my favorite conferences can do. I’m happy to have been a small part of it. Congratulations to Ms. Bailey and, of course, to Killer Nashville.…

Hello Clay, Please be advised that I will be announcing that I have signed a three-book deal with Fiery Seas Publishing with an option of first refusal on a fourth book.  Fiery Seas should receive the signed contract in the US Mail tomorrow. This is the direct result of my attending Killer Nashville in 2016.…

I came to Killer Nashville in 2014 expecting to learn what I was doing wrong. I’d been sending out queries for a horror novel called In the Valley of the Sun, with no hits for months. Lost in a fog of impersonal rejection and desperate for answers, I brought my book and a sample query…

Sandy Manning reached out to us to share the good news about her novel, which will be published in 2016 by Five Star Publishing. Trojan Horse is her second novel, but her first to be published. She always wanted to write professionally, and wrote some short stories and essays before writing Trojan Horse. The manuscript received first place…

“I knew I wanted to be a writer when I was in the third grade, but where I grew up—in rural Arkansas—a person was more likely to walk on the moon than write a book. I continued to write through high school, and I had teachers who encouraged me, but when I got to college…

“Publishing is a tough business. Aspiring mystery writers need a place to make professional connections, to learn techniques that can bolster their craft, and even to commiserate sometimes with like-minded, long-suffering souls. That’s the kind of place Killer Nashville can be. “Aspiring mystery writers also need a positive way to show industry professionals what they…

For Maris Soule, developing her writing skills offered her respite from the challenges of raising a family and living where her nearest neighbor was ¼ of a mile away. “I needed something more than Mr. Rogers and Sesame Street, so one day I told my husband I thought I’d try writing a book. He said,…