Gina Rae Mitchell

Spotlight: Dead Letters by P.J. Murphy | #AuthorGuestPost #Giveaway #LiteraryFiction #Mystery @iReadBookTours 

A book blog tour from iRead Book Tours.

Thank you to the author, publisher, & Lauren at iRead for providing me with the information for this tour.

Quick Summary

Bestselling author Richard Debden is missing. The only clue: a copy of his unpublished final novel delivered to his ex-girlfriend, Amy. When Richard’s closest reunite for his memorial, Amy turns to Chris, his former best friend, to help unravel the mystery. Could Richard still be alive and in need of their help?

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Book Details

Dead Letters by P.J. Murphy
Published by Independent Author on May 2023
Genres: Adult Fiction 18+, Literary Fiction, Mystery
Format: Audiobook, eBook, Paperback
Pages: 351

“If you want to find me, search within these pages.”

Bestselling author Richard Debden is missing. The only clue: a copy of his unpublished final novel delivered to his ex-girlfriend, Amy. When Richard’s closest reunite for his memorial, Amy turns to Chris, his former best friend, to help unravel the mystery. Could Richard still be alive and in need of their help?

Richard’s manuscript tells of two abandoned children in wartime Britain, instructed by a shadowy Postmaster to deliver letters to ghosts and release them from their torment. As Chris and Amy delve into the text, they identify parallels between fiction and reality; clues to a trail that leads across the country and – they hope – to Richard.

But they are not the only interested party. A mysterious society is following them, their motives unclear. Can Chris and Amy unlock the secrets of Dead Letters, or will more sinister forces get there first?
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“A really immersive and captivating read - two interlinked stories in one - past and present overlapping and intertwining to create a brilliant plot… An intelligent, thoughtful and engaging mystery” LoveReading
“Dead Letters is a great book to pick up next. If you're a fan of light-hearted yet meaningful adventures with good characters and literary cores, you won't be disappointed.” Electra Nanou, Reedsy Discovery
“This well-written book, encapsulating a story within a story, will captivate readers seeking a richly layered and intellectually stimulating literary experience.” Literary Titan

Content Rating: PG-13 +M. The book is not violent, and swearing is infrequent. There are a number of references to ghosts, but the atmosphere is more gothic than scary (with one exception). However, it is a book aimed squarely at adults, with references to depression and mental illness.

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Purchase Links for Dead Letters

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Authors on iTours Interview

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I love to read books through my  Amazon Kindle Unlimited subscription. 

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Guest Post by P.J. Murphy

Things I have learnt from self-publishing

I published my first novel, Troubleshot, in October 2022, but I had been writing for a long time before that. It was my third completed novel, and I had been sitting on it for a couple of years.

There were a few reasons for this. I had mainstream, traditional publishing as a goal, and I wanted to see if I could polish it to submit to an agent. I had heard of self-publishing, but I didn’t think it was for me. When I reread my novel after a break, I could see that it was probably too niche to appeal to traditional publishers. But I thought it was good enough to share, so I self-published.

I have since learnt that self-publishing is the way to go for most new writers (and even established ones). The margins in the publishing industry are such that unless you are a celebrity or a well-established name, it’s too much of a risk for big publishers to gamble resources on an unknown writer. Self-publishing offers various benefits, chief among them retaining control of the work, a higher percentage of the profits, and a faster turnaround time.

I also learnt that to make it as a self-published author, you need to be able to do the various jobs of a publishing house. Namely:

Preparing the copy – Getting the text from a Word document to the page takes a lot of work. Firstly, there’s the writing itself: making sure it’s up to par with respect to grammar, plot coherency and consistency. I spent a lot of time on this, but there’s no substitute for an outside pair of eyes, particularly from someone with professional experience.

Then, there’s the copy itself, getting it into paperback and ebook format. There are various free and paid-for packages to help with this, but that doesn’t help if your manuscript is a mess. Getting Dead Letters, my second novel, right was a bit of a nightmare. I had been working on it for years, so the formatting was all over the place. What’s more, I wanted to differentiate visually between the main narrative and the story within a story. I’m now intimately familiar with the styles panel in Word!

Finalising the cover – Readers judge books by their covers, both in terms of how good they look and looking for visual clues that indicate that this is the sort of book that appeals to them. I realised quickly that I would need professional help with the design. That still required me to provide a lot of input, including giving the initial direction, feeding back on drafts, and researching comparable titles my book would be sitting next to.

Marketing – This was the biggest learning curve, and I still don’t think I’m anywhere near there. What I will say is that one of the great adages that drives me is that if people don’t know about your book, there’s no way they are going to buy it. The other big thing I have learnt is that unless you have a series of books, you need to treat marketing as a loss leader. It’s about raising awareness, not making a profit until you have a wide range of ‘products’ to sell.

All this is very important because one of the greatest selling points of self-publishing is also one of its drawbacks: there are no gatekeepers. This means that it’s important to stand out from the crowd. What better way to do that than with quality?

You can read more about my self-publishing journey by visiting my blog at www.pjmurphywriter.com.

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Easy Amazon Links

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Using my link does not change the price you pay. Amazon pays me a minimal amount out of their share. 

If you are a fan of mysteries, check out more whodunnit reviews on the website.

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Giveaway!

$15 Starbucks gift Card, courtesy of the author of DEAD LETTERS (one winner) (internationally) (ends Feb 16)

Please visit more stops on the tour for extra chances to win!

Official Tour Page for Dead Letters

DEAD LETTERS by P.J. Murphy Spotlight Book Tour Giveaway

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Book Title: Dead Letters by P.J. Murphy
Category: Adult Fiction (18+), 349 pages
Genre: Mystery, Literary Fiction
Publisher: P.J. Murphy
Release date: May 2023
Tour dates: Jan 22 to Feb 9
Content Rating: PG-13 +M. The book is not violent, and swearing is infrequent. There are a number of references to ghosts, but the atmosphere is more gothic than scary (with one exception). However, it is a book aimed squarely at adults, with references to depression and mental illness.

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