Author Q&A

Q&A 

1.                  Why do you write what you do?

I’ve always been drawn to international stories—spy novels and thrillers in particular. But when I was a kid there were no international children’s stories available. So now I write stories that I would have wanted to read when I was ten, eleven, and twelve. My novels are set in international locales because travel has made me feel alive and given me an insatiable curiosity to learn.

2.                  How does your work differ from others of its genre?

In three big ways. One, it’s realistic fiction. There are no dragons, no magic; it’s just kids solving problems created by adults. Two, with more than 100 geographic terms, the book has a strong travel theme. “It’s like a quick trip to Paris.” Thirdly, the book is kid appropriate—“no sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll,” or guns. It works well for adults reading to kids. #WeNeedDiverseBooks

3.                  How do you promote your work to the middle grade audience?

Middle grade is challenging since the sales pitch is twofold. Your customers (children) are not necessarily the buyers (parents). So in essence, you have to sell the book twice. To this end, I teach, speak, and read at schools, bookstores, and libraries all over. I also use the usual social media suspects: Twitter: Crime Travelers @paulaertker, Google+ PaulAertker, the website: crimetravelers.com, and of course, Amazon and local bookstores. The full Q&A interview can be found online here.

Promote Your Book by Meeting Twitter Friends Face to Face

This is a partial re-posting of a blog by my Twitter friend, Leisa Greene at Indie It Press.

Brainwashed – Crime Travelers Series by Paul Aertker: teacher, author, and world traveler.  

I met Paul through twitter over a year ago.  While vacationing in Missoula, Montana, Paul took the extra effort to meet me last summer.  We met at a local coffee shop, Liquid Planet, face to face.  Paul helped me to realize that the twitter supporters out there are real, and constant.  He is an avid indie supporter and believes in what I am doing here at Indie It Press.  It is an honor to help promote his book Brainwashed written for kids ages 10-14, and I am proud to call him a friend.

Book one of Paul’s Brainwashed (Crime Travelers)is a realistic middle-grade action-adventure novel about international teenagers who race through Paris to sabotage the Good Company’s profitable kidnapping business.

LG:  What was your creative process and timeline working on Crime Travelers?

PA: I stopped counting the rejections at one hundred. Then I boldly quit by Read the full post here:

Thanks to Leisa Greene for doing this interview. 

Best New Book For Kids Ages 10 +

A THRILLER FOR KIDS

 

Crime Travelers—Book One: Brainwashed is “a fast-paced and endlessly clever action-adventure novel with a globe-trotting plot.”

While sleeping on the roof of his father's hotel, thirteen-year-old Lucas Benes finds a baby alone and learns that the Good Company has restarted its profitable kidnapping business. Multilingual and already on his third passport, Lucas leads a network of international teenagers through the hotspots of Paris-from the catacombs to the Eiffel tower-in an all-out effort to spoil a brainwashing ceremony that could potentially turn them all into ‘Good’ kids.


A realistic middle-grade (tween) action-adventure novel packed with secret societies, questionable friends, and international chases.


1. Print version available here at Amazon
2. ebook version available here at Amazon
3. Print version available through any bookstore

“Reads like Jason Bourne, but for kids.”

—Chris Everheart, award-winning author of The Delphi Trilogy

“A superb page-turner.”

—Mark Robichaux, editor, and author of Cable Cowboy

“An entertaining and exhilarating ride… a welcome addition to any library.”

—Elizabeth Zoby, librarian, Denver, Colorado

“I love how math helps Lucas and his team escape danger at every corner.”

—Kevin Graovac, middle school math teacher

“At first glance, Lucas Benes, the hero of Crime Travelers: Brainwashed, is a typical teenage boy, impulsive, insecure, and brash.  Yet, like most adolescents, he proves to be so much more: resourceful, courageous, and most importantly, kind.”

—Josh Cobb, Head of Middle School, Graland Country Day School

“Perfect for preteens and early teens who envision days of action and excitement.”

— Jane Phillips, education consultant

Quotes from the back of the book. More info @ www.crimetravelers.com

Crime Travelers—Book One: Brainwashed 

No matter how bad your past is, you still don't want it erased.

BEST NEW TWEEN BOOK

CRIME TRAVELERS: BOOK ONE: BRAINWASHED

The first book in the Crime Travelers Series, Brainwashed, is a realistic upper middle-grade action-adventure novel packed with secret societies, questionable friends, and international chases.

While sleeping on the roof of his father’s hotel, thirteen-year-old Lucas Benes finds a baby alone and learns that the Good Company has restarted its profitable kidnapping business. 

Multilingual and already on his third passport, Lucas leads a network of international teenagers through the hotspots of Paris—from the catacombs to the Eiffel tower—in an all-out effort to spoil a brainwashing ceremony that could potentially turn them all into “Good” kids.

No matter how bad your past is, you still don’t want it erased. Available at Amazon and bookstores everywhere.

More info @: crimetravelers.com
More about the author here: https://www.amazon.com/author/paulaertker

Blurbs for Crime Travelers

Available now.

Blurbs for Crime Travelers book One: Brainwashed

Library of Congress 27 words

Thirteen-year-old Lucas Benes leads a group of anti-terrorist teenagers through the hotspots of Paris to spoil a brainwashing ceremony that could turn them all into kidnapped kids.

short blurb 53 words

While sleeping on the roof of his father’s hotel, thirteen-year-old Lucas Benes finds a baby alone and learns that the Good Company has restarted its profitable kidnapping business. Lucas leads a group of anti-terrorist teenagers through the hotspots of Paris to spoil a brainwashing ceremony that could turn them all into “Good” kids.

Back of book/blurb/Amazon/Ingram Book description 72 words

While sleeping on the roof of his father’s hotel, thirteen-year-old Lucas Benes finds a baby alone and learns that the Good Company has restarted its profitable kidnapping business. Trilingual and already on his third passport, Lucas leads a network of international teenagers through the hotspots of Paris —from the catacombs to the Eiffel tower—in an all-out effort to spoil a brainwashing ceremony that could potentially turn them all into “Good” kids.

Visit crimetravelers.com

Back of book/blurb/Amazon/Ingram Book description 135 words

Things have been off course for Lucas Benes since . . . forever.

It all started the day nuns found him as a baby floating in a Styrofoam ice chest in the sea off Tierra del Fuego. For thirteen years Lucas couldn’t figure out who was or where he was from.

Until one day he got a glimpse into his past that he couldn’t ignore.

While sleeping on the roof of his father’s hotel, Lucas finds a baby alone in a shopping cart and learns that the Good Company has restarted its profitable kidnapping business. Multilingual and already on his third passport, Lucas joins a network of international teenagers as they race through the hotspots of Paris—from the catacombs to the Eiffel tower—in an all-out effort to spoil a brainwashing ceremony that could potentially turn them all into “Good” kids.

Back of book/blurb/Amazon/ingram Book description 144 words

Lucas Benes lives in a hotel with his father and sister. But Lucas can’t seem to pass tests that will put him with his friends on Tier One at the New Resistance hotel-school. While sleeping on the hotel roof, Lucas discovers that someone has left a baby alone in the back parking lot. The almost thirteen year old decides to break a school rule and rescue the toddler. Lucas quickly learns that the Good Company, which is anything but good, has restarted its profitable kidnapping business. Lucas’s father makes the difficult decision to send his own children into the French capital to try and stop the evil Siba Günerro and her Good Company. Together, Lucas and his New Resistance friends race through the hotspots of Paris in an all-out effort to thwart a brainwashing ceremony that could potentially turn them all into “Good” kids.

"No matter how bad your past is, you still don't want it erased."

Get the book here.

Crime Travelers Pitch

Crime Travelers

“No matter how bad your past is, you still don’t want it erased.”

A realistic middle-grade action-adventure packed with secret societies, questionable friends, and intercontinental chases. And, an occasional dirty diaper.

Thirteen-year-old Lucas Benes lives in his father’s hotel where they operate an organization of anti-terrorist teens. When Lucas finds a baby in a shopping cart, they discover that the Good Company has restarted its profitable kidnapping business. Lucas then leads a network of teenagers through the hotspots of Paris in an all-out effort to thwart a secret brainwashing ceremony that could turn them all into “Good” kids.

Available at: 

In High School Forever? Oh yeah.

"Everything an adolescent does—everything an adolescent feels—is just a little bit more intense."

I recently read this article in The Week magazine about high school, and the heightened emotional senses that come with that particular period of life. Here's the article ( http://cdn.app.theweek.com/noistde/14540 ) 

It got me thinking. This is what writing is. Or at least, good writing is a little bit more intense: everything.

I feel like there is always a connection to those high school people from that period of time, a connection to those emotions almost. You and me included. The title of the article is "In High School Forever" Yikes. Sure, I think we all wish we'd grown up somewhere, anywhere else.

But that's where we were. Then. And now you have now. What do you do with the "then" now? It's part of you. Then is what we draw from. It's a constant pool, a vat of good and bad that you can rework and replay and ultimately rewrite. 

I continually pull from this period of time for real writing, for the deep stuff, whether it's funny or silly deep stuff. My sense of humor was formed in high school and by the people who just so happened to be there at the same time. I don't think anyone chose to be alive at that particular time. We were just there. 

There were great times then in high school or at least they were great in the sense that they were emotionally charged, a little bit more intense. Better to feel something than nothing at all. There were plenty of cobwebs, too. the ones that reveal stuff you don't want to see again. But we all have cobwebs. High school history is not always quality material for writing or rewriting, but sometimes reflecting on the history, on the personal history, an understanding of who we are and who we are not emerges. It's the unraveling of that self that let's you find out who you are and what you should write about.

If only we could tap into it and feel it when we wanted, when we need it Yeah, if.