What’s your biggest pet peeve as an author?

My guest today – Michael Mattson – lists common author’s woes: the inability to find a good proofreader and to get help advertising his book. Maybe I’d better let him put it in his own words.

What’s your biggest pet peeve as a writer? I wouldn’t call this a pet peeve but it is one thing that I think frustrates a lot of writers. With the many changes in the publishing industry, and the establishment of small publishing houses operating on limited resources, the help publishers used to traditionally offer authors has been limited by economic considerations. Many do not employ editors or proofreaders and many are ill-equipped to provide marketing assistance.  Unfortunately, this often leads to published works that could have been made better with the help of a good editor and could reach an expanded and more profitable audience.

JG’s comment: That’s why authors at Oak Tree Press do blog hops and work together to promote their work.

And now for info on Michael Mattson and his book The Dancing Boy.

Synopsis: The Dancing Boy is a mystery set in the Pacific Northwest. Treat Mikkelson lives on Drake Island in a small cabin by the water with his cat Ackerman. He's retired from a lifetime of studying and writing about crime, and keeps himself busy crabbing, fishing, and harvesting enough clams for dinner. This all changes when an elderly woman in a small, nearby tourist town is found at the foot of her stairs with a broken neck. Although the authorities are inclined to consider it an accident, a friend suspects foul play and asks Treat to investigate the matter.

How autobiographical is this work? Treat is an iconic, self-contained ex-Ranger with a penchant for garish Hawaiian shirts and a love for blues and Hawaiian music. After you read Michael’s bio, guess.

Bio: Michael Matson was born in Helena, Montana, and was immediately issued a 10-gallon Stetson and a pair of snakeskin boots. After formative years spent in New Jersey, North Carolina, New York, California, Hawaii and Japan, Michael earned a journalism degree from the University of Washington in Seattle. Following a brief military stint in Oklahoma, where he first encountered red, sticky mud, heavy rain and tarantulas, he returned to Seattle and worked as an advertising agency copywriter, creative director and video producer.

In 2007 he (regretfully) left Seattle for Mexico to have time to write and has since published The Diamond Tree, a fairytale for all ages;  Bareback Rider, an inspirational adventure for children; and Takeshi’s Choice, a mystery novel.  His second mystery novel:  The Dancing Boy, was released by Oak Tree Press in April 2014 and is available at Amazon.com