Author Archives: Michael R. Johnston

Today’s my birthday, and I decided that if I couldn’t get the local bookstores in my area to stock my book, I was going to go to a place that did and see it on the shelves for myself! So the family jumped into the car and drove the 65 miles to Dublin, CA, whereContinue reading “My First Drop-in Bookstore Signing!”

Here we are, two months past the release of The Widening Gyre. How does it feel? Weird, man. It feels weird. I’ll elaborate on that, but first, some answers to FAQs: How are sales doing? I don’t know. I really don’t. I get sales reports quarterly, but because the book released two weeks before theContinue reading “Debut Diary, Part 8: Two Months Post-Release”

Lately I’ve been a bit panicky, because despite having a contract and a synopsis, I’ve been really stalled on book 2. But somehow I seem to have broken through my brain’s resistance, and now we’re getting off the ground in a big way. I’m still a little bit nervous, because I’m just now reaching 20%,Continue reading “The One Where Michael Worries About a Deadline…”

Starting this month, I’ve joined Authors For Families, a collective of authors (and other publishing professionals) offering various items and services at auction to support organizations that seek to reunite immigrant children with their families and fight against inhumane immigration policies. We support: • CASA in Maryland, D.C., Virginia, and Pennsylvania. They litigate, advocate, and help withContinue reading “Authors For Families Kicks Off April Auctions!”

As of today, The Widening Gyre, my little space opera novel, is (theoretically) on store shelves! If you can’t find it in hardcover or paperback at your local bookstore, you can either order it from them or you can order it from the links here on this site. Pick your retailer; we’ve got ’em all.Continue reading “Well, here we are: Release Day!”

Here we are, 3 days and change from release. I’m mostly sanguine about it, at this point. The book is written and printed; the audiobook is recorded, the ebook is waiting for release–and of course, the only part of that I had anything to do with is the writing. So I can sit back andContinue reading “Debut Diary, Part 7: Launch Week Nerves”