Tag: robert chazz chute

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Tales of Humiliation

Recently, an author posted about how an up-and-coming writer’s book had failed to launch. The author claimed to be a bestselling writer, and boy, was she a scold! She was all up in her feelings about a self-published author’s debut that failed to sell many copies. Her core message was, “If only they’d done what I had done! If only she knew better!”

This demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding some folks have about publishing books. There are too many variables outside the author’s control and no guarantees of success. You can do everything right, and still fail. In fact, trad or self-published, most books fail to find an audience. To become a bestseller in Canada, you have to sell a few thousand in a week. Less than 0.5% of the 100,000 hardcovers published each year make the New York Times Bestseller List. Novels have a spectacular failure rate (if your only metric is sales and reaching a wider readership. Some authors do not share those aspirations).

The bestseller criticizing the debut writer attributed her success to herself, her publisher, and her skill. There are many more factors than that. When people succeed, very few have the perspicacity to admit they were just plain lucky. Instead, they rationalize their genius moves after the fact.

You can optimize your chances of success, but the headwinds against you are enormous. The Netflix documentary featuring Fran Lebowitz was originally expected to air earlier than it did. Netflix put that off, and that turned into a happy accident for Lebowitz. That delay meant the show aired during the height of the pandemic. Many more people watched than otherwise would have because everyone was stuck at home.

Arrogance and ignorance can really drag an artist down.

During book promotions, many authors freely give away books to boost the store algorithms and garner more reviews. When my dentist asked about my work, I mentioned that I was running a promotion at that moment for my new book.

“You can pick it up for free right now,” I offered. Nice and generous, right?

“You’re giving it away?” His tone suggested I was making a rookie mistake in devaluing my work.

I still run into that attitude among some authors, but it’s a tried and true marketing tactic.

“Objection! Stephen King doesn’t have to do that.”

Ahem. You’re not Stephen King. Neither am I. There can be only one!

To be found, loss leaders are common and not at all shameful. It’s incredibly difficult to get people to review a novel, and harder still to sell a novel with few reviews. Many authors decide to give to get to increase their long-term sales. There are other approaches, but this is far from outlandish. Give a few hundred, and potentially gain a few thousand new readers and maybe a couple of dozen fresh reviews. Simple marketing, right? (It is, I’m not really asking.)

It gets worse.

On a Zoom call with fellow alums from my university, I discovered how I’d stumbled into a rather insulated clique. First, one woman didn’t believe I had attended our alma mater at all. “I don’t recognize you,” she said. It was a challenge. Amazing how casual some folks are about making an enemy for life, huh?

We attended a small university, but I wasn’t one of the cool kids. I recognized her from the cafeteria, but saying so would have made me feel even more inconsequential. She was active in clubs, at the bar, and getting lots of pictures of herself with friends she would keep for life. I was up in my dorm room reading and happy.

(Stay tuned. My humiliation continues below the graphic)

All that content solitude in university was one reason I got to do this:


mybook.to/TheEndemicExperience

It got worse.

On the same Zoom, an old friend said he had picked up Endemic for free. The other people on the call laughed at me. The friend asked if giving away books was worth it. In that moment, it sure wasn’t. I was in the wrong group, talking to the wrong people. Hurt feelings aside, I’ve never put hurt feelings aside.

Whatever you’re choices, there will be people who don’t know your journey, but they are certain you are doing it wrong. Don’t just agree to disagree. Disagree to disagree. Keep going, and do you, Boo.



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Weekend Reads: Embracing Literature for Escape

Coffee and a book or two are great ways to start a Sunday morning. I’ve found my escape from the news, at least for a little while.

I just got these this morning, and I already know Writers and Lovers is a binge-read.

Sunday Morning, back home in Nova Scotia

When we weren’t arguing about whether I should be imprisoned in the car and taken to church, Sunday mornings used to be magical. Sunday mornings meant listening to CBC’s Sunday Morning and Dad cooking up a hunter’s breakfast. The theme music was “English Country Garden,” a very civilized and incongruous opening for a series of radio reports about the state of the world. My clearest memory of the show comes from November 1978. I know the date because it was when I first heard the gritty details of the Jonestown massacre. Many years later on the same program, they read a letter I wrote on air. It was an ode to my beloved journalism prof, Walter Stewart, upon his death. Read the second paragraph under Early Life and Career on his Wikipedia page, and you’ll understand why I loved him.

Sunday morning: today.

This morning, I awoke to news of rebels capturing Damascus and Bashar al-Assad fleeing to parts unknown. I had to shovel the end of the driveway again because the plows came through. That done, I headed out as CBC reported on the abuse of First Nations people by police. As I drove home from the bookstore, the cantankerous and fun Fran Lebowitz was interviewed. “English Country Garden” is long gone, but the journalistic standards remain.

I was once a journalist and columnist. Now, when I get a weekend newspaper, I skim the news and head for the Books section. I wonder if I’ll pay so much attention to politics and world affairs for the next couple of years. I love to be informed, but I write fiction. It occurs to me that many of my happiest times were when I retreated into the safety of books.

Books are Milestones of Nostalgia

One Christmas, when all I wanted was a train set, I was sick. I went to bed with a tall canister of Smarties and read Chitty Chitty Bang Bang by Ian Fleming. Later, I would read all the James Bond books. They had so little to do with the movies I loved, but I loved the books no less.

University was me putting off toiling in the workforce for four years. It meant hiding in my dorm and reading In Cold Blood and Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Once I graduated, I moved to Toronto to work in publishing. I was selling American Psycho and arguing with my bosses about censorship (Them: for; Me: Against).

I ate up Bright Lights, Big City, and related to the story so hard. On a summer night on the 28th floor of my apartment building in downtown Toronto, I devoured my favorite novel, The Color of Light by William Goldman. When I realized he had fooled me again, right down to the last line, I threw the book across the room, partly in exaltation, partly in admiration.

Chase the Cozy

Losing oneself to a novel, there is a coziness that feels like sitting by a crackling fire as a storm rages, a storm you don’t have to face. If you have the privilege of ignoring the violence and disappointments of current events, even for a little while, cherish it.

I encourage you to check out my books and retreat into fictional worlds for some solace. There are plenty of links to your right.

Failing that, here’s a link to Lily King’s Writers and Lovers. Think of it as Portrait of the Artist as a Young Woman. I’m only 30 pages in, and it’s delightful.

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Vigilante Justice and the American Healthcare Dilemma

The murder of a health insurance CEO in New York is an interesting moment in American history. It is a little surprising (but not shocking) how many people don’t care that this person was killed. (Read reactions to Brian Thompson’s killing on Huffpost here.)

I’m not condoning murder. However, the more you learn about the practices of his company, the more you understand the impulse to dismiss the crime with, “Oh, well.”

I write stories about vigilante justice.

I prefer those stories to stay within the confines of fiction.

I spoke with an American friend recently who needed medical tests. They had insurance, but the co-pay was usurious. Another American friend had a series of worrying symptoms. He couldn’t afford to visit a doctor. He had to choose groceries and rent over the possibility of a horrible death.

I see my doctor a few times a year. I couldn’t afford to be a hypochondriac in the United States. Medical bankruptcy is not a thing in Canada. Here, there are no such things as pre-existing conditions. We just call that your medical history.

Non-Americans look at the richest country in the world and wonder, “How are you okay with this?”

We rarely visit the United States. We wouldn’t consider stepping south of the border for a moment without medical travel insurance. Going without insurance is one thing. Paying for insurance and still not being able to access healthcare anyway is especially galling.

People feel the way they do about this murder for genuine reasons. This one rich man’s death will get much more attention than the deaths of others. His company’s policies deny care to people in need, but that is already known. It doesn’t seem the demise of so many patients will be investigated with half as much vigor as the CEO’s death.

I am so grateful for universal healthcare.

I have had surgery to save the vision in my left eye. In 2023, I had two hips replaced. The care was excellent and timely. The most I had to pay for all that excellent care was parking fees. There is nowhere on Earth where universal healthcare is perfect. I prefer less-than-perfect to the confusion and deceit present in the American healthcare system.

What does that murder mean, though?

This murder, this moment, is not a cultural shift on its own. It’s a symptom of a sick system. When justice fails, people give up on norms. This has been coming a long time. In the middle of a stump speech to a conservative crowd years ago, Ron Paul spoke of providing healthcare to the poor. “Should we let them die?” Paul expected a resounding no. Instead, someone yelled, “Yes!” The assembled burst into a round of applause.

This is an increasingly dangerous time. When empathy disappears, society fails.

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Endemic: A Survival Story of Strength and Identity

Endemic is an apocalyptic novel, but what is it really about?

Ovid Fairweather is a survivor in what remains of New York after the fall of civilization. A pandemic has killed billions worldwide. Many of those who survived their infection have reduced mental capacity. Marauders swarm the city hunting for Ovid because she has a secret garden and survival skills.

That description only addresses the plot, not the theme.

Many apocalyptic scenarios can be shallow. I’m not interested in watching a hyper-prepared former soldier mow down rivals for supplies. I initially enjoyed The Walking Dead, but the story lines became too repetitive and the tone too relentlessly grim, devoid of any humor.

All the protagonists in my books are underdogs. Ovid isn’t a soldier. She’s a bookworm. She’s intelligent, socially awkward, asexual, and on the spectrum. She could flee to the relative safety of her father’s farm in Maine, but her dad doesn’t understand her. She’s too stubborn to leave New York, and doesn’t want to deal with him.

That struggle with her father is where the theme of Endemic emerged.

Through adversity, Ovid grows stronger. Forced out of her shell by circumstance, she helps others. She’s been a nail all her life. The complications she faces will make her a hammer. Eventually, she’s destined to become a queen.

Ovid changes and improves, but in the end, she remains true to herself. She does not flee to safety. She stays to lead and to protect her found family. In the final analysis, Endemic is an action-adventure novel about how gradually people change and how they don’t.

http://mybook.to/TheEndemicExperience
BUY ENDEMIC NOW

And now it’s time for more coffee and a book.

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When Justice Fails, Molly Won’t

When people ask me where I get my ideas, I have to say, “All around me.” From my impatience in long lines at the grocery store to my anger at an unjust world, there’s plenty to spur my bitter imagination.

Vengeance Is Hers is the origin story for a vigilante. Molly Jergins sees a fellow student at her high school assaulted. The bully receives no real consequences. Molly launches a one-woman campaign get the bully and his awful family banished from Poeticule Bay, Maine. She’s only in high school, but Molly has found her life’s calling.

The novel is about Good versus Evil and where the line between the two blurs. It’s about growing up in a town too small for your big dreams. I also include a lot of ideas on how to get back at people who deserve your wrath.

The manuscript is with the editor. We’ll do three rounds of edits and polishing, plus the excellent work of beta readers. Launching in early 2025! Please stand by!

I repeat: This is not an instruction book! But….

Okay, yes, you can expect a lot of clever ideas of how to exact vengeance upon your many, many enemies. Where do I get those strategies? Mostly from my imagination. A woman on TikTok gave me an idea about how to best plague an enemy with the stench of sour milk. Listening to The Daily Zeitgeist podcast gave me some fresh fun on the helpful dangers of bouncy castles. I thank those influences in the Acknowledgments section at the back of the book.

Mostly, I think a lot about the people who have wronged me or someone else and contemplate what might be a useful weapon I could pick up at any hardware store. You will, too. It’s fun fiction

Vengeance Is Hers is still in the editing process. If you can’t wait for an excellent story of vigilante justice, read The Night Man now.

The Night Man cover

Easy Jack isn’t a bad guy, but to survive, he will have to act like one.

“You’re guaranteed a mighty fine read.” ~ Claude Bouchard, USA Today Bestselling author of the Vigilante Series.

From the author of the Hit Man Series comes a new killer thriller.

Returning home after serving his country, Ernest “Easy” Jack hoped his family’s reputation had been forgotten. No such luck in Lake Orion. Small towns have long memories. Grudges run deep. Worse, his high school sweetheart is trapped in an abusive marriage. Family bonds, love and loyalty will be tested when a sociopathic billionaire and a dirty cop conspire to use Easy in a deadly bomb plot.

Escape is unlikely. Easy’s odds are not even.

BUY THE NIGHT MAN NOW
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Vengeance is Hers: A Gripping Tale of Vigilante Justice

COMING IN EARLY 2025!


If you can’t forgive and forget, what’s next?

When a fellow student is attacked and run out of town, police and the school administration in Poeticule Bay, Maine prove useless. Enraged, Molly Jergins launches a campaign of vigilante justice against the school bully. 

As threats and vandalism escalate to a war ending in death, the line between right and wrong blur. Molly tries to be good, but when hunting monsters, she will be safer if she becomes a better monster.

Revenge is the best success.

Robert Chazz Chute is a former crime and science journalist for newspapers and magazines. A graduate of the University of King’s College and the Banff Publishing Workshop, Robert has won fifteen awards for his writing. He pens suspenseful crime fiction with muscle and apocalyptic tales with heart. His hidden headquarters is a blanket fort in Other London. Vengeance is Hers is his twenty-ninth book. 

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How I Got the Best Sleep of My Life

Every exercise, diet, and brain performance guru tells you to prioritize sleep. Where their advice often falls down is the how of it. Last night, I had the best sleep since the womb. I’m going to tell you how. I’m not a doctor. Consult your own. I can only tell you what worked for me.

I have two sleep disorders, so when I went to a sleep specialist, I was hoping for easy answers. He had lots of answers, and they were easy. They just weren’t entirely effective.

Do the Thing! The Last Stress-busting Book You'll Ever Need

http://mybook.to/DoTheThing

I got the usual advice first.

Since my sleep apnea was under control, the sleep specialist gave me the same suggestions to improve sleep that you’ll find on any listicle:

Exercise, but not too close to bedtime.
When you’re sleepy, go to bed like an adult
(or a toddler forced to go to bed).
Keep the bedroom cool and dark.
Cut off screen time a couple of hours before bed.
Avoid excess stimulation in the evening.
Wind down with a book. (As a writer, I highly encourage this.)
Ditch heavy meals late in the day.
Avoid caffeine after noon.
Try a warm shower an hour or so before bed.
If you can’t sleep, get up, move to another location, and read something until you’re sleepy
Reduce stress.

Try again.

I am a hot sleeper, so I’ve tried cooling blankets and all manner of cooling pillows. None of them stay cool for very long. I’ve even tried ice packs in the bed. All to little or no avail. Every morning, two of my four pillows are on the floor, the sheets are twisted into nooses, and it looks like I lost a fight with ghosts and demons.

What worked for me.

  • I upped my magnesium intake, including a magnesium cream 30 minutes before bed.
  • I had a CBN edible. (This one has no THC or CBD in it, though I’ve found that can help.)
  • The newest additions to my sleep strategies were (a) noise-canceling earbuds made of silicone, and (b) silicone tubes in the nostrils.

The noise reduction was significant. All I could hear was my own breathing. I’d tried nose strips before, but they did nothing for me. With the tubes in my nose, my sinuses opened up to nice cool air. I could sleep with my mouth closed, and I slept deeply. I also knocked out for much longer than usual without interruption.

I will grant you, these are not sexy strategies. However, I woke up refreshed and greeted my wife with, “It’s a beautiful world, full of beautiful people doing beautiful things!” And I had a productive day. It was a good day. Good days are sexy, especially when you are unused to good days.

It’s early evening as I write this. I have enough time and energy before bed to go over suggestions from beta readers for my next novel. It’s nice to have more energy for that, too.

Shoveled twice again this morning. It’s beautiful, but the snow on either side of my driveway is beginning to get so high, I’m throwing snow high in the air and getting quite a workout.