Uncommon Valor II - Challenge Coins of the NYPD Emergency Service Unit

Back in the summer of 2015, just as I was getting ready to publish: Uncommon Valor - Insignia of the NYPD Emergency Service Unit, the collecting world erupted with a new area: Challenge Coins. At the time I questioned whether I should be the book on hold and include this field, but the more I researched, the more I realized that I would need a lot more time.

I had already invested five years into the cloth insignia history, so I decided to publish that book and then devote the necessary time to properly investigating the coin phenomena. To give you an idea of just how quickly coin fever has gripped the hobby, consider that my first book documented nearly a century of ESU insignia history and comprised roughly 130 pages. This follow-up is nearly the same page count, but only goes back to the late 1990's, when the first ESU coin came out.

Like the first book, this has been a labor of love. At times it felt like I was investigating some deep, dark mystery and at other times banging my head against the desk seemed like a completely acceptable option. In the end it didn't take five years, but it did take almost two.

As much as I love writing these books on ESU, I realize that I much rather write fiction. It is much simpler to create stories in your head, as opposed to conducting research. In the field of non-fiction you only get one chance at being right.

Fortunately, the hard work has paid off and now I add another new book to the catalog. If you are interested in the NYPD ESU or challenge coins, I believe you will thoroughly enjoy this book. It contains over 100 photographs and offers collectors a glimpse at some of the rarest challenge coins produced by the various Trucks and Specialty Units, many of which have never been seen before.

I want to extend my sincere thanks to those members of ESU who afforded me the opportunity to ask innumerable questions and who provided photos of their coins. You are truly the Finest of the Finest.

It is amazing to me, as I submit the file for printing, that this will be my ninth book. It seems like only yesterday that I was holding Perfect Pawn in my hands for the first time. Now it is time to put my non-fiction endeavors to bed for awhile, as I take back up the further adventures of James and Alex.

January 2016 Update - The Importance of Reviews

I sincerely hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a great start to the New Year. Despite all the busyness of the holiday season, I have managed to get some writing in. I can happily state that the latest installment in the James Maguire series is over 1/3 complete and I am currently brainstorming the next Alex Taylor one as well. 

The feedback coming in on the novella I wrote back in December: NYPD Cold Case - The Katherine White Murder, has been amazing and there will be more coming.

Creating stories is not what I consider work, as I enjoy the process very much, but I would be lying if I didn't say that it didn't require work. There is a tremendous amount of effort that goes into creating, organizing, editing, and polishing a manuscript, as my esteemed editor, and co-author, aka: my wife, Nancy Nelson, will attest to. The finished book that you read over a weekend takes hundreds of hours to physically produce. I think I can speak for all authors, especially ‪#‎indieauthors, when I say that the greatest thing you can do for us, besides reading our books, is to review the book and then

recommend it to your friends and families.

Sometimes it feels as if authors are pleading for reviews and the truth is, we are. In the case of indie authors, like myself, we do it all, including the PR work. A legacy publishing house like Ballentine, Putnam or Little Brown, have amazing PR departments who can get an authors book onto the desk's of reviewers for USA Today, the NY Times, etc..... Indies, not so much. 

I can certainly tell you that I much rather prefer writing a new book, for you to read, then I do trying to market them. When it comes to writing, it is truly a labor of love. The majority of authors are lucky if they make enough money to pay for the electricity usage to run the computer they write on. They don't do it for fame or riches, although I don't think that any of us are actually opposed to that concept, but because they have a story to tell. At the end of the day that is who we are, storytellers. Only a small percentage of authors actually make a living from it and it is an even smaller group, like the Martin's, Patterson's and Clancy's, who actually become famous. Once again, it is the readers who decide that.

Author's require readers and, while we appreciate each and every one of you, we really depend on you to review our books. Amazon, which most of us use to publish our print and ‪#‎kindle e-books through, have a very stringent set of analytics which they use to rate books. You can have the greatest book in the world, but without reviews the book will languish because Amazon only showcases / promotes books that have good review numbers.

So if you enjoy books by indie authors, show them some love and take the 2-3 minutes required to write a review.

As for me, it's time to get back to work.

Remember to also follow me on ‪#‎twitter @Andrew_G_Nelson where I tweet about some other great indie authors as well.

Cop Authors – Why should you read them?

First, I have to admit that I am somewhat biased, being both a retired NYPD sergeant as well as an author.  That being said, I think there is a very good reason why you should take a look at authors who have worn the badge.

Not to take anything away from folks like James Patterson, J.A.Konrath and Robert Parker, but one of the issues I have is that they only tell a tale that they have learned.  Prior to their success as authors, none had any actual experience in the genres they successful wrote.  Patterson was an advertising executive, Konrath is a college teacher and Parker was a professor.  

Granted, the tale is the important part and each of these three men do an outstanding job, but for me, and I am sure a lot of other cops, the details are the one thing that cannot be learned.  No, a detective is not going to tell a sergeant or lieutenant what to do, no matter how wildly popular your protagonist is. There is a thing called rank and, to reference the old acronym RHIP, it does have its privilege.  I know that because I had the honor of being both a detective and a sergeant during my career.

Cops experience things in a much different way than the rest of the world and as a result it affects the way they write. Someone who has never done that type of work is going to have a much more difficult time of painting that mental image for you as opposed to someone who has dealt with it a number of times. Cops talk a certain way, have certain mannerisms, and these are the things that separate the layman from the professional.

Now, there is certainly a strong argument that can be made that, while not every author could be a cop, not every cop should be an author. Just because you have a story to tell, doesn’t mean that you have the ability to tell it, but that can be said about a lot of authors. For every Joe Wambaugh (LAPD), Dan Mahoney (NYPD) or Bill Cauntiz (NYPD) there are a lot more who should have stuck to policing.  That being said, readers who enjoy getting an inside look into the ‘real’ world of policing are doing themselves a disservice by only reading books by establishment authors.

I encourage you to widen your horizons and take a closer look at some other police writers, such as my fellow indie authors: Wayne Zurl (Suffolk County, N.Y. PD), George P. Norris (NYPD), Kimberly McGath (Florida LEO).

Just leave a little room at the literary table for yours truly. 

If you’d like to stay up to date on the newest releases, then please like my Facebook page and feel free to follow me on Twitter.

Little Boy Lost - Print Update

The cover graphic and formatted print version of the new Alex Taylor novel, Little Boy Lost, has just gone in and I hope to have the prototype book for review shortly.

I don't foresee any issues at this time which means that the print edition should be available for sale by Christmas. I am doing everything I can to expedite it and will let everyone know as soon as it is up on Amazon.

Once again, thank you for your continued support.


UPDATE: NOVEMBER 18TH, 2015

Well, the proof copy of Little Boy Lost has been received from the printer and so far it looks awesome. Had to make some changes to the cover to ensure that nothing was lost in the edge bleed.

We hope to get it fully reviewed this weekend and will then approve it for release. If you have been waiting for the print version, it is almost over.

Once again I am so proud of my co-author, Nancy A. Nelson, and I hope to collaborate with her again soon !!

December 2015 Update

I hope that you have all enjoyed the Thanksgiving holiday and that your plans for Christmas or, in the case of my Jewish friends, Hanukkah, are going well.

Things have been fairly busy on this end with the release of the e-book version of the Alex Taylor sequel: Little Boy Lost coming out, as well as work on the print version, which will hopefully be released in time for Christmas. It was really fun to work with my amazing wife, Nancy, on this project and I hope to do so again in the future.

In addition to the work on getting that novel out, I have also been working on the next James Maguire novel, which will come out in 2016, as well as another Christmas present project. Once again, you have Nancy to thank for this one.

As we approach the holidays, I would like to ask all of you a favor. If you have read any of my books, please go to Amazon and leave a review. It doesn't have to be much, but every review helps boost the books position within the Amazon analytics. This is used to feature the books to other potential readers. So for all you hoping that they one day get made into a movie, this is your chance to further that chance.

Stay tuned for upcoming posts.

If you’d like to stay up to date on the newest releases, then please like my Facebook page and feel free to follow me on Twitter.

Pre-Order: Little Boy Lost (An Alex Taylor Novel) on Amazon.

You can now pre-order the latest Alex Taylor novel: Little Boy Lost at Amazon beginning today. The book will download to your kindle on November 25th, just in time for the Thanksgiving weekend.

Little Boy Lost is the follow-up to Small Town Secrets. It is the 2nd book in the Alex Taylor series. If you are interested in which order to read them, check out my Books page for the listing.

Little Boy Lost marks the first time my wife, Nancy, and I have worked on the actual story line together. If it were not for her I do not think the story would have evolved in the way it did. She brought an element that dovetailed nicely with the characters.

In honor of that wonderful collaboration, you will see her name listed as my co-author on this book. I look forward to working with her again on upcoming novels.