Author Interview: Joylene Butler

I interviewed my friend and fellow author Joylene Butler on her book Dead Witness. 

I read the book and gave it a five stars and a rave review, not because she’s my friend, but because Joylene wrote a great story.

Here’s the interview

Dead Witness has a bit of history.  Can you tell us about that?  

I published one copy of Dead Witness in 2008 because my friend and critique partner Keith Pyeatt thought publishing one copy through Lulu might be enough incentive to keep us plugging along. At that stage we’d both been trying to get published for years.

The day Dead Witness arrived, my husband and I were heading to the big city of Prince George. We stopped at the mailboxes. There is something quite surreal about holding your first novel in your hands for the very first time. Not an easy emotion to replicate. Sort of akin to holding your baby.  

While I got my haircut, my husband paraded through the mall and showed my novel to everyone he saw. I was happy not to be there. Despite the costs he urged me to have more printed. His reasoning: We had a lot of family and friends. 

I ordered 100 and they were all gone in a week. I wasn’t ordering anymore. 

My BFF’s daughter lent her copy of Dead Witness to her boss at one of British Columbia’s largest grocery chains outside Vancouver. Her boss read it then passed it on to the lady in charge of all their book departments. That lady called one day and asked if they could stick Dead Witness on their shelves. I was very grateful but explained that I didn’t have any more. She gave me the name and number of Sandhill Books. 

I was so green in those days. During my telephone conversation with Sandhill it became clear that they only distributed published novels. Clearly I was on the brink of insanity because I convinced her to read Dead Witness and if she didn’t like it, I wouldn’t bother her again. Two weeks later, she sent me my first contract. 

Through Sandhill I connected to Hignell Books in Manitoba. They’d print 3000 copies for less than $3 a book and sent all but 200 copies to Sandhill, I got the rest. Sandhill distributed Dead Witness to every bookstore in Canada, independent and otherwise. My novel was in Chapters Indigo, Coles bookstore, and all libraries. 

Strangely, I was still blacklisted from networking in the United States. I was self-published. That was a dirty word in those days. 

One day the CEO at Sandhill Books asked me why I didn’t query Theytus, the oldest aboriginal publisher in North America based in Penticton, BC. I didn’t have an answer so I wrote Theytus a letter and asked if they’d publish my 2nd manuscript, Broken But Not Dead. 

Broken But Not Dead was published in 2011 and won the IPPY silver medal in NYC in 2012. A year later, the ebook version of Dead Witness was published in Canada with MuseItUp publishers. 

How did you come to write this story?

My big brother, a PI and security consultant, was visiting from the Yukon and connecting daily with his employees via the phone. This was before the internet. One day I watched him talking on the phone and wondered, if I disappeared, would he have the resources to find out what happened to me? That simple what if question was the catalyst for Dead Witness. 

There is a lot of inside commentary about the FBI and the Canadian police methods.  How did you pick this stuff up?

I spoke to RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) officers, spoke over the phone to the public relations people at the FBI office in Washington State, and interviewed the head Crown Prosecutor for Northern British Columbia. I also talked to my brother, the firearm distributor for the Yukon. As a closet wannabe student, I spent 3 months doing research at our local library. Another reason why I’m grateful for the wide world web.

What’s your next project?

After years and years of editing, I completed the final drafts of my political thriller Kiss of the Assassin and my suspense thriller Shattered, and just recently, have decided I deserve a vacation. I’m not doing anything until September. Then I hope to write my first children’s book.

Thanks for having me on your blog today, Hank. Your continuing support is greatly appreciated. 

You can get a copy of Dead Witness at: 

https://www.amazon.com/Dead-Witness-Joylene-Nowell-Butler-ebook/dp/B0988739RK/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=joylene+butler&qid=1627495166&s=books&sr=1-1

As an aside, I read an Advanced Review Copy of Kiss of the Assassin and it’s another great thriller.  I have a five-star review ready to go as soon as it’s published. 

 

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