Guest post by Sean McCartney, author of SECRETS OF THE MAGICAL MEDALLIONS

Let me first thank Mayra for allowing me to talk with all of you today.

My name is Sean McCartney and I am the author of the new young adult action adventure series entitled THE TREASURE HUNTERS CLUB: SECRETS OF THE MAGICAL MEDALLIONS.

The book was released July 6, 2010 and is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Borders, www.mountainlandpublishing.com and my web site www.treasurehuntersclubbook.com.

My road to publication is probably like many others. I started getting serious about writing novels in 2001. I wrote my first, THE 65th TEAM in the summer of 2001 and sent it out waiting for all the offers to come in. The only thing that came through the mail was…

REJECTION! And lots of it.

I was stunned. Didn’t these publishers know that every word I put down was gold? That every thought must be perfect because I took the time? So I wrote another novel and another and the same thing kept happening.

REJECTION! What I didn’t understand at the time and after years of working on novels I see now was that I did not respect the words, the sentences or the paragraphs. I left story lines hanging. I assumed the reader would get it. The truth was I didn’t get it.

A friend of mine pointed out something that Mark Twain said and I have used as my guideline for the rest of my novels. “The difference between the right word and the wrong word is like the difference between lightening and a lightening bug.”

With that idea in mind I wrote a fantasy novel called BLACK KNIGHT CHRONICLES: RISE OF EVIL and sent it out. I was able to land an agent with that book and we embarked on looking for a publisher.

My agent sent the manuscript to all the big time publishers and some took a look but nothing came of it. They seemed to like the idea but I was told the market was saturated with fantasy books about knights and dragons and another wasn’t needed.

This was frustrating because during this time I mapped out a five book series and even wrote the second book to BLACK KNIGHT CHRONICLES called SHADOW WARS.

Finally after eight years I decided to write something I would have found myself reading as a kid. I wanted to combine the mystery of the Hardy Boys with the action and adventure of Indiana Jones and national Treasure and thus THE TREASURE HUNTERS CLUB was born.

I really liked it. Of course I liked the other ones too but I decided to take a new approach with sending the book out for publication. I only queried small publishers. No agent this time, just me.

The rejections still came but there was a different tone to what came back. The publishers liked the ideas and the story but with the economy tanking at the time they didn’t feel they could do TREASURE HUNTERS CLUB justice.

Then on July 17, 2011 I received the e-mail from Mountainland Publishing wanting to publish my book I felt like I’d won the lottery.

Over the next year I went through the ups and downs of working with a small, relatively new publisher, but that is another story entirely.

I encourage you, because begging is undignified, to get yourself a copy of THE TREASURE HUNTERS CLUB: SECRETS OF THE MAGICAL MEDALLIONS and kick back and enjoy a fun, fast paced and exciting adventure.

Thanks again for the opportunity and I hope to hear from all of you.


About the author:

Sean Paul McCartney (he’s not related to the Beatle) was born in 1971. He graduated from Alfred University in upstate New York with a Bachelor’s in Communications in 1993. From there he played two exciting season traveling around the world with the Washington Generals playing against the world famous Harlem Globetrotters. In 1996 Sean earned his Masters in Education and embarked on a career as a teacher. He is employed by Plain Local Schools in Canton , OH . The first book in the series The Treasure Hunters Club: Secrets of the Magical Medallions introduces the four teens Tommy Reed, Jackson Miller, Shannon McDougal and Chris Henderson. The series is a cross between The Hardy Boys and Indiana Jones with a touch of National Treasure. You can visit Sean’s web site at www.treasurehuntersclubbook.com or e-mail him at seancoach@juno.com. Visit his The Treasure Hunters Club: Secrets of the Magic Medallions Facebook Fan Page by clicking here!