OK, so my name is not really James Stone.
There’s a reason. The book is about spies, and traitors, and mostly set at The
National Security Agency, and talks a lot about Cryptographics, NSA core
business. I worked there a long time ago, but have spent most of the rest of my
career in high security work. People in the business tend to look askance at
associates who write books in the genre. Hence the pseudonym.
I’ve read a lot about the frustrations of
getting published, so I believe I’ve been very lucky. I wrote Crypto and then subscribed to Writer’s Market. For some reason, I was
attracted to Twilight Times Books, went to their web site, saw an open window,
and submitted my manuscript. The publisher, Lida Quillen, responded almost
immediately with a tentative no-advance offer. I accepted, and was assigned an
editor, who was also very quick. Lida mentioned several times the importance of
marketing, so I started researching that and fell into tj=he pit of gloom,
negativity, warning, about bad strategies, and evil money grubbing, do nothing
publicists. No real top-down ‘this is how you do it,’
Back to Lida for advice. She recommend a
person. I went to her web site and was very pleased to see a set of
well-ordered plans at extremely, what seem to me, good prices. This blurb is
the firs of her suggestions.
A word about the Internet. I spent many
years writing government, scientific, popular articles, and even a children’s
book. Contrary to popular thought, Government officials appreciate clear and
accurate writing. As a result, I am very particular about accuracy of my
content. I couldn’t have written Crypto
without the Internet. The most amazing content can be found there. One
instance: I suppose most everyone knows about the Lubyanka in Moscow
Total time to Amazon eBook, about six
months.
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Dr. Stone has a Ph.D. degree in electrical
engineering, and numerous international certifications in computer security. He
has worked at NSA, NASA, and the Department of Defense in various capacities,
as well as having been a professor of engineering at a major university.-He
recently retired from engineering and plans to devote himself to writing. CRYPTO is his first novel.
