Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Partner's In Crime Blog Tours Showcases Suspense Magazine-Interview with John Raab

Welcome to my stop on the Suspense Magazine Blog Tour, enjoy a showcase, my interview with John Raab and stick around for the giveaway!

Suspense Magazine

by John Raab

on Tour June 2015

Suspense Magazine is an all digital magazine that was founded in 2007. We publish short stories, interviews, exclusive excerpts, articles and more. We have also in the past published alternate endings to very popular books, IE: Sara Paretsky's book "Critical Mass".
"Suspense Magazine is chock full of stunning artwork, intriguing fiction, and interviews It's a winner!"
—Tess Gerritsen, International Bestselling Author

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Interview with John Raab

John I read in an earlier interview that up until you started the magazine you didn’t have experience in either Journalism or running a magazine.
First how long has the magazine been in publication?

We started the magazine in 2007 after we saw there was a need for authors, publishers and fans. Our first interview was with author Douglas Clegg and that was published only online. Then in 2008 we were able to get an interview with Stephen King and that helped us to create the first actual magazine. Now seven years later we have been able to interview and feature many of the top authors on the NY Times bestseller list, along with debut authors and authors just looking for a voice. Now we decided it would a good idea to have subscribers get a lifetime membership for $24.00.

And what would you do different about going about the birth of the magazine if you had it to do over again.

I would have never started to think about printing the magazine. Many people don’t understand how difficult and expensive it is to put together a print magazine. You need to have a least one years worth of capital in the bank because you don’t get paid for your sales until about 10 months after the magazine goes on sale. I would have focused more on building up the online presence and put more money into that medium.

What field where you in before this?

I’ve always been around business in being an accountant for most of my business life. I’ve run a staffing company for five years, but I was never involved in journalism or magazine business. I started out as a fan, reading books and loving to learn as much as I can by reading history books. My wife is the real reader and she would gobble up every suspense / thriller book she could find. I think by being a fan first, it gave us the passion to really make this magazine work. If we only focused on the income and bottom line, the magazine would have never survived.

The earlier interview also said that you mainly started it for your wife to have access to new Mystery/Thriller authors.
Are you a fan of the genre and who are your go-to authors?

I am a fan of the genre. Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Jeffery Deaver are just a few of the authors that I love to read. I started out early reading Agatha Christie. She was the author that introduced me to the genre when I was around ten. Reading fantasy books in Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, expanded my love for suspense / thriller. When you say go-to authors, we have several strong relationships with authors like Steve Berry, Jeffery Deaver, Brad Thor, David Morrell, Brad Metlzer and several other authors. We are a huge supporter of the ITW (International Thriller Writers) and help out in showcasing as many authors as possible. That is one reason we started the radio show and the Suspense Radio Network. It gives fans another way to hear from authors and really see what is behind the curtain. We have always felt that while the people you see on TV acting out the parts, the real talent behind all those shows are the writers. If you remember when the writer’s strike was going on, they couldn’t even put on an award show. The writers are the real talent in Hollywood and it’s time they get their proper due.

John you co-created a serial mystery for your readers the first installment called Green Lake.
Tell a little about the serial, how will they be connected, etc…?

Green Lake is an interesting project I thought about one day. I wanted to create a serial story that read like a TV show, so instead of seeing Chapter 1, 2, etc. the reader would see Episode 1 Scene 1, and so on. It will be an ongoing series, just like a TV show. Green Lake is co-authored by Donald Allen Kirch and right now we are working on the next installment. We put out the book in pieces and parts, but think we are going to finish an episode first and then release it that way. Right now the story is open ended, which is exciting for us because we don’t really know how it will end. I can say that Green Lake is a fictional town in California. Evil that was supposed to be dead has now returned and literally taking the town apart. There are a lot of characters, where many don’t know their role yet, but they better start working together or the town itself will die.

Is this a web-only series or does it also appear in the magazine?

It doesn’t appear in the magazine. This will be a serial that will be in book form. You can get the first episode right now for free on Barnes and Noble.com. That book will remain free, but going forward we are going to charge for next installments and make it a series.

Is it only for subscribers?

Anybody can get the book.

How many episodes are out?

One full episode is out for free on Barnes and Noble.com. The second is finished and we are working on the third right now.

John Thanks for answering these questions!

More About John:

John Raab founded Suspense Magazine in 2007. Also the host of three radio shows on Suspense Radio Network (Inside Edition, One on One and Beyond The Cover) also the producer for two more shows, Crime and Science Radio and The Story Blender.
The CEO / Publisher of Suspense Publishing a book publisher that publishes #1 NY Times Bestselling Author Paul Kemprecos, along with several other authors.

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Still on the Fence? Enter to Win:

This is a giveaway hosted by Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tours for John Raab & Suspense Magazine. There will be 1 ebook winner of Cornerstone by JM Leduc, 1 ebook winner of The Lone Wolf by Joseph Badal, and 1 winner of the next e-release of Suspense Magazine. The giveaway begins on June 1st, 2015 and runs through July 3rd, 2015. a Rafflecopter giveaway