You can say I lead a double life. During the day I teach history at a Catholic high school in Windsor, Ontario. At night, I'm a detective story buff. I read 'em and I write 'em.
One day at church, I had an epiphany. What if, in the days of Jesus Christ, the authorities in Rome had sent a pagan tribune to the hinterlands of Jerusalem to investigate rumors about the missing body of a crucified Jewish preacher?
There it was—the basis for a detective story centered on the greatest mystery of all time. My dream come true.
So I went ahead and did it; I wrote The Case of the Empty Tomb: Tribune Claudius Maximus.
Then I sent the manuscript directly to iUniverse.
I figured, even though I have this compelling detective story, why would the big publishing houses ever be interested in the work of a high school history teacher who dabbles in detective stories?
The iUniverse publishing process went like clockwork. They even beat their own schedule. The editor who evaluated my book gave me a few kind words and some helpful suggestions. And the cover design? Well, it was so good it brought tears to my eyes.
Then, good things began to happen. I qualified for iUniverse's prestigious Editor's Choice designation. And they even made my book available through Barnes & Noble.com (bn.com), Amazon.com, and over 25,000 online retailers worldwide.
iUniverse took the mystery out of getting my book to market—and helped this high school teacher realize his dream of becoming a published author.