I don’t rate to be on this list

I was floored today when one of Audible’s staff alerted me that I had been “selected to be part of the Audible’s ‘Fall Books Preview’ — a promotion that highlights soon-to-be-released books our Editors are most excited for.”

Only twenty books were promoted with cover images, and that list of twenty included Stephen King, John Grisham, James Patterson, Karin Slaughter, Lee Child, Vince Flynn, Tom Clancy, Janet Evanovich, David Baldacci, and Michael Connelly. Oh, and Stan R. Mitchell.

Are you kidding me?! lol

Wow. Just wow.

Here are the images exactly as they’re highlighted. (I’m correctly placed on the last row!)

New Stand-Alone Books

The Bazaar of Bad Dreams: Stories ( UNABRIDGED) by Stephen King Narrated by To Be Announced Rogue Lawyer ( UNABRIDGED) by John Grisham Narrated by Mark Deakins

The Murder House ( UNABRIDGED) by James Patterson, David Ellis Narrated by Therese Plummer, Jay Snyder Pretty Girls ( UNABRIDGED) by Karin Slaughter Narrated by Kathleen Early

Here’s the link to the landing page, which looks even more impressive than what I’ve displayed above because the book covers are four wide instead of two. The Audible employee said the fall promo would be used on the Audible homepage, their targeted email list, facebook page, twitter, and other forms of outreach.

I’m still a little too stunned to say more, but I wanted to thank each and every one of my fans and friends who took a chance on me and have supported me with your reviews and word of mouth when my name most certainly wasn’t making lists such as this.

If I’m ever famous, I’m going to find a way to thank my early supporters who stood by my side when there was nothing to gain by doing so!

Oh, and while I’m at it, let me hit you with a few quick other updates.

First, Afghan Storm should be done in October. (For those that don’t know, this is the third book in the Nick Woods series.)

Second, I’m making pretty good progress on my second Little Man book, and have much of it outlined.

Third, I’ve started a new detective/police series that I think will blow you guys away. : )

I know I’m probably dreaming, but the members of Mitchell’s Militia who have been here from the beginning know that I’m crazy ambitious, and it’s my honest-to-goodness, crazy goal to have the second Little Man book and the new detective/police book done by the end of the year.

Keep the faith,

Stan R. Mitchell

About me: I write military action books similar to Vince Flynn, Stephen Hunter, and Tom Clancy. I’m also a prior USMC Sgt with Combat Action Ribbon, and a guy who spent 10+ years writing every day in the newspaper business — 9 of them with a newspaper that I started. Please consider subscribing for email alerts — I mostly post about things that either motivate or inspire you.

44 thoughts on “I don’t rate to be on this list”

  4. Of course you deserve it, Stan. How many Nobel Prizes do you have to win before you start believing it???
    (Don’t forget to include your nifty muscle-man photo)(which I think you should redo with a black turtleneck)

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    1. lol! You know me too well, Nancy!

      And I do need both more muscles and to redo that shot in a black turtleneck! (Would you believe a 12-year-old shot that photo? One of my best friend’s daughters, who wants to be a photographer!)

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    2. Hah! Love the optimism, OG. And great question! May have to turn that into a blogpost and ask other people for their suggestions, just for curiosity’s sake.

      I’ve always been so intrigued by how 10 people can read the same character description and come up with 10 different ideas for what he/she looks like from the same sentences!

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      1. Have you seen Reese Witherspoon in ‘Wild’?

        Cheryl Strayed, the author of ‘Wild’, did a really good job controlling the content, style, feel of the movie. She and Witherspoon agreed to buying the movie rights first, then looked for the best fit to converting the book to screen.

        What ever happens, Stan, make sure you keep control of your stories.

        Good job, man! I would really love to see you take this series to SE Asia, China and the South Pacific (and Australia), I know you’re a II MarDiv guy, but there’s interesting things in the Asian region, you’re boy can get into.

        YUT!!! Can you do a blog on this Amazon audible thing, Barney style, and how it can be used in the field, for example will my 2007 iPod download these books?

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        1. First, I’m starting to think you’re a writer. Period. Search your soul, and make this shit happen. lol

          Second, love your ideas about SE Asia. I’ll make note of that. Maybe after their done with ISIS in Syria/Iraq.

          Finally, that’s a great idea on the blogpost on doing a simple version about the Audible books. I’ll do that once they’re closer to being finished.

          Thanks, brother!

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        1. Oh, thanks!! And thanks for the RT on Twitter. BTW, I think you’re the first person to ever use the Mitchell Militia hashtag, which I should have been using for months and months now…. SMH…

          It’s a wonder I ever succeed at anything sometimes! lol

          Thank goodness for just sheer stubbornness and ridiculous, plain stupid optimism. Well, and help like yours. Otherwise, it’d never happen!

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      2. One of my favorite military/action writers of all time is W.E.B. Griffin and he successfully crossed over between Military, Police, and Spy kinds of folks. (And made about umpteen zillion dollars.)

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        1. I’m a big fan of W.E.B. Griffin too, if it wasn’t for his books, I’d have been neck deep in Club Int’l magazines (the Economist magazine of Marines).

          My thing with Griffin and other such novels is that military, police, spy are treated separately. Meld these three genres together! I would include the Richard Francis Burton genre of adventure/explorer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Seldon_Lady

          Also, the tween market is hurting for new series, everyone’s had enough of these dystopian, recycled fantasy crap. Maybe a series based on Marine bootcamp. The underlying mission would be to render Close Order Drill obsolete and focus more time on SERE type training, with some spy (collection) and police (investigative) training thrown in.

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  9. Stan,   this is wonderful news!!   Congratulations and how can I get the second Nick book,  what is the title?   Love this character and book!!    Again,  way to go!!!

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    1. Thanks! And it’s sad, but I had to look up “wtg!” lol

      At first I thought it was a typo and you had intended to write “wtf,” which under the circumstances is I suppose also a worthy comment! : )

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        1. I know exactly what you’re talking about. Have you tried working on something else, as well? Thta sometimes helps me take the pressure off my primary story, and keeps me from feeling I’m not being productive in my writing life.

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  14. Congratulations Stan. If this is already an audio book I’m surprised Audible weren’t able to show who was doing the reading. I hope you got somebody good. This is excellent publicity and should do your sales no end of good.
    Best Wishes

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    1. Thank you, David. And they have informed me who is narrating it, but I’m not sure it’s public knowledge, so I can’t say.

      But nonetheless, Danah and I were so pleased with who’s doing it — he’s excellent and has worked on some NYT’s best-sellers books.

      Hope you’re doing well, and I wish you much luck with your writing endeavors, as well.

      Sincerely yous,
      Stan

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