Here's my story
I’m an independent author—still working my “day job” in the design and construction industry—and I have self-published five novels. After my first story was rejected by the usual publishing houses, I decided to forge my own path. Turns out those publishers were wrong; my first release, FALSE ASSURANCES, became a best-seller and was optioned as a feature film by Spyglass Media. Sequels THREAT BIAS, SUBVERSIVE ADDICTION, VITAL DECEPTION, and EPIC INJUSTICE continue the story of my unique and compelling protagonist, Ben Porter.
I see myself as an “accidental” author. My story started at about one in the morning on Monday, July 10, 2017, an hour that most people would be asleep. I was standing watch on a sailboat named Flying Lady and racing from Marblehead (Massachusetts) to Halifax (Nova Scotia, Canada). And, I had an idea… Granted, I should have been focusing on the boat, but no, I was distracted, imagining something very different in the dark of that night, well offshore and surrounded by nothing but waves and whales. Today, that idea forms the basis for the Ben Porter Series.
As a diversion from my day job, I put my idea to paper, or, more accurately, to keyboard, starting in October 2017. Back then, my story was titled, simply, Ben Porter, and I finished the manuscript in early 2019. As the spring turned into summer, the manuscript got traction. I had a fantastic team behind it, and the story was proposed to mainstream publishers.
They all rejected it. “No.” “Pass.” Or the four words, repeated more than once if you can believe it, that were even more difficult to swallow: “It’s a near miss.” Ouch.
Such a bummer. But, I decided to persevere. I re-wrote the story, titled it False Assurances, and decided to self-publish. Figuring that having two books instead of one would somehow better my chances of success, I wrote a sequel, Threat Bias.
That could have been an epic waste of time, but it seems to have worked out. Those first two novels, released in May 2020, became best sellers; False Assurances was #1 on Amazon, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal lists, and False Assurances and Threat Bias held the #1 and #2 spots concurrently on the Apple Books list. Wow!
Almost a year to the day from my final rejection note, on August 17, 2020, The Hollywood Reporter announced that Spyglass Media had optioned False Assurances for a feature film. Quite a turnaround, huh?!
In March 2021, I released Book Three of the series, Subversive Addiction.
During the course of 2021, I auditioned voice narrators, and eventually cast an ensemble of voice actors to record all three books. Audiobook versions joined the print and e-book versions.
Book Four, Vital Deception, is scheduled for a “pub day” (that’s what they call it in the biz, I’m told) of April 15, 2022. (Let’s be real for a sec; I’m independent, and coordinating a pub day in print, e-book, and audio is gonna be tough. I’m gonna try, though!) *
My story continues to be written. Thank you for being a part of it. And please sign up for my newsletter on the home page, subscribe to my blog, or follow me on social media. Our adventures with Ben are just getting started!
www.amazon.com/author/RosowBooks
Paperbacks are also available at Barnes and Noble or through your local bookseller (my novels are distributed through Ingram to bricks-and-mortar book stores). Audio versions are found at Audible, Amazon, and Apple.
For speaking engagements (in-person or virtual), publicity, general questions, or just to say hello, please contact me directly by email: quadrantpublishing@gmail.com
(Don’t be fooled by “Quadrant Publishing.” That’s me. Not some big, faceless publishing house. Just me, by myself, in a one-room office, taking on the behemoth publishing empires in New York City and beyond. Join me—it’s fun!)
Christopher Rosow
christopher [at] rosowbooks [dot] com
Quadrant Publishing LLC
354 Pequot Avenue
Southport, CT 06890
United States of America
PS This post was written before the pub day of VITAL DECEPTION. I pretty much pulled it off—all versions came out on or about April 15, 2022. And since then, on May 5, 2023, book five, EPIC INJUSTICE, was released. Get it? May 5? 5/5 for book 5. Sometimes I overthink this stuff :)