Murder, they wrote; profit, they hope
by LAUREN BAYNE ANDERSONTimes Staff Writer
St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
November 10, 2004 Wednesday
Murder, they wrote; profit, they hope. But even if the book flops,
their marriage has prospered.
INDIAN SHORES – For 20 years as an emergency doctor, George Kamajian’s
daily routine often included abuse, murder and death.
“Once I was even threatened by this huge criminal I was treating,”
he said. “I threatened him back. To survive, sometimes you have to
act crazier than the patients.”
Wanting to forget his long, harrowing days at work, Kamajian, 53,
found an outlet for his stress in writing. But he didn’t put the
white coat out of his mind entirely.
Instead, his stories wove together his medical knowledge with his
interest in Egyptology. His wife, Debra, 45, often hovered behind him,
reading over his shoulder.
“I’d get little notes the next day left on napkins, saying, take this
out, put this in,” he said. Soon after, she began adding passages of
her own.
The couple, who moved to Indian Shores this year, never planned to
become authors, but years after they began writing as a hobby, they
published their second book,<I> The Eyes of Horus, </I>in June.
Horus </I>is the story of Derek, a detective, and Kelly, a medical
examiner and emergency room doctor, who solve a murder mystery through
medical research.
The characters find clues that lead them from New England to Florida
and finally to Egypt, where they discover the double crown of Egypt,
an ancient artifact.
The pair incorporated themselves into the book. His medical experience,
their Armenian background and their dry sense of humor all factor in.
“As writers, you put yourself into it a little, so I could be Kelly
and George could be the detective,” Debra Kamajian said. “When you
get that intensely into any subject, you don’t exist in a vacuum;
you’re writing with own experiences.”
Although the authors are on their second book, George Kamajian
remains an emergency room doctor. But he practices far from his
Pinellas beachfront condo. To avoid paying Florida’s higher medical
malpractice premiums, he commutes twice a month to Massachusetts for
work. The couple lived in nearby Rhode Island for almost 10 years
before moving to Florida in August.
They started writing<I> Horus </I>in 1999 after their daughters,
6 and 7, were born. To break up the monotony, they began a book of
humorous short stories with unconventional, ironic twists, titled<I>
And That Was That</I>. The book was picked up quickly in 2003 by a
small Canadian publisher.
But after years of working on the 400-page novel <I>Horus, </I>they
had a pile of rejection letters from publishers after more than
100 queries.
Debra Kamajian said they thought about self-publishing but opted not
to because of the stigma attached to it.
“With all the money we spent on postage, sending manuscripts to
publishers, we could have published ourselves,” she said. “But when
you say “self-published,’ a lot of people poo-poo it.”
After a year of letdowns, the Kamajians received a call from Barbara
Turner, owner of Briarwood Publications, a small publisher in Virginia,
who was interested in the book. Briarwood publishes about six books
a year, many by professors working toward tenure.
“I was so excited; I thought, a publisher believes in us,” she said.
“We kept the telephone message for a year and a half.”
Turner said she immediately loved<I> Horus, </I>but alerted the
authors that once the book was published, they would have to work
even harder to publicize it.
“I told them, I’m small press and you’re unknown, so we really need
to work here,” Turner said.
Debra Kamajian – with the personality more of a cheerleader than
the co-author of a medical murder mystery – energetically took on
marketing.
The homemaker canvassed neighborhoods, placed fliers on car windows
and talked up the book.
Slowly, her drive is paying off<I>. Horus</I> is available at
Amazon.com and at some local libraries, and will soon be available at
Waldenbooks in Clearwater. She has set up a book signing at Westfield
Shoppingtown Countryside for early December.
But publicity isn’t cheap. Already, they have spent more than $1,000
on poster boards, fliers and banners.
“It does come out of our pocket, but it’s okay, because the whole
point is for people to read it,” she said.
They make about $1 on each book, which retails for $9.95. Thousands
of copies have been shipped to distributors across the country,
but Turner said that because<I> Horus </I>was recently printed,
she couldn’t estimate how many had sold.
“Books are unique in that what I might think is going to be a great
seller might not be,” Turner said. “It’s like throwing mud up against
a wall: Some will stick. Some won’t.”
Her goal is to be able to walk into a bookstore and find<I> Horus
</I>readily stocked on the shelves.
George Kamajian said whether or not the book becomes a hit, writing
it was worth the time.
“Am I optimistic about<I> Oprah? </I>No,” he said. “But this book has
brought me so much closer to my wife, and for me, that’s the strength
of it.”
The couple continue to write, weaving their life experiences –
sometimes odd – into their stories.
Walking along the beach recently, George Kamajian spotted an
out-of-place object that had washed in. He recognized it as a human
bone.
Examining it with puzzlement, he looked up and said, “This is the
start of the next book.”