I’ve always known I’m not the only “Charles Martin” on the planet. Obviously. It’s not an uncommon name. Whenever I’ve met one, I always recoil a bit. Narrow eyes. Swollen chest. “Don’t mess up my name.” I imagine they say the same about me. A good name is hard to find. ;-) Imagine being “Jim Smith.” That said, an angry reader ripped me a new orifice for a book she read by, “her favorite author, Charles Martin.” Only problem is I’m not that Charles Martin and I didn’t write that book. Had nothing to do with it. Never said I wrote that book. Never knew about that book. Best I can tell, I don’t write anything like that. If you search Amazon, you’ll see what I’m talking about.
Maybe I should take it as a compliment that a reader would so quickly jump on a book by “Charles Martin.” For the record, I don’t know that Charles Martin, never met him. He’s older. Maybe a fine fellow but his words and mine are very different. There’s also a third. He seems younger. Don’t know much about him either other than I’m not him. A quick search proved a 4th. Imagine there are more. At the end of the day, the reader felt duped and I got lambasted. Ahhh, the joys of electronic readers and impersonal computer algorithms written by 800lb gorillas that suggest “If you enjoyed this, maybe you’ll enjoy more books by ‘Charles Martin.” Kinda makes me miss the good old days of hard covers and printed words.
The good news is that readers accustomed to ‘my voice’ could tell that something was ‘off.’ Discerning readers picked up on this rather soon and said so in their comments. “No way this is ‘my’ Charles Martin.” Love how they take such ownership of me. It’s also funny how in order to know the counterfeit, you have to study the real thing. So, I’m thankful to all of you who have spent hours in my words, studying the real thing. I’m sorry somebody pulled the wool over your eyes. You’re not alone.
If you would like to know which books are mine, you can find them all here at charlesmartinbooks.com. If you’re a Kindle person, click on my Amazon Author’s page. A couple of clicks will straighten it out. Although, I'm not always in control of my Amazon page so double check. Had to remove one just now.
One more thing…there is a rumor that I’m going to release a never-before-published electronic book entitled “River Road” in the coming weeks. A collection of short stories from my childhood where readers can get a sense of the beginnings of my voice as an author. I promise, when I do, that I, Charles Martin, wrote it. Every word.