Why I Am Writing A Fiction Book

Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a novelist. I am not known for writing fictional books or coming up with distant fantasy lands. This is not my brand nor what I ever want someone to refer to me as. I am, after all, a businessman, an author yes, an investor, and a leader.

I published my first book, a nonfiction work called Personal Branding: A Manifesto on Fame and Influence in November 2021. I have had success with it and understand the creation, distribution, and marketing sides very well. As you can guess, the subject is personal branding.

So why in the world would I be writing a fiction book? To put it simply, it is what I call a "Why Not?" project. Something that is not detracting from my day to day work and can be viewed as almost hobby-like.

I have the name for the book although I am keeping it undisclosed for now. In late November 2023, 2 years after the publication of my Manifesto, it came to me as I was lying down in bed just about to fall asleep. It isn't uncommon to have ideas before bed or when comfortable.

What was uncommon about this, was that the idea came back up in my head the next day as my Fiance and I were on a coffee run. I mentioned my thought process and as I was going over the premise, the finer details fell into place. The character name, the timeline, etc.

I will get to the genre in a minute, but writing a fictional book has been an idea in my mind since I was a kid in elementary school. At one point I had a manuscript for a Lord of the Rings knockoff that was 20 pages. Creative writing was always fun, similarities aside.

In time in the last couple of years, I would have been too fearful of diluting my brand image to ever take it seriously, but now I understand it is an aspect of my personal brand and is not my personal brand. So, coming the the first quarter of 2024 is my book.

It is an experimental crime thriller that takes place in the present day in Florida and centers around a character named Cheney Roberts. I won't give much more away but let's just say that you will be able to witness his slow slide into depravity.

The book will be dedicated to my late grandmother Anna Kestner and edited by my mother Michelle Fongeallaz which makes the project quite sentimental. For the full press release, you can click here

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