D.M. Coffman's Blog

I guess I failed to post that book 3 of The Net thriller series "The Panama Contagion" was awarded 2020 BEST BOOKS FINALIST AWARD in the category Fiction: Thriller & Adventure, sponsored by American Book Fest. Here's the link to the awards page: http://www.americanbookfest.com/gener...

My little culture book titled "China Through the Eyes of Her Students" received the following FIVE STAR REVIEW from Readers' Favorite. Thank you!
"Get your passport ready! As you embark on your journey by reading China Through the Eyes of Her Students, you will enter China and see this country not through the eyes of a tourist, but through the eyes of the Chinese people. DM Coffman has taken the personal writings of her English students at the University of Peking and presented us with their insights. You will learn that, if you are like many of us, your knowledge of China and her people is sadly misinformed. This book will teach you that people are people no matter where they are from. We may be from different sides of the globe, but we share common dreams, desires, hopes, and fears. We even share common self-image issues.
DM Coffman divides the writings of her students’ perception concerning their life into seven sections: 1) the students’ perception of China; 2) family and home; 3) life and culture; 4) college life; 5) love and relationships; 6) self; and 7) Chinese stories and legends. This is truly an informative book that will show you the real China and not the China that is presented to tourists. China Through the Eyes of Her Students was definitely an eye-opener for me as I learned that the Chinese people are very much like the American people. I urge you to take the time to read this book and have your eyes opened to the reality of what life is like in China. While the students were learning how to communicate in English, they provided a wonderful window into the hearts and minds of the people of China." -- Readers' Favorite

My Christmas gift to readers is that I will be giving away for FREE the kindle ebook version of THE PANAMA CONTAGION on December 12th and 13th. Watch for it on Amazon! Remember, this book is a 2020 BEST BOOKS award-winning Finalist in the Fiction: Thriller/Adventure category sponsored by American Book Fest.

When rewriting my first book, THE HAINAN INCIDENT, I chose to split the story into two books. WHY? Because readers' comments indicated that they felt the story bounced around too much between places. I think they were right. There were two distinct places where the story took place: Beijing and Hainan Island. So, I split the stories based on location. This also gave me the opportunity to expand on the stories in each location--which I think made the overall story much better. Hopefully you'll feel the same way as well. So, do you think readers have an influence over authors and their books? YOU BET THEY DO!

The Net series book covers have finally been updated. Hopefully that will make things easier to find.

Please remember that my first book--THE HAINAN INCIDENT--is an LDS version of books 1 and 2 in The Net thriller series. It was written for a Latter-day Saint (LDS) market and was published by Covenant Communications, Inc. I'm grateful to Covenant for publishing this book, but I was not happy with some of the religious elements that were required by Covenant. I didn't feel it really fit with the story's setting. Some of you even commented that the religious aspects felt forced. So, when my contract with Covenant ended, I rewrote the story for a general/mainstream audience. As it turns out, I like books 1 and 2 (The Net Conspiracy and The Hainan Conflict) much better!
The reason this is important is because YOU DO NOT NEED TO READ BOTH The Hainan Incident and books 1 and 2 in The Net thriller series. If I could remove The Hainan Incident from Amazon and other places of sale I would so it wouldn't be so confusing; but that is under Covenant's control. My suggestion is that if you are LDS, read The Hainan Incident; if you are not, read books 1 and 2. (If you read The Hainan Incident and want to critique books 1 and 2 in comparison, and let me know what you think, I would love to hear from you.)
In any case, book 3--THE PANAMA CONTAGION--is the follow-up story to either The Hainan Incident OR books 1 and 2. It is available now through Amazon. I hope this clarifies things.

I should also mention that my second book in The Net thriller series--THE HAINAN CONFLICT--was given a GOLD AWARD/FIVE STARS by Literary Titan. Yay!

I'm sorry to say it, but Goodreads' platform has been a NIGHTMARE for me. First, they won't accept my author name as DM Coffman--they require periods after D and M. So, I set up my list of books under D.M. Coffman, but my readers rate my books under DM Coffman (because that's the way it is on Amazon--and the way I want it), but they don't show up under D.M. Coffman on Goodreads. You would think Goodreads could make the connection!
Secondly, at the end of last year (2019) I decided to have The Net thriller series book covers designed professionally. THEY CAME OUT AWESOME! thanks to Learcio Messias at 99Designs, who designed them. But now, Goodreads doesn't let me update or add the covers under D.M. Coffman--probably because the ASIN assigned to each cover is under the name DM Coffman on Amazon, so Goodreads can't find them. (And although I typed the post last year about the covers being updated, it didn't show up until today; and Goodreads isn't letting me edit or delete the post--I'm sure that is my error, however.) So, the covers displayed under D.M. Coffman are wrong and no longer available. Yes, I've asked Goodreads (numerous times) to fix the problem and it still isn't done.
I'm SORRY if any of these problems make it difficult for readers to find and/or rate my books. As an independent author, reviews are CRITICAL to making it in the mainstream world among publishing house books. So, as you can imagine, this Goodreads situation is very frustrating. I hope it hasn't had an impact on you.

I decided to have The Net thriller series designed by a professional. These were done by Laercio Messias at 99designs.

Award-winning Finalist in the 2020 Best Book Awards in the category of Fiction: Thriller/Adventure, sponsored by American Book Fest! The Panama Contagion