Mark A. Cooper, Author

Mark A. Cooper, author, is an interesting person. Born and raised at Lordship Lane, East Dulwich, London, UK, he wowed his followers with his British accent. He moved his family to the United States because it has a lot to offer and he loves Florida weather. Sarasota hit their hearts and they settled there in 2003.

He owns an antique business that deals mostly in coins and watches. He developed his love for the antiquities as a child in his families used bookstore. He grew up reading and handling the musty books.

He's a member of a large author support group, in Sarasota, that meets once a month.

He self published through Infinity Publishing the following:

A Movement in Time with Rolex and Breitling, 2007, Moving into the

United States & Immigration, 2008 and Fledgling a Jason Steed Novel, 2008. 

Mark chose the self publishing route because he didn't feel adequate as an author. He still doesn't. Fledgling was written for his son and he didn't really think there'd be very much interest. He feels a lot of luck surrounded Fledgling.

It came out about the time the Alex Rider series ended. It seemed a logical cross over. He didn't bother to stop the rumors that Anthony Horowitz was writing under a pen name. Fledgling was also picked up 

by Prince William, who enjoyed the read. Take a look at his website. There's a picture of Prince William reading it. (www.markacooper.com) He also feels the book was timely with the first book in the Hunger Games series.

Four months after Fledgling was published, he was contacted by an agent who sold it to SourceBooks as a trilogy. They required him to get a facebook page and website. He also had to cut 25,000 words. 

The second book in the series: Revenge, was published by SourceBooks March 2012. The third book, Fuhrebunker Survival, is due out late 2013.

He is also working on Edelweiss Pilots. SourceBooks and his agent are excited about this one as well. All his books are written from life experiences or insights he's gained from his observances.

He doesn't have a work schedule. When his shop is slow, he writes. He also writes late into the night as his wife watches TV. He hand writes first, draws pictures of his characters and pastes them on the wall so he can remember their little nuances. He has notes on lots of pieces of paper that he leafs through as the story progresses. A little disorganized, but the system works for him at this time. Only time it's difficult is when he travels.

As for movies, he's had a couple of tugs, but nothing solid. His first tug was from the same company that filmed Harry Potter. His agent wants him to write the script. He feels inadequate and is dragging.I really enjoyed visiting with Mr. Cooper. He's a down to earth kind of guy and his  accent provided me with my daily recommend allowance of the British accent.

Meet as many authors as you can. You never know what you'll learn and what friendships may form.

Happy Author Hunting.