In 2001 Mary Kay Andrews was born with the publication of Savannah Blues. The New York Times bestselling author is not a seven-year old prodigy, who has dished out a total of six books in her young life. In real life Mary Kay is the alter ego for Kathy Hogan Trocheck, a former newspaper reporter in Savannah and Atlanta, and the author of 10 successful mysteries, including the eight-book Callahan Garrity series.
"It's no secret," she says about her true identity. "I just felt I had done everything I could with mysteries and I had an idea for a different kind of book."
"Mystery readers are very brand conscious," she explains. "If they see a book with my name, they're going to expect a Callahan Garrity book." She could lose readers in the confusion. So Mary Kay Andrews was born by combining the names of Trocheck's daughter: Mary Katherine, and her son: Andrew.
Although Andrews admits her sales of the mysteries were good, she wasn't satisfied. "I was impatient. I wanted bigger numbers." She got them. Sales of Savannah Blues beat the sales of all 10 of her mystery books combined.
"That told me - definitely - that people liked the book and that they would buy more."
She went on to write two other Savannah books and may one day do a fourth. But when she set out as Andrews, she intended just to write stand-alone books and contends that the trilogy titles can be read individually, too. She hit the NY Times bestseller list multiple times. Her latest, Deep Dish, about a TV chef, rode the list for four weeks after its release in February.
What kind of books does Andrews write?
She has a hard time pinning down the genre of her books. "Some call them women's fiction. Some call them chick lit," says Andrews, but that doesn't sit well with her. "In chick lit, the heroine's main purpose is to find a man. My books have women who are in transition. Their lives have been turned upside down and they're trying to find a new way. If a man is involved in that, that's ok, but it's not their driving purpose."
The transition from mystery to women's fiction was a little rocky, admits Andrews. She had to teach herself how to write in a new way. Fortunately, she stayed with her publisher HarperCollins and her editor there, which helped.
"We had a definite idea of what kind of book we wanted Savannah Blues to be," she says, "but that was probably the most rewrites I ever had to do."
What are some of the other differences in her career as Andrews?
Her book tours are slightly different. "I mostly signed in mystery bookstore, but now I do the larger independents and I do a lot of the chains," Andrews says, "I do a lot of Barnes and Noble, Books-a-Million and Borders." Her reader demographics are a little different too. They're mostly women and somewhat younger than her mystery readers.
Although she really doesn't have a "Mary Kay persona," Andrews admits that she has to be a bit more out-going and bubbly with her readers. "Since I write women's fiction, some people feel like they know me even though we've never met."
Andrews loves meeting her fans as well as the bookstore owners and managers. In fact, she likes meeting people so much, she allowed some friends to throw a Savannah Breeze Weekend in 2007 and then again in 2008, where she got to meet, mingle and party with 80 fans in 2008. The 2009 weekend is already being planned as is a Hissy Fit Weekend for this July.
"It's a fun weekend for women to get away and have some fun," she says, but admits with a small laugh that the numbers surprised her. "But it's always surprising when someone picks up my book."
Will she go in another direction with another pen name in the future?
"I go with the flow. Right now these books are selling really well," she says. She is already working on another book and plans to stay with Mary Kay for now. "But you know the thing about publishing is that things change and people's tastes change so I try to stay fluid."
You can purchase Mary Kay Andrews' books from major bookstores and online. Amazon.com has several of Kathy Hogan Trocheck's mysteries.
To learn more about Mary Kay Andrews, visit her website.
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