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CJ Lyons spent 17 years as a pediatric ER doctor in Pennsylvania before dropping both her stethoscope and her snow shovel to live a second dream as a novelist in the sunny South.
Now settled on Hilton Head Island, Lyons’s latest book, “Blind Faith,” debuted at No. 2 on the New York Times Bestseller List for both E-Book Fiction and Combined Print and E-Book Fiction. She’s also written two suspense novels with Erin Brockovich, the first of which, “Rock Bottom,” debuted in March.
Q. What convinced you to make the leap to such a different career and such a different climate?
A. I had sold two books while still working as an ER doctor, and I realized I had the chance to not shovel snow anymore. I thought I better get my mortgage while I still have my (new) day job. So I quit my day job, moved 1,000 miles away from my family, and 90 days before my first book was to be published the publisher pulled it because of cover art issues. And there was nothing I could do about it. That was my introduction to the world of New York City publishing and their logic.
Q. Did that make you second-guess your decision, or make you even more determined to succeed?
A. I just kept writing, looking for a new agent. Luckily advance reader copies of the two books I’d written, “Nerves of Steel” and “Sleight of Hand,” were floating around New York, and I got a call from Penguin Putnam asking if I’d be interested in writing a medical suspense series targeted toward women. That became the “Angels of Mercy” series. But the book I wrote during that uncertain time was “Blind Faith.”
Q. What’s “Blind Faith” about?
A. It’s a book of betrayal. Every single scene has a betrayal. It’s about the main character Sara’s struggle to overcome the ultimate betrayal from her husband. And it’s about the challenge not only to forgive, but the power of love to heal.
Q. You coined the phrase “thrillers with heart” to describe your novels. Why?
A. My books are all about the people and their relationships; they’re not about the technology, the explosions, and the medical science as much as the people and how it impacts them. I coined it to explain how they’re not true romances, they really have that adrenaline pace of the thriller and the rising stakes, but it’s all on a very, very personal level.
Q. You self-published Blind Faith as an e-book. Why did you start self-publishing online when you had an agent in a traditional publishing house?
A. When I saw there was an opportunity to put my own books online and reach a new audience I realized I had manuscripts (the previously nixed “Nerves of Steel” and “Sleight of Hand”) that had been professionally edited by publishers in New York City. So I started publishing my stuff on Kindle and Smashwords. I love it. I’ve been building an audience, reaching out to readers, and readers have found me who hadn’t ever heard of me before.
Q. There used to be such a stigma to self-publishing. Do you think e-books and self-publishing will eventually knock out traditional publishing houses and agents?
A. In New York City publishing, what they do best is they turn books into events; they make them souvenirs. People say ‘I read this online but now I want a copy for my bookshelf.’ So that’s why I think if we really play to our strengths, there’s an opportunity to make everybody profit.
Q. What made you pick Hilton Head as your new home base?
A. I had been down to Hilton Head Island only once, for a medical conference, and I fell in love with the beach, the way it’s so wide and walkable. And I really loved the way the area is so green. Conservation is so important here; they really try to protect nature and grow without damaging it.
Q. Do you ever miss being a doctor?
A. I miss my patients, but I’m very glad to be out of the business of medicine, working 60- to 70-hour work weeks. It was really wonderful to make a second dream come true.
