The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Ex-coach authors tale of baseball, romance
Dan Largent is used to the questions and sideways glances he’s gotten since recently penning his first novel.
It’s not that those around him are surprised he published a book — it’s been in the works since 2005, after all — it’s that the former college football player turned high school coach released a book he himself describes as for “summer readers looking for a fun book to read” and which Amazon has categorized as “sports romance.”
At first meeting, Largent doesn’t come across as your typical romance novelist — whatever that means — but the middle school teacher and former Olmsted Falls head baseball coach said all his life he’s loved surprising people and this latest endeavor is no different.
“I’m a romantic at heart, always have been,” Largent said. “As long as there’s some realism, it’s OK to get lost in it for awhile.
“Until I’m ready to show those sides of myself, or that layer, I like keeping it a secret because it makes it more pleasurable for me to see their actual surprised look and their reaction.”
On June 13, Largent released his debut novel, “Before We Ever Spoke.” It has had stints on Amazon’s Hot New Releases list in both the paperback and Kindle version and, in the weeks since its release, has garnered a 4.9 star rating thanks to overwhelmingly positive reviews.
The book follows former professional baseball player Cooper Madison and Cleveland State student Cara Knox through an unexpected journey of tragedy and love. But true to his nature of surprises, Largent made sure this wasn’t your everyday love story. With thrilling elements of crime and drama, the plot takes a few twists that have readers already asking Largent when the sequel is coming out.
While the response has been quick and generally favorable, the road to becoming a published author was a long, sometimes arduous one for Largent, who began writing “Before We Spoke” in 2005 before finishing it earlier this year.
Certainly the past 13 years haven’t been spent laboring over the book day after day. But there were nights he’d retreat to a separate room of his house to steal a few minutes to write, or bring his laptop to one of his kids’ many sporting events over the last year and a half.
The goal was simple: write a book so that one day his three kids — Grace, Brooke and Luke — could have a copy of a book their dad wrote, and to otherwise finish a task he’s always set for himself.
Then, the book went live and suddenly some fear crept in.
“I didn’t care about how many copies I sold,” Largent said. “It wasn’t until it went live for sale that I got anxiety. Up until that point I didn’t care what people would think, but when it went up for sale I got anxiety because you’re so vulnerable.
“Something that did take that long to reach its culmination ... I didn’t want to be a joke. Then I started to get feedback, so you know they’re reading it, and it was positive feedback.”
The world of self-publishing is somewhat daunting for first-time authors. The average self-published book sells around 200-250 copies in its lifetime and, according to Berrett-Koehler Publishers, the number of books published each year has skyrocketed despite the fact average book sales continue to fall.
But in its first few weeks of publication, “Before We Spoke” has sold over 150 copies and continues to grow as word spreads about Coop, Cara and their heartwarming story.