Jim Coleman is a typical writer in one way only — he has another job that brings in the real money, while he indulges his “hobby.”

Coleman’s writing hobby, however has succeeded far more than most writers. He has published four books. One of these 2004 releases, “Omens” is set in Safford, Ariz., a place where he visited often.

Coleman’s childhood memories do not translate on the page into fondness, though walking through Safford in early July, he is clearly excited to be back in the town. Don’t expect to see Safford in its best light, however. It’s fiction after all, and its 457 pages are dark. Another book released this year is set in Phoenix and Cordes Junction.

“Both books are crime/suspense, with elements of police work and a touch of the paranormal,” said Coleman, a Port Orchard resident. “In Omens, a sex predator stalks the streets of Safford, preying on the young males in the city. The man, a trusted ice cream truck driver, actually believes he’s a werewolf, and acts accordingly. The Safford City police chief hooks up with the Graham County Sheriff to solve the grisly killings. They turn to a local psychic to help, and the story gets intense when all three are dragged in far over their heads.”

In light of a recent real-life case of decades-old baby skeletons found in a Safford storage unit, Coleman has to work hard to get fiction stranger than truth.

His hardest work though is in promotion. For the most part, Coleman chooses the self-promotion route. He said he doesn’t do well in bookstore appearances, owners of which have to many restrictions.

Coleman, as the new media director for The Sun newspaper, controls the flow of information on its Web site and develops online projects to augment what appears in the paper.

It is, therefore, no coincidence that Coleman uses the Internet in a variety of ways to sell his books, as well as his artwork. But what Coleman also seems to realize with his Web sites, www.reverendjim.com and www.jimwcoleman.com is the full scope of what a reader today may expect.

“I have tended to avoid bookstores — both with regard to my inventory and my book signings,” Coleman said. “They can get them if they want. I’m working to create a demand ... and finding out that the Internet is the way to go.”

It’s not simply words, anymore. Or, at least it doesn’t have to be.

“I am a marketer-marketer-marketer. My website URL is on everything, including the front and back of my car. I’ve found that I’m not really selling books, I’m selling my name: Jim W. Coleman.”

In July, part of his reason for driving into Safford again was to create a “documentary” of most of the key scenes and places mentioned in his book. This included many poses with location signs. While there he took hundreds of photos and rolled videotape. At least one part of the video, Coleman said, will be replayed to represent the paw-level view of the book’s werewolf.

Yes, it’s that kind of book.

Why not simply write about Web design?

“I have always loved fiction,” he said. “I have a mind that takes everything it encounters and asks, ‘What if?’ As an artist, I love to create, whether with pen and ink, paint, or words. It’s hard to get creative when writing about HTML.”

Creativity is what drives Coleman. You have to have ideas, he said, before you can sell or write or design anything. The ability to appreciate and not just exist through necessity is one thing that separates man from animals — or monsters.

“I’ve often said the creativity I have is more of a curse than a blessing in many ways,” Coleman said. “It can keep me up all night long. But if someone could take away everything and leave me only one thing, that one thing would be my family. The next would be my creativity.”

Coleman’s, whose family is now six children said he gets upset at the idea of society’s sexual abusers; whether that’s in the neighborhood or the church.

“I can’t put into words my rage and frustration when I see sexual predators with a high likelihood to re-offend being put back into our society, often right near schools and day care centers,” Coleman said. “I know too many people who have been victimized. …People work themselves into positions of trust and take advantage of the weak or the helpless, and it’s not right.”

Coleman continues to write and his next, “Level Heads” is a collection of short stories, not nearly as horror-filled or graphically intense as “Omens.”

It helps occupy a busy mind.

“I love to write. And I love to read,” Coleman said. “And yes, maybe someday I’ll get lucky and write a blockbuster. But for now, walking onto the Washington State Ferry and seeing a stranger reading my book just blows me away. You never get used to it.”

(Editor’s Note: Temple A. Stark is a reporter at the Casa Grande Dispatch in Arizona and a former Port Orchard resident. During that time, he was a frequent contributing writer for the Business Journal. He can be reached at writer@templestark.com. Ironically, Jim Coleman’s mother, Patti Nunley, served as Operations Manager for the Business Journal’s parent company, Wet Apple Publishing, for almost 10 years.).