Sunday, January 29, 2012

Let's Launch This Thing!

Okay, so we're really rolling now. The Book Launch for Matinicus (my double mystery set on the Maine island of the same name) has officially been scheduled, so if you're a planner like me and you're going to be anywhere near Portsmouth, NH on Thursday evening, May 17, please join us at RiverRun Bookstore for a short reading and signing followed by a reception just down the street at the Portsmouth Athenæum. If you've never been the Athenæum, this alone will be worth the trip. Portsmouth's oldest cultural institution, its four floors are home to thousands of books, documents, centuries-old maps and all manner of ephemera relating to NH's Seacoast. Hope to see you there!

FYI...The cover for Matinicus is just about finalized, so be sure to check back!

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Changing Publishers


Okay, I promise to be better about keeping you updated. Been offline for a bit while I regrouped. The long and short is that I needed to change publishers to guarantee my vision of Matinicus (the first book in my Maine Island Mystery Series) as both a tree book and an e-book. 

So here's my rant...While it's true that e-readership is very much on the rise and the costs of putting out paper books have become nothing short of ludicrous, it's also true that the world is chock full of people who still prefer to curl up in their favorite chair with the real thing. And when all is said and done, it's about making your readership larger, not smaller. A no brainer, really--well to me anyway. But apparently not to my former publisher's bean counters, who decided to nix my softcover version. That was all it took for me to jump ship. Scary to give up a sure thing for something as ephemeral as artistic vision, but well worth it in the end. So, after a few months of teeth-gnashing and sleepless nights, I'm back on track with "real" books and all manner of e-versions due out in May. Yeehaw!

The other biggie is that I finished the draft of Reese's Leap, sequel to Matinicus, and have sent it off to readers for commentary. One long-time reader came back with the comment "Boy, you do paint those baddies well," and I'm hoping she's right. Murderous scumbags bent on twisted, seemingly unwarranted revenge are too easy to get wrong. Tentative pub date for this one is spring, 2013.

And here's another promise...this one to share the cover of Matinicus as soon as it's ready!