Rereleasing a Book

by June Shaw

Having a book released gives an author a fantstic feeling. Having it released anew brings back all the flutters and excitement of the first time.

I'd waited so long, that the first time I sold a book, I couldn't believe it. Was the editor having an especially good day and buying everything that came over her desk? It must have been a fluke. And they published it in hardcover.

Reviews started to come in. Well-known authors really liked my book? And one reviewer after another -- including Publishers Weekly! And Deadly Ink nominated it for their David award for Best Mystery of the Year. Good grief.

Then this first book, RELATIVE DANGER, came out in large print. More sales. And Harlequin bought reprint rights for their mystery mass market book customers. I sold nonexclusive audio rights.

And I sold another book in the series. KILLER COUSINS was fun to write and sell, and again I drank in every bit of praise I received.

Third in the series came DEADLY REUNION, in which a mini-class reunion takes place on a cruise ship in Alaska. And I sold other books. And now...

I've come full circle. Untreed Reads has just rereleased RELATIVE DANGER as an ebook with a new cover. They're about to do the same with KILLER COUSINS and the following month, it will be DEADLY REUNION's turn.

All fun. All exciting. I hope you'll check it out.


http://www.juneshaw.com

Your Book Release

by June Shaw

I'm excited because the first book in my series of humorous mysteries has just been released -- again!

Initially I sold RELATIVE DANGER to a publisher that put it out in hardcover and large print. At first I thought the sale was a fluke; maybe the editor who bought it was having a great day and accepting everything that crossed his desk. Soon I was shocked and grateful when my debut garnered praise from readers and reviewers, including these:

"Best Mystery of the Year nominee" - Deadly Ink

"Suspenseful" - Publishers Weekly

"An absolute winner!" – Author Hailey North

"Keeps you guessing" - Kirkus

"Refreshing twists" - Romantic Times

"Way fun!" – Author Alice Duncan

"Sexy" - Armchair Interviews

Someone compared it to Janet Evanovitch's books, which I enjoyed. Harlequin gave me another surprise and bought mass market rights and reprinted my book in paperback.

And now an electronic publisher, Untreed Reads, just released it for ereaders. Next month and the following month, they will be releasing my second and third book in the series, which I'd previously sold and were released in hardcover. What fun to see my books coming to life once more -- in a new format!

My series features spunky widowed Cealie Gunther, who tries to avoid her hunky lover Gil Thurman so she can rediscover herself. But he opens Cajun restaurants wherever she travels. And she is so bad at avoiding tempting dishes and men.

Cealie is a woman of a certain age whose zeal for adventure keeps her in the thick of things—like trouble. She pops up in town early to watch her motherless granddaughter Kat graduate, only to discover that because of a custodian's death—accidental—or murder?—graduation might not take place.

Determined to find the truth, Cealie snags a job as a substitute teacher, exposing much violence, lurking menace and more disturbing questions than answers. The only thing certain is that a killer has decided Cealie and her grandchild need to be expelled—permanently.

I hope you'll check out RELATIVE DANGER. It's available at Amazon, BN, and other retailers, although orders though Untreed Reads now let readers pay one price and get all three major formats, which are directly sent to their devices. They also allow gifting of ebooks.

With its various formats, my book has had many covers. Here's the newest. 

Have you ever sold different rights to your books? How was the rerelease experience?

Thanks so much for dropping by!

What's Up, Let's Argue About It

By Chester Campbell

Last week my colleague Beth Terrell mentioned the challenges involved in the care and feeding of mystery writers. No one knows that better than my wife, Sarah. We always travel together. At our age, you never know how many trips remain in your life's itinerary. But it does make for interesting travels.

Last weekend we drove to Frankfort, KY for the annual Kentucky Book Fair. We alternate driving about 100 miles at a time. Sarah decided to take the first turn, which was a good thing, since that avoided an early argument. I had set up the destination in our Magellan GPS, but it required a few screen taps to get what I wanted it to show--miles to destination. She objects when I start tapping while I'm driving. Really! It's not like I'm texting.

We usually start a trip with a large cup of our favorite beverage, cappuccino. Not the noisy machine-made stuff you get at a coffee shop but the powder and hot water variety that comes from pushing a button at a convenience market. We make it at home using a large container from Sam's. At any rate, we found a Love's up in southern Kentucky and took a pit stop/cappuccino break. I've had a tooth that's been giving me a fit lately (and is scheduled for a root canal tomorrow), so she had to find me a straw, which I used to keep the hot stuff directed away from the recalcitrant molar. I'm not much of a talker normally, even less with dental dynamite going off in my mouth.

I took the wheel at a rest stop shortly before we turned off I-65 on a segment of the Kentucky Turnpike. When we got back on the interstate, Miss Floosie, the GPS lady, didn't come on so I started punching the screen.

"You drive, I'll do that," Sarah said with her best frown.

We probably have more arguments about my driving than anything. Since I have macular degeneration in my right eye, she thinks I can't see well. I had just been to the ophthalmologist, who said I was doing marvelous, that I was one of two or three patients she had where the AMD apparently was slowed by the effects of severe nearsightedness. So some bad things are good.

But that doesn't give me any free passes with my wife. When I turn too sharply and bump a curb, she says, "Didn't you see that?" Of course, I saw it. I just like to jostle her around a bit.

Eventually we made it to the Frankfort Convention Center and dropped off the books I had brought. I got lots of directions for where I should be turning but didn't.

We stayed at the Capital Plaza Hotel just across from the Convention Center. It was a nice room, and we crashed for a couple of hours before time for the Author Reception at Frankfort Country Club. At this event, we sat at a large round table where more folks gathered. Sarah talked to her neighbor and passed around my promo folders. I mostly nursed my food in an attempt to keep the tooth gremlin at bay. I did talk to a mother-daughter combination on my left, learning the younger one had once lived in Nashville and knew about the Marathon Motor works (subject of The Marathon Murders). Both of them bought books on Saturday.

With my chronic cough affecting my voice and the tooth affecting everything, Sarah came to my rescue during the signing, greeting people who passed the table. When she sold a book, I autographed it with a painted on smile. We wound up selling 33 books, which wasn't bad but under different economic conditions surely would have been better.

The trip back home brought more driving discussions, but we made it safely. I'll have to say my wife is a real trooper. She saves the day when I'm selling books, and she does her best to keep me on my toes. We do a lot of arguing, but it always ends with a laugh. As long as we find our disagreements amusing, I guess we'll be okay. I feel that for a much-traveled mystery writer, I'm well fed and cared for.