Tying Up the Loose Ends

This is going to be a sort-of end-of-the-year round-up because tomorrow I Buried a Witch goes live and on Sunday the annual Advent Calendar begins.

2019 was...an interesting year. A lot of things changed. Some of those changes had to do with the whole publishing industry and some of the changes had to do with what's happening with me personally. And some of the changes had to do with how I feel about those other changes. If that makes sense.

From a publishing perspective, a challenging business has gotten even more challenging. But some of the things I put into motion in 2018 are beginning to pan out. My print sales through IngramSpark are now higher than my Amazon print sales! That's cool--and what's even cooler is my books are now available for order in libraries and bookstores. That's a win. Also about a third of my audio backlist is now wide. I can't say that the sales rival Audible :-D but the sales are climbing, so that's good. That's the direction it needs to go. I just have to bite the bullet and put some of my series wide too.

I also resigned myself to the fact that Kindle Unlimited is a reality of writing life, and I'm cutting my nose off to spite my face if I refuse to participate in any way. So in addition to my foreign translations, I've begun rotating older titles in and out of KU. For a time I had the Dangerous Ground series, the Holmes and Moriarity series, the I Spy books, and some assorted standalones in KU. Those will all be pulled by December 10th and the only things still in KU will be Man Oh Man and the two collections of Christmas codas.

Financially? Well, the way it works now is most of my earnings come right at the start with preorders. That's a big chunk of change because my preorders remain high. And that's fortunate because it's very hard for anyone to stick on that bestseller list for long given the insane rate of turnover due to new titles. Most readers are shopping off the best-sellers list, and if they don't see your book on those first few pages, they're not going to keep scrolling--unless they're specifically searching for you. And now days there's just so much to read. So I usually have a good first month and then it's done. So in order to keep a few things on the lists so that I don't get completely forgotten, I made the decision to use KU when and where it makes sense.

The books I've pulled out will be updated and reformatted--and two of the series will get brand new
covers! LC Chase redesigned the Holmes and Moriarity series. I think these covers are SO fresh and SO fun--even though I loved those old covers so much. And then the Dangerous Ground series is getting a facelift too. Ron Perry at Ron Perry Graphic Design redid that series. Aren't these great?? I plan on a lot of repackaging my backlist next year.

I still haven't tried putting anything new straight into KU, but I'm trying something (at least I think I am--unless I chicken out) in January. I'm working on a new series--a classic cozy mystery series but with gay characters. I envision these as fun, fast light reads--I mean, that is the point of a cozy mystery. Off-screen violence, off-screen sex, hopefully funny, hopefully comforting, and a bit of slow-burn romance...just classic cozy mysteries but with a gay protagonist. Now the prevailing thought is that M/M readers will not be interested in such a series because of the no on-screen sex rule (yeah, it's a rule, not a guideline), and maybe that's true now. It didn't use to be but we do have an increasingly different readership for M/M fiction.

But as we all know--and to the frustration of some of you--I like experimenting, I like trying new things. It keeps the writing fresh for me--which pays off for all my readers, even the readers who don't like the experiments.

Oh, but to return to my point, the new series, Secrets and Scrabble, will be wide for the period of preorders (at a reduced price) and then it will go into Kindle Unlimited. I'm announcing this ahead of time so that everyone has time to buy it wide. I'm trying to minimize the frustration for all of us. If you don't do Kindle or if you're a re-reader, buy the book during the presale period so you can take advantage of the sale price. Having said that, they're not up for sale yet. :-D TBA

What else?

Blind Side (also not yet listed on Amazon) comes out in December. The sixth novella will complete the series. Also in December, Hide and Seek begins. That novel is a Patreon exclusive--and will probably remain so for some time (although I'm not sure about print--and I will probably put the audio wide). You can find out more about Hide and Seek on the Works in Progress section of my website.

This was one of my most productive years in a while, and I'm hoping that trend continues. I plan on it continuing--in fact, I plan on stepping up my productivity--but life is a precarious business, so you never can tell. I'm still thinking over the schedule, so I won't go into detail now (seeing that I don't have the details).

Hey, there's still PLENTY of room in the Advent Calendar if you'd like to contribute art or a story or whatever!  

I'm always interested in your thoughts. And I like to know what you're enjoying and what other authors are doing that you wish I'd consider doing. I've gotten some of my best ideas from listening to you guys! 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

My sisters and I trade off hosting the holidays (I get Thanksgiving and 4th of July) so this is always a super busy time of year for me--remind me NOT to schedule a book before Thanksgiving again!

I'm a bit more adventurous than my sibs, so if it was up to me I'd experiment more with the meal and the traditions. I mean, I too am a traditionalist, don't get me wrong, but part of the fun of being a traditionalist is creating your own traditions.

Anyway, every year it's cheese plate, Grandma's stuffing, Martha Stewart's cheese potatoes, Martha Stewart's herbed turkey (the SO is a rebel and adding brining to the festivities -- in fact, he's in the kitchen right now cursing over the fact that the turkey is too large for his chosen vessel), corn, cranberries, green salad, Crescent Rolls (why????????) and a LOT of very good wine and then comes the Sees Candy, the Marie Callendar pies (pumpkin, lemon meringue, chocolate), more very good wine, whatever cocktails people are in the mood for -- I discovered Pineapple Upsidedown Cocktails this summer!!!) .

I sound ungrateful because IT'S ALWAYS THE SAME but you know what? That's something to be grateful for right there. The boringness of a reliably delicious and bountiful menu, the presence of my much-loved family, shelter from the storm (it's going to be freezing temps tomorrow with a chance of snow). In short, the traditional kick-off to another hectic and happy holiday season.

Fingers crossed. Because how incredibly lucky we are to take these things so much for granted, we're even a little bored by them. I've been guilty of it too--I AM guilty of it too. Never again. Not with the world as it is.

Except... This is not the day to fear what may come. It's the day to celebrate now, what you have to be grateful for this moment, this meal, this harvest, this year, your life so far.

Wishing you an abundance of things to be grateful for today and always.

So I'm working on a thing...

And it's still about a week away from being ready to announce.

Make of this what you will!

The project is planned for 2020.

Poor Cosmo...

That night I opened the Drambuie we’d brought back from Scotland a million years ago.

I told myself I was trying out recipes for Andi’s line of cocktail cupcakes, but truthfully, I just wanted to get plastered. And get plastered I did.

Also sick.

Very.

Drambuie is a proprietary liqueur the Scots have been making for about two hundred years. It’s a blend of pot-still scotch and heather-flavored honey, and the taste is a bit dry, a bit aromatic. It’s not really the kind of thing most people would choose to get drunk on—it would not ordinarily be my first choice, but the bottle reminded me of John. Reminded me of Scotland and our honeymoon. Reminded me that that last time I’d tasted Drambuie it, was on John’s lips.

The classic Drambuie cocktails are the Rusty Nail and the Highland Margarita, but I was trying for something a bit sweeter and more delicate, so I opted for—in order of appearance—Autumn Leaves, the Kingston Club, and the Screaming Viking. I’m not sure why I thought a Screaming Viking would be sweet or delicate. Anyway, the two Kingston Clubs are what did me in, although the Screaming Viking didn’t help.

The bed was spinning—and not in a magical way--when I finally collapsed. 

I Buried a Witch (Bednobs and Broomsticks 2)
Coming November 30th

THE KINGSTON CLUB COCKTAIL

Ingredients

1 1/2 ounces Drambuie
1 1/2 ounces pineapple juice
a squirt of freshly squeezed lime juice
a squirt of fresh orange juice
1 teaspoon Fernet Branca (I previously had no knowledge of this herbal liqueur)
3 dashes Angostura bitters
orange peel, for garnish

Instructions


Add the Drambuie, pineapple juice, lime juice, Fernet, and Angostura bitters to an ice-filled shaker. Shake until cold. Strain into an ice-filled tall cocktail glass and top with soda water. Garnish with a twist of orange peel. Serve immediately.

Happy Halloween!

A Little Bump in the Road

As anyone who read my Dear Agnes post knows already, I've had to push back I Buried a Witch from its original Halloween release date.

I'm truly sorry. I know it's disappointing and I know it's frustrating. For me too, believe me. And it's also expensive. I don't like doing it, but sometimes there just isn't an alternative. At least it's a relatively short delay. The new release date is November 30th, so maybe a little witchy mystery will make a welcome change from the glut of holiday releases? Or maybe not.

Anyway, it is what it is.

Of course, pushing one title back inevitably impacts other titles, so in order to NOT move Blind Side--which has been bumped so many times (and is now a sort-of-mildly-holidayish story), Haunted Heart: Spring is now scheduled for...spring. Which seems symmetrical--if also aggravating for everyone who was looking forward to that one.

So my release schedule for the rest of the year looks like this:

I Buried a Witch - November 30
Advent Calendar (including codas) - December 1
Blind Side (Dangerous Ground 6) - December 31
Hide and Seek (on-going serialized novel for Patreon)


Here's an insider's tip. If the book isn't listed on Amazon, the release date is not yet firm (even if I'm almost sure it is firm). And if it is listed on Amazon, the most it can be delayed by is thirty days. Frankly, that's more about how Amazon works than how I work, so you can rely on it. 

I've planned out next year, obviously, but the unexpected crash of this year's schedule has shaken my certainty, so I'm holding off scheduling anything for a bit.

A few readers have asked why I schedule release dates before a book is complete. Isn't that just asking for trouble?

Well, I schedule release dates for unwritten projects for the same reason most mainstream publishers and indie publishers do. In order to arrange audio, translations, even some marketing and promotion you've got to have some tangible proof the work is coming--and that tangible proof is a listing on a bookseller's site. From cover art to arranging for reviews, it's all interconnected, and the lynch pin is the book listing.

But I also need a publishing schedule for myself. If I don't have a hard and fast schedule (okay, a reasonably hard and fast schedule) with actual dates to aim for, I tend to wander around creatively. I jump from project to project, I change my mind, I lose confidence, I get lost in research or How To vids... Watching pre-orders pile up keeps me focused.

Each pre-order is like a vote of confidence from readers that yes, this is a book they really do want. This book is the priority.

So in that sense, the publishing schedule is as much for me as it is for readers.

(Just to be clear, I don't actually get ANY money until a book is published--and then it's usually 30-60 days (or longer) from when it goes on sale. So while there is a monetary component to preorders, I'm not getting any money for things I haven't yet earned.)

Anyway, there you have it. The book is delayed. I would love to be able to say it will never happen again--and for this book it actually won't ever happen again--but of course I can't in honesty promise that there will never be a delayed release date again. I can't predict the future. Things happen. Life happens. 

Dear Agnes

I'm a fan of yours but I think it's pretty sad that you couldn't be bothered to announce to your fans especially the ones that had pre-ordered 'I Buried a Witch' that it had been delayed. I didn't see anything on your blog or even your newsletter. If it wasn't for the same Amazon that you rail about we would still be in the dark.



I had an irate reader contact me last night after I had to push back the release date on I Buried a Witch to November 30 (a thirty-day delay).

Now, delays in book release dates happen. Nobody likes them. Readers are naturally disappointed when a book they're looking forward to is pushed back. Nobody likes being disappointed. For an author, a delay in a release means a delay in getting a real pay check. And not many of us can go a month without a pay check.

Worse, it means whatever promo activity has been scheduled and paid for is now wasted. It means attached deadlines for audio and print and translation, are now thrown out of whack and other professionals are also being impacted.

So however disappointing a delay in a publishing schedule is for a reader, it's way worse for an author. It's not something we do lightly or happily.

But it's also a fact of publishing life. Big publishers have delays. Big name authors have delays. Indie publishers and indie authors also have delays. Delays in the world of publishing are unfortunate but common.

Why do delays happen?

Well, partly they happen because publishing schedules are planned out based on how things stand at a given moment in time. A publisher (or indie author) looks at the year ahead and tries to calculate a reasonable work schedule based on information available. But as we all know, life is what happens while we're busy making other plans.

Sometimes a book just isn't coming together and a delay is always preferable to putting out a book that isn't our best work. If writing was simply a matter of typing, no one would ever be late on a book. But writing is--at least in theory--not simply data entry. In my opinion, it's better to delay than put out a book that isn't ready.

Agnes's mileage may vary.

Sometimes it's nothing to do with the book. Sometimes it has to do with things happening in the author's real time life.

For me, the last two months have looked like this:

Jury duty
Rehearsing for and performing at a music festival
An unplanned visit from my mother
A planned visit from my bestie
An unplanned visit from my step-daughter
Rehearsing for and performing at a concert (which included recording new material)
(Probably stress-related) illness
Preparing for attending GRL
GRL
Trying to catch up up after being gone a week to GRL

It's not that I haven't been writing, but the writing has been interrupted. A LOT. And so this week I had to look at my schedule and make some difficult decisions. Not because I enjoy disappointing Agnes, but because I can't deliver on time a book that Agnes will enjoy and that I can be proud of.

Now, I had only pushed the book back a couple of hours before Agnes contacted me, so it's not like I wasn't going to announce the delay, but I was feeling under the weather and I figured Monday was soon enough to disappoint readers. My mistake. Agnes is a gal who likes her bad news served hot off the grill. :-D

(Plus, as Agnes points out, Amazon sends a notice out to readers who preordered, so I already know that readers are going to be informed of the delay.)

That's irrelevant though, because as Agnes points out, this is not the first time I've had to push a release date back:

I’d give you the benefit of doubt if this is the first,second,third...deadline you’ve missed. Or the first,second..promised sequel you’ve failed to deliver. Anyway, I’ll move on and take my money elsewhere. Hope you feel better.

I want to point out that delaying a sequel is not the same as "failing to deliver." We're talking about a month's difference here--and that is still WAY faster than I usually turn in a sequel. But yes, I do occasionally change my mind about sequels. That is my prerogative. I'm not a jukebox. I'm not a teletype machine. I'm another human with all the ordinary stresses and challenges in my life as Agnes.

But after all, I am letting my readers down by not delivering a book when promised. So shouldn't readers be able to punish the author who disappoints them? Shouldn't the author be made to pay?

It's a fact that occasionally author priorities don't align with that of an individual reader. And that's annoying as heck because what recourse does a reader have other than screaming at the author on Goodreads or Facebook or Twitter? How else can the author be made to feel the pain the reader feels?

Well, as Agnes points out, she can decline to buy the book once it comes out. (It seems a bit like cutting your nose off to spite your face, but okay.)

If a reader really does hope for some practical outcome--if the goal is not to simply berate and bully--sending a nasty-gram from a stranger on Facebook is probably not going to have the desired effect given that author decisions are at least partly based on factors the reader does not know--and which are arguably none of the reader's business.

Admittedly, I'm not exactly sure what Agnes's hoped-for outcome was. To make me regret my decision? I already do--see my above comment about not getting much of a pay check this month. To punish me? Well, hearing from Agnes was certainly unpleasant. But happily, I just spent a week with hundreds of readers in real time and have plenty of lovely memories and reminders that not every reader is like Agnes. Maybe Agnes just wanted to vent her frustration and forgot--as is all too easy to do--that there's a real person on the other end of that screaming into cyber space?

I don't know. I don't know Agnes and I don't want to leap to conclusions about her based on our sole interaction. Maybe Agnes screams at the people who get her Starbucks' order wrong too. Maybe she saves it all for her favorite authors. Or maybe in real life, she's the one being screamed at all the time. It's a weird period in reader-author interactions. As authors we want to be accessible, we want to encourage reader interaction, but that can lead to some fairly dysfunctional exchanges. So, for the record, I am always sorry to disappoint readers, and if learning that I am pushing back the release date of I Buried a Witch particularly upsets and angers you, I'm genuinely sorry.  I'm not happy about it either.

But I can't say it won't happen again. It almost certainly will.

Oh, not with this particular title--I Buried a Witch will release on November 30th--but a time will come when I feel it's necessary to push back a release date. And we will both be unhappy about it--but it will happen nonetheless. The advantage of a preorder is you get the book for a lower price than the regular price will ultimately be, but if the risk of a possible delay in the release date is too much to take, then of course you should wait to order.

If there's one lesson to be gleaned from reading my work, it's that the world is not a perfect place, people make mistakes, life goes on.

Announcing the Gay Author Podcast

Today kicks off the official launch of the Gay Author Podcast, the brainchild of author Brad Shreve. (This is a brand new endeavor and not to be confused with Jeff and Will's Big Gay Author Podcast.)

If you're not familiar with Brad and his work, he writes a series about gay and down-on-his-luck LA PI Mitch O'Reilly, so it's not surprising that LGBTQ crime and mystery will be the focus of the new show. Brad has a terrific lineup of authors planned, stretching into next year, so why not tune in? 

• Michael Craft is the first guest
• Each week Brad will be interviewing an author who writes LGBTQ crime fiction. (He'll also be doing a book recommendation. )
• The program is available on all major podcast apps, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Stitcher and many more. (It may take longer to show up on some than others)
• Website address is www.gaymysteryauthors.com
• It's a weekly show. Episodes release each Thursday

AUDIO RELEASE - Mainly by Moonlight (Bedknobs and Broomsticks 1)

Mainly by Moonlight (Bedknobs and Broomsticks 1) is available on Audible, Amazon and iTunes!

If you just finished listening to Kale Williams narrate The Monuments Men Murders, you'll be fascinated to see how he shakes things up for Cosmo and John. ;-)

A gay high-society wedding. A stolen book of spells. A love-threatening lie.

Can a witch avoid a murder rap without revealing the supernatural truth?

Cosmo Saville guiltily hides a paranormal secret from his soon-to-be husband. Thanks to a powerful love spell, uncertainty threatens his nuptial magic. But when he’s suspected of killing a longtime rival, he could spend his honeymoon behind bars…

Police Commissioner John Joseph Galbraith never believed in Happily Ever After until Cosmo came along. Falling head over heels for the elegant antiques dealer is an enchantment he never wants to break. But when all fingers point to Cosmo’s guilt, John struggles to trust what his heart is telling him.

As Cosmo hunts for the missing grimoire among the arcane aristocracy, John’s doubts grow. With an unseen enemy threatening to expose Cosmo’s true nature, the couple’s blissful future could shatter like a broken charm.

Can Cosmo find the lost grimoire, clear his name, and keep John’s love alive, or will black magic “rune” their wedding bells?

Kindle Unlimited Take 3

Like a lot of authors I have a love/hate relationship with Amazon. I admire their innovation imagination--and ruthless efficiency--but I also deplore their greed, their inflexibility, their indifference to the publishing ecosystem as a whole--and that same previously mentioned ruthless efficiency.

One of the things I've struggled the most with is Kindle Unlimited. The prevalent idea is you can only make money on Amazon through Kindle Unlimited, and that is simply not the case. You can earn six figures and NOT be in Kindle Unlimited. Granted, it does take one hell of a lot of effort and ingenuity (says the girl with the Patreon account and currently writing porn for a Chinese mobile game company).

I think writers putting all their eggs in one basket is a horrible idea, whether that basket is publishing with one legacy publisher or one indie publisher OR putting everything into Kindle Unlimited. I've been in publishing a long time, and I have seen the painful proof of that too many times to count. But people gonna do what people gonna do.

However you feel about Kindle Unlimited, (and hey, yes, I have a kindle and a KU account) it's pretty clear that right now KU dominates the publishing landscape--and that isn't going to change any time soon.

So how best to take advantage of that without handing my entire fate over to Jeff Bezos? To refuse to play ball at all is pretty much the equivalent of cutting my nose off to spite my face. But going all in on KU is not an option. I can't do it. And I don't need to do it. So what's the compromise for an author like me? I've got a largish and loyal readership, but now days I have trouble with discoverability and with sticking my landings on those best-selling lists which--it's no secret--are now dominated by KU titles?

If your readership isn't growing, it's shrinking. That's the way it works.

So what to do, what to do?

For now, I've decided to put a few titles at a time into KU and then rotate them out again. Some of the titles still sell pretty well wide, some don't. So far, I don't plan on putting anything new into KU, although I have an idea about that too (but not for this year).

Here are the titles currently in Kindle Unlimited:

Mummy Dearest 

The entire up-to-now Holmes & Moriarity series (gulp)

Winter Kill

Murder in Pastel

The entire up-to-now Dangerous Ground series (including the Point Blank box set)

The Partners in Crime box set

The I Spy books (including the box set)

Some of them return to wide in November and the rest go back up in December.

This hopefully introduces me to some new readers. Yes, some KU readers are solely price-point based, but the majority are actually readers like me. We use KU for discoverability; the books we know we want, we buy outright. (There's loads of data to confirm that this is how it works.)

Better yet, this gives me a chance to reformat and repackage these older titles as they come off KU, without trying to tackle everything at once. I can reconsider price points, update back matter, update bonus materials, look at box sets, etc.

So we'll see how this goes. As per usual, I'll keep you updated. If it's a success, terrific! But if it's not, that can be useful to know.

AUDIO RELEASE - The Monuments Men Murders

The Monuments Men Murders is now available in audio!

(Which means--oops! just remembered--I need to update my website!)

Once again, Kale Williams is narrating the latest installment of Sam and Jason's adventures. And once again, Kale does a terrific job.

Four books in it's reached the point where, when I sit down to write Sam and Jason, I hear Kale's voice. ;-D

You can purchase through Audible, Amazon and iTunes.

Speaking of Kale, I just finished listening to Mainly by Moonlight (what can I say? I LOVE his narration). It's fun but also fascinating to see how he changes things up to capture Cosmo and John. Anyway, I can't wait for that one to go live.

And any day now I'll have the files for Slay Ride narrated by Alexander Masters (who I also adore--and my gosh what a feel for historical he has) and then in October comes Haunted Heart: Spring likely narrated by Graham Halstead (I sold audio rights to Tantor on this one, so I can't completely control things but they've been terrific to work with so far) OH. And Tantor is also putting out Footsteps in the Dark (Joel Leslie is doing Stranger in the House). 

So there is quite a bit more coming in audio this year than last--and I'll try to keep you posted.

I BURIED A WITCH Playlist

I've started work on I Buried a Witch so I can hit that Halloween release date, so I thought I'd share the playlist. Or at least the part of the Bedknobs and Broomsticks master list that's got the right emotional vibe for the second book.

I wonder if this playlist will change as much as Mainly by Moonlight's playlist changed? Too soon to know! It's the first time I've ever jumped immediately into the second book in a series, and it's an interesting experience. It does simplify things, as far as remembering the details of who drives what car, who went to college where, etc. :-D

Ghost on the Shore - Lord Huron

Suit - Boom! Bap! Pow!

Blue Moon - Frank Sinatra

Let it All Go - Birdy & Rhodes

If You Ever Did Believe - Stevie Nicks & Sheryl Crow 

These Foolish Things - Ella Fitzgerald

Down - Jason Walker

You Can Do Magic - America 

They Can't Take That Away from Me - Ella Fitzgerald

Could I Love You Any More - Renee Dominque & Jason Mraz

Come Home - OneRepublic

Strange Magic - ELO 

Cover Reveal: I BURIED A WITCH

Coming October 31st of this year...

Read more -- and preorder -- here.