Resurrection

In addition to my regular editing jobs, and trying to get back to my own writing, I have undertaken the task of helping my dear friend, Marilyn Meredith, self-publish new editions of all of her books with her former publisher, now defunct.

I started with her Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery series. There are eighteen books in the series, including the most recent one, Spirit Wind. It had been scheduled for release several months before she was informed the publisher was going out of business.

Fortunately, the cover art had been produced and approved, and she had a copy.

I need to note here, Mundania Press, her former publisher, commissioned a brilliant artist, Niki Browning, to create all new covers for this series last year. They are GORGEOUS! Marilyn was fortunate in that Mundania gave her permission to use them.

Larry is creating the spines and back covers for these. They are a tremendous challenge because he has tried to replicate the mottled backgrounds so the covers flow seamlessly to wrap the book. He is doing a superb job!

We started with the new book because it needed to be available for purchase. Then I began the process of re-publishing the rest of the series.

Wingbeat had not been available for several years. Fortunately, Marilyn had her final draft and the new cover. It is now available, too.

Next, she wanted one of her personal favorites, Seldom Traveled, done. She wants to do some promotion using this one, so I put it at the top of my list.

This one posed a particular challenge for Larry since the cover file we received contained some additional text—behind the title! He had his work cut out to remove it, but he did.

Next, we tackled Intervention. Copies of previous editions were available—with the older cover—but none with the new one. I love the stylized great blue heron on this one.

At Marilyn’s request, we took on A Cold Death next. This was the last book published by her former publisher. (She writes two different series and creates a new title in each series every year.) The spine was a particular challenge for Larry, but it looks seamless—and beautiful.

Now, I am working on the first two: Deadly Trail (the prequel to the series) and Deadly Omen. 

Since the editing on this series was very inconsistent, I have re-edited and re-formatted all of the interiors. I have also tried to standardize the fonts and overall look so they feel like a coordinated set. Fortunately, Marilyn has always written well, so her edits go pretty quickly. (I spend a couple of days on each one.)

We’re making great progress, and Larry is keeping up with the print covers. I can’t wait to see the whole series on a bookshelf with all the books in the same format (trade paperback) with the coordinated covers.

Many thanks to Mundania Press (especially Dan Reitz) for allowing Marilyn to use all of the artwork and responding so quickly to the requests we’ve made, and to Niki Browning for her extraordinary talent. Her covers make the series come alive.

Still a lot of work to do, but I am excited about being able to help my dear friend and favorite mystery writer make this complete series available for the foreseeable future.

Where the Sweet Peas Grow

Sweet peas have always been my favorite flower. When I was a little girl, my dad planted them every year. During the spring, the scent of sweet peas assaulted me every time I went into the backyard—and I loved it!

While they were blooming, we had bouquets in the house, and it, too smelled glorious. (My mother loved them, too.)

At the end of each season, Dad carefully took the seeds from the pods and saved them in a jar in the garage for planting the next year. Then he threw the vines over the back fence into the vacant lot. After several years, they germinated, and sweet peas grew along the back fence. Eventually, they expanded into our next-door neighbor’s backyard as well.

In addition to the sweet peas, Dad planted a lilac bush right outside of my bedroom window. He was told they wouldn’t grow in the California climate, but his did. I woke up all the summer to the warm aroma of lilacs. I still love them as well.

Dad died when I was seven. I tried to plant sweet peas myself afterward, with mixed results.

Several years ago, I discovered that South Coast Farms in San Juan Capistrano grew and sold them. Each year, I drive by and always stop when the sweet peas are blooming to buy some. The season is short, but each time I have a bunch in the house and inhale the scent of my childhood, I smile.

This morning as we were running errands, Larry said, “I have a surprise for you.” He wouldn’t tell me what it was. We drove across the freeway and went up La Novia. We drove to the top of the hill. There, covering about half a mile next to the road, along with the mustard and other wildflowers, were sweet peas—a carpet of them.

They shows as pink, but the photos don’t show them well. However, with the windows rolled down, the distinctive aroma filled the car—and my heart. One of the best surprises ever!

I was wearing my flip-flops, so I couldn’t climb the hill, but Larry got out and found some close to the road. He brought a few to me. Better than a dozen roses!

I came home and put them in a small vase with three of the buds from my rose bushes.

I am surrounded by one of my favorite scents—and sheer joy!

Do you have a favorite smell? What is it, and why is it special to you?

Abandoned

Over the last few years, I have observed a disturbing trend in publishing. Many, if not most, of the small and mid-level publishers I know have gone out of business, leaving their authors wondering where to go and what to do.

The first to affect us personally was Whiskey Creek Press. http://whiskeycreekpress.com/ The owners were very close friends, and our relationship with them was a personal as well as business one. Health issues forced them to sell their company. They were fortunate. At the time, another publisher, Start Publishing, was interested in obtaining the company. We had seven books with them, so it was easier to leave them with the same publisher, especially since they maintained the original website, even with the change in ownership. They also contracted with Simon and Schuster to distribute our ebooks. https://www.simonandschuster.com/search/books/_/N-/Ntt-Lorna+Collins

In 2016, the publisher of Wild Child Publishing/Freya’s Bower closed her publishing house. At the time, she explained that Amazon’s changes had made it impossible for small-to-mid-sized publishers to stay in business. Other publishers followed.

The same year, the owner of Oak Tree Press, Billie Johnson, had a massive stroke. It was not her first, but she had recovered from an earlier one, so her authors hoped she’d do the same this time. After a year with no royalties, I decided to request my rights back and self-publish my book, Ghost Writer. Some others did the same. However, in 2018, Billie died, and many of her authors were left without a publisher.

I have helped some of these to self-publish their books, but others are still trying to figure out what they will do.

Next to succumb was Desert Breeze Publishing, one of the most ethical houses I ever worked with. I edited for them for a few years. They also published several of my friends’ books. A couple of years ago, the owner had a serious car accident. She has been in nearly constant pain ever since. This, combined with the Amazon system’s policy changes, led her to stop doing business.

The latest publisher to fold is Mundania Press. This was one of the most respected of the mid-level publishers. Through the past fifteen years or so, they acquired several other small presses. However, they have been unable to pay royalties for a few months. Sadly, they, too, have given up.

When Oak Tree closed, our dear friend, Marilyn Meredith had her Rocky Bluff PD mystery series as well as quite a few other outliers published through Oak Tree. Another publisher, Aakenbaaken & Kent (also a friend), took the series and is currently re-publishing it. Larry and I self-published the others under Marilyn’s name. They now belong to her, and she gets all the royalties.

Her Tempe Crabtree mystery series was published by Mundania. We told her we would do the same with these. There were sixteen previously published books plus a new one, which should have been released months ago. She sent me the files, and Spirit Wind it is now available as of last Saturday in paperback and ebook. (Marilyn used my name for a character in a previous book, and she is back in this one—perhaps my favorite of all.)

In addition to the seventeen books in this series, Mundania had also published several of her other freestanding books. Thank goodness, Marilyn kept all of her files. (We share the same birthday, and we’re both very organized.)

So, now I’m at work trying to re-edit and re-format all the manuscripts. She has all the front cover artwork—thank goodness because these are gorgeous! But Larry has had to re-create the back covers and spines. This one turned out beautifully, so we are optimistic about the rest of them.

Many other authors are now left high and dry with no publishers and few options. Most do not have the skills necessary to self-publish their books.

The publishing industry has undergone a complete change during the thirteen years since we published our first book—and not necessarily for the better.

Have you had any experiences with being abandoned by a publisher?