by CJ Verburg

“If Lydia Vivaldi hadn’t tried to read the Cape Cod Times Help Wanted ads while driving, she wouldn’t have wound up on the side of 6A with a flat tire. Her yellow Morris Minor wouldn’t have caught the eye of Alistair Pope, passing in his vintage Mercedes. Lydia wouldn’t have joined Alistair at Leo’s Back End for lunch; Leo wouldn’t have hired her to replace his assistant cook, Sue, who had just stormed out in tears after Leo diluted her split-pea soup; and the murder rate in Quansett, Massachusetts, might have stayed at zero.”

Just about now, at the end of May, is when Lydia Vivaldi fled Cambridge for Cape Cod and launched “Croaked: an Edgar Rowdey Mystery.” To celebrate that benchmark and the verge of a new summer, Boom-Books is offering $1 off the Kindle e-book on Thurs. 5/22 ($2.99 instead of $3.99).

Thanks to RP Dahlke & All Mystery Newsletter for inspiring and promoting this 1-day sale!

I’ll be on Cape Cod for the actual anniversary, and to see Rick Jones’s 2014 show at the Edward Gorey House: “F is for Fantods: an Exhibit of the 28 Books of Edward Gorey’s Fantod Press.” According to rumor, this is the best show ever since Edward’s house became an artistic and biographical museum.  Catch it if you can!

You’re also invited to donate to Chris Seufert’s Kickstarter campaign for his Edward Gorey film. Chris reminds us that although the campaign reached its original target, much more money is needed to cover Mooncusser Productions’ expenses, including use of as much of Edward’s art as they can afford.

Best wishes for a fine Memorial Day weekend!

by Carol Verburg

When my friend, Cape Cod neighbor, and theatrical comrade Edward Gorey died in April 2000, I moved (temporarily) into his house.  His executors wanted someone to keep an eye on his enormous trove of art; and I’d promised Edward that if anything ever happened to him, I’d look after his cats.

One of the first people I called at this grim time was Chris Seufert.

Edward and I had met Chris at C3TV, Cape Cod Community Television.  Later Chris asked Edward for permission to follow him around with a camera and shoot what would eventually become a film.  Since Edward wanted someone to videotape his puppet show of Cautionary Tales for Children — our first production at the Cotuit Center for the Arts, soon to be our theatrical home — he cautiously agreed.

Chris is endlessly patient and cheerful as well as perceptive and creative — a good match.  He caught hundreds of beautiful moments and trenchant insights on film.  After Edward’s death, Chris brought over his camera and recorded this brilliant artist’s private domestic landscape just as his executors started to dismantle it.

Now Chris’s company, Mooncusser Productions, is preparing to release the film.  Want to be part of it?  Join the fun on Kickstarter! 

Once Edward’s house was squared away, and my own, too, I moved to San Francisco.  That’s where I met the remarkable filmmaker Judy Irving.  She was just finishing her wonderful film The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill, an affectionate portrait of our neighborhood’s beloved flock of birds and the man who befriended them, Mark Bittner.

Over the past several years Judy has focused her creativity, patience, and insight on pelicans.  She’s now completing a glorious film about these extraordinary birds, which I’ve enjoyed at two rough-cut screenings.  If you’d like to watch pelicans soaring across the sky, skimming the waves, and flying under water, as well as peek into many secret parts of their little-known lives, join Pelican Media and friends by becoming a supporter of Pelican Dreams on Kickstarter.

by the Boom-Books Production Team

21st-century e-book publishing is full of questions and mysteries. Some are opportunities which can become chores. For instance: back matter: that strange, ancient substance which often goes unnoticed even though it fills big chunks of the universe. Traditionally, back matter follows a book’s text and comprises anything from footnotes and index to Full Copyright Notice and About the Author. It’s a great place to tell readers about other books by the same author, publisher, or both. In an e-book, it’s a chance (and therefore an obligation) to include links to those books, and other clickable gateways for curious readers.

At Boom-Books we frequently update the links in our back matter. Lately, as the EPUB format has become more universal (that’s its purpose), paradoxically we’ve run into new glitches. Sometimes the robots-in-charge reject a book that’s been published in this same venue, in this same format, for years–with no explanation but a cryptic declaration which recalls the advice from a Magic 8-Ball:  Reply hazy. Try again. Or simply: No.

Recently we’ve had responses from Nook and Kindle to their EPUB format glitches which may be helpful to others facing the same problem.

On Kobo, our revision (repeatedly) provoked “unable to upload this e-book as expected.” Here’s Kobo’s Support’s response:

We’ve had a small number of authors report this issue to us. Our web team are currently working on a fix but in the meantime, we’ve found a work around.

Would you be able to clear the all content and submit the content file again?
1. Click the ‘Clear all’ button and to remove the content you had previously uploaded.
2. Click ‘Stop editing’
3. Go back to the ‘Add eBook Content’ section
4. Upload the saved content file and click ‘Replace File’.
5. Click ‘Next’ to save your changes.
6. Click “republish” button.

This should allow you to publish your edited file without running into any other errors.

On Nook, the formerly outstanding Previewer for uploaded e-books has evidently been replaced by a Manuscript Editor, which in our case introduced format errors to a previously successful EPUB file.

Here’s Nook Support’s response:

If you are not satisfied with the way your .epub manuscript file was imported into the Manuscript Editor or displays in the Previewer, you can instead put your .epub file on sale as a NOOK Book exactly as it was created by you.

After you submit all of the required NOOK Book details, a “Publish” button will appear in the upper right corner of the Manuscript page. Click this “Publish” button and select to put on sale “The original .epub file I uploaded”.

The “Preview NOOK Book” link displays the contents of the Manuscript Editor, so if you select to put On Sale “The original .epub I uploaded” then you can skip this preview because you are not putting the contents of the Manuscript Editor On Sale.

Once your Project is on sale as a NOOK Book, you can click “Download ePub” on the Manuscript page to view the NOOK Book file that customers download after making a purchase.

We’re committed to keeping as many book-publishing outlets open as possible. We hope this will help.

by CJ Verburg

Four days of panel discussions by a whole kaleidoscope of experts in the book business led to an equally kaleidoscopic range of conclusions, predictions, and advice. Here are some highlights:

1. Don’t waste your time seeking an agent and a traditional publishing contract.  It takes forever to get an agent, if indeed you can find one at all; then it takes her/him forever to find that one editor who “gets” your book. Advances–up-front payments against future royalties–are history. You’ll still have to do most or all of your own marketing; the publisher will only support your book for its first few months out the gate; and they and your agent will take most of your earnings.

2. Don’t self-publish.  You’re a writer, not a designer, editor, and marketer. Take advantage of professional help! Your agent isn’t just your negotiator, but your career manager–objective and irreplaceable.  Without one, most serious publishers won’t even look at your manuscript.  And without a traditional publisher, you can’t join guilds such as Mystery Writers of America, so you’re not eligible for the Edgar and other awards that can propel your book to the top.

3.  Blurbs are crucial.  Before you publish a book, spend at least 3-6 months sending out ARCs (advance review copies) to big names in your field, to garner some quotable praise you can feature on your cover, website, social media, etc.

4. Nobody believes blurbs anymore.  It’s well known that many people quoted on book covers and in other PR haven’t read the book. On Amazon and other social media, reviews are constantly bought and sold.  Even reputable reviewers pick and choose from a tiny selection of books prescreened by their editor.

5. Brick-and-mortar bookstores are a dying breed.  More and more people every day switch to e-books, and even those who prefer print books usually buy them online.

6. Independent bookstores are thriving.  For the past two years, more bookstores have opened than closed. They’re changing their focus, adding more events and long-distance orders; they’re successfully adapting to the changing industry.

What everyone agrees is that it’s the Wild West out there. Publishing is in upheaval. The e-book and print-on-demand revolution mean that more books are being published every year than the year before. Amazon is the 800-pound gorilla in the room. How all this will shake down is a question being asked every five minutes, and answered with new start-ups, apps, and how-to guides which come and go as fast as books themselves.

It’s the best of times, it’s the worst of times. It’s the age of wisdom, it’s the age of foolishness; it’s the spring of hope, it’s the winter of despair. We have everything before us, we have nothing before us. Where have we heard this before?

by Charisse Howard

If you can’t make it to Carnival in New Orleans, sail back in time two hundred years and celebrate with Lady Barbara & the Buccaneer!  Climb aboard a Louisiana bayou pirate ship for a night of spicy romance at the illicit 1814 Mardi Gras on the bayou island of Grand Terre, for a special now-through-Tuesday price of just $1!

On Smashwords, click here and use the code SU94C (not case-sensitive);
On AllRomanceEbooks (ARe): just click here.
Vite!  Vite!  The coupon expires at dawn on Wednesday.

With the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the puritanical Americans banned the rowdy French celebration of Mardi Gras.  While Napoleon fought to conquer Great Britain and continental Europe, the newly United States launched the War of 1812 to snatch Canada from the distracted Brits–and to stop Britain from snatching sailors off American ships.  Once again, as they had 200 years before, the Louisiana bayous became pirate territory.  Jean and Pierre Laffite and their comrades ran an Amazon-sized smuggling network, buying and selling and capturing goods from French, British, Spanish, and American ships alike.

By 1814, Andrew Jackson, who didn’t know that the War of 1812 had ended in stalemate, was on his way to fight the Battle of New Orleans.  It wasn’t a wasted clash:  Jackson’s victory would tip the scale in the peace negotiations.  But that Spring, the only Americans who could celebrate the great French tradition of Mardi Gras were the buccaneers of Barataria Bay.  Join the fun for a night of hot romance and revelry with Lady Barbara & the Buccaneer–half price from now until dawn on Wednesday, March 5.