New Beginning

 

Some people may have noticed that my blog was in suspended animation. I could sign in, see all of the posts, and not add a new post. Periodically, I’d try to mess with it.

Now, I’m going to start a new blog and call that good. Remember Backstreet Boys’ Backstreet’s Back or *NSYNC and Here We Go?

 

Kathryn and friends are back!

In early October 2024, a friend and I were at coffee discussing writing, reading, publishing, and all things books. In a wave of nostalgia, I mentioned, “January [2025] will be the 25th anniversary of the trilogy.” My friend said that I should publish the 25th anniversary editions. While I was still considering the notion, the conversation progressed to putting all three novels under one cover in addition to republishing the individual books.

Publishing the trilogy under one cover would be a lot of work. That’s a lot of formatting hours, plus Amazon’s KDP has a 550-page limit, which meant judiciously cutting some scenes. In the following days I warmed to the idea—coffee does that to people. The social relevance of Kathryn’s story is still valid. It is still important to keep these social concerns in the forefront of readers’ thoughts and discussions.

Being the writer and publisher added some complication. Even though I own Cactus Rain Publishing, I checked in with my partner in Missouri and got her blessing. I signed a publishing contract with Cactus Rain Publishing. Then the work began. The process required content editing, formatting, proofreading by Anita Beery at expertproofreading@yahoo.com, new cover art, updating both websites. And, of course, keeping separate what things were the writer’s expenses and what were Cactus Rain Publishing’s expense. Thankfully, our web designer, Rick Morse at RockPoint Media, did a great job of keeping tabs on which website he was working on, and it all worked out beautifully.

The best thing about publishing a 25th anniversary edition of the three novels and also combining them into one book was that at the end of the day it felt like all my kids had come home to dinner at the same time. It has been a satisfying journey.

 

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Book Marketing

There seems to be an increased proliferation of book marketing companies springing up by the minute. Caveat Emptor. If your Latin is rusty that literally translates as “let the buyer beware.” This cautionary tale is especially aimed at self-published authors. The first time the internet bots crawl across the fact that you’re a writer, get ready for the deluge of unsolicited emails advising of services that you did not know that you needed or even wanted . Writers have a creative talent in the age-old craft of storytelling. These sudden inbox-stuffers want to make money on a writer’s need for readers. Most of these companies have vague terms for the packages/bundles on their websites. Most of them do not list the itemized price of the “services” in the package. Most of them will not allow a la carte purchases. Most of them will include praise for your book in their quest for your money. Most of them do not tailor their product to your product, and therefore are not targeting y...
Read more

eBook Experiment

If you know anything about me, you know that I am not an eBook fan. But, wait! eBooks are convenient, eBooks are inexpensive, says the reader. eBooks are a lot of work to create correctly for very little financial return on the investment of time. Let’s start with the fact that eBooks are not really books any more than a scroll or clay tablet is a book. eBooks are actually a digitalized story; not a book. The term is nothing more than propaganda to make readers think they are getting a book for cheap. eBooks are not owned by the reader. The price is only for access. Like a print book, eBook “purchases” do not include rights to the copyrighted material, nor do they come with distribution rights. The reason that I don’t like eBooks is that we have had two books pirated; as of Sept 1, 2025, now three books pirated. Remember the FBI warning on videos? The same warning should be at the start of eBooks. eBooks are intellectual property they are protected by DRM and the US, by COPYRI...
Read more