Emily's magic: New Book Cover!

Okay, so I already revealed the cover to More Slightly Off the Mark once, but this time we really, really mean it. We thought the original was a little imbalanced, so Emily added a newspaper nameplate, or banner, or ... whatever it's called. That brought us to this:

(Do I yell "ta da!" now?)

Which, yes, is similar to the original Slightly Off the Mark, but it is a sequel, after all. Hopefully it's not too similar. Let's compare:

Yeah, it's different enough. And here's the new book's back cover:

So, there you go. I've shown you my front side, and I've shown you my backside. Judge me as you will, or get a closer look here:

https://www.amazon.com/More-Slightly-off-Mark-Other/dp/1709741287

Just between us (until the next post), it's up for sale on Amazon, and we'll have it on the website to order soon. If you just can't wait and/or want a signed copy, contact Emily or me and we'll get you taken care of. Come to think of it--how many copies should we order?

Coming Attractions Cover, or: I'd like to thank my editor/wife/cover designer/layout coordinator

NOTE: I already sent this out on the newsletter, but I'd like everyone to know about Emily's hard work on the Coming Attractions cover. Also--and I'll mention this a lot--it's already up on Amazon for Kindle, even in the UK, France, and Germany: 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KM6JWQC 


The first idea Emily and I had for a Coming Attractions book cover didn't work out, and I'm glad. That's because Emily came up with something better, which she excels at.

It's a romantic comedy, but I didn't want the overused Hot Guy/Beautiful Woman cover art. Since the story is about a fight to save a drive-in movie theater, I thought of using some actual photos I took of the Auburn-Garrett Drive-In, and maybe having either the marquee or the movie screen frame the title. But for the life of me I couldn't find the original, large version of those pictures. The too small copies are here:

It would have taken a bit of Photoshop magic, of course. But while I was rooting around for the photos, Emily came up with another idea that I ended up liking better, even though I actually brainstormed and outlined the story at the Auburn-Garrett.

As a refresher, here's what Coming Attractions is about:

In the darkness of an Indiana drive-in movie theater, Maddie McKinley returns from the concession stand, climbs into the wrong van, and gets tackled by the father of the kids inside. Logan Chandler is embarrassed about roughing her up, but also intrigued by the beautiful young woman from Boston, who arrived alone at the movies wearing an expensive dress. Unfortunately, he’s the local businessman leading a battle to save the drive-in from developers—and she’s the attorney sent to make sure it’s torn down.

And here's the final result, which you should be able to click on to make bigger:

What do you think? Interested in reading it in one format or another? (After all, I have to figure out how many print copies to order!)

Newsletter out with a fun suprise

New newsletter out today! I only put out about one a month, so for me it's a big deal ... although you'll likely see more than average over the next couple of months.

https://mailchi.mp/9a3e1ebbeac2/coming-attractions-cover-reveal?e=2b1e842057

Cover Reveal: "Radio Red"

So far only people who signed up for our newsletter, or visited our last book signing, have gotten any more than a tease about my upcoming novel. Well, it's time for the rest of you to take a gander at Radio Red:

Our last two books were non-fiction: Images of America: Albion and Noble County, and Hoosier Hysterical: How the West Became the Midwest Without Moving at All. The latter was in conjunction with Indiana’s bicentennial, so it moved ahead of other projects. Emily and I worked hard on it, and we’re very proud of our baby.

But I started out in fiction, and now I’m going back: Torrid Books accepted my new novel, the romantic comedy Radio Red. Set in northwest Lower Michigan, it’s scheduled to come out March 7, 2017. We’re very excited! This is my first published work of fiction not set in Indiana (or in the Storm Chaser universe, although … it could be, who knows? After all, it’s another state. Never thought about that.)

Anyway, here's a look at the blurb, which is right there on the back cover:

---

Torrid accepted the book on September 20th, and I went by industry standard, assuming it would come out around a year later. But in very short order I filled out all the necessary paperwork, worked with artist Kelly Martin on the cover art, and got the galleys--the actual formatted manuscript, which I had to check line by line for errors. Much to my surprise, the book is due to come out on March 7th, a full six months earlier than I expected.

This will be our ninth published work! Wow.

Cover reveal … wait, not yet

It can be hard to find new ways to promote author appearances, especially when they happen close together. In this case, that’s close together in distance—the next one’s less than a mile from the last one, and only three and a half weeks later. The advantage is that they’re in different kinds of places, moving from a library to an art gallery.

At the same time, I’ve been planning an announcement concerning my next writing project. Right now few people know about it, except those who subscribe to our newsletter. So I was faced with two questions: How to get people to our next book signing, and when to make the big official publishing announcement.

You might already know where this is going. You might have thought of it way before I did, but when it comes to promotion I can be a little slow.

The cover art has already been approved for the new book, so I thought, hey – cover … art! And we’re going to an art gallery! So the official unveiling of the cover art for the book, which is titled ********, will be at the Noble Art Gallery, 100 E. Main Street in Albion from 1-5 p.m. on Saturday, December 10^th. And you’ll know the title then, ‘cause it’ll be on the cover. We’ll also have the back cover, so you’ll know what the book is about. And, of course, we’ll have all our already published books, including my current favorite, Hoosier Hysterical.

Speaking of supporting local businesses, their Facebook page is here:  https://www.facebook.com/nobleartgallery.

Now, let’s face it: They’ll have way better art there than what will be on the cover of my newest novel. Just the same, aren’t you just a little curious? Sure you are. If not, could you pretend to be for my sake? Thanks.

Hoosier Hysterical Cover Reveal

Emily and I discussed the cover for Hoosier Hysterical quite a bit before she came up with the final version, in which we went for a simple, uncluttered look:

Since it’s a humor book, I’d originally thought of putting something funny inside the state outline: maybe a corn cob man wearing a pan on his head, while waving an Indiana flag. It seemed like a good idea at the time. But by now you all know the book’s subtitle is How the Midwest Became the West Without Moving At All. If someone can’t figure out from the title and that subtitle that it’s a humor book, they probably don’t have enough of a sense of humor to read it, anyway.

In a day or so we should get to see the cover on an actual printed book … then we’ll see if we feel the same.

Oh, and then there’s the back cover:

We did have one disagreement: I thought both our names should be on the front as co-authors, and she didn’t. As the cover designer—she won.