Showing posts with label self-publishing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label self-publishing. Show all posts

Sunday, September 23, 2018

A Blast from the Past - Marja McGraw

My featured author this week is Marja McGraw. When I originally posted this, Marja had two publishers - one for each of her wonderful mystery series. Since then, she has moved to Washington state and gone on to write several more books and to self-publish them. She creates - and has recreated - all of her own covers and a little bird told me that she's currently writing her 20th novel! 
 
Marja McGraw
This is the third in the Bogey Man Mysteries (and my personal favorite), featuring Chris and Pamela Cross, along with their son Mikey and two Yellow Labs, Sherlock and Watson.


Marguerite Turnbal was a bestselling Gothic mystery writer in the 1950s. A little on the eccentric side, she had her home renovated, adding secret compartments. In her later years she told her twin daughters, Coral and Carol, that there was a treasure to be found, and she gave them only one clue to its whereabouts. 

Over twenty years after Marguerite’s death a young woman is murdered in the old empty house. Chris Cross’s parents have come for a visit. His mother, Judith, and his son, Mikey, want to solve their own mystery in true Cross family tradition. Judith, also a little eccentric, breaks into the house after seeing strange lights and finds the body – not quite the mystery she was hoping to find. The Bogey Man and his family are soon gumshoeing their way through life again, looking for a murderer and hidden treasure.

Buy link:

Bio:
Marja McGraw is originally from Southern California, where she worked in both criminal and civil law enforcement for several years.

Relocating to Northern Nevada, she worked for the Nevada Department of Transportation.  Marja also lived in Oregon where she worked for the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office and owned her own business, a Tea Room/Antique store. After a brief stop in Wasilla, Alaska, she returned to Nevada. She’s also worked for a library and a city building department.

Marja wrote a weekly column for a small newspaper in No. Nevada and she was the editor for the Sisters in Crime Internet Newsletter for a year and a half. She’s appeared on television in Nevada, and she’s also been a guest on various radio and Internet radio shows.

She writes the Sandi Webster Mysteries and the Bogey Man Mysteries, and says that each of her mysteries contains “a little humor, a little romance and A Little Murder!

 

A bonus! Ms. McGraw has just released another mystery! It's available on Kindle at the link below and will soon be available in paperback. You won't want to miss this one!

Sunday, June 24, 2018

Any day now . . .


UPDATE 6/25: Secrets in Storyville was just released at amazon.com! Type the title in the search box and it will appear!
 
Self-publishing for the first time has been quite a journey for me. I didn’t expect it to be easy but I had no idea of the “glitches” I would encounter along the way. I did a lot of things right and a lot of things wrong – but, with each step I took, I learned.

 

I realized from the beginning that creating a cover was a daunting task. I didn’t even have Photo Shop on my computer but I was fortunate to have two good friends help me with that. I purchased the image for the front cover and my friend, Dave Griffiths, used his expertise to help me choose the colors and design. The same was true with the back cover. I provided the information and photo and my fellow author and friend, Marja McGraw, set it up for me. Lesson learned: Install Photo Shop before trying this again.

One of the things I did right was to take my time with the actual manuscript. In other words, not to rush to send it in. After rewriting, proofreading and editing numerous times, I enlisted the help of other authors to be my beta-readers. And yes, they found errors I hadn’t seen. So, I submitted a  “clean copy.” Crucial if you’re self-publishing because there will be no editor to catch your mistakes before the book is published.

The submission process was basically trial and error for me. Fortunately, the people at CreateSpace have been great to work with – and very patient. It turned out that the way I was accessing the Internet was not compatible with certain functions I needed to perform in order to load the cover and to check my manuscript. So, I was basically trying to do the impossible. I spent an entire day figuring out what the problem was – and reaching for the Excedrin. I sent my book for review three times before all the errors in formatting were eliminated. I ordered a proof copy in the mail after the second submission so I could double-check everything.

There were many times during the process when I shook my head and said, “Never again!” But, now that I’m close to holding my book in my hands, I don’t feel that way anymore. As Marja McGraw said to me in an email yesterday, “Inches. You’re inches from your destination.” And knowing that makes it all worthwhile!

Sunday, June 17, 2018

Update on "Secrets in Storyville"



I sent my final manuscript and cover images for Secrets in Storyville to CreateSpace and I received confirmation from them yesterday that my book is good to go. Since this is my first time self-publishing, I ordered a copy of the book for review - as they recommended - and I should receive it in about a week. Once I proofread it, I'll give the go ahead to publish and, according to CreateSpace that will happen by the end of June.

To say I'm excited is an understatement. I'll admit this has been one stressful undertaking because it was all new to me. But, with help from my friends, I did it!

Sunday, June 3, 2018

Coming Soon!



As I promised last week, here’s the final cover for Secrets in Storyville. The book is a standalone mystery completely different than and separate from my Malone mystery series.

Writing this book has been an eye-opener for me in many ways. Because this was the first novel I’d ever written in the first person, I made a few mistakes. For example, when one of my beta-readers finished reading it and gave me his feedback, I was shocked to see how many times I, as the author, had intruded on the story. Phrases like “Trust me” and “You wouldn’t believe” needed to be cut immediately – and they were. I was also appalled to see how many exclamation points I’d used. Mary Higgins Clark may be the “Queen of Suspense” but I deserved the title “The Queen of Exclamation Points.” That was something else I needed to – and did – fix.

While I loved the characters in my Malone mystery series, I had so much fun creating new ones and getting to know them. Plus, after writing five books set in “real” places, it was an adventure to set the story in a fictional town, a product of my imagination, where there were no geographic or historical limitations.

Because there are so many “firsts” with this book, especially the fact that I’ll be self-publishing for the first time, I’m as nervous and apprehensive as I was when I sent my first book, Mixed Messages, to my publisher. I didn’t know what to expect then and I feel the same way now. But, I’m also excited and eager to hold the book in my hands. I’ve rewritten, edited and revised my manuscript more times than I can count and, like a mother bird, it’s time to push my baby from the nest.

Sunday, May 27, 2018

A Juggling Act


Have you ever felt that your life is like a juggling act? That there are so many demands on your time and energy that you aren’t sure what to do next? And, each time you begin to get a handle on things, something else unexpected pops up, throwing your plan out the window and causing you to feel frustrated and overwhelmed?

I’ve been feeling that way a lot lately as I attempt to get everything together to self-publish my new book, Secrets in Storyville. No doubt one of the reasons I'm feeling that way is that I’ve never done this before and I’m having to figure things out with each step I take. I had/have a publisher for all five of my Malone mysteries  but, for several reasons, I decided to try the self-pub route. And, like most things in life, there are positives and negatives - and lots of stress.

In spite of all the stress, I'm excited about taking this new path in publishing! I'm fortunate to have a good friend, with extensive experience as a graphic artist, who is helping me to create the cover for my book. If all goes as planned - she says, with tongue in cheek - it should be finished within the next few days and I hope to post it on my blog next week. My goal is to publish Secrets in Storyville sometime next month. Fingers crossed!

I hope everyone has a nice holiday weekend. 
Happy Memorial Day!