Publishing Update

The new covers for Books I-V of the Ryland Creek Saga. Note: shown are both cover for the original and fifth anniversary edition of The Last Coon Hunter.

Hi Folks,

     There's been a lot going on of late, but we've definitely turned the corner, and things are looking up. Here's a quick synopsis of what's been happening on the writing end of things:

Ryland Creek Saga--New Covers. Much of this summer was spent re-accomplishing the covers for the Ryland Creek saga. (See image above.) Only the cover for The Time of the Backroads has not been reimagined, and I'll likely tackle that project in early 2025. 

With the exception of the original version of Book I--whose proof copies have been ordered and should arrive early next week for my review (and hopefully approval)--all new print covers are currently filtering through global distribution via Lulu. 

All e-books on Amazon and my Spotify author website have the updated covers.

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The full dust jacket cover for The Last Coon Hunter, Fifth Anniversary Edition

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Purchasing books through my author website: I have limited copies of the new covers in dust jacket format. A shout-out to local printers, MultiMedia (highly recommended!) in Corning, NY, who did a professional job in printing the new dust jackets. 

As far as soft cover and casebound formats: I'll have to work through my current inventory before I begin selling the new covers directly. With any luck, I'll have the new covers in all formats in November.

I thank those who provided feedback during the design as well as Joyce Mochrie (again--world's greatest copy editor!) for her review of the copy text. 

A nice result. Not only did I re-do the cover designs, I also used Atticus software to re-accomplish the manuscript typesetting of the entire series along with the new covers. (Yeah, busy summer!) Using Atticus helped reduce page count for nearly all my books.

A reduced page count translates as a reduced print cost!

Thus, I was able to reduce the prices for nearly all my books in both global distribution as well as on my website. (Note: the soft cover prices on my website were already very lean, so those prices remain the same.)

A raccoon caught on game camera in the forests of Painted Post.

New Middle Grade Book with characters from the Ryland Creek Saga? Since publishing The Last Coon Hunter in 2017 (can it be that long ago? . . . Don't laugh [too hard], Glenn . . .), several dozen readers/writers have asked me to consider a Ryland Creek saga book written for a younger audience.

This past month, a young lady from Louisiana wrote with a story concept, and well, I finally caved. (By the way, one of the characters in The Time of the Backroads shares her name. Any guesses?)

I've also contacted a local artist to see if she would be interested in doing the illustrations. More to follow here.

As you can imagine, such a project is a considerable undertaking. But the concept is in the boiler room, and that's a start!

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Arthur McCutcheon and Mist Cornplanter from a scene in The Forest Ghost

 The Ryland Creek Saga in Audiobook. With the first two books, The Last Coon Hunter, Fifth Anniversary Edition, and An Exceptional Hound, already in audiobook format, with both books narrated by the incredible voice acting talent of Wayne Thompson (and available on Audible), the goal for the next book to be placed in this format is The Forest Ghost.

I need to talk to Wayne about an approach for Ghost, and I hope to begin the Ghost audiobook project somewhere between late 2025 to mid-2026. 

It's also my intent to submit the audiobook version of An Exceptional Hound for the 2023-4 NY State Outdoor Writers Association's Annual Excellence in Crafts Awards (Audio category) when the award cycle opens later this year/early 2025. Wish us luck!

And that's a wrap for now! As always, thanks to all my readers and especially those who take the time (everyone is busy these days) to write a thoughtful review. Always sincerely appreciated.

There's more to tell, but that would be a story for another time.

Looking forward to taking pictures of the fall scenery and sharing them with you very soon!

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Fall 2023 picture of the stream that inspired the chapter, The Winged Raccoon of Channery Creek, from An Exceptional Hound.