Peschel Press Newsletter for August 2023

08 August 2023 Peschel Press Newsletter

Welcome back! Another month has flown by and we’ve been busy.

We have finally (!) published Escape to HighTower, the fourth book in Odessa Moon’s Steppes of Mars series. Escape starts up at the end of The Vanished Pearls of Orlov and continues Lannie and Fen’s story as they make the arduous trek of thousands of kilometers across Mars. She’s fleeing his past and he wants to get her safely home to HighTower where, maybe, she might come to see him as more than a friend. But Lannie’s got secrets of her own, including the fact she stole the Pearls of Orlov.

Escape to HighTower is currently available as a beautiful trade paperback via Amazon or directly from us at an event like Books Books Books! or directly from one of our favorite indie bookshops, Cupboard Maker Books.

And yes, there is a map!!!! Fen’s map to be exact. It gives you an idea of the vast distances he traveled to Barsoom and back. It also shows what he considered important enough to note down like the other demesnes in the Ennaretee.

My fabulous cover showing Lannie and Fen on the run is by Jake Caleb if you want to see more of his terrific art work.

Bill is hard at work transforming Escape into an eBook. Will it be in Kindle Unlimited? Why yes! As soon as it’s formatted and available, we’ll let you know via our website, Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/peschel), and our Instagram account.

When Escape is done, Bill will move onto finishing up The Complete, Annotated Clouds of Witness by Dorothy Sayers. Clouds will contain every word Dorothy wrote, plus tens of thousands more from Bill in footnotes and essays. He’ll add period art, illustrations, and maps too, giving you a fuller understanding of the novel. Maybe September? More likely October at this rate.

In the meantime, we’ll keep working on International Agatha Christie, She Watched. We’re plowing our way through the French adaptations and there are a lot!

I’m also writing an interim novella called The Bitch Queen of Atto, to help get me back into the steppes of Mars. It’s a story that Kip McGrant and Kendra Maerski Atto wanted told. If you read The White Elephant of Panschin, you know who they are. I’m not sure how we’ll release it, but it will get out there.

After that, it’s The Wardogs of Barsoom, which is Ulla’s story. It’s also a working title since I don’t want to attract the attention of the Edgar Rice Burroughs estate.

Peschel Press On Tour

If you want to see Escape to HighTower or Agatha Christie, She Watched in person, we’ve got some events coming up!

On Saturday, 23 September 2023, we’ll join 70 other authors at Books, Books, Books from noon to 4 p.m. in Rock Lititz! Tickets are only $5, too. If you buy them in advance at the link, you’ll be eligible for great swag and raffle items. Whatever your taste in reading, someone at Books, Books, Books will write exactly what you like.

Then in October, we’ve got two events. Here’s the bare bones for now.

On Saturday, 7 October 2023, we’ll be at the Chocolate Town book festival with 60+ other writers! This event is free and takes place at the Hershey Public Library!

The following Saturday, 14 October 2023, we’ll join a great group of cozy mystery writers at Cozy Con, sponsored by the Mechanicsburg Mystery Bookshop! https://www.mysterybooksonline.com/ If you’re a cozy mystery fan, this is the place to be. Tickets are $5 in advance or $10 at the door so register in advance and get the discount. There’s great swag too.

As you can see, we do a wide variety of events from small mystery conventions to book festivals that include a wide variety of genre writers. This is in addition to craft shows and book signings.

One thing all these events have in common is how you, dear author, should behave.

You’ve honed your pitch for your books, gotten your show costume ready, prepped your signs and displays, figured out how to handle the money and keep track of sales, and you’ve developed your checklist so you don’t forget anything.

But there are still a few, critical elements.

Behavior is number one. One of the biggest reasons an author is never invited back a second time to a bookstore for a signing or to a convention to meet large quantities of fans is how that author behaved.

Were you rude to fans? Or to the organizers? This is a critical mistake and one that won’t be forgiven or forgotten. You can’t ever forget that the minute you leave your hotel room, you are on stage. In the hallways, in the elevator, at the panels, and in the dealers’ room. People are watching.

They remember. And they talk.

Nothing you do or say at an event is private. Someone is always listening or watching and your stray remark to another conference-goer about how badly run the event is will be overheard. It may also get passed along to the organizers who — even if they could use the heads-up about better management — won’t thank you for badmouthing them.

You do not know who is related to whom. I still recall very well helping run our local environmental information table at the local farmers’ market. That market always hosted live music. Some people like the ambience.

What no one likes is when you have to shout to be heard by a paying customer. The local impersonators of Guns N’ Roses (a name I pulled at random because the real Guns N’ Roses just played at the Hershey Stadium and were thunderous enough that we could hear them inside our house) were so loud, I complained to the farmers’ market staff.

I couldn’t hear the paying customers! They couldn’t hear me!

Could this be a problem? I thought it was. So I said something.

The head staffer’s response was that her husband led that band and I didn’t appreciate music. What happened next? She spoke to the band and they played louder than ever!

Fortunately for my little environmental group, we were part of a rotating cast of community organizations that took turns at the community table. Each of us only showed up once or twice a summer. I never heard anything back.

But it was a reminder that when something goes wrong, pointing it out may be tricky.

And remember, this was an actual issue that could have easily been solved by the band turning the amps down.

How much more irritated would a mystery convention organizer be if you loudly pointed out that you didn’t like the venue they chose? That you didn’t like the lack of flashy décor? Or you thought the advertising was insufficient so not enough fans showed up? Or the swag was not up to your standards?

Valid points or not, you are not the organizer. It’s far easier to carp about a given show than it is to organize one on a shoestring and run it with a cast of volunteers.

Just like you don’t hide behind your phone at any event, you don’t badmouth the organizers. Instead, you take notes and either — depending on how important the venue is to your bottom line — volunteer to make it better next year, or make your own arrangements to make your part of the venue better, or you decide not to come back next year.

You especially don’t complain when you’ve already demonstrated to the organizers that you are an amateur. That is, you complain to various people at the event that you weren’t told you needed a table-runner with your name on it, a copy of your book and a stand to decorate your section of the table, and swag to hand out to attendees.

This is basic stuff, folks. Remember this rule for any time you walk outside your house:

A Always
B Bring
S Swag

You should always, always, always treat every show from the smallest local library event to a major five-day convention the same. Bring your A-game, dress for the part, know how you’re going to set up your section of the authors’ table, practice your pitch, and have plenty of swag to hand out. A box of bookmarks is easy to keep in the trunk of your car, along with a copy of your most recent book and a stand.

If you’re at a public event, you will meet the public! They’re there to see you! Why didn’t you think ahead for thirty seconds and pack some bookmarks, business cards, a copy of your book, and a small bookstand? And worse, why did you think your lack of preparedness gave you the right to complain that the staff hadn’t told you to bring some bookmarks to hand out?

This makes you sound — even if you’re sixty-three years old — like you still expect mommy to hold your hand.

This is also why you read all the conference material and FAQs you’re sent. That’s where the common questions get answered.

Don’t do this to yourself. Be prepared and even if the show is still poorly run, you’ll do better.

So that’s the advice for this month. See you next month and remember, we appreciate you, dear reader because where would we authors be without readers?