Guess what? I said YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Ya think I'm a fool?)
It's been a roller coaster week or ten days as my FANTASTIC agent has kept me informed of the negotiation process. Actually, all I had to do was answer the phone and say, "Uh-huh" and nod vigorously at all her suggestions. Next up, putting my name on the actual contract.
This is a wonderful opportunity. The books will be coming out in hardcover. I know, a lot of people are going to say, "I can't afford hardcover!" That's where ebooks and libraries come into the picture. A year after the hardcover comes the paperback edition.
Hardcover is a good and bad thing. Good, because it earns me (and my publisher) more money (and did I mention my healthcare premiums are going up TWENTY PERCENT in January???), and there's the possibility more libraries will either buy or rent the books. Bad because . . . well, my paperback readers will hold off a year before buying/reading the books.
Ah, but it'll be available as an ebook for considerably less than the $25 hardcover price. (But still more expensive than a paperback. Hopefully publishers will rethink their ebook strategy in the coming years and lower the prices ... but that's another blog post.)
I've already got a three-story arc planned for those books (but not the nitty-gritty details) and it should be a fun ride. And I'll still be writing the Victoria Square Mysteries (using my Lorraine Bartlett name), and they'll be in paperback for the foreseeable future. Did I say win-win?
But still ... I worry.
Would you consider buying a Booktown mystery in hardcover?
