Publishing in Two Cities

 Have you missed us?  Mme. Moreno and I have been enjoying ourselves in the country for the past several weeks.  So we have been remiss in keeping our blog current.  But now that autumn approaches we are both committed to do better.  

Today we have invited Donna Fletcher Crow to take over our blog.  By way of background, Donna is the author of 35 books, mostly novels dealing with British history.  The award-winning GLASTONBURY, The Novel of Christian England is her best-known work, an Arthurian grail search epic covering 15 centuries of English history.  A VERY PRIVATE GRAVE, book 1 in the Monastery Murders series is her reentry into publishing after a 10 year hiatus, and today marks its U.S. publication. 

On a personal note (and I do love to get personal with the ladies) Donna and her husband have 4 adult children and 10 grandchildren.  She is an enthusiastic gardener and you can see pictures of her garden, watch the trailer for A VERY PRIVATE GRAVE, and read her international blog at www.DonnaFletcherCrow.com

Welcome, Donna!   What have you been up to this summer?

DONNA:  Thank you Mary and Amadé, it's lovely to be back with you again.  I always find an instant entry into your world, Amadé, when I hear a piece of your music, as do the characters in my books.  

I have just finished the second book in my romantic intrigue series, the Elizabeth & Richard Mysteries.  This one,  A MIDSUMMER EVE'S NIGHTMARE is set in a Shakespearean Festival with lots of wonderful references to the Bard.  Since this is meant to be a bit of a honeymoon for the newlyweds, Richard takes Ellizabeth out for a French dinner and Elizabeth enjoys her Pears Hélène to the accompanying strains of a Mozart Air.

MOZART:  Ah, Pears Hélène, one of my favorite sweetmeats!

DONNA:  And I told you last time how "your" Miserere is in the very first chapter of A VERY PRIVATE GRAVE.

MOZART:  Showing exquisite taste on your part, my dear.

DONNA:  Today, however, Mary has asked me to tell your readers what it's like working for two publishers, one in England and one in America.  I would have to characterize the delightful, sometimes frustrating and always confusing experience as being like having twins.  Let me explain:

My twin granddaughters were born eight years ago - and I clearly remember the knot of excitement that sat at the base of y throat, the desire to run through the streets shouting the news, the almost frantic wondering, "What do I do now?"  And now, here I am, at the ripe age of ...(expletive deleted)...having twins myself.  

At least, that’s what it feels like.  My ecclesiastical thriller A VERY PRIVATE GRAVE, Book 1, The Monastery Murders, released in the UK on June 1.  On June 2 I received a note from my American publisher that my thought-provoking romantic intrigue THE SHADOW OF REALITY was up on Kindle and Smashwords.  “Surprise,” the doctor said.  “There’s another one in there.”

The excitement was intense; the complications perplexing.  I wanted to run through the streets of London announcing the arrival of Private Grave. Well, okay, I don’t think that’s done there.  But a launch party with sherry and truffles at Waterstone’s would have been nice.  But I’m 7000 miles away.  Likewise, I wanted to do all I could to make the launch of Shadow of Reality a success, but I’m not quite sure how one promotes an Ebook.  So maybe I’m doing all I can by blogging about it. Rather like sitting and rocking Jane while daughter-in-law Kelly fed Adela.

Actually, this dual birth will be something of a case study for the marketing experts in this brave new electronic age we’re all doing our best to grope our way through.  A VERY PRIVATE GRAVE is published by Monarch Books, an imprint of Lion/Hudson, a very traditional, established publisher in Oxford.  (You don’t get much more traditional than that.)  THE SHADOW OF REALITY is from Stone House Ink a young, new publisher whose reason for being is to “embrace the new technology.”

Monarch, holding to the old model, is reticent about bringing out Ebooks because “We don’t want to compete with ourselves.”  For Stone House the Ebook is the primary release.  Print books will follow along about Christmastime after the Ebook has made it’s mark in the world.

Monarch sells through Waterstones, AmazonUK and their own catalog.  They have given me superb editing,  postcards and a trailer (which you can see here: http://ning.it/ac80sQ) and a beautiful baby with a glossy cover which I love to caress.

Stone House has given me a beautiful electronic cover and a carefully edited book available in all Ebook formats with a marketing plan which focuses on setting the right price for maximum sales.

($2.99 here:  http://ning.it/bCi2iA)

Book 2 in the Monastery Murders, A DARKLY HIDDEN TRUTH won’t be contracted for until sales figures are in.  Book 2 in Richard & Elizabeth A MIDSUMMER EVE’S NIGHTMARE is scheduled to release next spring.  And so the balancing act continues.

It’s a fascinating study and both publishers have been absolutely stellar to work with.  Of course, I’m trying to do everything I can to help both succeed beyond their wildest expectations. And now I’m holding my breath as the older twin A VERY PRIVATE GRAVE steps out into the big, wide world of it’s North American release in September.  After all these months of waiting, my readers in the US and Canada will no longer have to be satisfied with clicking a “pre-order here” button, but can actually get the book for immediate shipping through Amazon.com or through my website:  http://www.donnafletchercrow.com/index.php

In the meantime, I have to remember that books are like children in another way.  We do our best to mold their future, but they do grow up with minds of their own and have adventures of their own which we can enjoy watching while we hope and pray for their success.

MARY:  Thank you for stopping by, Donna.   And we both wish you success with your “children!” 

The Monastery Murders

MOZART:  Today I am conducting my first interview with a published author. Donna Fletcher Crow is the author of 35 books, mostly novels dealing with British history.  The award-winning Glastonbury, The Novel of Christian England , her best-known work, is an Arthurian grail search epic covering 15 centuries of English history.  Having spent some time in England as a child, I am quite fascinated with British history, and, may I say, most impressed with your diligence in researching it.

DONNA:  Yes, I’ve always loved history.  Mostly I write about English history, although I haven’t covered the time when you and your sister were performing in London.

MOZART:  I understand your new novel, A Very Private Grave, is being released in the UK today and will be available in the US in September.

I see here in my notes that this is the first in your Monastery Murders series.   Monastery Murders, oh my!  Indeed, an intriguing idea for a series!

Welcome to my blog, Madame Fletcher Crow.

DONNA:  Thank you, Amadeus— May I call you Amadeus?  Or would you prefer Wolfgang?

MOZART: Contrary to a popular 20^th  Century movie wherein my dear wife referred to me as“Wolfie,”  I prefer to be addressed as Amadé.

DONNA:  Right then, Amadé, thank you so much for choosing to interview me today.  I’ve always been a great lover of your music, so this is a real honor for me.  As a matter of fact, in chapter one of A Very Private Grave my heroine attends a service where your Miserere is sung.  Well, of course, I know it’s really Allegri’s composition, but you gave it to the world, so to speak, by smuggling it out of the Vatican in your head.  I’ve always adored that story.  I can see why you’ll do so well in your new career as a detective.

MOZART:  Yes, I do have a photographic memory, especially when it comes to music notation.  And I love figuring things out.  But enough about me for the moment, let us return to you.

After a long career of writing historical novels, what prompted you to tackle a mystery?

DONNA:   For my Monastery Murders series I have moved from doing straight historical novels to including history as background.  It seemed like a more exciting way to tell the stories I wanted to share with my readers, and history contains so many mysteries it was quite a natural shift.

MOZART:  And what inspired you to set your mystery in a monastery, of all places?

DONNA:  Since I wanted to tell the story of the 7th century Saint Cuthbert and the mystery surrounding his burial, starting out in a contemporary monastery seemed a very natural thing to do.  Actually, my fictional monastery is modeled very closely on an actual monastery and theological college where my daughter studied.  So, once again, I didn’t really have to make up very much.

MOZART:  Tell me a bit about the two characters you created for A Private Grave - Felicity and Antony. Are they based on real life people or totally fictional?

DONNA:  Once again, true life provides the best springboards for fiction.  I started out modeling Felicity very closely on my daughter, but quickly found that didn’t work very well.  I needed a more difficult heroine and, fortunately, my daughter is absolutely lovely and much more mature than Felicity.  Growing Felicity up will be one of the fun things of the series, I believe.  Antony is much more of a composite.  There are elements of several lecturers and ordinands I’ve met while visiting my daughter in England. Some of the monks are absolutely real, too.  Although, fortunately, the real Fr. Dominic was not the victim of a brutal murder, but instead is happily tending his rose garden in the monastery.

MOZART:  On your Web site I saw the term "ecclesiastical mysteries."  Would you be so kind as to provide some background on this?

DONNA:  Yes, this is the subgenre I’ve chosen to work in because it’s what I love to read.  I love visiting old churches and I believe contemporary society is in danger of losing so much of our heritage as we let our busyness crowd out the spiritual.  I love the beauty, the peace.  I hope I can convey a bit of this to my readers.  Ironic, isn’t it, to be talking about beauty and peace while dealing with a brutal murder.  I think the contrast is part of the appeal.  Kate Charles, who is one of the best writing in the subgenre was kind enough to say that “Donna Fletcher Crow has created her own niche within the genre of clerical mysteries.”  That pleased me a great deal.

MOZART:  How much time do you spend researching your historical background for your Monastery series?

DONNA:  Oh, research is my favorite thing.  I knew I wanted to write about St. Cuthbert when I first heard of him while visiting Durham Cathedral in the mid-90’s.  In 2001 I took a pilgrimage to ancient holy sites in England, Scotland and Wales.  Many of those sites served as settings for A Very Private Grave, so you could say I researched for 10 years, but really I was doing lots of other things in that time.

MOZART:  A question for the writers out there:  Do you write from an outline?

DONNA:  In this case I certainly did, because I had the historic life of St. Cuthbert and the strange 300-year journey of his relics to follow, so the history provided its own outline.  I suppose it’s much like yourself, Amadé, the form of the piece of music you are composing has its own structure, but then the story or the melody takes over and fills in, although I could never aspire to your level of inspiration.

MOZART:  Yes, it is true, I was, and still am, touched by the hand of the Infinite.  But, I digress.  Who are your favorite mystery authors?

DONNA:  Dorothy L. Sayers and the English writers of the Golden Age are really the foundation of my reading.  I also especially enjoy those writing my own subgenre of the ecclesiastical thriller or clerical mystery.  Kate Charles, Julia Spencer-Fleming and Phil Rickman are some of the best.  P. D. James’ Death in Holy Orders is also one of my favorites.

MOZART:  And who are your favorite historical characters?  Besides myself, of course.

DONNA:  Oh, Amadé, that’s a little like asking me which is my favorite grandchild.  What is your favorite composition?  Seriously, though, I love all periods of history and my favorite characters would be which ever one I’m working with at the moment.

MOZART:  I see you've taken a 10-year hiatus from writing. What brought you back?

DONNA:  Well, I never left.  I did take a one-year sabbatical after my mother died, but other than that I was always writing.  I just wasn’t publishing.  The market changed to some extent, but mostly I changed.  I was doing a great deal of searching and study, as well as writing two nonfiction books that will remain unpublished, but they were important for my own development and I’ve already used a lot of the material from those books as background for The Monastery Murders. Perhaps somewhat like you would use themes from one composition in another.  I think that’s one of the most exciting things about the creative life— the creator must always be growing and changing in order to create.  Don’t you think that’s so?

MOZART:  Most certainly.  But tell me, after not publishing for ten years, how did you manage to get back into the game, as they say?

DONNA: As you can imagine, it wasn't easy.  Things had changed so much in that time that it was actually like starting a whole new career.  Ten years ago there was no electronic promotion, no ebooks, few websites, no Facebook, no Twitter. . .  Getting up to speed on all that has been much harder than writing the book.

MOZART:  Dear me, if you think it was difficult for you, try to put yourself in my powdered wig for a moment!  I travel from a time when there was no such thing as telephone, and now here I am in the land of social networking!  It is most certainly a different world.

My readers will want to know, did you have the assistance of a literary agent in getting your book published?  And if so, how did you find her?

DONNA: , Getting the right agent was definitely the key.  I combed the listings on AgentQuery.com and wrote to several, but kept coming back to Janet Benrey.  it wasn't until after we had signed— which was a real squeaker in itself, because her reply had gone into Spam and I almost missed her— that we talked on the phone and I discovered she is English.  Someone who really understands the story I'm telling.  She promoted me to Monarch Books— who made us wait a year while they market-tested another series in a similar genre.  The other series sold well for them, so they were willing to take me on and they have been great to work with.  It's definitely a team effort.

MOZART:  Well, congratulations, Donna.  I know it took much patience to see your book through to publication.  I admire your persistence.  And I am sure your story will inspire other writers who are waiting to see their work in print.

I wish you much success with your UK release, and hope you will return here in September when A Very Private Grave is released in the US. 

DONNA:  Thank you, Amadé.  And may I just mention that your readers can watch the trailer for A Very Private Grave, and read my international blog at www.DonnaFletcherCrow.com