Delivered Yesterday!

Yesterday I got my first look at my new book, Ghost Stories of the Long Beach Peninsula. The twenty-five I ordered arrived neatly packaged in a box delivered by FedEx. Betsy Millard happened to be here just about the time they came and said that the Heritage Museum and Time Enough Books had also received their orders.

“I didn’t even catch a glimpse of them,” she said. “They were whisked away and tucked into a closet somewhere. We can’t put them out on our shelves until September 30^th.

”Wow! I felt just like J.K. Rowling! Remember when people waited with baited breath for the release of each Harry Potter book? Booksellers were under dire threat (of what I wonder?) not to put them out until the official release date. Bookstores had lines of people waiting for the doors to open on those long awaited dates.  A marketing ploy, I always figured.  I wonder if the History Press (publisher of this Ghost Stories book) is into that marketing game or if there is another reason.

Front Cover

We owned the Bookvendor in Long Beach when the first Harry Potter book was released  and, like many other places, we ran out of the first book early in the day. I made several runs over to CostCo and bought cartloads of them spending less per book than we paid for copies through our distributor. It was a great lesson into the power of buying in bulk and how we little folk get screwed by the bigger-is-better-especially-if-it’s-a-big-box-store-corporate-entity syndrome. But… I digress.

Back Cover

Although I paid for my twenty-five copies of Ghost Stories of the Long Beach Peninsula at the same rate as booksellers, I’m not sure I’m under the same rules about waiting until September 30th. There were no instructions or warnings that came with my order. But it is probably immaterial. My intent has nothing to do with sales and everything to do with thank yous to the people who so generously told me their ghost stories. And anyway, it will probably take me until the 30^th to get all their addresses gathered and the packages ready.

Having said that, though, I did take a peek for myself. I think it looks great! I haven’t perused a copy thoroughly enough to find the obligatory mistake – the one that every author finds, usually upon the initial opening of the book. I’m sure it’s there somewhere… Mrs. Crouch surely saw to that. (She’s the ghost in our house.) Or, maybe, since I dedicated the book to her, she has left well enough alone. I hope so!