Featured Image: First trilogy book covers designed by Hollis Machala. (Photo by A. Keith Carreiro, 11 August 2019.)
The first trilogy book launch is almost here: I can’t believe how fast the time has gone by. I have been preparing for this event since last November. At that time, I talked with Steve and Dawn Porter of Stillwater River Publications about their helping me with this project. I shared with them that I hoped to redo the first two because I wanted to improve the copyright page, especially for me to be able to sell the books to libraries and even the big box stores like Barnes & Noble. The books needed more interior editing as well. I wanted to have them to look more professional and aesthetically pleasing to the eye.
Image courtesy & permission of Steve & Dawn Porter.
They reviewed the first two books of the series that I had published with me by closely looking at the interior formatting of the Penitent – Part I and the Penitent – Part II. Dawn pointed out to me that there were pages containing widows and orphans,1 which are frowned upon in the book publishing world.
The use of headers needed editing because they were being displayed on pages they didn’t belong on, such as at the beginning of chapters.
It is frustrating to learn such information after paying for publishing—as well as writing, editorial, pr and marketing—assistance, especially when one is not told the proper way of setting up a book. Learning the correct procedures, formats and protocols after the fact sure are frustrating and can be economically punishing.
Logo of my press, which I maintain for my publications.
This same tough learning from unreliable people and organization has repeated itself enough to make me understand that I need to learn as much as I can from those folks I can trust to do an outstanding job for me, who have my best interest out for them. To the point here, they help become a team because I could never do what is needed to do to get this story out to prospective readers.
I have learned that it is critically important to join well–respected writing associations and writers groups. Isolation is punitive to an individual writer’s literary life. Attending, participating and giving presentations at conferences or other literary events are vital ways to invigorate inspiration, network with other colleagues and keep the passion going for storytelling.
Dawn recommended artist Jamie Forgetta to help me create three maps for the first trilogy. We worked on them for almost seven months. Now I have an overall map of the trilogy setting, a map of St. Åyrwyus Priory that is in the second book, and a map of Seascale, which is in the third book.
Artist Hollis Machala redid the spine as well as the front and back covers of all three books in the Penitent trilogy.
I figure this is a learning journey and I am studying at the feet of experience. I certainly don’t want other folks who are writing and wishing to publish to go through the same things I did. Yet, it is inevitable to meet such arduous and backbreaking challenges.
On the other hand, I have met some incredible individuals who have been invaluable to me. Other than the people mentioned above, those listed here below have been invaluable to me in helping me along my literary path:
Julien Ayotte [author]
Dr. Ted Baehr [MOVIEGUIDE®]
Wayne G. Barber [Authors Hour]
Rob Bentley [author, blogger & web design]
Map of the overall setting in the Penitent trilogy. (Map by Jamie Forgetta.)
Pastor Robert Bernier [Christian Life Church]
Jim Bishop [former University of Maine Professor]
Hugh Blair–Smith [artisan & author]
Gary Blanchard [Ware, MA Community Television Studio]
Lauren H. Brandenburg [author]
David Bright [newspaper writer, editor (retired) Bangor Daily News]
Marilyn Busch [actress | graphic designer & marketing consultant]
Anne Baxter Campbell [author & blogger]
Carolyn Carreiro [singer/songwriter & artist]
Susan Caspi [beta editor]
Tony DePaul [writer]
Frank Falvey [Franklin, MA Community Cable Access TV Studio]
Joel Friedlander [book designer & blogger]
Carol Gafford [Youth Services/Outreach; Programming Librarian]
Genevieve Gavel [editor]
Debra Ostrokolowicz Horan (Booklovers’ Gourmet Bookstore)
Robert Keating [musician, writer, IT analyst]
Kelly Kilgore [beta editor]
Stephen King [author]
Steve Laube [The Steve Laube Agency]
Map of the port city of Seascale, West Fündland. This map (black & white version) appears in the third book of the trilogy, the Pilgrim. (Map by Jamie Forgetta.)
Jan Lewis [host of “Be My Guest”, Upton MA Access TV]
Randy Lima [Vice President, Branch Manager III at Rockland Trust]
Steven Manchester [author]
Cheryl Masciarelli [Owner/CEO of not only Providence Book Promotions]
Guy Natelli [photographer, writer, raconteur]
Dana Norman [Norman & Graham]
Chris Obert [Independent Publishers of New England]
Image from Director Frank Capra’s (1946), It’s a Wonderful Life, by Liberty Films is taken from moviescreenshots.blogspot.com.
Travis Perry [Bear Publications]
Dr. David Reinke [friend & colleague]
Jack B. Rochester [Founding Barista, The Fictional Café]
Lauren Sarat [writer, editor & consultant]
Raina C. Smith [author]
Mike Squatrito [author]
Fan Stanbrough [graphic designer & marketer]
E. J. Stevens [author]
Chris Upton [A Freethinker’s Corner Bookstore]
Michelle White [beta editor]
Image from Director Frank Capra’s (1946), It’s a Wonderful Life, by Liberty Films is taken from moviescreenshots.blogspot.com.
The above list is only a partial one. For those individuals I have inadvertently not included, please forgive my omission.
I have two more trilogies planned:
the Pilgrim, and
the Prophet.
I have spent as much time as I have been able to this summer in researching and planning the setting of the second trilogy. I am developing some intriguing concepts and hope to get a cast of characters soon created. I also will be developing the story arc for the next three books.
Stillwater Bookstore in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. (Photo permission & courtesy of Steve & Dawn Porter.)
Almost all of the preparations are done for the First Trilogy Book Launch. Just have to order some food and cake, of course, and we’re set to have some fun.
Please know that, if you can be there, you are invited to my First Trilogy Book Launch. Join us for a slice of cake as we also celebrate my birthday! Prizes, light refreshments … and of course, books! See you there.
It is being held at 2:00 p.m. EST this Sunday, 18 August, Stillwater Books, 175 Main Street, Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
Footnotes:
1According to Laura Nunn, in her blog article, “Widows and Orphans,”
“An orphan is the first line of a paragraph that is left at the bottom of the page (or column) and a widow is the last few words of a paragraph that end up at the top by themselves. In the world of desktop publishing a single line of a paragraph hanging out alone should be avoided whenever possible.”
Nunn, Laura. “WIDOWS AND ORPHANS.” BellaOnline: The Voice of Women, 2018, www.bellaonline.com/articles/art174536.asp.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. As the sole author of the first trilogy, the Penitent, in my series The Immortality Wars, and as the sole proprietor of Copper Beech Press, I have a material connection to these books, as well as to the publishing press, I have just listed. Other than my previously stated novels and publishing press, I have no material connection to the brands, products or services that I have mentioned here. I am disclosing this information in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
© 13 August 2019 by A. Keith Carreiro
For information about my series, The Immortality Wars, please go to my home page: https://immortalitywars.com/