Friday, November 12, 2010

More books in my future . . .

And so I've been offered the opportunity to write books 7, 8 and 9 in the Booktown Mystery Series.

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?