That we missed our 9SEP2025 pub date for STOLEN MOUNTAIN was very okay with me. The novel still needed love.
I went to the New England Independent Booksellers Association (NEIBA) conference a week ago. I LOVE this meeting. Books, booksellers, and authors, yay. I had 1 pre-release copy of this year’s novel with me. The cover did not survive the encounter with the pros. That’s okay, because the internal text didn’t survive the last round of editing.
Let’s admit that two lovely editors also argued about the placement and organization of quotes, commas, dashes, dots and all the stuff. We discussed when and how to spell out numbers. I got on my noble horse and paraded about declaring the m-dash to be evil and an ugly reminder of AI-generated nonsense. We also had numerous discussions about a main character’s name. Her name is Sarah Ann Musgrave and goes by Sam. Her wife alternates between Sam and Sarah. The distinction having no real “rule”, but guided by which version of Sam/Sarah is in the mind. Soft, loving, playful, romping wife Sarah. Angular, career military officer who has spent nearly two decades deploying to our endless wars: Sam.
“You’ll drive the readers crazy.”
“Sounds like their in a throuple.”
“Readers need one name to be consistent, else you’ll confuse them.”
I counter this by observing that all of us had nickname, schoolroom names, at-home names, family names and nobody got confused. Diana Gabaldon sure gives Jamie just about a million names, ranks, and such. I never got confused. I do get a bit lost deep in Russian fiction, but those guys take the cake on if-one-name-will-do-use-five.
Editing done.
Internal layout done. Reviewed again.
Feedback from NEIBA to the jacket design team.
Now people can pre-order with a delivery date of or around 23 October 2025.
Why Not Rush to Market?
Editing, Aging, & Maturation
I got an thingy via social media asking why I am delaying the release of written novels given I have three or four completed novels, why delay publication. Why not rush to market, I was asked. The sooner a book is out, the more revenue you get. I just don’t know of the truth there.
Quality takes time.
Quality requires investment.
Quality requires teamwork.
And frankly, quality takes time resting in a lovely oak cask (or the literary equivalent).
Writing a novel, that effort of sitting at a keyboard typing, appears to be the fractional measure of the effort to publish a good novel. STOLEN MOUNTAIN went through three editors, each with different briefs. One was a story development editor who advised on content. One give it a very robust copyedit. The third did another copyedit and also opted to jump into the various DEI/sensitivity issues.
And over the drafts, author (me) got to tune and revise as the work encountered peers and readers. I just don’t write perfectly in one draft. I’ll bet few others do.
Marketing
Marketing can take a year, certainly budgeting six months is a good idea. My publisher, Catalyst Press, has pushed us with mailing to librarians, booksellers, and other groups. I have written, on spec, at least two articles. We’re submitting for book reviews.
Supporting Articles
One is about my love of audiobooks. The other called “PTSD on the page” where I explore that all of my stories incorporate PTSD (I write about paramedics, EMTs, firefighters, and soldiers). Never in a novel or short story, have I used the phrase PTSD or discuss the syndrome directly.
Outreach
Reaching out to local booksellers and developing a network takes time and effort. I’ve done NEIBA twice now. I’ve toured most of the bookshops in VT and NH and Western MA last fall and will do again this month and next month.
Readers
It takes years to build an audience. First, find them. Second, feed and care for them. Third, respect them and their time.
Book Reviews
Submitting books and audiobooks to reviewers takes time. STOLEN MOUNTAIN takes approximately 13 hours to read (I know I recorded the audiobook). Give the reviewers the courtesy of reviewing something fresh, give them the time it takes to do a proper read and scribble something about your novel.
The answer to “Why not rush to market” is an inquiry about rushing to market. Why rush? Why accept good-enough on an worthy opus. A great novel is not an assignment of 100,000 words due before end-of-term. It is an enduring representation of the author’s best efforts. Why go out there is dog shit on your shoe, mascara dripping from the lash, and spinach on the teeth.
In short, we have a pub-date. We have a novel written a couple of years ago that has been passed from pro to pro making it the best each of us can. No AI, all humans working in a classic team of people doing things together. It feels great being a part of a team.