If you told
me a year ago that I would eventually play a part in publishing a book,
particularly a book that is the best I have ever read by an author that has
sold thousands of books and recognized by national icons, I would have laughed
at you. Yes, I never thought I would go
down this road until I went to my aunt, Eva McCall, and said I wanted to do
it. I guess I can now say “never say
never.”
A year has
passed, and so many things have happened with the production and release of
Eva’s new novel, “Murder on Haint Branch.”
This is all Eva’s baby, but since working on it with her, I have felt
like it’s my baby too. This has been
months of hard work. And there were even
times that Eva and I didn’t think it was going to work out.
It was Eva’s
birthday when the idea hit me. We had
all the family and all of the Carpenter sisters at my grandma’s house. Every time I saw Eva at times past, I would
ask how the publishing of the book was going.
And she would say that no one had picked it up and was waiting for
something to happen. I told her that if
she was willing to invest some money and time, I would be willing to invest my
time and previous experience toward the project. I don’t think I had her sold on the idea at
the time, but she said she would look into it and would send me the manuscript
for me to read.
It only took
me three days to read the book. And when
I put it down, I stepped back and said, “Woah.”
The plot and the characters were all so well done, and were so rich in
Appalachian history. You know it’s a
good book when you ponder about it all day.
As soon as I could, I called Eva and said, “You have to publish this!”
That’s what
started our journey. Eva still wasn’t
convinced it was good enough to be published, or that we could do it. But she did send it to Barbara McRae from The
Franklin Press, and asked for her thoughts.
After a week or two, Barbara too said that it was good and we should
pursue the project. That’s what made Eva
realize we needed to do it. Eva felt that
Barbara would also be good to edit the book and format it. So as Barbara began the long process, Eva and
I focused on other aspects of the book.
Those
aspects included finding a printer and a cover.
Henry Fichner offered to do the cover, so that was easy. Finding a printer, however, was a different
story. Because we were doing it
ourselves, we quickly found out why authors don’t get much money when they are
with a publisher. No matter who we went
with, printing was going to be expensive.
We wanted to keep the printing process local, but wasn’t able to because
the book was going to have to be published in the thousands before each
individual book would be cheap enough.
Months
later, when Barbara had the editing completed, we still did not have a
printer. At the same time, we were
pursuing a lead that would possibly get a quote from Dolly Parton on the back
of the book. But it all came together
when we had the final version of Barbara’s editing, Henry’s finished cover,
Dolly’s letter, and the final decision with a printer. We submitted our final product to Book Patch,
an online printer stationed out of Arizona.
Nothing can
describe the feeling I felt when the first printed copies arrived. It gave me a sense of accomplishment, and
months of hard work paying off. These
three books were in no way perfect (I have one of the three, and I have hidden
it very good. It’ll be worth something
one day!), but it showed us what we needed to do to make it perfect and have it
ready for mass printing.
April 1,
2013 was the day that people were able to purchase the book in stores. Now that I think about it, we should have
done a midnight release like they did with the Harry Potter series (I will make
sure to do this with the next book!). I
think we had planned on doing a release party with close friends and family,
but wasn’t able to work it in our schedules.
I was so excited to hear that people were finally buying the book and
reading it. And while the journey of
getting the book published was over, the next journey, selling the book,
began.
Since the
release, Eva and I have sold lots of books, and learned new things in the
process. Our first book signing at Books
Unlimited was a big success, and the signings following were also successful. In May, the book was published in eBook
format, which was another brand new experience for me. And it has given me experience in advertising
and social media, which is working well for my college major.
I can’t
believe it has already been a year since we started the project. I also can’t believe it has already been six
months since the book has been available to readers. It’s true what they say, “Time flies when you’re
having fun.” This experience with Eva
has certainly been loads of fun, and I have told her to call me up when she is
ready to start the next book. I’m
expecting to get that call very soon.
The fans of Eva
and my family have all been so supportive and have given great reviews for the
book. None of this could have been done
without you cheering us on. And of
course, this couldn’t be done without the mind behind the story. Thank you, Eva, for giving me something to be
passionate about and to be proud of.
On to our
next journey…
