What Readers Want

by Deb Baker/Hannah Reed

Once upon a time...authors produced one book every year. And readers were perfectly happy with that.

Now...they want our next book yesterday. And we're doing everything possible to grant those wishes. My publisher (Berkley Prime Crime) sends a new beekeeping mystery out about every nine months. Just like a baby, it goes through various stages of development - work with my editor to make it the best it can be, inhouse meetings to discuss cover ideas and sales techniques, multiple fine tunings, searching for those sneaky little typos, then off to the printer and finally distribution throughout the country and beyond. Berkley has a lot of authors. The wheels are racing all the time.

Some of us write multiple series - 2 or 3 for traditional publishers. Some of us have rights back for out-of-print series, have reissued them, and are continuing those series as independents authors, doing all the publisher's work ourselves. I do that with my Gertie Johnson murder mysteries. She's a "labor" of love.  I've written a 4th as an independent, just started #5, and next year, I'm really hoping to crank out several more.

Readers are wanting more faster. I'm writing as fast as I can. So are all the other Chicks. Thank you for your patience and loyalty. We love you.