Thursday, January 21, 2016

Challenges Authors Face in the Publishing World


I have listened to the stories of fellow authors who have been orphaned by their publishers or had to deal with publishers discontinuing publication. This is a common occurrence in today’s publishing environment.

I have the good fortune to have seven mystery novels published through the Five Star (a part of Gale/Cengage Learning) mystery line. This includes six books in the Paul Jacobson Geezer-lit Mystery Series and a standalone, Mystery of the Dinner Playhouse. I also have a historical mystery, Murder on the Switzerland Trail, published through Five Star’s Frontier Line of western books. Unfortunately, Five Star has decided to exit the mystery publishing business while continuing with the western line. I had high hopes of continuing to publish mystery books with Five Star, but this will no longer be possible after one final book, Court Trouble: A Platform Tennis Mystery, that is still scheduled to be released in July, 2016.

So for my final Five Star publication, here is what you can expect: When Mark Yeager’s friend is bludgeoned to death in the dark on a platform tennis court, Mark becomes an amateur sleuth to find which of the four suspects is the murderer. Avoiding attempts on his life, he cracks the case, saves the courts from being shut down by the city and learns that he is cancer-free after his bout with prostrate cancer.

2 comments:

Patricia Stoltey said...

The publishing world is definitely a challenge, but I'm a bit excited to be forced out of my routine to look at all the alternatives. I'm glad your mystery was already in the works, Mike.

Mike Befeler, author of geezer-lit and paranormal mysteries said...

Pat, I'll be looking a other alternatives going forward as well