So very soon, we will release our 12th title in 21 months! How is this even possible? How can it be sustainable?
Coffee in the Morning: short stories of fiction, fantasy and dreams
The book launching, after several weeks delay, is Larry Sceurman’s anticipated short story collection, Coffee in the Morning. After seeing Joan Zachary’s original photography, we added more photos to the book: from Larry’s archives, from his son, and some fun images Gayle found. It’s another example of how our team remains flexible to build beautiful craft books that make the author’s vision come alive.
Speaking of Larry, I got a phone call from him at 7 a.m. last weekend (yes, on a Saturday, but it’s okay. Larry and I are both early risers and we usually telephone each other at 7 a.m.) giving me permission to get this show on the road. (In other words, he’s tired of looking at the proof of his book and gave me permission to sign off when Art Director Gayle Hendricks and I finish fiddling with minor details.)
I submitted it to the printer– and the file ended up in limbo. Typically, with everything done by computers, I have a proof within 48 hours. After six days, I had to contact customer support. We had a similar situation about 14 months ago, so I guess I can’t complain. The automated customer support said I had a question it couldn’t handle (the question was: “is there a lag due to workload on your end or is there an issue?”) and that someone else would get back to me.
I see the title has advanced in the process, but still no proof. My gut and past experience tell me I should have one tomorrow.
But back to Larry… he had listened to a podcast by Olivia Brooks of Chronicles & Coffee (visit chroniclesandcoffee.com) interviewing me and getting interrupted by Nala the Goffins Cockatoo even though she’s two rooms away. Larry is an oral storyteller, so I value his opinion on my conversation and he told me I sounded good and that I always sound as honest with strangers as I do among my team. Want to listen? Here’s a link. It is also available via Spotify.
The official launch date for Larry’s book was May 31. The ebook is scheduled for a June 10 release and that file has been accepted and enabled for distribution. We used the original color images from the print book that we needed to convert to black and white for that medium. (When I went onto Amazon today, to my surprise the Kindle book had released. Click here. It will also “turn up” with the links to retailers below.)
Larry has also been exploring some of the podcasts I’ve been recommending in my column for the Greater Lehigh Valley Writers Group newsletter. He’s the first person to give me any feedback on my choices, which range from the very liberal Sacha Black to the Christian conservative Thomas Umstattd Jr. and the very tech savvy Joanna Penn. This was the column of recommendations.
Larry asked if I ever thought about hosting a podcast and I said yes, but not until I have more of a crowd to support me and the time to do it. I mentioned that I tried a few recordings. Even have the microphone, a necessary investment in today’s world of recordings and Zooms. I have a list of potential episodes and a format.
I want to have 20 to 30 minutes of a discussion on craft, preferably with a guest and/or one of our authors and then 10 to 15 minutes of an excerpt of one of our books demonstrating that topic.
But consistency is required to make any new project work– and I am not willing to launch such a creation until I have either people asking me to do it or the time to record/edit about eight of them so I know we’ll have a complete season to release no matter what life tosses at us.
As always, don’t forget we have a Substack newsletter that will deliver our upcoming events, publishing scheduling, resources for writers, and other interesting tidbits about twice a month. Explore that here and please consider subscribing. There are free and paid levels.
If you want to buy our books:
Parisian Phoenix Publishing 
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