Easy Ways to Keep Up with Publishing News in 2012 | Mystery Writing is Murder

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Easy Ways to Keep Up with Publishing News in 2012

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Keeping up with publishing news in, let’s say, 2000 wasn’t particularly interesting. I know I wasn’t paying attention to it. I wonder how many people were.

But today, keeping an eye on publishing is important for every writer considering publication. Actually, I think it’s important for readers, too, if they’re interested in the health of their local bookstore chain or whether they should invest in an eReader.

Luckily, there are some great sites to help us keep up with it all and to help us disseminate the information we receive. That’s a good thing, because it’s all changing so quickly.

Publishing news and analysis

eBookNewser Jane Friedman’s blog, in particular Porter Anderson’s Thursday segment, Writing on the Ether TeleRead Publishing Perspectives Publishers Lunch Blogs that weigh in on e-publishing vs. traditional

Joe Konrath’s blog (A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing) Dean Wesley Smith The Business Rusch (Kristine Kathryn Rusch) David Gaughran—Let’s Get Digital The Shatzkin Files (Mike Shatzkin)

Help sorting out legal ramifications of these changes in publishing:

Passive Voice Blog

These are just a few great sites…there are many more out there. Want to add to my list? Or, what are your thoughts on the rapidly changing publishing world? (I think it’s a great time to be a writer.)

Quilt Trip--Dec. 2013--Quilting Mystery #3--Penguin/Signet

Quilt Trip--Dec. 2013--Quilting Mystery #3--Penguin/Signet

Muriel Starnes, an elderly eccentric, has organized a meeting of quilters to pick someone to administer a quilting scholarship. But once the quilters arrive at the mansion, it seems they may never leave. An ice storm sends an old tree crashing across the driveway, leaving them stranded for the night. And by the next morning, they are one fewer—for Muriel has been sent to meet her maker. With everyone in the house a suspect, it’s up to Beatrice and the Village Quilters to figure out who has a guilty conscience before someone else gets tied up in knots

Rubbed Out--Memphis BBQ #4--July 2013

Rubbed Out--Memphis BBQ #4--July 2013

Reuben Shaw rubs a lot of people the wrong way—including Lulu’s best friend, Cherry, who has the misfortune of being in the booth next to his at the festival. The pigheaded pit master thinks he’s a shoo-in to win the barbeque competition, but he spends more time stirring up trouble than seasoning his spare ribs. Hours after she gets into a quarrel with him, Cherry finds Shaw dead with a butcher knife in his chest. Now it’s her turn to get grilled—by the police. Lulu sets out to clear her friend’s name and finds Shaw had more secrets than his BBQ recipe. She’ll need to act fast, because the real killer will spare no one…including Lulu.

"Knot What it Seams"--Feb. 5, 2013

"Quilt or Innocence"--June 5 2012

"Quilt or Innocence"--June 5 2012

Southern Quilting Mysteries: As the newest member of the Village Quilters Guild, Beatrice has a lot of gossip to catch up on—especially with the Patchwork Cottage quilt shop about to close. It seems that Judith, the landlord everyone loves to hate, wants to raise the rent, despite being a quilter herself… But when Judith is found dead, the harmless gossip becomes an intricate patchwork of mischievous motives. And it’s up to Beatrice’s expert eye to decipher the pattern and catch the killer, before her life gets sewn up for good.

Hickory Smoked Homicide

Hickory Smoked Homicide

Memphis BBQ Mysteries: Since she runs the hottest BBQ joint in town, Lulu knows just about everyone in Memphis. But one person she'd rather not know is Tristan Pembroke, a snooty pageant coach with a mean streak longer than the line outside Lulu's restaurant. When she finds Tristan's dead body stuffed in a closet at a party, the police are suspicious--especially since Lulu's developed a taste for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Caught in a situation stickier than molasses, Lulu must clear her name--or risk getting fried...

"A Body in the Backyard"--a Myrtle Clover Mystery. Nov. 2012

"A Body in the Backyard"--a Myrtle Clover Mystery. Nov. 2012

It’s just an ordinary day for octogenarian sleuth Myrtle Clover—until her yardman discovers a dead body planted in her backyard. This death isn’t cut and dried—the victim was bashed in the head with one of Myrtle’s garden gnomes.Myrtle’s friend Miles recognizes the body and identifies him as Charles Clayborne… reluctantly admitting he’s a cousin. Charles wasn’t the sort of relative you bragged about—he was a garden variety sleaze, which is very likely why he ended up murdered. As Myrtle starts digging up dirt to nip the killings in the bud, someone’s focused on scaring her off the case. Myrtle vows to find the murderer…before she’s pushing up daisies, herself.

Pretty is as Pretty Dies

Pretty is as Pretty Dies

A Myrtle Clover Mystery: An August 1, 2009 release by Midnight Ink. The Publishers Weekly review: "The amusing first in a new cozy series from Craig...Myrtle's wacky personality is a delight." Mystery Scene magazine: "Craig’s skill at evoking a small town and its idiosyncratic inhabitants renders this mystery a pleasure to read. I’m looking forward to the further exploits of Myrtle Clover.” ForeWord Magazine: "The treat here is Myrtle’s eccentricity, brought to life with rich humor and executed for the most part with breezy skill." Mystery News: "Wonderful cozy mystery: solidly written, well-plotted and funny." Midwest Book Review: "I loved this book. The story is typical of a lot of small towns anywhere in the US, but Elizabeth Spann Craig added a new dimension with Myrtle and her elderly friends."