December 17, 2007
Joy To My World
What warms the heart of an author during holiday season? To walk into a bustling Barnes and Noble (in Burlington, MA) on a Sunday and finding:
1) A pile of The Greatest Presidential Stories Never Told on the under $20 table (a dozen of which have already sold at that store)
2) Eight copies of The Greatest War Stories Never Told on the octagon at the very front of the store (four of which have sold in the last week)
3) Six copies of The Greatest Stories Never Told also on the octagon at the very front of the store.
Knowing your books are out there for the public to buy a week before Christmas: Priceless
Posted by rickbeyer at 03:50 PM | Comments (0)
October 16, 2007
Publication Day--Yay
Today was the official “on-sale” ate of my new book, The Greatest Presidential Stories Never Told. It was a quiet day. It is sort of strange, to be honest with you. You look forward to the publication date for months, and unless you have some event scheduled, it seems anti-climactic when it arrived.
Nonetheless, it is a banner day, and to celebrate I want to share some pre-publication comments. All are from “regular people,” as opposed to reviewers who work for a publication or news outlet.
Some come from folks who, by one means or another, have gotten their hands on an advance copy:
As an unofficial presidential history geek, I just wanted to say how absolutely riveted I was by your outstanding book, "The Greatest Presidential Stories Never Told." I simply couldn't put it down. It was that wonderful.Steve, Minnesota
Some come from reviewers on the social-networking site gather.com
Rick Beyer has managed to uncover the real humanity in the all-boys' club called the Presidency.Donna, Baltimore
You will not want to put this book down until you are finished reading it so grab a soda and get cozy and begin your journey into the lives of the Presidents. You will smile, laugh and say “Wow I did not know that” while reading it.Connie, West Virginia
Some come from friends and acquaintances on who received my announcement email
Good luck on your new book…I am just wondering when you found the time to write it!! I cannot even find the time to get family birthday cards out on time.Richard, Lexington, MA
Those presidents…they’ll stupefy you every time.Maura, New York
Do I know you?Dennis, Honolulu
(Yes he does. But he forgot—I’m that memorable!)
My favorite so far, from my high school English teacher, Harry Goldgar, now living in New Orleans
Another book! Wonderful. How energetic you are. ("Another damned, thick, square book! Always scribble, scribble, scribble! Eh, Mr. Gibbon?" -- William Henry, Duke of Gloucester upon receiving from Edward Gibbon Vol. II of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire in 1781.) This is great news, and I look forward to digesting all the dirt you have dug up on the High and Mighty. (But I fear you may never eat lunch in Washington again.)
Posted by rickbeyer at 10:16 PM | Comments (0)
October 09, 2007
One week away
Publication day for The Greatest Stories Never Told is one week away, so, as with both previous books, anxiety is on the rise.
I tape my first TV interview today, a local Boston area show, The Literati Scene with Smoki Bacon and Dick Concannon. Let' see if I can get off to a good start. (For more on Smoki, see this earlier entry)
Teresa Brady, my publicist at Harper Collins, says, and I quote: "We've been assigned for review in the New York Times Style Section--I'm waiting on the date." This is great news--unless of course it turns out that unbeknownst to me, the book is an absolute disaster and they give it a withering pan. Worst nightmares confirmed. Blood pressure going up. Dead man walking. (Calm down, Rick, calm down!)Of course if the reviewer says something nice, every press release I ever send out will say something like: "The New York Times calls him ____ ______ ____ ________________ __."
Fox News is said to be interested in doing an interview, but nothing is set yet. Radio is in the capable hands of Lisa Sweet. A few bookings so far, I'll be updating my media calendar this week.
My fingers are crossed.
Just for fun I looked back at the entry from one week before my last book was published. Similar anxiety, and a link to a funny article that airs out every author fear so they can evaporate on the wind.
Posted by rickbeyer at 07:21 AM | Comments (0)
August 30, 2007
God's Country?
I can't be the first person to be amused by the happy placement of two items on the New York Times Hardcover Non-Fiction Besteller's List this week.
At #4 is IT'S ALL ABOUT HIM, by Denise Jackson. The wife of the country music star Alan Jackson describes how religious faith restored her marriage.
At #5 is GOD IS NOT GREAT, by Christopher Hitchens. Religion as a malignant force in the world.
Its only a guess, mind you, but I'm thinking there is not a lot of overlap between the audiences of those two books.
A few rungs down at 7 is THE WORLD WITHOUT US, by Alan Weisman. What Earth would be like if humans disappeared.
Well, for one thing, it would put an end to all this arguing about God.
Posted by rickbeyer at 09:51 AM | Comments (0)
August 17, 2007
The King and I
There are those who say that I look like author Stephen King. Once, in a grocery store, I actually had to produce ID for a disbelieving cashier who was convinced that I really WAS Stephen King. My wife does not see the resemblance. She loyally argues that I am far better looking. (Sorry Stephen!)
But it turns out that we have something else inc common, as a news story out of Sydney Australia demonstrates.
King was a mistaken for a vandal this week when he walked into a bookstore in the Australian Outback and began writing in some of the books. This was more than a little upsetting to bookstore owner Bev Ellis: "you see someone writing in one of your books you get a bit toey (touchy, for those of you don't speak Austsralian)!" Of course the books he was writing in where his own, and he was signing them. Everything was cleared up quickly withs smiles all around.
What I love about the story is the fact that King, after selling 42-gagillion books, ringing up millions in movie rights, and earning international acclaim for his writing, still can't walk by a bookstore without ducking in to see if his books are on the shelves, and then signing a few of them. My god, he's just as insecure and ego-driven as the rest of us!
Which leaves the burning question...does he haunt the Amazon rankings list like some other authors I know (but who shall, mercifully, go nameless.)
Posted by rickbeyer at 07:30 AM | Comments (0)
April 11, 2007
Copyediting
Yesterday I received a package from Harper Collins containing the copyedited manuscript of my new book, The Greatest Presidential Stories Never Told. Upon opening it, I was hit with the stink of cigarette smoke that permeates every page of the manuscript. My response to that was somewhat different than you might imagine.
I shouted for joy!
Before even looking at the material inside, I knew that smell meant one thing: Chuck Antony had done the copyediting.
Chuck copyedited my first book, and did a tremendous job. He pored over that manuscript, fact checking as well as proofreading, and offering many suggestions that made things clearer and easier to understand.
The copy editor's job is to clear away various obstacles that might get between the author and the reader, obtacles that threaten interfere with the act of telepathy that we call reading. A typo, an inadvertent ommison, a "minor" mistake in fact, an unclear passage--any one of these can derail a reader. Chuck's commitment to eliminating every such obstacle made the first book better, and I'm glad he's on this one.
Posted by rickbeyer at 01:09 PM | Comments (0)
December 03, 2006
Book Ranking
I note this morning that the Greatest Stories Never Told is ranked #99 on barnesandnoble.com, and #13 among ALL history books. Pretty cool! The book appears in B&N’s guide to gifts under $20, and I guess folks are buying it.
Posted by rickbeyer at 02:34 PM | Comments (0)
September 06, 2006
Updates Updates
Harper Collins and Reader's Digest have struck a deal that may result in a Reader's Digest edition of The Greatest Stories Never Told. As I understand it, the new book would include all the stories from my first two books with full color illustrations. It would come out in 2008 and be sold via direct mail. First, however, they are doing some test marketing this fall to make sure they want to go ahead with it.
Norman Mark called me today. He's a radio host that I have known since my days in Chicago. He lives in Palm Springs, California now, and I've been on his Saturday morning radio show there several times. Now he has a nationally syndicated show that he's doing with his wife Grace two hours a day, and he's asked me to be on September 21 at 3PM ET. Naturally I said yes. The show is syndicated is on a network called EBN I don't know what stations it is on, or how many, but there's a link to listen live on their website.
Working hard on the President's book...I spend the first 2-3 hours of every day on it, and am making good progress. Came across a great political cartoon from 1840 today that ties Martin van Buren in with the phrase O.K., which is the subject of one of my stories. Yay!
Posted by rickbeyer at 04:48 PM | Comments (0)
June 11, 2006
Odds and Ends
I spoke on Saturday (June 10) to the Old Colony Civil War Roundtable at their annual picnic. Rain forced the event inside, and cut down on the crowd, but it still went quite well. I spoke on "Civil War oddities," drawing stories from both of my books. People seemed very enthusiastic, and I sold quite a few books when the shindig was done. I got a note from Joe Scalia, the President of the group, saying how pleased they were. He was especially pleased that they had four propsoective new members show up, and after the talk they all said that they planned to join.
I got an email the otyher day from Staff Sergeant Jonathan P. Farrar USMC, who is working on the Marine Corps Birthday Ball in Charleston SC. He wrote a note asking if I would donate an autographed copy of The Greatest War Stories Never Told to help raise money for the event.
I was happy to do so--in fact I sent them two!!
I received a note from my agent, Arielle Eckstut, that Harper plans to turn my books (along with all the other books on their list) into e-books.
The books have been doing well on Amazon.com since my Memorial Day appearances on Fox and CBS Radio. They're on the front table in all the Barnes and Noble stores, and so I imagine they are doing well there too. And I heard from Harper that Barnes and Noble has already inquired about putting one or both books on the front table for CHristmas, which would be huge. (They did it last year and it was BIG BIG BIG for sales.
Just finished the script for the Godspeed show, I'll be sending that in to The History Channel on Monday.
Posted by rickbeyer at 04:52 PM | Comments (0)
January 18, 2006
Taking the world by storm
My editor at Harper Collins, Mauro Dipreta, just passed on a note someone sent him. The Greatest War Stories Never Told is being pushed as a hot new title by Liberty Books, which describes itself as "Pakstan's largest Bookseller."
As of this writing, it is listed as a "Top 10 Book" on their website.
So we're big in Lahore!
Posted by rickbeyer at 09:19 AM | Comments (0)
December 19, 2005
Big New York Media Day
The couple was clearly drunk. Not obnoxiously so, but enough to make their voices far louder than normal. It was 1:30 AM and they had woken me from a sound sleep, their conversation in the corridor carrying quite clearly into my room at the Omni Berkshire. They were locked out and awaiting assistance. By the time they got it I was wide-awake, and I never really got back to sleep.
Just a little less than four hours later, I was dressed in my best interview clothes and walking out the door of the hotel, stepping out from under the awning into the pouring rain. The time was 6:20 AM. Beth Mellow from HarperCollins and I were on our way to the day’s first interview, and in fact, the big fish of the last 8 weeks—a national TV interview on “Fox and Friends,” the popular morning show on Fox News Channel.
The walk from the hotel to the Fox studios on 6th Avenue was a short one, and with a borrowed umbrella from the hotel offering suitable protection from the elements, we were there in a few minutes. After a small hang-up at security, a producer named Tiffany ushered us into the green room. “This is Rick at 6:50” announced Tiffany, and Claudia, the make-up artist, said “Hello Rick at 6:50,” and I was into make-up.
Ten minutes later, just as Claudia was finishing up, Tiffany came back to escort us into the studio. All of a sudden time started speeding up like crazy. A soundman was putting a wireless mic on my lapel, and I heard someone saying: “Rick Beyer…is he here with us?” A floor director was calling out “30 seconds” as I was being escorted to the set. I barely had time to shake hands with hosts Julian Philips and Andy Napolitano (who turns out to be a law school classmate of Jerry Fritz) before Andy was reading the intro and we were into the segment.
The interview seemed to go by in a flash. Suddenly we were done, and I was being escorted out. To come into the building we had to go through security in the main lobby, but there is a second door by the studio, and about 30 seconds after I got off the air we were standing out on 6th Avenue in the rain! Hard to believe that in the three or four minutes between the green room and the street, the conversation I had in that small studio was beamed across the country and seen by hundreds of thousands of people! (And you could see the impact by watching the book shoot up on the Amazon rankings…hitting a high of 161.)
Later in the morning, a Mercdes limo driven by a jovial, white haired Lithuanian named Constantine took us to Port Washington, where I was to speak at the library. When we arrived, it turned out that the library was expecting me to talk about the first book, not the new one we were promoting. I, of course, was prepared to talk about the new book—but they were quite insistent that the talk be about the first book, since that is what they had promoted, and that was the book they were going to sell afterwards. After a momentary attack of fear and panic, I headed off a quiet corner where I took out a pad of yellow paper and fashioned a talk that focused on the old book while mentioning the new. I finished my notes with about ten minutes to spare.
The talk went amazingly well. Everything seemed to flow; the audience of fifty or so participated enthusiastically, laughed at my jokes, and bought plenty of books afterwards. It was hard to imagine a talk going better. Maybe it was the shot of adrenaline that the panic gave me.
The audience included my uncle, Ed Smith of Massapequa; my book editor, Mauro Dipreta, from Harper Collins, and a veteran of the Ghost Army, Tom Roche. Another audience member made a sketch of me that you can see here.
After I signed all the books they sold, it was back to town for one more interview at ABC News Now, a cable/online offshoot of ABC.(Once again we were met at the door by a producer named Tiffany--it was Tiffany kind of day!) Then I hit a few Barnes and Noble bookstores to sign books before heading back up to Boston by train. A long and profitable day!
Posted by rickbeyer at 02:45 PM | Comments (0)
October 26, 2005
The clock ticks down
Less than a week to go now until the pub date. A time of high anxiety, borderline panic. The phone doesn’t ring, the book doesn’t budge from it’s basement ranking on Amazon, the publicist has no news to report, and your mind begins to spin paranoid fantasies centering on the disturbing possibility that your publisher, and in fact the entire book industry, has forgotten your book, which will now sell exactly three copies before quickly appearing in huge accusatory stacks at the Buck a Book!
So it was good to get some news in the last couple of days that helps blast the nightmares away, and suggest we are on track. The first bit of good news came in an email from Jean Marie Kelly, who is heading up marketing efforts on the book.
Co-op wise, we have front-of-store new release table at Barnes and Noble from Nov 2 through the end of the year; this is excellent. At Borders, from Nov 1 through Jan 2, we’re on the Holiday Gifts under $20 table which is a big table up front. Also fantastic. At Amazon, we’re doing a past-buyer mailing (people who bought Greatest War Stories) just before the on sale date and we’ll also be listed in the Amazon Holiday store during all of November.
Another piece of good news, After a little glitch. HarperCollins printing up 50,000 postcards which should be in the hands of The History Channel next week, and will go out in boxes shipped from The History Channel store.
On the PR front, the interviews are starting to come in, including a national appearance on Fox News Channel, and another locally on NECN. An updated list of my events is here. (The interview I did with Smoki Bacon appears on Boston cable (Channel 23) tonight at 7:30. Watch it if you want a hoot!)
Just to balance things out, and keep me from getting too excited, I must make note of the hilarious article my dad sent me about the bizarre (and pathetic) states of mind that an author goes through . Entitled "Publish and Perish" it appeared in this week's New York Times Book Review. Dad said “it could have been written by you, or about you,” and although I didn’t write it, I do recognize the various stages of self imposed shame and grief described.
Posted by rickbeyer at 06:40 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 29, 2005
The new book is here!
I got a surp[rise package from the publisher today--two hardcover copies of The Greatest War Stories Never Told, hot off the presses! I am very happy with the photo reproduction--the prictures look crisper and stronger than they did in the first book. I don't know if that was something the desinger did, or something the printer did, but the pictures look sharp. I also liked the flaps, and the reproduction of my picture (yes, I have an actual author picture in this bok, so I can prove it was by me!)
I'm less happy with the back cover, which doesn't look very elegant. I saw a faxed proof of it, and Okayed it, even though I couldn't really see it. Now I'm sorry I did. It isn't awful, just kind of clunky. I talked to Joelle Yudin, the associate editor on the book, and she said that she and Mauro DIpreta (who is the Executive Editor/Big Cahuna) were liess than thrilled with it too. But the print run is already done for the first 18 thousand copies, so I guess were' going to have to learn to like it!
Posted by rickbeyer at 04:16 PM | Comments (1)
September 18, 2005
So many books
I was just perusing the Harper Collins website, where I found a page devoted to Upcoming Books--books coming out in the next three months. I find it somewhat daunting that there are more than 250 of them�and that�s just one publisher. Another example of why it is so hard for any one author or book to get noticed.
Posted by rickbeyer at 08:37 AM | Comments (0)
September 05, 2005
Passion and Print
My agent, Arielle Eckstut, has co-authored a new book in which she mentions Nicole Kidman in one sentence, and me in the next, which is undoubtedly the closest I�ll ever get to Nicole Kidman. She also refers to me as �a serious hookmeister,� which, as it turns out, is a compliment.
No, it�s not a tell all expose about the publishing industry. It�s a terrific book entitled Putting Your Passion Into Print.
The book is a complete guide to becoming a successfully published author. I have nothing but nice things to say about it, and not only because it says nice things about me.Arielle and her husband David Sterry have written a book that is practical, fun to read, and totally demystifies the publishing process. Want to know where you can find an agent? How to write a book proposal that will make publishers sit up and notice? What pitfalls to avoid? Then this is the book for you. (I assume people do want to know these things because they are always asking me.)
Arielle is an experienced agent (and I can tell you she has done a terrific job for me). Both she and David are previously published authors They know the process inside and out. They also asked all the other authors, agents, book editors, and publicists they know to share their success stories and inside tips. And we did!
The result is inspirational and encouraging, entertaining and informative. Whether you are just setting out to write a book, or already have several published books under your belt, you will find this an invaluable resource. There is no doubt in my mind that it will become a standard of the industry, sitting right alongside "Writer's Market" and "The Chicago Manual of Style." (And let me tell of you-it's a much better read than either of those books could ever dream of being!)
Posted by rickbeyer at 06:53 PM | Comments (2)
July 23, 2005
New Publicist
My new publicist from Harper Collins, Beth Mellow, called the other day to introduce herself. (The publicist for the first book, Lisa Sweet, left a year or so ago and formed her own company, Lisa Sweet PR.) Authors love to complain endlessly about and the crappy job their publisher is doing publicizing the book, but I guess I'm the exception to the rule--I had a very positive experience with Harper Collins on the first book. Lisa believed in it, and did a great job pushing it, not only in the first few weeks, but really over the course of the first year. Beth seems very nice, and also very supportive, and I can only hope the good times continue to roll
Posted by rickbeyer at 08:28 AM | Comments (0)
July 06, 2005
Book of the Month Club
Fantastic new today on the book club front. The Greatest War Stories Never Told will be offered a featured alternate selection in the following book clubs:
Book of the Month
History
Military
American Compass
Book club exposure is a fantastic marketing plus for a book. Something I didn't know until my first book came out is that all these clubs (and 25 or so more) are owned by a company called Bookspan. A 2002 press release I found on their site helps explains the ways book club selection can power a book:
Book Clubs Remain Driving Force Behind U.S. Book Sales
Consumers say book clubs get the highest ratings for helping them decide what to read next. Book clubs also stimulate book purchases in stores and online as a result of consumers seeing book club literature; that includes consumers who aren't members of book clubs as well as those who belong to a book club. These are just two findings of a newly released study conducted by RoperASW.
Among the other Roper findings:
� Club Members and Book Buyers agree that Book Clubs are the best source for helping readers decide what books to read next. (page 22 of study)
� Book club advertising stimulates interest in purchasing books in venues other than Book Clubs among both Club members and Heavy Book Buyers.
Now that press release is 3 years old, and undoubtedly Amazon is playing a stronger role today than it did then. But book club selection still provides a tremendous amount of visibility to people who are serious book buyers. It was a tremendous boost to the first book, and I think it will be to this one as well.
Posted by rickbeyer at 08:58 PM | Comments (0)
June 28, 2005
Shelby Foote died
I just read that Shelby Foote died. Like most Americans, I was introduced to him by Ken Burns CIvil War series. I went out and bought the books, which I read and re-read so many times I wore them out. I had to buy a new set a couple of years ago, and to tell you the truth, the new ones are starting to get a little bit tattered as well. He and Bruce Catton are the two great Civil War writers--no one else really touches them. Foote was a wonderfully gifted storyteller. This is a sad day.
Posted by rickbeyer at 01:50 PM | Comments (0)
June 15, 2005
Book Stuff
Things have been busy on the writing front. I received the page proofs for The Greatest War Stories Never Told a couple of weeks ago, made revisions, and sent them back. A number of the stories had too much copy. I had to trim it down to keep the bite size appeal. This is definitely a case where "less is more" applies!
I'm pleased with the work the designers did�not an easy job!
The publisher is going to make bound galleys of the book this time, something that didn't happen for the first book. (I think the schedule didn't permit it, if memory serves, and perhaps they weren't sure enough of the book's prospects to spend the money.) The result was that as they were trying to set up interviews, and reviews in long-lead publications, all they could show them was xeroxed copies of a few stories. I definitely think that hindered some of the early PR efforts, and I am hoping that having bound galleys will help us get more PR going earlier than last time.
I also just finished an on the "Pig War" article for The History Channel Magazine that will appear in the November/December issue. The History Channel and Harper Collins are also getting together to put a half page ad for the book in that issue, so that should be a good hit!
Joelle Yudin, my associate editor at Harper Collins, called a few days ago to say that they have received copies of the Chinese edition (in complex characters) of my first book. She is sending copies! I can't wait to see them!
Posted by rickbeyer at 04:46 PM | Comments (0)
April 24, 2005
Amazon Analysis: "Text Stats" and more
Newsflash: Einstein is harder to read than Shakespeare. Tolstoy used more words per sentence than Mark Twain. The Da Vinci Code is suitable for readers with at least a 7th grade reading level. And the most common word in The Education of Henry Adams is: Adams. (It occurs 1072 times.)
This is just some of the strangely fascinating but not terribly meaningful information you can glean from the newest feature on Amazon.com. Some time ago the folks at Amazon began offering Search Inside the Book, making it possible to search the entire text of books whose publishers have allowed them to be scanned in. Now they are offering up some qualitative analysis on all that text that they have stored on their disks.
For each scanned book you can find a concordancea list off the 100 most frequently used words in the text, excluding common words such as "of" and "it." The more a word is used, the bigger it appears. There is also a text analysis that spits out various ratings of the books readability and complexity, based on the average number of syllables per word and the average number of words per sentence.
Thus you can discover that according to the Flesch-Kincaid index, Shakespeare is suitable for anyone with a 4th grade reading level. This will undoubtedly come as a surprise to the countless high school students who have gotten bogged down in the bards work. But he was definitely a short-words-and-short-sentence guy, averaging about 9 words per sentence, with only 8% of his words at 3 syllables or more.
Einstein, on the other hand, averages 26.8 words per sentence, with 19% of the words being 3 syllables or more. (Too bad he insisted on using that five syllable word relativity so much). Thus the Flesch-Kincaid index suggests he is suitable reading for a junior in college. Hopefully a very smart junior.
The readability indexes make for interesting comparisons, as do such stats as words-per-dollar. War and Peace is a good value at 51,707 words per dollar, while Chris Van Allsburgs The Polar Express has only 53 words per dollar. (What was he thinking, including all those pictures?). The concordances are less interesting, because they offer few surprises. The most common word in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, for instance is Tom. Shocking!
Amazon also now spotlights what it calls Statistically Improbable Phrases, or SIPs. If a phrase pops up a large number of times in a particular book, it gets listed; click on it and you can find other books that use the same phrase. One of the SIPs for The Da Vinci Code is sacred feminine, used by Dan Brown 26 times. With a click we can learn that it is also used 50 times in the spiritual text The Return of the Mother, which is only about 300 thousand places lower than The Da Vinci Code in Amazons book rankings.
Ah, the rankings. Authors are a chronically insecure lot. They are even more likely to dip into Amazon to check their ranking as they are to dip into the sherry to ease their pain. I have one friend who logs on every hour to track the rise and fall of his book. (OK, thats actually me.) The text analysis features have opened up new vistas for anxiety and fretting. Imagine writers nervously comparing their readability compares to Stephen King, desperately trying to cram in more words per dollar than Harry Potter, or emulating the SIPs used by Dave Barry (garbage barge, creamed chipped beef, and pig parts to name a few.
Where does my own book, The Greatest Stories Never Told score? According to the Flesch-Kincaid index, it is suitable for someone with a 9th grade reading level, making it harder than Mark Twain, but easier than Tolstoy. (Please dont tell PBS, which has recommended the book to children in grades 3-8.) It offers only 2866 words per dollar, and sadly, has no Statistically Improbable Phrases. None at all. I am in no way insecure about that, but you can be darn sure that in my next book, "Pig Parts: The Story of Creamed Chipped Beef," I wont make the same mistake.
Posted by rickbeyer at 07:40 AM | Comments (0)
March 18, 2005
Looking Backwards...and Forward
Today marks the two-year anniversary of the publication of The Greatest Stories Never Told, which coincides with the anniversary of the start of the Iraq war. And just a few days ago I delivered the manuscript and artwork for my forthcoming book, of The Greatest War Stories Never Told. It will be coming out in October.
I expected the second book to be easier than the first, but in fact it was harder. The first book leaned heavily on the research done for the Timelab series. This book required a much greater amount of original research. Plus, my wife Marilyn says my standards for what makes a good story are getting higherI hope so! Anyway, Im delighted that it is now into production. Of course there will be lots of publciity work to do when it comes out, but that's months away. Meantime I can get started on the third book in the series, The Greatest Presidential Stories Never Told. (Can you spot the trend?)
Posted by rickbeyer at 08:48 AM | Comments (0)