I have not just one but two books coming out in the next couple of weeks and the details on those will follow, but please be patient while I deliver a pet peeve. New book announcements turn up in my mailbox on a daily basis. What do they mostly say? “My book, _______, is due out on ________. Please buy it. The end!” I usually end up deleting those announcements without reading them because it’s my personal opinion that newsletters should actually be …. well … newsy.
With the exception of the pandemic, I generally publish two books a year, but please don’t call me “prolific.” Being called that is another pet peeve of mine. Productive? Yes. Prolific? NO! (Note to self: Judy, you seem to be exceptionally grumpy today.). Maybe that’s because I’m exceptionally busy. For one thing, I’m a day late in writing the blog/newsletter which is usually put to bed by Wednesday evening. Now, late on Thursday, I’m stuck playing catch up.
People often ask me if I work on more than one book at a time. I don’t WRITE more than one book at a time, but I certainly work on more than one book at a time, and I’m about to give you a living breathing example.
Attention DTRs, those wonderful Dead Tree Readers of both hardback and paperback editions. Back in the old days, the early nineties, when it came time for publication dates, the previous year’s hardback would appear in paperback at almost the same time as the pub date for the new hardback. Well, folks, it’s officially back to the future time around here. Credible Threat, Ali # 16, will appear in paperback on May 25 while Ali #17, Unfinished Business arrives in bookstores on June 1. Believe me, this comes as a big shock to my system because, in terms of writing, I just hit the 70% mark in creating the next Beaumont book, Nothing to Lose. Being on the banana peel of one book while promoting two others at the same time is a bit of a stretch, but we’ll make it happen.
As a consequence of the upcoming hardcover pub date, yesterday afternoon ten cartons containing copies of Unfinished Business showed up on my doorstep needing to be autographed and/or personalized and then reshipped to bookstores. Details on those will follow as well, but this is the news part of the newsletter. The last time I was autographing and shipping books was for Missing and Endangered, and I was doing so in the face of an impending snowstorm. I broke my neck to have the books back in transit before the snow hit. The ones shipped by UPS arrived in a timely manner. The ones sent via USPS remained in our local post office for two weeks—until well after the snow melted—and didn’t arrive at their destination until AFTER the on-sale date. Let’s see. Does that make USPS pet peeve # 3 of the day? Yup, Miss Grumpy Drawers speaks again. So this morning, before writing the blog, you’d better believe those cartons of books got autographed and sent on their way!
Because Covid is still laying waste to book tours, the one for Unfinished Business is going to be all virtual all the time. The kickoff event for Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale will be on Facebook Live on June 1, 7 PM Arizona time. Here’s the link:
Poisoned Pen Live Event, July 1, 7:00 pm MST
(Note to anyone NOT living in Arizona. That state doesn’t do Daylight Savings Time!! In the spring and summer, Arizona Time and Pacific Daylight Time are one and the same.) Poisoned Pen will have a supply of autographed books on hand. For those of you who prefer personalized copies, please contact Mostly Books in Tucson. Here’s a link from them where you can arrange for pre-orders of personalized or non personalized copies:
Mostly Books Autographed copies
My publicist at Simon and Schuster is doing a bang up job of setting up events all over the country, from California to Florida, from Arizona to Pennsylvania. I’m excited to see that some of those events are in places where I’ve never done live ones. But we’re working with a new scheduling dynamic here. My IT gal will be posting new events and links to the calendar as confirmations come in, and she’ll also post reminder announcements on my Facebook author page on the day of said events.
This is the time when I do the callout for people who want autographed bookmarks and/or autographed bookplates. Please send your business sized SASEs (#10 self-addressed stamped envelopes) to:
J.A. Jance, P.O. Box 766, Bellevue, WA 98009
Smaller envelopes and those from left-over Christmas or birthday cards do not work! By the way, the bookmarks have been ordered but have not yet arrived. Please don’t send your request off and then expect an instant response. Believe me, I’ll do them eventually, but the next Beau book needs to be in New York soon. With a deadline actively ticking, I can’t afford to take my eye off that ball!
When Missing and Endangered came out, my loyal fans hit their pre-order buttons and put that one on the NYTimes list. Thank you one and all. I’m hoping the same thing will happen this time around. Some of my dyed-in-the-wool Beaumont fans may be thinking that since this is an Ali book, they don’t need to pay attention, but that would be an erroneous conclusion. Much to Beau’s surprise and mine as well, J.P. does a guest appearance in this book and makes an important contribution to the story line.
After signing all those books this morning, I was going to close with a word about shipping cartons, but newsy or not, this is already running too long. So next week, on Tuesday, if any of you happen to think of it, please send me an email containing the words “shipping cartons.” That’s all I’ll need. What I write next week will be a blog-only, rather than a newsletter going out to my new book notification list, but with a timely reminder or two, I may have it written on time, the banana peel on that Beaumont book notwithstanding.
Regards,
JAJance, AKA Miss Cranky Pants
Credible Threat was breathtaking. So many twists and turns. I had never held Ali in as much esteem as Beau but after this book she is equal!
Just reread the Sheriff Brady series in order. What a pleasure! Thank you.
I wouldn’t call you Miss Cranky Pants. It seems you are more like a member of a three-ring circus. At least life is not boring for you. I hope you and your family are well and enjoying Spring.
Good grief, I was exhausted just reading about all the work entailed with writing and publicizing and still writing a blog!
Thank you for all you do to provide such high quality entertainment for all of us! Your books, blogs and virtual presentations have been a godsend, especially during this past year!
Just know that you are appreciated!
As David said, you are appreciated and hopefully adequately compensated.
Am almost done with M&E, it’s a tear-jerker, a good read, and a warning that not everyone on the other end of the internet is a good guy/gal. But this book may get you in serious trouble with those who feel that there is no such thing as an abusive mother or that the perpetrator of domestic violence is always, always, the one with outside plumbing.
To business: here is an idea that will complicate your life. I only ‘read’ your books via Audible.com. You may want to ask whether you can “sign” your books audibly and personally. A quick script(s) that you can record in advance for Audible book insertion, and only do a quick – in my case, for example, “to Deryl from Puyallup”
I don’t see that the publishing costs are much more than a 00.01 cent additional, but there is a potential for selling the book for $0.5 more and better yet, more gifting of your Audible books to moms and dads and grandparents from appreciative offspring.
It about time to site a Beaumont crime in the south sound around Puyallup, South Hill, Sumner, or Orting. Orting has a young Mayor (USMC) who would give you nothing but crap for killing one of his constituents but a kiss for solving the case. And his city touts itself as the most prepared city in the state because Orting has literally 45 minutes to live if a Rainier lahar comes.
Deryl from Puyallup-South Hill the fourth hottest housing market in the nation.
You can always send an SASE to me for an autographed bookplate or book mark to be sent to whomever you wish.
My address is P.O. Box 766, Bellevue, WA 98009
Daryl was asking for an Audible signature, if there is such a thing.
Love your writing!
There’s no such thing as an audible autograph. Sorry
Penelope clarified my tome perfectly. I know there is no ‘audible signature’ of which I am aware, but maybe your agent could suggest it. But I would only recommend it if it had real potential to sell more books.
That and the old saying: nothing that is, has to be, because it was. OR in case, nothing that isn’t has to be because it wasn’t.
I am buying your books no matter what.
Counting the days until the new Ali and JP books are out. So happy to hear that JP is going to make an appearance in the Ali book. That is a duo never to be matched!
Having grown up in Bisbee and my older sister also graduating for the old HS I really enjoy those books about Bisbee. What fond memories it brings back. I cant really picture some of the events you write about really happening but still fun to read. Keep it up as I do not just read them I inhale them. They are stuck like glue to my hands until I finish that book. I then recommend them to friends that are familiar with that area.