JULY/AUGUST NEWS

WHOA, Nelly! Who ever heard of an independent publisher ordering a second book print three months after the “second” first print??? What? Like you, we find this hard to wrap our brains around. Nevertheless, the Lord has blessed Piñata Publishing with our new book! We’re ready to print 5,000 more copies of Splendid Isolation! This has never happened with any of our previous seven books, so we are joyfully giving Him ALL the glory! Much to our delight, this book has been a local favorite since it launched January 2010. We don’t really understand it, but we’ll gratefully take it! It seems the tourists on Jekyll Island truly have a hunger to read about the history of this island through the novel form, and we’ve been the fortunate ones to offer it to them!

Book signings, school visits, and conferences have kept us very busy up to the summer months, and now we’re finally taking a necessary break to travel and enjoy our time together. Family is extremely important to us, and Mom’s 90^th Birthday Party in July is a much-anticipated celebration. We’ll join the rest of her five kids, all of her grandkids, and most of the great-grandkids on the west coast for this cherished event! By the way, Mom, thank you for being one of my greatest book critics and customers!

I know I said I would be “resting” and “marketing” this year, and would NOT be entertaining ideas for my next book project. However, fate has intervened. My dear friend Betty Smith of Jekyll Island suggested what she thought my next subject should be. And she was correct! Once she told me about Eliza Lucas Pinckney, I was hooked. So I’ve already begun research on her (an 18^th century very independent South Carolinian woman) and am very excited to eventually tell her story. Stay tuned for more details on her life, and thank you Betty!

Stay cool, keep reading, and enjoy your summer! All too soon it will be winter!!! That will be a GOOD THING!

Blessings,

Pamela

May/June

Whew! Once again the days are rushing by in a whirlwind of activities. It’s all good! (our slogan on Jekyll Island) and we’re giving thanks for all our blessings! Besides our book business--writing and marketing--we wear another smaller business hat. We started renting out the loft above our home: ALOFT and now that Spring is here and Summer’s on its way, we find ourselves busy with book keeping, cleaning and meeting new guests. If you’re interested, visit www.vrbo.com and type in 259282.

We have all our books as ebooks with Kindle, with the exception of The Kiska Trilogy. We’ve also put Splendid Isolation on Smashwords and other ebook formats. I encourage my author friends to get your books into digital formats: the growing trend in publishing.

Splendid Isolation continues to astound us with amazing sales and great reviews. Right out of the gate its sales and interest have certainly surpassed the other seven books I’ve written. We’ve re-printed 3,000 books for the “first print,” and if it continues selling at this rate, we’ll be printing the second print by Fall. It is featured this week on www.authorsroundthesouth.com, a Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance affiliation, as “Her Ladyship’s Pick of the Week.” A great deal of its success is due to the independent bookstores and their wonderful employees who hand sell it. Thank you so much to each one of you!!!

The month of May will wrap up school author visits for me with a three-day presentation at Corner Lake Middle School in Orlando, FL. June, July and August will fill up with book signings at both independent and large bookstores. We are booked in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida at this time, and will look into several signings in North Carolina as well. Mike and I love to travel, so this is a great way to combine business with exploration of new areas!

No, I’m not yet researching the next book. I really am taking this year off from researching and writing. The primary activity for Piñata Publishing this year is Marketing. You writers know how important that is, and you know that you are the best one to market your work, so we’re following the advice we give you. But yes, I will begin to read more stories of the south, so that by next year, I’ll have a better idea of what area I want to explore in my next novel. There are so many stories out there, and I’m looking forward to becoming passionate about someone else and his/her life journeys.

Have a blessed Summer,

Pamela

MARCH/APRIL:

Friends, please believe me when I tell you how blessed we are to have received our newest shipment of books! In the last BLOG I mentioned that we had ordered 3,000 more before 2009 had even ended, (when we were down to 800 books) but ALAS: it was too late. We’ve sweated blood and tears for the past 3 weeks waiting for the books to arrive! The local bookstores have graciously ordered from our distributor and Ingrams so they could continue to sell, and I beat myself up remembering that Mike had suggested we re-order at 1,000 books in the garage. But no…I thought 800 would be close enough!

What happened? They arrived in New York and a bitter devastating cold front moved in so the containers could not be examined for 10 days or so. Finally, ours was opened up and released by U.S. Customs but then had to wait 48 hours for another clearing, and then 4 more days until the boxes of books could be sent to Savannah. We grumbled, pleaded and prayed, and finally, 3 weeks after arriving in the U.S.A., our new shipment of Splendid Isolation is in our garage! We are beyond grateful!

People continue to ask me if I’m working on a new book. The answer is NO, not yet. I tell them that I’m resting this year: no research, no writing. But I’m not really resting. Marketing Splendid Isolation has taken up a very large portion of each week. But I’m certainly not complaining, as this book has reached heights we’ve never seen in any of my other titles. However, I have blocked out 2 weeks this month to spend with my 89 (90 in April) year old Mom, who will spend 3 weeks with us here on Jekyll Island. I’ll be taking her back to some old “stomping” grounds at Duke University and Raleigh, N.C. It’s such a pleasure to have these special moments with my mother Phyllis, to whom I’ve dedicated Splendid Isolation. Isn’t it awesome to see how much we learn from our parents?

I would love to hear from you on the BLOG, or Facebook, or on our website at www.pinatapub.com. Or if you are in the area, please let me know and we’ll find an opportunity to get together.

All the Best,
Pamela

NEW YEAR/NEW DECADE/NEW PLANS!

I truly love beginning a new decade! So much promise and anticipation for things to come. My resolution for this decade is: “more rest, less stress.” I will pass my worries over to God, who promised to carry them for me. My keyword for this decade is “service,” and I hope to share with others the abundant joy I have because of my relationship with Him.

I am also planning on more family time this year. Mike and I leave next week to spend a few days with his mother in Wisconsin. Then, my girlfriends, sisters, daughter, grand-daughter and I have planned a “Girls’ Weekend” for February in Palm Springs, CA. My mother is almost 90; a treasure of a woman who is still going strong and walking a mile a day. I’ll go visit her in Oregon in March and fly her back here to spend a few weeks with us in Georgia. All of our family will unite to celebrate her 90th birthday in July. I believe I’m off to a good start with plans for friends and family!

Work wise: January 1 was the national launch of Splendid Isolation, although we released her here in coastal Georgia in late November. This book has certainly been an enigma to Mike and me: it’s our only title that recouped expenses in just six weeks! Much to our surprise, we had to place an order for another print of 3,000 copies before 2010 even arrived! We are stunned and grateful for the public’s support, and wish to thank all our local bookstores for hand-selling the book. They know who they are!

Now we’ll sit back and see where this book takes us. Mike and I want to enjoy its journey. It’s book number 8 and because I’ve written 8 in ten years, I’ve resolved to enjoy them all this year and not even look for another topic until 2011. Many of my friends question whether I’ll be able to do this, so we’ll just have to wait and see. I am content with that resolution.

I hope you are blessed with peace, love and joy!
Pamela

DECEMBER 2009

WHEW! Where has this year gone? Last time I wrote on this BLOG, the book was finished writing and going into print. Now we have several thousand copies of Splendid Isolation, and more book events to attend than I can count on all toes and fingers. Hallelujah! It’s all wonderful!

I’ve thanked many of the people who helped me throughout the process of book writing and editing, but I’ve failed to thank those of you who have supported me as family, friends and fellow readers. It warms my heart to see that you care about me, my characters and this awesome island, Jekyll. So many of you have stopped what you were doing to let me know that. The words “thank you” seem so insipid, but I cannot find a better way to truly express my gratitude. Just know that you are appreciated.

Great things are happening to us and the book! We’ve been on television and in newspapers already, attended two HUGE book signings (we’re doing pre-release sales in our neck of the woods as the book is a 2010 release nationwide). We’ve also brought on board Mr. Albert Carter from the College of Coastal Georgia, whose initiative and technical skills are broadly expanding our horizons!

We’re definitely feeling the Christmas spirit as we sign at Christmas shows and holiday events. Check our calendar for events near you. Praise God for all these blessings!

Please follow us on Facebook and LinkedIn. We would love you to become fans as well! Also, you can check out our activities on BookTour.com.

As always, I’m happy to answer questions and work with you in this intriguing world of writing and publishing. Our virtual door is always open!

Have a very merry Christmas, peaceful holiday season and a blessed New Year.

Warmest Blessings,
Pamela

Book is written!

July/August

Just as I’m finishing up another book (#8), we receive the glorious news that our last book, Aloha Crossing, handed me the title of the 2009 Georgia of the Year for Middle Readers! As if that were not enough to send us over the moon, that same week we were notified by the Independent Publisher Book Awards that Aloha Crossing won the Gold medal for the Juvenile/Young Adult Fiction category. You can imagine our joy and delight at that news!

As all writers know, there’s a long lonely trail from writing at home to picking up your book in a store. And it’s a hard, stressed and often crazy journey to reach the end, but we all know it’s worth the pain.

Splendid Isolation: The Jekyll Island Millionaires’ Club, 1888-1942 is nearing the end of her gestation period and will soon be born. Like those before her, she will consume my energy and a huge part of my time for the next year or so. She will also be my most beloved for a short while. Her seven siblings understand, because they too, experienced all of this with me.

I want to share another passage of this book with you, hoping to animate my readers and give you something to look forward to.

Anyone approaching the island from the river is greeted by thousands of Spanish moss-draped ancient oak trees competing for space with the palmettos and magnolia trees. After the blinding light and heat of the coastal plain, it’s like waking up in another world. The circular turret of the imposing Club House, lit so that its cream brick glows against the dusk, is topped by a slip of a flag that ripples in the wind. Behind it, a picturesque windmill water tower rises before the dense pine forest. My eyes sweep over the dark brown shades of the monstrous old live oaks and their silvery curtains of moss. In the background I see some of the island’s seasonal mansions, referred to as “cottages” by their owners, and their perfect dark green velvet lawns. Colored men searching for oysters stand waist-high in the river as we draw near the dock. I even see two brilliant cardinals flying overhead!

We’ve arrived at this magical little island they call Jekyl – a most delightful spot, with a diversified beauty of trees and beaches. It is quite unlike any other place I’ve seen; a tiny paradise, I should think.

A fairy scene opens out in wide prospect beyond. The foreground, south, west and north is one mass of verdure wall, dotted with semi-tropical plants and flowers. On the Atlantic side, the island is blessed with miles of wide, gently sloping white beaches. The grey-blue Atlantic Ocean glitters under the high sun, as if sprinkled with diamond dust. The very hard packed sand invites the islanders to bicycle and ride horses and drive automobiles over them.

Stay cool, enjoy summer, and stay tuned for the September BLOG.
Cheers!
Pamela

MAY/JUNE

Whew! I’ve finished the book on Jekyll Island: Splendid Isolation! At least the first draft, which is now in the hands of my editor. That has kept me so busy I’ve neglected my BLOGS, for which I apologize.

So, rather than asking questions about the Gilded Age, Great Depression, etc. to my BLOG readers, I would like to share with you a small section of the Jekyll Island story. Hopefully, this will whet your appetite for the book to come!

None of the Millionaires escaped the scathing editorials in Mr. Pulitzer’s newspapers, and all reluctantly admitted that there was some truth to them. Nevertheless, they respected Mr. Pulitzer’s keen mind and even more, his integrity. Joseph Pulitzer also provided entertaining comments at any social event, and was known to be charming if he wanted to be. Club President Lanier decided to seat him next to the guest of honor, Andrew Carnegie.

“Are you enjoying your stay at the Dungeness with Miss Lucy?” asked Mr. Pulitzer, gingerly spooning small portions of steaming squash soup into his mouth. He had heard occasional rumors from other members that Andrew Carnegie and his sister-in-law Lucy did not get on very well.

“Not particularly Sir,” Andrew replied with a grin and a shrug. “Print that if you like.”

“Not a bad idea.” Mr. Pulitzer offered him a sly smile. “This seems to be a slow news week. Perhaps I’ll send it out tomorrow.” Across the dark dinner table he could feel rather than see the frown on Mr. J.P. Morgan’s face.

During the third course of the dinner, Joseph Pulitzer posed another question.
“Andrew, we’re about the same age, more or less. I believe we have some commonalities in our backgrounds as well. Weren’t you born in Europe and emigrated to America at a young age?”

Mr. Carnegie contemplated him for a long moment. He knew that Joseph Pulitzer did his homework and seldom made polite conversation.

“I came over with my Scottish family when I was thirteen, and got my first job working in a textile mill that same year,” he replied, swirling brandy in his amber Belgium snifter.

“I see. And I was an impoverished seventeen-year-old Jewish boy in Hungary when my family sailed for America.” Mr. Pulitzer rubbed his long fingers over his eyes. “Even then, I had poor health and eyesight, and the Austrian Army wouldn’t take me.”

Andrew Carnegie placed his hand on Joseph Pulitzer’s arm. “And now we’ve both made more money than we can ever spend. And all we can do is give it to the less fortunate,” he whispered reflectively. “I pray that’s enough.”

Neither man spoke for several moments. Leaning down to retrieve his linen serviette, Mr. Pulitzer asked casually, “Tell me something, Andrew. Did your brother Thomas and Lucy build Dungeness over at Cumberland Island because the Millionaires Club didn’t invite the two of you to join?”

Mr. Carnegie whirled around to stare at Mr. Pulitzer. Then his face softened and he threw his head back and roared.

“You old coot! You know very well they had already begun construction on Dungeness several years before your Millionaires Club came into being!”

Joseph Pulitzer grinned, his blue eyes sparkling with mischief. “So true. And by the by, they only asked me to join them so they could keep their enemy close. And even with that, they’ve not been able to quash the truths I publish about them in The World.” He lowered his voice and leaned forward to whisper in Mr. Carnegie’s ear. “I don’t think Jay Gould has ever forgiven me for buying his paper out from under him and then turning it into a big money-maker.”

Enjoy your summer!
Pamela