TAHOE SKYDROP Galleys Have Shipped!

Hey, Blog readers. You are the first to see the cover of my new book!

TAHOE SKYDROP is #16 in the Owen McKenna Tahoe Mystery Series.

One of the biggest days in any writer's life is when a new book arrives from the printer. A writer holds it and gazes at it lovingly, admiring the cover. Then, with great trepidation, one flips through it to see if the pages are in the correct order. (Believe me, they sometimes are not!)

Perhaps the penultimate "biggest day" comes a few months before that moment, when a writer gets a galley of the new book.

For those who don't know, a galley is a facsimile of a book. It often, though not always, has a cover that looks very similar to what will be on the finished book, although without the slick coated card stock. A galley has pages that are typeset just like what will be in the finished book. The layout and formatting and number of pages is fixed. The paper will be more like copy paper than what the finished book will have, so the galley may be less bulky and attractive than the finished book. But despite the differences, a galley gives a very good indication of what the finished book will be like.

Why do  publishers create galleys? To send to advance reviewers who work for what are known as prepublication reviews. You've heard the names. Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and Kirkus Reviews are the Big Four.

Want to see the cover of TAHOE SKYDROP? Me, too! So here it is:

Look for TAHOE SKYDROP to be available for pre-order in a few weeks. And it should be ready to ship in the middle of August.