Peg Herring, Mystery Author

Readers are aware that I'm making the Loser Mysteries mine by getting new covers, re-editing (which I shouldn't do but can't stop myself from), and re-releasing them. That's enough to keep me busy...sort of. The problem is there's lots of wait time. Wait for proof copies. Wait for beta readers to comb through for those last few niggling mistakes. Wait for more proofs. Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Because I can't stand to be idle, I took up a side project: the sequel to SHAKESPEARE'S BLOOD. I blame this on a reader who claims it's the best book she's read in years--how's that for incentive? When I had an agent for SHAKESPEARE'S BLOOD, she told me to work on the sequel while she shopped the book to publishers. Being the good girl I am, I did that. Then after a year, I got a letter saying she couldn't sell the book (though she said she still loved it) and she was dropping me as a client. That's how it goes in the biz. Anyway, I

I reported recently on the reversion of the Simon & Elizabeth Mysteries, my historical series, to my own again. When you sign with a publisher, they get the rights to a book or series for X number of years. They're professionally edited, and the publisher builds an audience that can speak for their quality. Downside: the cost is high due to people other than the author needing to make a profit. When I got Simon's stories back, I got new covers and re-published the series at a much lower cost. Now Loser will get the same treatment. The Loser Mysteries center on a homeless woman who finds herself involved in solving a murder. From the beginning I knew it would be a 3-book series, since the stories begin with her at her worst and follow her recovery from trauma. The books are beloved by a certain set, and many suggested I might extend it, but once Loser is back to (almost) normal, I felt that further stories would only have presented more murders to solve. There were too f

Last post was about getting the rights to the Simon & Elizabeth series back and re-releasing them with new covers. I went one step farther in the last week and put all four books into one e-book. Better price. All four adventures in one place. Still the same lovable Simon and unstoppable Elizabeth. To quote Publishers' Weekly, "...this historical series shines." Links: Amazon   or Everybody Else

My first successful series was the Simon & Elizabeth Mysteries with Five Star Publishing. Going on the "write what you know" advice new writers get, I focused on Elizabeth I of England, one of my favorite historical characters. She had so much going against her as she grew up--I mean, how many girls can say their father had their mother beheaded? In the last decade or so, some authors have (very successfully) attacked Anne Boleyn's character, making her seem like Satan's First Date. I'm afraid that's more drama than historical accuracy, but we all interpret history to suit our own thinking...and some knowingly twist it to make a salacious story. I won't argue the right and wrong of that, since Shakespeare did a lot of the same things to make his stories work. It's just sad to me that those who read only fiction might believe it. Anyway, my series focuses on Anne's daughter Elizabeth, and she's a very sympathetic character. In Her Maje

Amazon is great for authors. Their print book division, CreateSpace, has been very helpful for me in publishing books on my own, either from Day One or when the rights revert to me from a publishing contract. Recently the news came out that CreateSpace will be going away, and KDP, Amazon's ebook division, will take on both print and ebooks in the future. I decided to convert my books to KDP now rather than later. It's pretty easy if the book is already in CS, though one needs to pay attention to the details. In the process, I did some updating, including altered covers and even new covers for some of my books. Above is Shakespeare's Blood , the old version on the left and the new one on the right. I'm going to do a print version, which I hadn't done before, and that one will have the cover on the right as well. I like having Mercedes featured and like it lighter, both in mood and actual light. I still might make some changes in placement, depending on how the

As a kid I was known as a picky eater. Basically, if my mother didn't make it, I was suspicious, and my aunts learned to keep a jar of peanut butter around. That I'd always eat. Today, I'm less picky about food, but as a consumer of entertainment, I'm still picky. I know that sometimes that comes off as sour grapes or the I-could-do-it-better attitude. That might be true. I need some sort of logic in my comedy. Anything billed as "zany" or "madcap" is liable to go unread/watched. There are ways to do zany well--Mel Brooks comes to mind--but most of the time I get tired of silliness portrayed as comedic genius. I don't like those people. They need to grow up. I need plot authenticity in my dramas too. A few nights ago we watched a movie (It was too hot to do anything else!) and though I kept my comments to myself, here are a few logical flaws I noticed. *The millionaire bad guy had dozens of minions willing to obey his every command. So...he

NOT DEAD YET...is a book that's hard to categorize. If I tell you it's a mystery I won't be lying, but what kind of mystery is it? Well, a different kind. There's no detective who drinks more than he/she should and struggles against the system. There's no recently-divorced woman who just opened a business and has a crazy best friend who forces her to investigate local crime. There's no serial killer whose methods make you want to hurl. What is it then? A mystery within a mystery, for one thing. Four curiously talented yet oddly shy squatters must solve a murder, but they have their own secret to hide. And when you get it, you'll be gobsmacked. NOT DEAD YET...is free this week for Kindle readers, so there's no risk. If you like it, I'd appreciate a review (as I always do!) It's also available in print ( Amazon , bookstores) and audio ( Amazon Audible). In mid-July it will be released on other e-book distributors as well (B&N, Kobo