There are stages to it. Writing a book, I mean. One stage, for me, is realizing that you’re writing one. I started work on Sleepy Hollow as American Myth years ago, without realizing it. That was followed by the stage of comprehending that I had a book idea and intentionally writing it. I suspect that, in the throes of The Wicker Man, I thought “I should do a similar book on Sleepy Hollow.” Devils Advocates, which is an excellent series, however, feeling the strain on academic presses, was moving to hardcover-first releases (the kiss of death). I started writing the book anyway, hoping that maybe it might find trade interest. It is still possible that an agent is out there who would’ve moved it in that direction, but I wanted the book out before Lindsey Beer’s movie gets released. After the book is drafted, the next stage: find a publisher. (Unless you have an agent.)
Since this is my sixth book, I felt confident (a strange, foreign feeling for me) that I could locate a publisher. I’d done it five times before. McFarland did a nice job with Holy Horror, but what sold me is that they dropped the price on it. Many academic publishers continue to raise prices each year, so if you don’t buy a book right away you’ll end up paying a lot for this muffler. The next stage is waiting to see what the cover will look like. That wait is over. Here it is, the cover of Sleepy Hollow as American Myth:
(Feel free to share widely, get everyone all excited!) I’m currently in the waiting stage. Waiting for proofs. Of course, I’ve been working on my next couple of books as well. You can’t just sit around, otherwise these tomes will never get written. I haven’t decided which one will cross the finish line first. If I had an agent they’d be able to tell me which might be more marketable, but since I work alone I’m left to my own devices. I am bound and determined that the next book will go to a trade press. I’m trying hard to scrub any whiff of academia from it. In the meantime, however, I’m enjoying looking at the cover for my current book. There aren’t a ton of nonfiction books out there on “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” In fact, as nonfiction I know of only one other. This isn’t what we in the biz call “a crowded bookshelf.” I’m doing all the pre-publication promo that I can. I’d be grateful for any shares or likes at this stage.
