Death as a living update

We wanted to update everyone about the publishing status of our book Death As A Living. We were set to go to final copy edit this spring when events overtook us.

The first event was the coronavirus pandemic, which has shut down businesses across the country. The publishing business, and the businesses that support it, are not exempt. Printing shops have been shut down. Book reviewers have been laid off. So have buyers for the major bookstores. All of this has caused bottleneck problems for InkShares, our publisher, which has been forced to move back production dates for several projects, including several ahead of us in the pipeline.

The second event, really a series of events, was the death of George Floyd, followed by the protests and the conversations that are happening nationwide. We believe this book, designed to give readers an inside look at how police and homicide detectives do their work, is more important that ever. This has caused us to take the summer to do another edit. Given the perceptions and misconceptions surrounding policing right now, we’ve got to get this right.

At this point, we’re likely looking at a publishing date in 2021. We’re disappointed, in that we’d hoped to get this published in 2020, but we’re not going to dwell on that. There’s more work to be done, and we’re already working on it.

Lastly, as we’ve said before, we deeply appreciate all of you. Purchasing this book was an act of faith in us, our publisher and our project. We appreciate your patience and your trust in us. Thank you so much.

Doyle and Lou

Concerning the book: We’ve updated Chapter 1, reposted with changes from the latest edit. We submitted a full re-edit in February, in hopes of getting the book published by April. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, as the coronavirus crisis affected a whole stream of the publisher’s projects. But we’re still pushing and we appreciate your patience and your faith in us. Doyle and Lou

To our readers and supporters,

We’ve been a little quiet since the start of the year, largely because the ball was in our publisher’s court. We’d delivered the manuscript, and we’d delivered the preorders that Inkshares requires to move forward – in record time, thanks again to all of you – and we were waiting to hear from them.

We’re happy to report that we had our first telephone conference with Inkshares officials Friday, Feb. 15, who told us that our book will be one of the top five projects they’ll be working on in the next few months. The CEO told us he’d read 50 pages so far and planned to read the rest in the coming weeks. Inkshares’ editing team should be responding to us with an editorial letter by early March, laying out their reactions and next steps. The CEO told us that he’s very excited about this project and wants to shape it so that we can maximize our audience. (Which we are obviously in favor of).

This is a new world for both of us, as it’s the first book project either of us have ever worked on. Neither of us had any idea of what goes into publishing a book or how long that process takes. We learned a lot during Friday’s conversation. The company is already thinking about cover art and who will design it. We had done our own mock cover, just to get ideas started, but the company has professional designers it uses. We’re excited to see what they come up with. 

We also discussed the importance of media coverage, particularly radio interviews, to promote the project. Company officials believe the editing process can be completed during the spring. But the earliest possible publication date would probably be in the fall. Inkshares will be doing market research to see if similar books are coming out and when, to determine a strategic release date. But we’re probably looking at fall at the earliest, maybe into the winter.

Clearly, we’re going to be learning a lot. Neither of us ever thought much about market research in terms of timing a release. But that’s why they’re publishers and they’ve got expertise that we don’t.

We do hear from many of you wondering when the book will be published. We plan to keep you updated throughout the year. A few people have asked when the book will be mailed to them. Unfortunately, it hasn’t been published yet, but it will be. 

Doyle first approached Lou with a draft of the book in Oct. 2015. We’ve been working together ever since. And now we’re getting closer to reaching our dreams – this book, published by a real publisher, with our names on the cover – than ever before. 

We wouldn’t be where we are without the support of all of you. Thanks again for your support, your faith in us, and your continued patience. If we could deliver a finished product to you tomorrow, we would. But this has been a multi-year effort for us, and we’re committed to making this the best product we can and offering the best experience possible to our readers. It may take a few more months, but we are going to get there.

Sincerely,

Doyle and Lou

Happy New Years to our readers. We (Doyle and Lou) have been celebrating the holidays, as we hope you have been, but now we’re back. We’re still working with Inkshares to get our book published and sent out to you. Thanks so much to everyone who supported us in 2018. But this is the year of publication! 

We’ll be talking with the Inkshares team this week and hope to get you more details, including a publication date, as soon as possible.

We’re at 949 sold as of today. That’s 199 over publication goal (which we broke two months ahead of schedule). 

Best wishes to you and your families in 2019,

Doyle and Lou