Good to see you here, Doug. You'll fit right in. :-)

Hi there! Thanks for sticking with me with Every Secret Crime. Hope all is well with you!

Hi, TJ. My dragon is an avatar done by Brian Wilson. Thank you, I love it, too.

I haven't brought a book of my own to publication stage. I only publish other people's books. We like books that stand out as individuals, and give pleasure in the reading. We look for quality, not selling trends. The reason I'm here so rarely, right now, is that I'm editing like mad to get as many books as possible ready for our late September opening.

I absolutely love the cover of that book! I love dragons anyway. Do you publish only your on books, or books of others?

Well, thanks. You are too nice to me. Actually, when you are published with a major house and you have a top agent, you have to meet sales expectations that may be unrealistic. Especially when there is no promotion by the publisher. Word of mouth is very slow. Publishers like quick results. But I am immensely grateful to those readers who keep clamoring for more and who come back faithfully and preorder months ahead of release dates.

Poor sales? You?? I hear too much enthusiastic word-of-mouth about your books for you to have poor sales.

Are you saying that great reviews mean poor sales? That would explain it.

It is readers' instincts that decide whether they will enjoy a book, so editors need to learn first and foremost to listen to those instincts in themselves, to keep them in practice. Reviewers, too. We hear continual complaints that if reviewers like a book, readers know they will dislike it. That's because too many reviewers are listening to their intellects instead of their instincts.

I hear ya re. editing while reading. On the one hand, I learn a lot. On the other, I've got a lot less patience than when I read just for fun.

Angie. Thanks for the welcome. I noticed that he mentioned a Portland setting for his book. Only Portlanders do that. ;-)

Once I get my life back in balance, I hope to have time for pleasure reading again! What is life without wandering through somebody else's story without a care in the world?

(Except, now that I'm in the habit, I instinctively edit everything I read. Need to ease up on that.)