Happy New Year!
Isn’t it amazing how fast the world changes from year to year? And publishing is one of the fastest changing industries out there. What I’ve seen in 20 years…oh my goodness.
When I finished my first book, The Queen’s Dollmaker, back in 2006, I mailed physical copies to editors. You can imagine how expensive it was. But I hoped and prayed to receive an e-mail from New York that said, “We love this and want to buy it!” It took a lot of printing and manuscript bundling to finally receive that e-mail.
Today, you e-mail editors, tell them about your book, then hope and pray that they will ask you to e-mail them a copy. Less expense, but still the same wait and rejection.
Of course, many authors now publish their own books, as I have done with my Heart of St. Mary’s County series. Speaking of which, keep reading for another sneak preview of The Madness of Moll Dyer, coming in February.
A major change coming to the publishing world is the elimination of what is called “mass market” paperbacks. Those are the small versions, roughly 4.25” x 6.75,” and are the type of paperback you might see in the grocery store or the airport.
Gone.
The format was born in 1939, and they sold for a mere twenty-five cents. I remember reading both romance and mystery in this format. They were inexpensive and a great way to read a lot of books without breaking the budget.
(I won’t date myself by talking about how I also enjoyed reading Peanuts comic strips in this format when I was a kid.)
But sales of this format have declined in recent years, to the point that, according to Publishers Weekly, they only accounted for about 3% of units sold. Thus, major distributors simply aren’t going to carry them, and major publishers are shifting to trade paperbacks as the format of choice. “Trade paperbacks” being the larger size, around 6” x 9,” that you frequently see today.
And, of course, many readers prefer an e-reader, which has likely contributed to the mass market decline, given how small the print is in mass market paperbacks.
Whatever format you enjoy, please know how grateful I am to you for your continued support of my books.
Yep, Another Sneak Preview of The Madness of Moll Dyer
The Madness of Moll Dyer has made it through developmental edits and beta reading. Now it just needs copy editing, proofing, and formatting before it is available in time for Moll Dyer Day on February 21, 2026.
Here’s another little tidbit for you, taken from Moll’s indentured servitude on the Caribbean island of St. Kitts:
May 1670. Six months after her arrival, Moll understood what the man at the docks had meant regarding the climate. There might be breezes, but the sun felt as though it were close enough to boil one alive.
Her pale skin fared very barely under the blistering sun. She had burned so badly that Mr. Thorpe, her overseer, had allowed her to recuperate in her hut for a couple of days, much to the disgruntlement of the other servants.
“The tall white witch has the master’s favor and gets days to laze about,” she overhead them grumbling.
Healing from the burn resulted in her skin peeling in scaly layers. During those periods, everyone avoided her as though she carried leprosy.
She would hardly be healed before she would get burned again.
The more she burned, the more the other servants grumbled. Soon, there was open hatred from them.
It wasn’t just the sun and the other servants making Moll’s life miserable. It was the work itself, which made her yearn for the days of ale-making and elixir peddling. As far as she could tell, neither of these skills seemed to have any value here on the island.
Growing and harvesting sugar cane required many hands to plant, weed, and cut the cane plants. Mr. Lugg had planted cane in different parts of his plantation every month, so that weeding and harvesting went on continuously.
It required about six months for an individual field to go from planting to harvest.
Many of Mr. Lugg’s fields were planted in unusual rows along the hills behind the big house. “Terracing,” the sugar master, Mr. Roland, had called it.
She had never seen such a thing back in Devon.
Before a field could be planted, it had to be cleared and burned. The remaining ash would then be used as fertilizer.
Moll’s job was to collect the ash in buckets, first sweeping it up into trays and dumping the trays into the buckets. Not only did her back feel like an anvil had been sitting on it by the time the day was over, but she had no relief from the sun.
Irrigation networks had been built all over the plantation, so the plants—which flourished in the sunshine—received far more water than any of the indentured workers did.
During intense periods, when there was a profusion of sugar to be harvested, the work didn’t even stop at dusk. Torches were lit and the servants were expected to work into the night.
Moll spent her days longing for her bother—whom she had not yet seen here on the island—and her nights quietly crying herself to sleep so that the other women in her hut couldn’t hear.
She was unpopular enough without appearing to be weak.
Moll Dyer Launch Event Reminder
The always-lovely owners of Marie & Nash in Leonardtown will be hosting a book launch for The Madness of Moll Dyer on Saturday, February 21, 2026, during Moll Dyer Weekend. More details coming soon. Mark your calendar!
2026 Book Signings (many more to come!)
February 21, 2026
Time TBD
Marie & Nash
22675 Washington Street
Leonardtown, Maryland
Book launch for The Madness of Moll Dyer! Lots of Moll Dyer activities this weekend in Leonardtown.
February 26, 2026
10am—11am
Loffler Senior Center
21905 Chancellors Run Rd.
Great Mills, Maryland
Author talk; signing The Madness of Moll Dyer and other Heart of St. Mary’s County books.
February 28, 2026
11am—1pm
Cecil’s Country Store
20853 Indian Bridge Road
Callaway, Maryland
Signing The Madness of Moll Dyer and other books.
April 24-26, 2026–CANCELLED
Malice Domestic
Bethesda North Marriott Hotel & Conference Center
5701 Marinelli Rd
Rockville, Maryland
**I WILL NOT BE IN ATTENDANCE AT THIS EVENT**
May 16, 2026
Cruise with an Author
St. Clements Island Museum
38370 Point Breeze Road
Coltons Point, Maryland
How fun is this? Join me on a dinner cruise around St. Clements Island—during which I will discuss how the island and other local landmarks feature in my Heart of St. Mary’s series. Book sales and signing to follow. Ticket details coming soon.
November 28, 2026
11am-1pm
Cecil’s Country Store
20853 Indian Bridge Road
Callaway, Maryland
Signing The Madness of Moll Dyer and other books during Small Business Saturday.
Other events are in the works. If I haven’t met you before, I’d love to do so at one of my signings. If you’ve been to a previous signing, I hope to see you again!