Publishing My Next Book

Since I actually write faster than the books get through the publishing process, I always have a backlog of manuscripts. This is true whether the books are traditionally published or indies, although the indies are quicker. With the fourth and last book in my Appalachian Roots series with the editor at the publishing house now and my indie, When Winter Is Past, doing well, I'm looking at my writing files to see what's next.

Through the Wilderness, set on the Oregon Trail, is the manuscript most ready for publication. It's with its second beta reader now. But I'm still debating how I want to publish it. I've loved my current publisher, but they've been late on getting out my royalty checks every time. The contract says I will get them within 60 days of the closing date for that period. The last one closed on December 31, 2015, but I've still not received anything, despite my regular reminders to them. I do have a smaller publisher in mind that I met at a writers' conference as another option, and there's self-publishing also.

I'm not sure I'm fully satisfied with the title, Through the Wilderness, but my readers chose it. Here is a synopsis of the story:

Faith Allen had gone to the Kentucky mountains to live with her aunt and uncle after her parents died. They hadn’t been cruel, but they hadn’t been loving and kind either, and they expected her to work hard. When their son struck it rich in the California gold rush, they pack up to head to California via the Oregon Trail.

Jacob Parker had been astonished at the attention Lucille Staten had shown him at the party. She was the most sought-after woman around and beautiful beyond description. When she asks him to retrieve her wrap from her bedroom, he knew he shouldn’t go there, but he found he couldn’t refuse her. When she follows and they are caught, he’s forced to marry her. However, he still has hopes for a happy future together, as he and her father make plans for the young couple to head west on the Oregon Trail.

The trail holds many more dangers than either Faith or Jacob imagined, and tragic circumstances throw them together. Can Jacob accept his second chance at love and a family and can Faith move past the fact that hers was a marriage of convenience that crushed her childhood fantasies? On top of all that, will they survive the hardships and make it to Oregon?

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