Doubleday Book Club picks up The Unfinished Gift

Just got some exciting news from my publisher. Another major book club has picked up The Unfinished Gift. Earlier Crossings, the largest Christian book club, selected it for their members. Now Doubleday Large Print book club has signed on. It's hard to know the exact numbers, but my publisher estimates there are between 400,000 and 1 million members between them both. Another interesting aspect is that while Doubleday has a Christian fiction section, it reaches a wider audience of non-Christian members too.

Plus...it will be pretty cool to see the book in a hardback, large print edition.

Bookmarks, Hard at Work on Book 3

Not much news to report on my upcoming release of The Unfinished Gift. Except some bookmarks I made have come in. They came out really nice (click on the pic to see the largest bookmark you've ever seen...it's just the front side). Passing them out to family and friends at church. I'll be giving them away at future book signings, not just to those who buy the book but to anyone who looks at me for more than a few seconds. Whenever the stores finally take the book off the shelf, I'll rent a plane and drop the rest over the city.

I'm using my writing time these days trying to finish my 3rd novel, tentatively titled, The Deepest Waters. It's in the same genre as my first two books but with different characters and a different time and place. Inspired by a true story, it's set in 1857 and involves a newlywed couple separated by a shipwreck. We'll be spending time in old New York City, in San Francisco during the Gold Rush years, and experience life in the open sea aboard old wooden ships. The real, historical events that inspired my fictional tale are truly miraculous and amazing.

Ad in CBA Retail Mag featuring The Unfinished Gift

An author friend of mine, Deborah Raney, sent me a nice ad she just saw featuring my book (and 2 others coming out by Revell this Christmas). Revell placed the ad in the new issue of CBA Retailers and Resources, a magazine read by thousands of Christian bookstore owners. I know this is normal, placing ads for books in magazines for bookstores. But it still floors me seeing my book like this. Just click on it to see it bigger.

Unfinished Gift Chosen by a Major Book Club

Got an email from my publisher yesterday that turns out to be pretty big news. My first novel, The Unfinished Gift, has been selected by Crossings, a major Christian Book Club, to be a "featured alternate" in their catalog shortly after its release. I asked my editor what this means, and she told me it is huge. They are very careful with the books they feature in their catalog, and the selections are sent out to a membership of 400,000 readers. They are printing a special edition of the book for club members (very similar, just with the Crossings imprint).

The Other Dan Walsh

I've recently become aware (maybe some of you have) that there is another Dan Walsh, also an author, who published a book before me. Sometimes people will Google me or be referred to my website when they were looking for his (or vice-versa). Here's a copy of his book. If you see it, keep clicking. Not me.

Recently I was sent to one website called, "Hellbent for Leather," featuring his book cover. Guess the other Dan Walsh is a biker and writes biker books. The only leather I care about is my laptop case. And I'm happy to report, I am now over that addiction (I used to trade 'em way too often).

But I got over it, because I'm tough. Laptop-leather tough.

I've Seen the Cover Jacket Today

The Art Director at Revell sent me a pdf file of the book's cover today. The front, back, side flaps. It was stunning (to me anyway). If I were younger, I'd say: "I was freaking out." I don't have an equivalent expression for a responsible 52 year old.

I was freaking out.

Book Cover Being Printed this Week

Got an email on Friday then later a phone call from my publisher's Marketing Department, looking for a better picture to put on the book cover. It's being printed this week, and I guess they had a meeting. After staring at the picture I'd sent two months ago they must have realized: this guy really needs work (of course, they wouldn't say this). I reminded them, no matter how many pictures we'd take, the problem remains. I offered to hire a stand-in, but eventually people would discover the truth.

On Saturday, Nicole Smith, a young lady in our church who takes great pictures and has a real high-end camera agreed to try. She took about 50 pictures, and my wife and I were able to find 5 that weren't absolutely awful (Cindi said she actually liked them, but you know what happens when you've been married 32 years and you're still in love...you see things differently). We sent the pics in over the weekend. I got an email back that seemed to indicate they would be able to find one that worked (but I think they are going to have to apply a number of expensive filters, and retain someone from the art department to spend a considerable sum of time making me look like the stand-in I offered to hire in the first place).

On the upside...it gave me a chance to freshly express my thanks to God for going beyond what I could ask or think with this first book. Most writers will tell you, after the dream of actually getting published, another biggee is to have one of your books come out as a hardback.

I don't know why, but I love hardbacks. The look of them, the feel of them. This has often puzzled Cindi, as she's witnessed them fall out of my hands countless times when reading before bed. They are much heavier than paperbacks, especially when you're holding them over your head to catch the light. Apparently when I doze off, the first thing to go is my grip.

It's a risk I'm willing to take.