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Long Overdue Newsletter - July 2026


Books should be written by people. And more people should write books.


We drafted this cartoon a few weeks ago, and boy, did this become timely. Take a look at these recent headlines:



LinkedIn, of all places, you can now police the newsfeed, reporting content that "Seems Like AI Slop." I couldn't believe this was actually real, but there it is:



Something's in the air (besides the Canadian wildfires), and there's a lot of push-back, dialing it back, and going back to the basics.


The conclusion: People want to read things written by other people.


Over here at Long Overdue Books, we've been set on that course for years. We publish books written by people. Edited by people. With covers designed by a real-life human artist. And you know what, we wouldn't have it any other way.

Pre-Order FreakBoy82: Super Chaos



About the Book


Being different is just the beginning.


Fourteen-year-old Jake Adams lives by three critical rules: stay inside, stay out of trouble, and never talk to anyone. But it's not easy when you wake up every day with a different superpower and no idea how to control it. Today he's flying, tomorrow he's the human embodiment of static cling, and on other days, he's just trying to not burn down the house.


Terrified that the wrong people will find out what he is, Jake's parents keep him hidden away from the world, but when Jake's powers spin out of control, even they question how long they can keep him a secret.


Desperate to keep from becoming the government's next science project, Jake sets out to pursue life as a normal teenager, if there is such a thing. But who can he trust? How can he stay in control? Jake just might need to admit that the greatest superpowers of all are the friends you make along the way.



And then one more thing, just a cool story about how this all came about.


Last year, at the Printers Row Lit Fest here in Chicago, our fellow middle-grade fiction author, Clayton Keith, author of the Acrimons series, was celebrating his debut novel. Several students from the Harper College Creative Writing class he was enrolled in came to celebrate the big day. Ten was one of them. She shared her book-in-progress about a kid who wakes up every day with a different super power, and I was immediately on board. Sign me up. And then Clayton goes, "Oh, it's amazing. She's such a great writer! You're gonna love that book."


So, here we are. A year later, and now we're planning to have Ten and Clayton at the same Long Overdue Books table, inside the Diggypod tent, at this year's Printers Row Lit Fest (Sept. 12 - 13).


No Longer in Pre-Order:

In The Shadows of Oak Cliff is Here!



For those who pre-ordered Keith's book, here's a little behind-the-scenes look at my high-tech mailing process.



Your books are safely in the mail, arriving soon.



Moving Parts Headed to Print!



Miles Ducore's excellent work of literary fiction is headed to print. Place your pre-order to receive your copy in late August and come celebrate this milestone at our tent at Printers Row Lit Fest in September.


Deep Dive - Interior Book Design & Typesetting



When I wrote my first book, I overthought everything. The ending. The opening chapter. The first sentence of that opening chapter. 


But when it came to book design, typesetting, or page layout... that really wasn't on my radar. 


Here's what I mean - if you open to any random page of a book, these are 8 subtle decisions that quietly make a big difference. The photo below is from "Ten Tomatoes that Changed the World" by William Alexander (great book, by the way).


1. Paper. White or natural? 50#, 60#, 70#?


2. Typeface - I always just called this "font." What size? Does the author or the publisher have a license to use the font? 


3. Spacing between sentences and paragraphs. 


4. The Headers - Usually, you put your book title on the left, but over on the right, should you go with the author name or the chapter title? 


5. Section breaks. Should you have 'em? If so, will you mark it with a "Dinkus" (***) or a "Dingbat" (Symbol). Yep, those are the actual names. In the Ten Tomatoes book, the artist made a really cool choice, marking these with a small tomato. 


6. First sentence after the section break. Generally not indented. Some are written normally, like the image below. Others bring out the Caps Lock for those first 2 or 3 words. 


7. Margins. Top, bottom, outside, and what I think is most important: The inside margin (also called a gutter). If the gutter isn't wide enough, that absolutely hurts the reading experience.


8. Widows, orphans, and runts. Seriously, who was coming up with these names? If you look at the right side page below, I circled a runt at the top (line with only one word) and an orphan at the bottom (first line of a new paragraph, but the rest of the paragraph is on the next page). 


One of these on a page? Not a big deal. But if they're all over the place, the layout doesn't look right, even if the reader can't put their finger on exactly why. 


Whew. Alright, quick exhale.


Good news: authors don't have to become book design experts. You just have to find someone who thinks about typeface, and page margins, and dingbats as much as you think about your characters. When that pairing happens, all the hard work you've put into your story shines on a professionally designed page.


Speaking of tomatoes, I'm at that age where I think the tomato is actually the star of the BLT sandwich. Especially in the summertime. 


Is that a controversial hot take?


(And Kim Jockl, if you and Pete, you know, have any leftovers of that extra award-winning San Marzano pasta sauce of yours... just sayin', we've got space in the fridge...)



"Now that the books are gone, can I get a ride back in that wagon?"


-Crash, Team Dog



Best place to keep up with all things Long Overdue is a tie between our monthly newsletter and our Instagram page. If you enjoy this newsletter and know someone who might enjoy it as well, let us know, we'll make sure to add them to our subscriber list. We also got back on Facebook recently, you can follow us here.


And check out our website - Long Overdue Books. Long Overdue Books is a community for creating books. It's a place for authors (and soon-to-be-authors), readers, editors, artists, and designers to come together and move their stories from ideas to finished books.


Also, if you have any questions, ideas, stories to tell, you can reach Cal the Librarian at - library@longoverduestories.com



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