Quote of the Month
"The one thing that you have that nobody else has is you. Your voice, your mind, your story, your vision. So write and draw and build and play and dance and live only as you can.”
- Neil Gaiman
Introducing Ice Cream Fine Storybooks -
Three New Children's Books!
We believe authors should always remain in control of their work and their publishing journey.
That's why authors can use Long Overdue as an editor or book designer, but they're not automatically locked into a publishing contract. If we do serve as the publisher, authors can still pursue a larger press. It's all up to you as the author. And you can always change your mind.
We found ourselves in a unique and exciting situation a little over a year ago. A sister and brother (Kate Buss + Patrick Buss) and their father (Dennis Buss) wanted to bring three children's books over the finish line and restart their small family publishing house (Ice Cream Fine Storybooks). Long Overdue wouldn't be the publisher, we'd play the role of book designer and online bookstore.
Our response? Sweet! When can we get started?
And holy cow, what an incredible starting point we had with Kate Buss's illustrations!
Our mission for this project - Pick a matching type for each book that captures Kate's voice and vision. Build the interior, create the front and back covers, assemble into a final book, and find a high-quality printer based in the U.S., preferably the Midwest. As always, all of the design was handled by our Creative Director, Annie Leue.
This was particularly fun for their title: The Book of Monsters From A to Z: A Field Guide by Professor Edelgeezer. Each monster had its own personality, so we wanted the text pages to reflect this in a fun and creative way.
When the work was finished, the logo we put on the back cover was for Ice Cream Fine Storybooks, not Long Overdue. Now we can officially say authors can work with us and choose to self-publish, use Long Overdue as the publisher, or start/restart their own publishing house. Those decisions should always be for authors to make!
We're so happy to share these three titles on our website. Here's a little description of each book and a link to where you can order via our online bookstore.
In One Sentence - A young boy befriends a furry sock-eating monster in this quiet tale of childhood and growing up.
Back of Book Description - Who do you blame when all your socks go missing? It couldn’t possibly be that a ferocious sock-eating monster has snuck into your closet... But if one has and you manage to catch him, if you give him food and shelter and treat him kindly, he may just be tamed.
In One Sentence - A family of everyday unicorns work, play, and make happy memories together.
Description:
Back of Book Description - In a misty barn on the outskirts of town, a family of unicorns are just beginning their day. Dad trots off to work with his hat and briefcase, Mom is still wrestling Baby into his highchair, while Brother and Sister are off inventing some fun new game to play. It’s just another day in the life for this quirky family of unicorns!
In One Sentence: Learn your ABC’s and improve your mon-ster-ese with this remarkably illustrated collection of beautiful, bizarre, and downright hilarious monsters.
Back of Book Description - Tiberius Q. Edelgeezer (professor of Monstrology, etc, etc) cordially invites you to explore the thrilling, chilling, sometimes bewildering, but always exhilarating world of monsters. Assembled into one complete volume (unless there’s a sequel), this book will help you and your loved ones spot the many beasts, fiends, and ghouls that roam the earth – and quite a few that lurk beneath it. Each monster is not only richly illustrated but also poetically described by Professor Edelgeezer himself, so rest assured you’re in good hands.
After all, what better guide to the field of monsters than a monster himself?
Important note for all the aspiring children's book authors out there -
If you're looking at these illustrations thinking, "Wow, I have a story, but I can't draw like THAT!" or "I can't draw at all. Seriously. Like stick figure maximum." Don't let that stop you. We can connect you with Kate Buss, or Dena Ackerman, or Kristie Kaiser Frudden and see if the project, budget, style, timeline is a fit. If not, we have guides for where to turn next for illustrations, no matter the situation.
If finding an illustrator is what's holding you back, we're happy to knock over that barrier!
Really excited about this one! We're hosting an editing-focused webinar on Thursday, October 6th at 7 PM CST.
Our all-star panel of editors (Adina Edelman, Jeanette Smith, Emily Price Soli) will demystify the editing stage, sharing a roadmap for what happens after you complete the first draft of your book.
They'll also clear up common editing myths and break this stereotype of the scowling editor, giant red pen in hand, ready to rip apart your entire work. Not the reality at all! Great editors (like these three) aren't intimidating. They are trusted partners to your book, helping you improve your story, improve as a writer, and they'll celebrate right there with you (even if it's virtual) when your final book arrives.
Can't wait! You can register by clicking on the image above or -- if you're a fan of buttons -- you can click the one below. You can also visit this page for more info on the topics we'll discuss.
Every book we've worked on thus far has either been a solo project (one author) or a duo (author + illustrator).
Well, that's about to change in October. Long Overdue Books' very own published author, T.C. Pendragon, is leading an awesome creative writing initiative where 30 authors are working together to write one book of linked stories.
Their book in progress: The Headstone House.
Join us as we unravel this harrowing collection of supernatural sightings, monstrous creatures, and harrowing crimes. Told by a very old monster and penned by very new authors. All at the peak of their powers. A perfect story for the Halloween season.
Five stories will be digitally released every Thursday/Friday, at midnight, all October long, all on the Long Overdue Books' website. Here's a list of the stories and authors:
Gravegrass - By T.C. Pendragon
Cemetery - By Marius Crowley
Gathering - By Agatha Brennan
Chute - By Roslyn Price
Max - By C.W. Lochland
You can read Gravegrass right now, and stay tuned for Cemetery next week!
"New story released at midnight?
Yikes, I better get some rest now!"
- Crash, Team Dog
Keeping up with Long Overdue
Best place to keep up with all things Long Overdue is a tie between our monthly newsletter and our Instagram page (shoutout to Annie Cerovich!). 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, readers, editors, artists, and designers to come together and move their stories from ideas to finished books.
Next newsletter - Aiming for mid to late September. In the meantime if you have any questions, ideas, stories to tell, you can reach Cal the Librarian at - library@longoverduestories.com
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