About the Book

Nancy Drew meets How the Grinch Stole Christmas in this delightful cozy mystery set in Charleston, SC.

Who’s stealing the holiday decorations? They’re disappearing like Christmas cookies from PeggyLou Designs, and Lou’s newly launched event planning service is in trouble. He implores his neighbor and friend, Private Investigator Liz Adams, to bring the thief to justice.

The clock is ticking. It’s only ten days until the mayor’s big holiday celebration. The party that will make or break Lou’s business.

Liz’s mom, Babs, steps in to help, and the investigation becomes complicated. Suddenly the holidays are not all mistletoe and merriment when Bab’s life is threatened. Will Liz and her lie-detecting Labrador retriever, Duke, discover the perpetrator before it’s too late?

Experience Charleston in the city’s full Christmas glory in this fun fast-paced holiday story.

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Guest Post

Is Self-publishing Right For You?

If you’ve crossed that first hurdle and completed a manuscript, congratulations! If you’re still working on a book keep at it. Charleston Conundrum took me fifteen years to finish.

How do you get your book baby published? The options can be overwhelming. You could find an agent, or you could pitch directly to publishers. There are small presses, large presses, hybrid presses, etc.

. . . Or you could self-publish.

I chose to self-publish through IngramSpark and Amazon KDP under a registered trade name, Wild Hawk Press. Here are the main things I learned on my self-publishing journey.

You will need to build your own team. I used a professional cover designer, editor, proofreader, and interior formatter for all three books. I love to collaborate, so this is a (mostly) fun part of the process for me.
You choose the formats for your story, eBook, paperback, hardback, audiobook. Some authors decide to release only an eBook version. I haven’t ventured into audiobooks . . . yet.
Buy your ISBN numbers through Bowker. That way you own them. An ISBN is a unique identifier for each format of a story. I also chose to register each book with the Library of Congress.
Copyright your manuscript toward the end when any potential changes are minor. Some authors skip this step. For me there’s something about getting that official piece of paper.
You choose the price for your book. This means that you can also choose to run promotions at any time. Although setting the price for a book can be a daunting task, I like being able to have this flexibility.
You decide your release date. This was a huge one for me. I have several people in my life who are aging, and I wanted the first book to be available sooner than it would have been through a traditional publisher.
If you publish an eBook through KDP, you will need to decide if the eBook will be exclusive to Amazon, or if you want other distributors like Barnes and Noble to offer the book. The latter is called wide. I wanted libraries to have access to the eBook, so I chose wide with Charleston Conundrum and Carmel Conundrum. However, I realized I was missing out on readers who select their books only through Kindle Unlimited. So, for my latest release, A Christmas Conundrum, a novella, I chose to make it exclusive to Amazon. If you’re exclusive, you can change your mind later. For me, I plan to continue to make the full novels wide and limit the novellas to Amazon.
I have a day job. Although there are quite a lot of steps in the self-publishing journey, I’m on my own timeline vs. a publisher’s deadlines.
The timing of the steps can be confusing with your first book, but once you learn it gets a lot easier.
The author community is very supportive. Don’t be afraid to ask.

Regardless of which publishing route you choose, be prepared to do a lot of your own marketing.

If you have questions, please reach out to me via my website www.storystacy.com. For me this is a journey of passion and perseverance. Don’t get discouraged and good luck.

About the Author

Stacy Wilder has traveled to six out of seven continents. Books have shaped her life and her travels. Her love of mysteries began with Nancy Drew.

A Christmas Conundrum is the third book in the riveting Liz Adams Mystery series. In addition to mysteries, Stacy writes children’s stories, short stories, and poetry. She and her husband live in Houston, Texas, with a totally spoiled Labrador retriever, Eve.

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