Latest / Reality Writes / Book 22 is Here—The Whisking Hour & a Bakeshop Glow-up

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Book 22 is Here—The Whisking Hour & a Bakeshop Glow-up · Reality Writes

• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, hello, and welcome to Buddy Rights.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: I am author Ellie Alexander, and this is the podcast where we talk about all things bookish, writer-ish, and whatever else is on our mind.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_01: And I am the tech guy, and we are here today for a very special episode about a new book.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: A new book?
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: No way.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: Let's uh let's get some applause in there.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: I like it.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: So this is book 22 of the Bake Shop Mystery Series A Whisking or The Whisking Hour.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: The articles right, sir.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: That's a big one.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_01: Book 22.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_01: So book 22 is coming out, but where are you at in the writing process right now?
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um are you like, are you working on another bake shop already?
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: I'm working on another bake shop already.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm already working on book 24, um, which is almost done.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's almost baked.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: Do what you did there.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: Uh-huh.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, because of the way the publishing schedule works, I'm always multiple books ahead.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so it is always interesting once a book releases that I get to go back and revisit it.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes I'm like, oh yeah, that's right.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: That did happen.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, yeah.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so what does it feel like to have book 22 in the series coming out right now?
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, honestly, it feels so surreal.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: When I first set out to write this series, never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that I would be going this far in and that we would have 22 books just in one series.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like that's mind-blowing to me.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and the other thing that I will say is being back in Ashland, in Jules' version of Ashland, not the real Ashland, but it's pretty darn close.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: I'd say it's so close.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's right, it's adjacent.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's so close.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: But every time I start a new book, I just immediately slip into this world and it's effortless.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, the writing is still the process of writing, but it's such a joy and delight to be back and to be like, okay, what is Lance doing?
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: What's Andy up to?
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm so connected to these characters.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: So it's exciting to me that hopefully darlings have been connected to them for this long too.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: And my goal is always that if a reader is picking up book 22 and they've come along for the whole ride, it's cool if you're picking it up at book 22, but there is a lot of backstory that's happened in the previous 21 books.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're somebody who's come along for the whole ride and you're picking up book 22, my hope is that like the instant you open the page, you're like, oh yeah, here I am.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: I'm back in Jewel's world and we're gonna do some baking.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: There's probably gonna be a body.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: Lance is gonna convince her to do something ridiculous and outlandish, all the things.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_01: So cool.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: 22 books in.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, uh, so real quick, before we get into things, I just want to say that with this whole episode, we're gonna be celebrating the release of the whisking hour.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna be doing a spoiler-free, that's spoiler-free look at what readers can expect in this book, maybe a little tie-ins to the series, why this book marks a format shift in the series.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh-huh.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: And a little bit about the publishing history of the Bake Shop series, because we've got some fun stuff to talk about with um things that have happened, the changes that have been made and everything.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: Then also, patrons, uh, don't forget to head over to Ellie's Patreon after this episode to enjoy the after party, where even more secrets will be re revealed.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_01: Although still no spoilers because this is a spoiler-free, spoiler-free podcast.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: 22 books.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: It's a long series.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: Damn, I know.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's true.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: So, what's it been like writing 22 books so far?
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and you're you've you're working on book 24, so you've written more than 22, but do you still love it?
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: Is it still fun?
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's what I'm saying.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: You know, like I sit back down and or stand up these days to write.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: And um, yeah, it's just it is such a delight and a dream.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the gift is I know these characters so well.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the challenge for um any sort of series writing that you're doing is how you keep growing these characters, how you put them in peril, and then of course, the body count, um, and just making sure that the murder is fresh every time.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm excited about this um particular murder and this this actual mystery for this one.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: Can we just pause for a second and say that you're you just used the phrase, I'm excited about this particular murder.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: I know.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's right.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: That's just so normal for me.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, just just uh so for all the darlings out there, just a day in the life of a mystery author household.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: Uh you hear phrases like, I'm excited about this murder.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: I know, right?
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't even that didn't even register.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: There was no part of me that even clocked that.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: You're correct, though.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I am excited about this murder.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm excited about this plot.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: In this book, uh, again, without giving any spoilers away, Jules is putting on a crime scene themed party for Lance because Lance is doing a murder mystery at OSF for the first time.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: And the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, which is a real, obviously, artistic theater in Ashland, is not known for doing mysteries.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: You know, they're doing a lot of Shakespeare, they're doing modern stuff.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: Although this summer they are putting on Emma.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: I can't wait.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: I know.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: I gotta book my tickets, ASAP.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: But uh, for this one, Lance is putting on this campy murder, which is a real Broadway play, an off-Broadway play, perfect crime.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: And so he's sort of genderbending it and putting his own Lance spin on it.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: And there's a lot of fighting amongst the cast.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: And so, in true Lance fashion, because he's the artistic director and he always needs to go big or go home, he's decided that a cast party will help kind of build morale and bring the team together.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so he's asked Jules to create a crime scene.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I had so much fun with this.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: And some of the inspiration for this particular book is from the Ashland Mystery Fest, because over the last few years of doing the Ashland Mystery Fest, we've done these themed dinners.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, oh my gosh, we absolutely have to do this in a book.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: So it's kind of fun to blend those two real things.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, that's so great.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: So this the release of this book is going to bring a big change to the Bakeshop Mystery Series, huge change.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um although it has nothing to do with the actual content of the books.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: What am I talking about, Ellie?
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: What are you talking about, tech guy?
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: So um you'll hear it first right here, darlings.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: The whisking hour will be the last, the final, the end of the bake shop mysteries in mass markets.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: That needs a dun dun dun.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, it does need a dun dun dun.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know where that sound effect is.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: I'll have to look it up.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: I did it.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's all good.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, wait, here it is.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_01: Here we go.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: There we go.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: Getting getting slow in my old age.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so you should have done a dramatic pause because you you said this will bring about the end of the bake shop mystery series in mass market size.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: Cliffhanger.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: In uh mass market.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: We've discussed this a few times briefly, but mass market, the format as we know it is really it's pretty much DOA.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's dead on arrival most places.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: You're not seeing them in bookstores anymore.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: The shelf space has changed, distribution has changed, pricing has changed.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: There's so many factors.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: So if you are a lover of mass market, get your hands on the whisking hour because that's it.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um book 23, the Pumpkin Vice Cafe, which will come out later this fall, the books are going to a trade format.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and they're getting kind of like the big the fun thing about it is the bake shop's getting a little glow up.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: And with the way the story has developed, and this is again no spoilers, but um, you know, Jules is sort of on her own personal growth change arc right now, uh, as you would be in your mid-30s.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: Let's just say that.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: Some big life changes are coming for her.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it's actually a really natural time, I think, for the format to be shifting.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I also have that that's outside of the author's control.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like I just learned all of this from my editor and publisher maybe like six to eight months ago.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's been a big back and forth conversation.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: And the other exciting thing about it is they're really thrilled to be continuing the series and to be investing in it and um going with a new format kind of opens up some doors that weren't there before.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: So it's gonna be exciting, um, but it's gonna look different on the shelves.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's for sure.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: That's your warning, darlings.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_01: But but your your point about this has been coming for a while, is so true because if you go to any bookstore, but particularly a large bookstore like um Barnes and Noble, for example.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: Barnes and Noble used to have like racks, like shelves, whole shelving units of mass market size, just cozy mysteries.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: It used to be row after row after row after row.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_01: And that has over the years just been shrinking and shrinking and shrinking um in that particular size.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_01: And you've been seeing more cozy mysteries and hardcover, which is, in my opinion, not great.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I that's just a that's a that's a tough sell.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um uh but uh hardcover for anything, really, in my opinion.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, Kindle Reader here.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_01: So um hardcovers are super heavy.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: Full disclosure.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um but uh but you know, their trade has been showing up more and more, and it's been popular in other genres for a long time.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, so I mean, I think uh rom coms, for example, have been trade like have they been trade the whole time?
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_01: Have they ever been mass market?
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: I think they sort of started the switch to math from um mass market to trade, as as did kind of like the thrillers, a lot of what you read, you know.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: If you look at like James Rollins and authors like that, those were all mass market 10, 12 years ago, and that's all shifted.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: And it's interesting because you and I were in Seattle a few weeks ago, and we did our own little indie bookstore stop, and we went to like I think four or five indie bookshops too.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: And it's the same thing.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: You're not seeing mass markets anywhere.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, three of them had zero mass markets, and one of them had a little cart with all their mass markets like on deep discounts.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: I took some pictures.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: Just a few of them left.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_01: There there are some advantages to the larger size.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: I think, especially for longer books, um, in mass market, it got um exponentially harder to open a book when as the book got longer.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_01: So, like for you, you were saying like James Rollins, the techno thriller type books that that I read a lot.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_01: It I would have to crack the spine in like 18 different places as I read the book in order for it to stay open without like feeling like I was like lifting dumbbells the whole time.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's like resistance machine work or something every time trying to hold that book open.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and that's not true of trade.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_01: When they're larger, it's just they open a little bit easier.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but it's gonna be a big change for people.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's gonna be a big change, yeah.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: You know, one thing, one pro that I've been thinking of to that point, though, in terms of because even with mass markets that are smaller, or you know, like 300 pages versus 700 or whatever you read with your technical drillers, I still have to crack the spines.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: But I do hear so much from darlings who make the recipes at home.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: I think the trade size is gonna be really nice for baking.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because then in the kitchen, you could have the trade paperback kind of propped open and easily bake with it too.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that's gonna be a pro for the uh home chefs out there.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, definitely.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_01: Except that now everybody who listens to this episode is gonna say, Ellie, when's the bake shop mystery cookbook coming?
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_01: So because it'd be even easier in like a hardcover, right?
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: So Well, that's that's a topic for a different day, yes.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_01: But this isn't the first time that the size has changed in the bake shop series.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's not.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: Uh about three-quarters of the way through the series, there was this brief flirtation with a max market that the publishing max max market that the publishers put out.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, there are two books in the bake shop mysteries that are in the max market size, which it was basically the same, just slightly taller.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: And just a slightly wider.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, just slightly wider.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: You know, just enough to look a little unbending for any darlings who are out here, like where you can see that the two don't disturb and um bake barrow and steel are just slightly off when you line them up nicely on a bookshelf.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: Which you've heard a lot from readers about that too.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um again, nothing you had any control over.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_01: And for the darlings out there who don't know, Max Market was kind of a short-lived.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_01: I I don't think it's around anymore.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think anybody's really doing it.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_01: But it think of it as the beta max to VHS.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um it was a format that for whatever reason the publishers were like, yeah, let's make things a quarter of an inch taller and you know, like 0.17 inches wider, and this will be great.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_01: And then everybody was like, What did you do?
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so all that to say, for those of you, and there have been many who have asked for some sort of Bake Shop Mystery box set, I can't even imagine the expense, the cost in manufacturing something that would literally go and then up a little bit and over and then down and then over and then way up and over.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's just like I know it's not, I mean, it it would look hilarious too.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I don't know.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: That being said, uh Sky Guy and I've been working on something.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we've got some ideas.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the problem is that what do you what do we make a box of?
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: Who wants to is this this box is gonna eventually be like four feet wide, right?
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: When like shop mystery number 58, like it just, you know, I mean I I you know be careful what you ask for, I guess, is what I'm saying to the darlings out there.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I do have some fun news thinking about that box concept.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: And that is that Meet Your Baker, the first book in the series, is going to have a special re-release.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: My publishing house is doing a special edition that I wrote a little bonus letter for that's included uh that kind of talks about the history and how the series came to be and some reflections.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: And then um, there are bonus reader discussion questions, and it will also be releasing this summer in the trade paperback form with a new kind of glow-up cover as well that will be in line with the new covers moving forward.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: They they've done a really good job.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: I've seen, we've had a few iterations of art, and I'm really glad with where they landed because it is in the same tone and vein of the first 22 books, but just maybe, you know, slightly elevated.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: Bake shops getting some Botox.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: Bake shops getting Botox.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think Jules would ever get Botox, but Lance would definitely suggest that she should.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: He'd do a little like, oh, darling the chins.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: Uh-huh.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: What what have you what what have been your feelings about the size changes?
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_01: And then this ultimate shift starting in book 23.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: Are you excited, mad, frustrated, happy?
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: You know, a touch of all of the things, but I've seen the right, like I've seen this coming for years.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_01: You have been talking about it for a while.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: I've been talking about it for a long time.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: And it is like, you know, you could just see, like you talked about the the slowly shrinking, shrinking, shrinking space, like knowing that was coming.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: I'm really pleased with how the design looks.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm pleased that they're going into trade and not hardcover.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: I pushed hard for that.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um I know.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: I sorry, I can't help myself.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: I that wasn't even intentional.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's like being excited about my murder.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's gonna be a great shift.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm really glad that the timing is aligning with a slight shift in the tone and direction of the series.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be all of the same things.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: Like you said at the beginning, the content is not changing dramatically, but Jules' life is going through a radical transformation, and that's coming through at the same time that the size is changing.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: So it does feel like it's more symbiotic, maybe this way.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: I almost blurted out a spoiler without even thinking about it.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: So careful.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: Watch out.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_01: But so I I mean, this is funny because that like there have been changes in size.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, there have also been other uh funny, maybe not so funny like things that have changed about the series over the years.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we discovered one when we were putting together some marketing for the Big Shop series back.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_01: This was 10 books ago.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: It was a while ago.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_01: And we made those white tort boxes, like the one for anybody watching, it's above Ellie uh up there on her shelf.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um and uh and we were sending out the full series at the time, the full series at the time to all these uh social media uh bookish people.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_01: We get so we got uh like just a ton of big shop books in, I mean hundreds of books, because at the time I think there were 12 or 14 books in the series.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: It was 13 because it was a baker's dozen that we put in the bigger.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's right, a baker's dozen.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_01: 13 books, and we were sending to like, I don't know, 50, 60 people.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so we had we were getting a ton of books, and we had this huge living room, and we had all these boxes, and we were opening them up.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: And I remember, and I'm gonna let you take it from here because you're the one that discovered it, but there was an issue with book five, fudge and jury.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: Fudge and jury.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: We unpack fudge and jury because you thought it would be fun to film packing the book boxes, which was super fun, and like all the stacks and and getting to see the visual of like, oh my gosh, I'm at book 13, which now again pinch me, we're at book 22.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: I I start to unbox the fudge and jury copies, and they were three different colors of purple.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, and not even close.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_01: Dramatic differences in shades.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: Like a light pastel and then a dark violet and like a deep, deep, almost maroon burgundy adjacent purple.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, what?
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: I don't understand.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: What is this?
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: And immediately emailed my editor.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: She was like, Oh, yeah, I think that was probably just like different printing runs at the printing facility, and maybe the ink was running low and what a whoa, what a trip.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it was it was shocking um to see the difference side by side.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: Had you seen them on the shelf, well, you may have noticed, but the average I would have noticed, yeah.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_01: The average reader probably wouldn't have noticed a difference um if if if they had seen all of the same color together.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_01: If you saw all three colors sitting side by side on the shelf, everybody would would have noticed a difference because it was they looked like different books.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, we were worried that people were going to think that that it was a different book if people were showing copies of the lightest color purple online when in reality it was the darkest color that was the actual cover.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, that was crazy.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, I'm sure it was just ink differences, although it's a little disappointing in terms of quality control when you know whoever was packing the boxes was like, yeah, sure, whatever.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, it's all purple, right?
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, go ahead.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: I know.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, definitely.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_01: What have readers thought of the size changes so far?
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_01: And and your talk, because this isn't the first, again, this isn't the first time you've talked about it moving to trade and everything.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_01: What is the general consensus that you've heard from readers, both like online and in person?
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I think we should have the darlings listening in tell us in the comments for sure.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: We want to hear.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_01: I've got I've got a list of questions to give them at the end.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, but I will I want just for people to, you know, to understand, like, because you've gotten feedback already.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I know.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I think the resounding message that keeps coming up is that darlings who have loved this series are so happy that it's continuing, where it's like, I don't Care.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just glad that it's going to keep continuing because the problem sometimes when you run into a point like this in publishing, like from a global perspective, where there's a big shift in the market is sometimes it's easy for publishers just to decide to cancel a series versus switching it over to a new format because it might not seem like it, but on the back end and having been involved with all of the conversations with the team, like there is a lot of time and work and extra effort that's going in to do this shift.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I think the conversations that I've had when readers understand, like, oh no, this isn't just like, oh, we're ditching this format.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: It has to happen, basically.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_00: If if you want to keep reading Big Shop, it has to happen.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: And you're not gonna see mass markets of anything really.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I think they'll still be kind of like a slow trickle, but as a general rule, they're they're pretty much vanishing.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: It'll be interesting to see if at some point in time a a version of them recirculates, but it definitely seems like the future path is in bigger books for sure.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_01: I thought I didn't know where you were going with that.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_01: I was getting worried there that you were gonna tell people that you are sure that, you know, at some point in time in the future the size is gonna change again.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm sure it will, but like I don't want to go down that road just yet because then people are gonna be like, well, no, uh, you know, and it's gonna go.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: No, I think we've got a good 22 more books before that happens.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I mean, these these trends tend to happen over like decades, right?
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_00: It the bake shops were first published in 2014.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_00: So it's been what is that, 12 years now.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it's taken a long time.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: When they were first out, mass market was really at like its heyday and its peak, and it has just, you know, kind of slowly, slowly gone down a ski slope, and now we're at the bottom.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, that's how it goes.
• 23:56
  unknown: Yeah.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: You got to be flexible and nimble.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's this is one of the things that I talk to a lot with new writers or writers who I'm working on with coaching and career developments.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_00: You just have to kind of follow and pay attention to the market and be open and be flexible, and then think like, okay, well, how does that work for me and the stories I want to tell, or the readerships that um I want to reach or that I've built?
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_01: There have been a lot of physical changes to the series over 22 books.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_01: You're now tw book twenty two comes out February 24th.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so just a few days from now, though, the way publishing and release schedules work, some of the readers probably already had it and received it and read it already by the time they're listening to this.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um but how are you doing?
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_01: Like you're on book 24.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_01: Give me a number.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_01: What do you think Bake Shop's going to?
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_01: I you don't have to answer a few.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: Nice try.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: Nice try.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_00: Who paid you off for that?
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_01: Darlings, I tried.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I get I get I see this question come through all the time for people, and so I tried.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_01: I I knew she wouldn't, but I thought maybe I could surprise her and trick her into it.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I mean, I can say for sure there will be 25 books.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_00: I've signed a contract for that many.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: So we know there'll be a book 25.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: How's that?
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_01: That's good.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that gives, you know, if book 22 is coming out, that gives people three more after this one.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_01: So that's that's great.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_01: I I think that uh, you know, what more can you ask for, right?
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um in the next couple of minutes, like we uh uh before we wrap up here, I just wanted to uh is there any any advice you have for the writers out there who might be listening about writing a series that has gone now 22 books and how you keep it fresh, like how you how you keep things moving forward and finding new ways to get excited about killing people?
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: Well, finding new ways about um getting excited to kill people is great because there's just so much fodder in the world, and I just think, oh, you should die, and you should definitely die.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: So that that I think is a gift of writing mysteries.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: I don't usually run out of that.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_00: I think I personally think the critical piece of creating a lasting series is having a deep connection with your characters and making sure that they feel like real living, breathing people and thinking about those situations and watching how, you know, and pulling from your own life experiences.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so when Jewel started out, she was young, she's in her late 20s, she's leaving her husband on the cruise ship, she's coming back to Ashland.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_00: And now, over the course of, you know, 12 years of writing this, it hasn't been 12 years in the books.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_00: I will also say that each book kind of picks up a month or two later after the last one left off.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_00: But even with that, it's still been a chunk of time.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_00: What trials and tribulations, what exciting new adventures are you sending them on?
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like, how do you humanize these characters so that they are people that readers can feel really attached and connected to and can see themselves reflected in?
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I always try to focus on for myself is pulling pieces of my own life or from people who I deeply care about and thinking, like, okay, how can I weave that into Jules or Andy or whoever it is.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh any last things you want to tell the darlings out there about the whisking hour?
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_00: I am so excited for the whisking hour.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_00: The one thing that I shared on social a few weeks ago, and if you happen to miss it, is that when I first wrote this book, there was not a single deviled egg on the cover.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_00: And there are two things featured on the cover of this one: these cupcakes that have these like bloody knives sticking into them.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_00: And those were in the book, but they also did deviled eggs because, you know, it kind of goes with this whole crime scene murder thing and it's murder-themed food.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_00: And also, my editor loves deviled eggs.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: And so I was like, oh, Jules doesn't even so much as mention an egg in the book.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, not a deviled egg.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_00: She she mentions using eggs to bake.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: So I had to frantically go back and check out that scene.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_00: It was too late to include a picture or I mean a recipe of devil's egg, deviled eggs, but I had to quickly go back and add that into the scene when they're setting up the buffet tables.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: And then I shared the picture and I accidentally cropped out the deviled eggs.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't know if they really do exist, is the truth.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_00: They are just, you know, floating out there somewhere.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_01: That was funny because I saw that post and I asked you when I got home from work that night, and I was like, this post, it's crazy.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_01: People are engaging with this really well and answering all these questions, but you can't even see the deviled eggs in the in the cover because Instagram like cropped it.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_01: Like it just, yeah, that's so funny.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_00: So good.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_00: But I feel like that's the universe being like, um, are there deviled eggs in this book?
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_00: You'll have to read it and find out.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's a mystery.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's a mystery to me.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_01: It is a mystery.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I think that does it for this episode of Reality Rights.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, just celebrating the release of the Whisking Hour, which again releases on February 24th, so coming up in just a few days here.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but you mentioned you had some questions.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna let you ask the questions to the darlings out there that you want to see them answer in the comments.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_00: Well, darlings, I definitely want to hear your thoughts on format.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_00: That's always interesting to me.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what what do you love?
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_00: What do you hate about any particular way that you're reading a book?
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_00: And then I'm also curious, 22 books in, uh, if you have a favorite book and or a favorite character.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_00: Because I know my favorite book, and I actually know my favorite character.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_00: So I want to know if it lines up with you.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_00: And then lastly, I just before we wrap up, have to say thank you so much to the darlings.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like, thank you, thank you, thank you for coming on this journey.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_00: Like I it never would have existed if if you hadn't discovered these books and decided to keep reading them.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_00: So huge gratitude.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_01: I second that uh a hundred times over.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, this community's been so great to be a part of, and even with my techiness.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um exactly.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so yes, definitely thank you.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_01: And speaking of what such a great community this is, um, if you like this podcast, please share it with a friend.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_01: Uh tell them about reality rights.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we love doing this and just want to spread the word, spread the bookish love.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um that's right.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_01: So that wraps it up for this episode of Reality Rights.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_01: But uh, for patrons out there, head on over to Patreon and we'll see you in the after party.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_01: Until next time.