GP Gottlieb explains "Why I'm Going with a Traditional Publisher"

(She does not want to publish on her own.)

GP Gottlieb is the author the Whipped and Sipped series of cozy mysteries. You can find out more about her on her website, www.gpgottlieb.com. You can’t buy her books yet (see below), but when you can, they’ll be on the Blackbird Writers site Bookstore.

I’ve been off-kilter since the sad and sudden death of my publisher in 2023. If I drove you crazy with relentless grumbling about how the publisher’s successor stole all our money and refused all communication, please forgive me.

I should have woven that nutcase into a murder mystery and moved on, instead of simmering all this time. I might have finished Pounded, the fourth in my Whipped & Sipped mystery series if I’d modeled my antagonist on a pathological liar who killed everyone’s hopes and dreams.

I promise I’m done kvetching about that psychotic madwoman because today, I signed a publishing contract with small but mighty Anamcara Press.

But why do I hear those of you who’ve become skilled at indie publishing clicking your tongues and shaking your heads in disapproval? If we were chatting right now, you’d probably ask why I’d hand over the rights and profits to my books when, like you, I could easily master the process of being my own publisher.

Hold on, fellas - I can’t think of anything in life that I’ve easily mastered, although I’m quick on the draw with a high-speed blender, and I used to be able to sing higher and louder than everyone else in the room.

Even if I had it in me to hire someone to design a cover, format the book for publication, choose a platform, organize an ISBN, and figure out metadata, whatever that means, a traditional publisher like Amancara Press offers branding and marketing. That doesn’t mean I’m giving up my all-time favorite marketing specialist, fellow-Blackbird Valerie Biel, who promised to save me a slot in her schedule.

What this means is that I’ve got a team! I’ve always wanted to be on a team, but I was the skinny, uncoordinated girl who always got chosen last. This time, the Anamcara team picked me first!

They’re going to re-brand and re-publish the first three books in the Whipped & Sipped Mystery series, the ones that have languished, unloved and unread since the first publisher’s company was forced to close last year. Shoot, I promised I wouldn’t mention that energy-sucking situation again.

I heard about Anamcara Press from Kathleen Kaska, who has over a dozen published fiction and nonfiction books under her belt. She suggested that I submit to Anamcara’s annual Amity Prize (I was impressed by the judges’ valuable feedback - if you have an unpublished manuscript, why not submit?).

Kathleen won the 2025 prize, but Pounded: A Whipped & Sipped Mystery won a publishing contract!

Kathleen, whose Sydney Lockhart 1950s mysteries are adorable, taught middle-school science for 25 years and wrote a widely respected book about Whooping Cranes. She waxed rhapsodic about how Anamcara Press helped her create and sell her books. Aside from reformatting, redesigning, and all production costs, they’ll brand, market, and offer way wider distribution channels than a lazy author like me could come up with. Even before I signed the contract, Micki, the publisher offered much-needed guidance during a 2-hour phone call.

I’m a little sad about Anamcara’s timeline, because I wish all four books could be whipped onto shelves before the end of 2025, but I understand the need to take it slowly. It’s like baking – publishing a series of culinary mysteries before they’re ready would be like taking a cake out of the oven before it springs back when you press the top.

Brownies, on the other hand, can be removed a little early, like a book that isn’t quite ready to launch. The worst thing that can happen with undercooked brownies is that they’re gooey, but how many times have you thought that your script was completely polished, and it turned out to be riddled with sections that needed more stirring?

Anyway, the Whipped & Sipped Mystery series is going to be back on the shelves soon!

Please visit my Instagram page to see books I’ve liked and my roasted veggie platters, or my website to read about the Whipped & Sipped Mystery Series and check out my interviews for New Books in Literature, a podcast channel on the New Books Network.