Peg Herring | Updates

A New Kind of Bargain

Peg Herring — Sun, 12 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I've been finalizing the files for Leaving the Tribe, which releases in 6 DAYS!, or so the website screams at me. Combing files for those last few errors is nerve-wracking, because when I find a mistake in one, I have to correct it in all four files, Amazon print, Amazon e-book, D2D print, and D2D e-book.

In the process, however, I found that D2D offers pre-sale promotion prices to readers, so I signed the book up for one. As of now, it isn't only Amazon users who can get the deal. D2D serves pretty much everyone else, so if you're a B&N reader, or Apple, or whatever, the book will be $2.99 until release date. Here's the link: https://books2read.com/u/31NVOl

What does an author find in this last OMG-is-it-right-yet check? Crazy things, like sometimes I capitalized titles like "commander" and sometimes I didn't. (They don't need it.) In one spot, Milla is narrating, and I'd written Milla heard instead of I heard.

And the spacing. Computers have a mind of their own when it comes to that, and I fight it like I'm battling the Hydra of ancient myth.

I think I'm done. I love this book, and I hope my readers do too.

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Mirroring Life? Oh, I Hope Not

Peg Herring — Sat, 11 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

As Leaving the Tribe's release date nears, the world and my own story scare me more and more. What will happen when this administration is gone? Will the country choose wisely? Will they find some sort of common ground? Will they find a candidate who won't take advantage of precedents set, like ignoring the Constitution, refusing to allow Congress to make law, and treating the opposition with disrespect and even treasonous harassment?

Those are the questions that prompted the book. Though the story itself--Milla and Zalea's search for safety, security, and a sense of what women should be-- is engrossing and even heart-warming, behind it all are those questions: What if the next administration simply expands on the wrongs this one has begun?

Buy it now as a pre-order HERE. Get it one week from today.

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The Drudge Days

Peg Herring — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The last few days before a book launches are torture for me. I worry about what I've done wrong. I fuss over wording and just about everything else. I know it's ready, but it's hard to let go.

Then I ask myself, "What did you just read?" It was a "suspense" novel so ridiculous, so right down silly, that I almost didn't finish. The plot was so complicated for a while that I looked at the reviews to see if it was just me. Nope. Others, even those who liked it said they were "a little confused in the middle." All of it, the so-called medical ethics involved, the stupidity of the main character, and the ingenuity of her aged but oh-so-capable sidekick were all over the top, not- ever-gonna-happen unbelievable. I think those who liked it did so because a Big Name Author and a Beloved Celebrity wrote it together. That's the fad these days and I fall for it too, but I've found very few I thought were really well done. (I did like Hilary Clinton's book with Louise Penny.)

Anyway, when I look at what the big publishers are tossing out as literature, I tell myself to stop worrying about my own books. I know I wrote it. I wouldn't publish if I didn't think it's worth reading. That means I should stop fussing about whether there should be a semi-colon or a period in that first paragraph on page 64.

Once again, HERE is the link to buy Leaving the Tribe as an e-book for $2.99.

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Proof of (Sad) Life

Peg Herring — Thu, 9 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Take a look at the picture. That was supposed to be postcards that I send to hundreds of libraries when a new book comes out. The plan was to streamline the process... But no. When they involve technology, my plans seldom work.

Here's the background: To get printing like this done, I've always gone to an OfficeMax that's 50 miles from me, waited while the guy prints my stuff, and then trundled back home with my postcards. Lately they've been so busy that I can't always get the work done on the day I visit, so I have to go back, which means a second 100-mile round trip.

Thinking I'd be a clever girl, I went online and found out they'll do the copies and mail them to me. SCORE! ...But no. Somewhere I missed a step, and for my $50+, I got my message printed multiple times on plain paper.

Guess where I'm going today, and probably going back to tomorrow or the next day?

And Amazon keeps asking me to make sure my files are ready, and now I can't find where I put my thumb drive...

BUT...you can still pre-order Leaving the Tribe for $2.99 until April 18, so buy it now HERE!

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Counting Down to Release Day

Peg Herring — Mon, 6 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Pre-order Leaving the Tribe yet? It's $2.99 until release day, when it will revert to my normal e-book price, $4.99

https://www.amazon.com/Leaving-Tribe-Peg-Herring-ebook/dp/B0DLH8MW3Y

:) Does it look more exciting as a real link? ;)

Pre-orders are rolling in, which means there's reader interest in Leaving the Tribe. I think most of us wonder where we're going as a nation, and my imaged adventure is only one of many possibilities. I don't want to believe that life will be horrible in 20 years, so the book isn't really dystopian. No Mad Max. No Handmaids. Still, I can't help but think it will be very different from what we know now.

Today begins the final pass-through for me. When all the readers and editors are finished, I like to listen to the book, read aloud by my trusty computer. (In "olden times," my mother and I used to read my stuff aloud to each other, taking turns. It always helps to hear the words spoken, to hear the cadences and pick out repetition or awkward phrasing.)

In this last read-through, my goal is to NOT change anything. Authors will tell you we can ALWAYS think of a better way to express some thoughts AFTER we're done. That's one reason I never liked reading my work aloud to audiences. I'd think, "Why did I use that word?" or "I could rearrange that sentence and make it clearer." There has to come a point where a book is done, so this last listen is only to catch a last wrong pronoun or stray comma. Otherwise, it's HANDS OFF, PEG!

In other news, we're still getting snow in northern Michigan, but, dreamers that we are, we bought tomato seeds and potting soil yesterday. It's getting closer to indoor planting time, though outdoor planting is still a long way off.

We put in a much larger garden than two people need, but we both enjoy pottering around in it. Hubby likes to can food as well, so our last year's veggies are only now starting to run out. I made vegetable soup last week with all home-grown ingredients: tomatoes, potatoes, corn, broccoli, green beans, onions, and carrots. My secret ingredient is a jar of home-made salsa for flavoring, along with chicken bouillon. Just as I do with the garden, I always start thinking it will be small, but in the end I have a full Dutch oven. It's okay, because I like it enough to eat it every day for a while.

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Oops!

Peg Herring — Sun, 5 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The 18 Day Challenge was too much for me. I forgot to post yesterday.

But here's the good news: my street team LOVES the book. (They are women from their mid-30's to mid-60's.) In fact, one of them asked when the sequel will be out.

Wait.

Sequel?... Nope, it's too early to even think about that.

What I am thinking about is the final stuff for publication. If you're interested, read on. If not, just click HERE to pre-order Leaving the Tribe.

When I set up a book for sale, I put the cover and a temporary file online to make it available for pre-order. This is valuable for a writer, because pre-order sales add to first-day sales and boost the book up the algorithms that show new releases to readers.

Once I've heard from editors and readers, I finalize the book for publication. This involves making four different files, two print files and two e-book files. Print fiction usually does not have a table of contents, but it has chapter headings and page numbers. E-books have a table of contents but cannot have page numbers or headings, since people read on all sorts of different devices. That means I need an e-book file and a print book file for Amazon. I also publish with Draft2Digital in both print and e-book. Each of those four files is different. For example, D2D provides an automatic table of contents (if I set up the headings correctly) but Amazon requires me to make one and insert it. Their cover requirements are different (and often maddening). One likes a PDF file for the content. The other prefers Word. And so on to insanity.

But I'm ready now. It will get done, and all will be right with the world...until next time.

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18-Day Challenge #2

Peg Herring — Fri, 3 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I've challenged myself to post about Leaving the Tribe every day between now and release on April 18, so here we go.

Let's start with Milla, who begins the narration. Granddaughter of the leader of the Woods Tribe, she's about 13. Though well-behaved and very intelligent Milla, like many kids her age, can be pulled into doing things she knows she shouldn't. Her decision to go with her older, sneaky cousin Mary Ann is the inciting incident of the book. Milla sees something she was never meant to see, and that night begins a series of events that show her and us what society has become. We read on to find out how will Milla react to that knowledge.

That's the teaser for today. If you want to pre-order the book, it's only $2.99 right now HERE. (FYI, it will be up for pre-order soon at other retailers besides Amazon. I'm workin' on it!)

Now on to my "authorly musings." Hubby and I watched a movie the other night that used the old chloroform ruse, where an attacker puts a cloth soaked with the stuff over a victim's mouth and they succumb within seconds. I try not to be that kind of watcher, but I heard myself shout, "That's not how it works!"

I try to be accurate when I write, though the word fiction makes some think that writers can make up whatever they want to make a story work. That's not true, at least not with good writing. Even science fiction "world-building" has to have a feel of reality to it. Yes, the sky can be yellow instead of blue IF the reader understands why that is.

Of course there are writers who bend the rules, and maybe all of us do some of the time. We know people don't get "knocked out" in a fight, lie on the ground for a minute or so, and then get up and go on like nothing happened. We know that police officers don't get instant reports on DNA or even fingerprint matches. And we know that little old ladies don't solve crimes by leaning toward a suspect with a piercing gaze and asking a few pertinent questions.

Because Leaving the Tribe is set in the future, I had to try to imagine what it would be like if our society broke from the pressures it's facing. How would we recover? Who would dictate the terms of that recovery? And how would it affect the next generation, the ones growing up unaware of what a cell phone is? After reading, my editor said that future college students might be assigned to analyze this book, discussing how I got so close to the truth.

I hope that's not the case, but speculative fiction is all about imagination tied to a sense of possible reality. We might not end up living in tribes, but it could happen.

Once again, the link HERE will allow you to buy the book at the pre-release price of $2.99.

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The 18 Day Challenge...Me Opposite Me

Peg Herring — Thu, 2 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I have a new book coming out on April 18th. I'm not a great promoter. I've done author interviews, ads on Facebook, and ads on book-selling sites, but I've never seen any increase in sales from those things. So I've challenged myself to an 18-Day Blast on this blog, which I intend to make fun and interesting as well as sales-oriented.

First the book. It's called Leaving the Tribe, and it's speculative women's fiction. (All that means is that it's about a possible future and focuses mainly on female characters.) The book follows the adventures of three women about twenty years in the future. They have lots of adventures and see interesting sights that will tickle your memory. While the story is entertaining, it was inspired by my fear that certain forces in this country would like to see women back to the "barefoot and pregnant" state we left not all that long ago. I called on my own background, recalling the days when women had to have their husband's permission to do many things. As girls we were told by teachers, parents, ministers, and the media that we needed to guard against men, because their nature, which was more bestial that a woman's, made them likely to take advantage of us if we weren't careful to look, act, and remain pure.

You can get the e-book by pre-order at Amazon for $2.99 from now until the 18th, when it will go to my regular e-book price, $4.99. Click if you want to do that now.

And here are some great quotes about being female!

“What I want young women and girls to know is: You are powerful and your voice matters. You’re going to walk into many rooms where you may be the only one who looks like you or who has had the experiences you’ve had. So you use that voice and be strong.” —Kamala Harris

“Females are the most beautiful, gorgeous creatures in the whole world. I think that we are gorgeous no matter what size we are.” —Alicia Keys

“A woman with a voice is, by definition, a strong woman. But the search to find that voice can be remarkably difficult.” —Melinda Gates

“A woman is like a tea bag. You never know how strong it is until it’s in hot water.” —Eleanor Roosevelt

“I say if I’m beautiful. I say if I’m strong. You will not determine my story—I will.” —Amy Schumer

“Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others.” —Amelia Earhart

“Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim.” —Nora Ephron

“Once you figure out what respect tastes like, it tastes better than attention.” —Pink

“Women are leaders everywhere you look—from the CEO who runs a Fortune 500 company to the housewife who raises her children and heads her household. Our country was built by strong women, and we will continue to break down walls and defy stereotypes.” —Nancy Pelosi

“I think the truth of the matter is, people who end up as ‘first’ don’t actually set out to be first. They set out to do something they love, and it just so happens that they are the first to do it.” —Condoleezza Rice

“I am Woman Phenomenally, Phenomenal Woman, that’s me.” — Maya Angelou

“Figure out who you are separate from your family. Find who you are in this world and what you need to feel good alone. I think that’s the most important thing in life. Find a sense of self. With that, you can do anything else.” —Angelina Jolie

“I just love bossy women. I could be around them all day. To me, bossy is not a pejorative term at all. It means somebody’s passionate and engaged and ambitious and doesn’t mind learning.” —Amy Poehler

“If you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman.” —Margaret Thatcher

“My mother told me to be a lady. And for her, that meant be your own person, be independent.” —Ruth Bader Ginsburg

“Women are always saying, ‘We can do anything that men can do.’ But men should be saying, ‘We can do anything that women can do.'” —Gloria Steinem

“There is no limit to what we, as women, can accomplish.” --Michelle Obama

“Call me whatever you want. It’s not going to stop me from trying to do the right thing. Because it doesn’t just affect me; it affects all the other women who are in this with me, and it affects all the other men who are in this with me too.” —Emma Watson

“A really strong woman accepts the war she went through and is ennobled by her scars.” —Carly Simon

“When life seems hard, the courageous do not lie down and accept defeat; instead, they are all the more determined to struggle for a better future” —Queen Elizabeth II

“Women have discovered that they cannot rely on men’s chivalry to give them justice.” —Helen Keller

“If fighting for women’s health care and paid family leave and equal pay is playing the women’s card, then deal me in.” —Hillary Clinton

“One of the best things that ever happened to me is that I’m a woman. That is the way all females should feel.” —Marilyn Monroe

“I do not wish women to have power over men but over themselves.” —Mary Wollstonecraft

AND MY FAVORITE: “In the future, there will be no female leaders. There will just be leaders.” —Sheryl Sandberg

Borrowed from Reader’s Digest, Author Emily Goodman, a writer, editor and puzzle creator who primarily contributes to the Reader's Digest print

Don't forget: Leaving the Tribe. Here's the LINK again so you can buy it now when it's cheaper.

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Coming In April: Leaving the Tribe

Peg Herring — Sat, 7 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Sometimes a book just insists on being written down. I've never attempted dystopian fiction before (That's a book set in the future where things aren't great), but the story of Milla and Zalea was so appealing to me that I did a new thing.

I'm pleased with the story for two reasons. First, it's an absorbing tale of women in a possible future world, searching for what they want from life and not giving up until they find it. Along the way they have many good moments of discovery, heartwarming stories, humorous incidents, and scary escapes.

Second, the book is a bit of a warning about what can happen when the citizens of a nation don't think carefully about what their leaders promise. When we believe what we're told without examination. When we're so fearful that we don't stop to consider whether fear should cause us to accept injustice.

The story is told by three women. First Milla, who is young and only wants to be good. Then Zalea, who is compelled by something inside her to search for what she believes is right. When a murder forces them to leave home, their trek into the unknown causes a third woman to shake off her lethargy and find the courage she lost years ago. Together, the three women learn that LEAVING THE TRIBE is worthwhile, if only to see the world from a different perspective.

LEAVING THE TRIBE is available for pre-order at $4.99 HERE. I'm working on the print version, so it should be available soon.

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Yesterday's Murder

Peg Herring — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Yesterday's Murder is a book I began a looooong time ago and never finished. I was writing series for two different publishers, and while I loved the idea of a woman waking from a long-term coma and finding her life was completely changed, I simply didn't have the time to give it the work it deserved. A year or so ago I stumbled on the file, read through it, and thought I'd like to work on it again. Of course, the world had changed a bunch since I started, so there was massive updating to be done.

What would it be like to have missed so much? The big stuff, like your husband's death. The small stuff, like the Tide-pod challenge. The tech stuff that requires your phone to never leave your immediate area. The political stuff that descends on your head like a mountain of trash. All that plus the physical rehabilitation required to learn to walk, talk, and operate your hands again.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I never put anything in a book that's not possible. Long-term coma is a thing. People wake years, even decades, later. Some recover almost fully from their years of sleep.

Yesterday's Murder begins when Tonnie wakes from a long-term coma. The last eleven years brought significant changes to her life, and while she recovers well, it's a struggle to adapt to a new world. It doesn't help that someone is trying to kill her. This book is available here for $4.99.

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Aunt Marge

Peg Herring — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Aunt Marge is women's fiction and suspense, with touches of Stephen King's Dolores Claiborne, Daphne du Maurier's My Cousin Rachel, and other classic tales that are close to gothic in mood.

Grumpy people abound in literature, from Ove in A Man Called Ove to Minnie Jackson in The Help to Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol. Why they are grumpy and how/if they overcome that is a gold mine of storytelling possibilities. Aunt Marge is a woman we often don't like. Putting Gwen, a vulnerable character, in her orbit juxtaposes the two, and we wait for Marge to reveal her true self. Is she as mean as she appears, or is she worse?

As I wrote this book, I worried that the reveal of Aunt Marge's background went too far. Would readers believe it? Knowing such incidents are possible, I went with it. Only a few weeks after the book's release, a reader contacted me to say that her husband's sister had suffered in almost exactly the same way. Her post-trauma reaction was to stay home and avoid people. That made me sad, but it erased the doubts I'd had about how believable the terrors in the story are.

Again here I had the help of a friend, who read the manuscript to assure that my Upper Peninsula of Michigan is realistic. It's a unique place, and I Iove it, but I wanted a resident to make sure I didn't get anything wrong about farming, community, or everyday life there.

Aunt Marge begins with Gwen, who's a wreck, being invited to stay with an aunt she's never met in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. While her aunt isn't particularly warm or kind, she claims that Gwen will recover her physical and emotional health on her farm. Soon Gwen is wondering whether she's been drawn into a sinister plan from which there's no escape. This book is available here for $2.99

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The Trouble with Dad

Peg Herring — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Trouble with Dad again demonstrates my conviction that a series has an arc that rises and comes to a logical conclusion. The story that began with KIDNAP.org and continued in Pharma Con has come to a point where two things can happen: I can keep making up capers for Robin and her amateur hoods, or I can end the series. As you can probably guess, I chose the latter.

Our parents define us in many ways. Some serve as examples, and we strive to be like them. (I was lucky enough to have two like that.) Others show us what we don't want our lives to look like, which is the case with Robin, the protagonist of the Kidnap Capers Series.

I have been accused of being an optimist in my writing, and I admit to it. I want stories to end neatly and, if not happily, at least in a satisfying way. I create main characters who are good people and opposing characters who deserve what they get. When I read or watch a story, I expect to find someone I can root for. If I don't, I lose interest and wander off to something else.

While I like endings that tie up neatly, I sometimes get comments from readers that indicate a need for even more neatness. They want the main character to marry the local sheriff (Somebody Doesn't Like Sarah Leigh). They want people who clearly died to come back to life through some miraculous event (Deceiving Elvera). They want characters to have a complete change of heart and become good guys. Like Robin's dad? Not likely. I always tell them the same thing: Get busy and write your own book, and you can end it exactly the way you choose.

The Trouble With Dad ends the Kidnap Capers with Robin having to deal with her con man father along with all the other craziness that comes with leading a gang of criminals who prey on criminals. This book is available here for $2.99.

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Deceiving Elvera

Peg Herring — Mon, 9 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Friendship is an important theme in women's fiction, and Deceiving Elvera focuses on one of those pairings that's accidental and unlikely but nevertheless firm and long-lasting. I've been lucky enough to have several of those in my lifetime, the kind that take up even after long stretches without contact. Whenever you meet, you're back to where you were at twelve or twenty or forty, sharing stories and enjoying the feeling of being with someone who "gets" you.

Writing a book requires different kinds of research. The basic one is living. As we go through life, writers develop several senses: a sense of character as we meet people, a sense of place as we travel, and a sense of the differences among people as we watch reactions in others and compare them with our own. There's information research too, where you look up this or that bit of fact in order to "get it right." The internet has helped with that. I used to go to a library and surround myself with every book I could find on a topic and spend a day making notes. Now I paused for a few minutes and let some search engine find out for me what I need to know. Finally, there's personal research, which is my favorite kind. I love asking people to tell me about their experience with a time or a place.

This book brought about two great examples of personal experience. First, I wanted to know about life on Mackinac Island in the late '60s. It's about forty miles from where I live, so I knew about "the island" all my life. We visited. We enjoyed the old-timey sense of a place where cars are not allowed. We walked the hills and viewed the sights, Arch Rock, the lake all around us, the Victorian architecture. But I wanted to know what it was like to live there, so I looked for someone who had. My husband has a friend who spent summers there, taking care of the horses that are the main mode of transportation (other than your own two feet). At first he was slightly dismissive when I told him I wanted background for a book. It wasn't all that special. It was just a job. But as I asked questions, he warmed to the topic and started really remembering what it had been like fifty-plus years ago. I got lots of good insider information about what the workers on the island saw and did.

The other example is Thailand. I needed someone who'd been there, someone who could place my story in the time period with accuracy and conviction. I did my book research, of course, but I wanted a more human view as well. Luckily, I have a cousin who was in the Peace Corps in Thailand in the '70s. This led to extended conversations about food, customs, conditions, and even bugs. She was always generous with her help, and later, when the book was published, a reader who'd lived in Thailand said she thought I must have been there because the descriptions were so spot on.

Deceiving Elvera concerns two women who meet as girls on Mackinac Island in the late sixties and begin a life-long friendship that ends with a horrific experience in Thailand. This book is available here for $2.99.

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Pharma Con

Peg Herring — Fri, 6 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The second of the Kidnap Capers is Pharma Con. This one took a great deal of research, and I learned a lot about the medicine we are offered in this country. Since I wrote the book, it's become a bigger and bigger issue, and our current HHS secretary has some interesting ideas that seem to come from nowhere. I don't even want to be a health care expert, but if I had to fix things I'd be every bit as qualified to do so as RFK is, and I would not take the path he's taking.

That said, medicine is big business. I read a lot about how drugs come to market and how they are presented in that market. One big problem is our government's failure to limit prescription advertising. Many countries don't allow ads for prescription meds, and that's a good thing.

The story goes that some U.S. ad execs were sitting around a table, discussing how to get doctors more interested in prescribing their products. They batted ideas for a while, and then one person said, "What if we get the consumers to ask the doctors for the drugs?" That began the bombardment of ads on TV and in print, telling you to "ask your doctor" about such-and-such a drug. People don't know much about medicine, so they see the ad and think it might help with something that's ailing them. It's human nature to want to please others, so their doctor is reluctant to say, "No you don't need that." I saw it with my mother-in-law, who decided from seeing ads that she had restless leg syndrome. She merely mentioned it, and her doctor prescribed whatever the stuff was that was supposed to fix that problem.

We need to fix our nation's "pharma cons," but we're a long way from doing it correctly right now.

Pharma Con has Robin and her wacky group going after a pharmaceutical bigwig who cheats his way through life. Their biggest problem is getting to him on his well-guarded estate, where they have to fight hard to protect each other and take the bad guy down a peg or two. This book is available here for $2.99

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FAKE

Peg Herring — Thu, 5 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Some books have to be chalked up as disappointments, and FAKE is one of them. I love the story, love the ways the characters' telling of their views lead the reader into an understanding of both their crimes and their motivations. Those who have read it seemed to like it too, since the reviews are positive. One person commented on the "great" cover, the wolf in sheep's clothing that represents the main character, Kip. But nothing much happened with sales.

When I'm being philosophical, I can accept the fact that my books don't get the same notice as books with "big" publishers. From my days with a publishing house, I know that before a book goes out, there's significant activity aimed at seeing that bookstores and libraries will buy it. I benefited from that back then, but now I'm one person trying not to bankrupt myself by paying for promotion.

Here are some things I don't have anymore to help me get the word out about a new book.

Recommendations: When I was with a publishing house, we were expected to "blurb" each other's books. I read the books I was asked to blurb, but I know for a fact that not all authors do. Still, their name on the back convinces some buyers that the book really is "gripping" or "ground-breaking" or "heartwarming."

Advance notice: My publishers sent out news (in those days they were called sell-sheets) of upcoming books, giving bookstore owners and librarians everything they needed to judge, order, and shelf a new book.

Recognition: Organizations, from reviewers to book bloggers to award-givers, prefer traditionally published books. I don't blame them; self-publishing is a mass of material, some good, some horrible, but it makes the process difficult for those of us who produce readable, well-prepared books.

I should not complain, because I choose to self-publish. I like having control of my work, and I like getting more than the $2/book I got from my traditional publishers. But still, there was a time when I got awards, great reviews from reputable sources, and pre-release sales from stores and libraries. And I was writing the same kinds of books I write now. Like the Lion in The Wizard of Oz, what a decent self-published writer is missing is testimonials, someone outside her circle who will say, "This is good stuff."

FAKE begins with Kip, a con artist, applying for a job at a newly-opened detective agency run by two middle-aged women. He intends to take them for a bundle, but they've got lots of surprises in store for him. This book is available here for $4.99

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Sister Saint, Sister Sinner

Peg Herring — Wed, 4 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

My history of my writing is getting closer to modern times now, and my interest has turned to women's fiction. Pretty much all of my life, I'd had a story in the back of my mind of sisters who love but don't understand each other. This is real life, and I've always been fascinated by how siblings relate to each other. We share more with them than with any other humans: genetics, timeline, proximity, and experiences. Yet as adults we often fail to understand each other in the most basic ways.

When this book comes up, I often think of a comment a reader made. First she told me how much she enjoyed the story. Then she added, "Of course, the bit about there being bunkers under the White House was a bit of a stretch, but otherwise, it was good."

I'm sure by now everyone knows that there are bunkers under the White House, due to Trump's destruction of that venerable building. But the larger question for me was, "Do people really think I would make up a thing like that to advance the story?"

If you do, I don't. Nothing I put into a story is ever "made up" in the sense that it doesn't exist. Writers talk a lot about world-building. You create a world for your story, and then you have to live inside that world for the duration of the story. If it's science fiction, the writer must convince the reader that this might be. If it's reality-based, the story must center on what is.

I know some authors stretch credulity. People don't really pass out from a drug-laced handkerchief held over their mouths for three seconds. Guns don't really have endless supplies of ammunition. And people don't conveniently go unconscious for ten minutes and then wake up and carry on. Etc.

But authors--at least good ones--try to be faithful to facts when they can. When I put a bunker under the White House in a story, it's because there is one. If a weapon is used, you can bet that I've checked it out with my gun-savvy husband and made sure it works as I describe. When I tell you that Mary I of England cheated at cards, it's because that's what the evidence says. Every respectable author I know tries to stick with facts in the details of the story, even though we write fiction.

Sister Saint, Sister Sinner presents sisters whose lives are wildly different. One becomes a national figure. One lives a normal life but feels like a failure. And one murders her only son. This book is available here for $4.99.

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KIDNAP.org

Peg Herring — Tue, 3 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Now is the time to tell of a couple of mistakes I made. I wrote a caper novel, a humorous telling of crime and mayhem. I loved the characters and what they were able to accomplish by fighting crime with crime. I titled it KIDNAP.org.

That was a mistake. Do you know what a computer does with a title like that? I do now. A search for it takes you to sites for human trafficking, not to fun little books about righteous rascals. I suppose I could do something about it, like change the title, but that's not easy. Plus, it would probably make some of my readers angry. They'll see the new title, think it's a new book, and spend hard-earned cash only to find that they read it years ago.

My other mistake was with the cover. I hired a cover artist (because all the experts say you should), and she provided the cover pictured below. It was cute, and I didn't think about it much, but when I went out to sell the book, people took one look and decided it was YA. Doesn't that cover bring Scooby Doo to mind? Luckily, the cover artist was nice about it and did a new one that's much more representative of the story.

The characters in this book were so much fun that I wrote a second and a third story about them, again with an arc for the group as a whole. They never intended to turn criminal, and they don't mean to keep it up forever. They're just writing wrongs as they see them.

KIDNAP.org is about an organization formed, pretty much accidentally, by an odd group of people who are sick of the rich and powerful having their way to the detriment of average folks. It's funny, it's wild, but it's oh, so satisfying! This book is available here for free.

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Killing Despair

Peg Herring — Mon, 2 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Loser Mystery series, like my others, has a definite character arc. Loser begins with significant issues in Killing Silence and works through them a bit in Book 2, Killing Memories. In Book 3, Killing Despair, we learn how her suffering came about and who caused it.

While Loser isn't completely healed at the end of this entry, we can see that she is making progress. She may someday be fully back to being Beth, able to leave her Loser persona in the alleys of Richmond.

My publisher wanted to continue the series, but I felt that would be pointless. If you haven't figured it out yet from the variety of my work, I write what matters to me. I can't keep churning out new adventures for old characters if there isn't a good reason for it in my own head.

I was never thrilled with the publisher's choices for the original covers for the series (pictured below.) While I appreciated the idea of three faces of the same woman, and I liked the first one, with Loser's face partially hidden, the other two never resonated with me. When I got the rights back, I did new covers with a theme of movement. In Killing Silence, Loser is sitting, stuck in her muddled mind. In Killing Memories, she's walking, perhaps in the woods at her childhood home. In Killing Despair, she's running, from danger, to be sure, but also toward a return to normalcy.

Killing Despair is the culmination of Loser's return to herself. She discovers what happened to her family and comes to terms with what that did to her. This book is available here for $2.99.

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Dead to Get Ready--and Go

Peg Herring — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The last book of the Dead Detective series is one of my favorites, because it ties up all Seamus' qualities, good and bad, in a compelling story. When she finished it, one reader wrote to thank me for bringing the series to what she called a "satisfying end."

For me, a series needs an arc. The main character should change in some way, starting in one place and ending somewhere else. If Seamus makes a change, it's going to be a big one, so the story has to support that.

Some really popular series have no character arc. Jessica Fletcher is the same now as she was in Book #1, and if you're only reading for the crime-solving part, that's fine. As a reader, I had no problem with Kinsey Millhone staying pretty much the same throughout the Alphabet Mystery series. But as a writer, I want to challenge myself. I want my protagonists to have some personal depth.

I admit that can go too far. I've stopped reading series because the protagonist "jumped the shark," as they say in Hollywood. Too crazy. Too unreliable. Too abrasive. Those things can wear me down as a reader, so I choose not to associate with those people anymore.

To end the Dead Detective series, I wanted Seamus to be explained: Why has he stayed between worlds so long? And I wanted him to be content: What might he find out that would end his indecision? In other words, I wanted him to have a satisfying end.

Dead to Get Ready - And Go is Seamus' journey back to life to investigate his own murder. He's put it off for a long time, and he's still not sure he's ready to know what happened. But it's time. This book is available here for $2.99

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Charlie Dickens' Documents

Peg Herring — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Sometimes a book needs a little nudge. I wrote Shakespeare's Blood early on in my career, intending it to be a three-book series, but the idea got lost in stuff I wanted to write and stuff my contracts said I would write. Then a friend/reader said one day, "I like Shakespeare's Blood best of all your books. There should be another one, so we know what happened to Mercedes after she lived through Book #1."

That reminded me of my original intention, so I started Charlie Dickens' Documents. Both books involve finding out things about historical characters that have been hidden or forgotten for centuries. I know that idea isn't not original, but my versions are, and entertaining too. My intention was that the third and final book would focus on Emily Dickinson. Maybe I'll get around to that one someday.

Here's the thing: Books take time and patience and perseverance. You don't just sit down and write it all out. It goes in fits and starts and sometimes requires long walks or a half hour of staring at a blank wall to get going again. While timelines vary, I give myself six months to write a book. The time doesn't come all in one chunk either. There are times when I leave a piece to rest for a while. Other times, editors and beta readers get a crack at it.

Events interfere with writing, and when I was actively promoting my work, there were lots of days when I didn't write at all. There are times when you can't concentrate, and there are times when the story simply won't lie down on paper. I've started books and left them for years, only to come back and think, "Oh, that's what should happen!" That was the case with this one. It took years and a nudge from a friend to make the second book go from my head to a file. And what about Book 3? Not sure, but Dickinson's been gone from this earth for a long time. She won't mind if I leave her waiting a while more.

Charlie Dickens' Documents takes up Mercedes' life after Shakespeare's Blood ends. At home in the U.S., she feels compelled to go back to England after she receives a strange package of papers once owned (but not written) by Charles Dickens. While escaping death and rescuing her friend Colm, she finds secrets relating to the French Revolution, the Dauphin of France, and Charles' boyhood visits to his grandmother. The book can be bought here for $2.99.

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