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Every author needs a Facebook page
First came the writing, then the production, and finally the marketing. To help me market The Last Lynching in Northern Virginia, I hired Christina Dill, who created this website, and Susan Larson, a Facebook expert. Susan is the publisher of Fredericksburg Today, an online news site, and teaches social media at Germanna Community College. With…
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One down, one to go
Today I met the first of two deadlines in my contract with History Press. My agreement says I will submit a minimum of 30 and a maximum of 80 photos by Feb. 1. I sent 68 pictures to them today, 12 days early. Actually “sent” the pictures does not describe what happened. I created a…
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Hold your horses there, Jim
Banks Smither, my editor at History Press, read this website last week and offered a word of caution. He said it appears here as if the title of my book has been determined, and that the book will be published in July 2016. Neither is certain. The title I gave the story is Death on…
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The cost of doing business
One aspect of preparing this book for publication has surprised me. I’ve had to pay for photos, and they’ve been expensive. I should say quickly that I didn’t have to pay for photos. I could have refused and used only my own photos or those that were free, but the book would have suffered if…
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You have to kiss a lot of frogs
I’ve amassed a ton of material in writing this book. In fact, the records I’ve found and the interviews I’ve done are the parts of the project that I am most proud of. Still, I think about the missing pieces, the treasures yet to be discovered. I dream of finding a diary written by one…
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Gather, write, rewrite
Writing this book or a writing a newspaper article is the result of a three-step process: gathering, writing and rewriting. I loop back and forth from one step to the other as long as time allows. So even though my deadline to submit the manuscript for The Last Lynching in Northern Virginia is a month away,…
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Every author needs a headshot
I got all dressed up on Dec. 15, 2015, to have a professional photo taken by a professional photographer. Suzanne Rossi, my former colleague at The Free Lance-Star newspaper, did the honors. The photo will be used in the book. Thank you, Suzanne.
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Welcome to “The Last Lynching in Northern Virginia”
The History Press decided in September 2015 to publish The Last Lynching in Northern Virginia: Searching for Truth at Rattlesnake Mountain. I’m told that the book will be available for sale in autumn 2016. Between now and then, I hope to use this space to tell you about it, including the research I did, the people…
Author & Lecturer
Jim Hall 