I routinely field three to five phone calls or e-mails a month asking me what I do and how I do it. The contacts usually come from the Vineyard, but more and more I hear from people from more flung areas.

Recently, I had lunch with a man who wants to publish a book about an intriguing piece of Hawaiian history. Another author wants to put out a multi-lingual book and have it sold both here and in Venezuela. A resort in Rhode Island asked me about doing a fancy cookbook.

And a children’s writer and her illustrator from Cape Cod visited me to talk about putting out a new series of books that would sell there.

Every one of these people – along with a many, many people from the Vineyard who visit me at my kitchen table (since I work out of my home) – all have the same questions:

How do you get a book published? Is it costly? How do you sell it? Can I make money?…

Do you have to be a Barefoot Contessa to get a cookbook published these days, or a David McCullough to attract attention to some little piece of history you know about? Do you edit, and what does that mean, anyway? Why don’t traditional publishers seem interested in my ideas?

Once I finish answering all their questions, they usually veer into talk of the Vineyard. Either they’re passionate about it, because they live here or visit here, or they’re curious about why I live here – and how I’m able to do what I do from such an out of the way place.

I love both sides of the conversation. I am passionate about both books and the Vineyard. I am inspired daily by my life here, and by the people who live here. In short, I love the stories that dominate my life.

This blog will be designed to de-mystify publishing, both custom and traditional. Hopefully, it will stimulate your interest and creativity. And, minimally, it should tell you a lot more about Martha’s Vineyard, its history and culture, the way it wakes up in the morning and goes to bed at night, and why I (and many others like me) find it endlessly fascinating.

There will be lots of stories – about the local bait and tackle shop the weekend after the first striped bass was caught (almost a national holiday here), about what dramatic things can happen on a three minute ferry ride from to the sometimes separated island of Chappaquiddick, about how a famous photographer manages to capture the Vineyard light.

Hopefully, you’ll learn enough to keep you as interested in my Island and my work as I am.