The early bird may get the worm, but a little mouse new to publishing is well-advised not to leap in without some careful planning. This anecdotal guide will help you follow the cracker crumb trails through the thickets of the book world without getting caught in a trap.

What could possibly go wrong? Laura Town and her life-long friend Ellen Murray joined the Port Royal Experiment in 1862 to test their abolitionist ideals against the realities of slaves abandoned by their owners in the Low Country of South Carolina. They hoped to find a place they could call home, as well as an outlet for their talents as schoolteacher and doctor. It seemed like a good idea at the time, until . . . Until they experienced the climate-violent storms spawned over the Atlantic, searing heat, air tainted by swamp gasses, cockroaches, bedbugs, swarming mosquitoes, and "no-see-ums"...