Happy Halloween! My book, Buried Wichita, Kansas: A Midwestern Death Trip, was released today, October 31, 2024. The book takes a photographic tour of the ten oldest cemeteries in Wichita today.

• Buy local at Watermark Books
• Buy local at Eighth Day Books
• Buy local at Book-a-Holic
• Check it out at the Wichita Public Library
• Buy on Amazon (affiliate link)
• Buy on Barnes & Noble

Midwestern Death Trip

When I started my Instagram page in 2021, I thought it would be a fun way to somewhat anonymously share my hobby with others who had an interest in cemeteries. I wasn’t expecting my hobby to turn into a book!

When I was contacted by Fonthill Media, I was definitely skeptical of what I was being offered (and a bit amused that someone would find my photos worthy of being published in a book). But I wondered if this could be a once-in-a-lifetime chance, so instead of ignoring them, I said yes!

Acknowledgements

My book doesn’t include an acknowledgements section, so here’s a few:

• My husband Scott, who drives me anywhere I want to go.
• My parents and sisters, who love me unconditionally.
• My kids, who think I’m weird but also kinda cool.
• Cindee, my best friend who listens to anything I have to say. HENLO!
• Lamy, for the valuable fashion and photography advice.
• Michael, for the constant encouragement and kind words about my blog articles that have truly made a difference to me.
• Barb, our local cemetery historian who literally wrote the book about Wichita’s oldest and most historic cemetery, Highland Cemetery.
• Every local (and not local) historian and researcher, for every bit of work they have done to make information accessible.
• My Instagram followers, who were supportive from day one and, through their interactions, encouraged me to keep posting.

Fonthill Media Contract Details

These are the details everyone wants to know.

Anyone can submit a a book idea to Fonthill. If they like it, you can enter a contract with them. If you want to have a cemetery book published by them, you probably can!

Authoring a book for Fonthill is supposed to be fun! I was told up front that this project should be taken on for pleasure, not financial reward. Basically, I won’t be a NYT best-selling author. Sorry, mom!

I agreed to provide 140 photos and up to 5,000 words for the book chapters. Each photo could have a caption of up to 50 words that was not included in the 5,000 word count. I also provided several options for the cover photo. Fonthill retained creative control over the cover design as well as the font selection, photo layout, and photo sizing. The cover changed slightly after I approved it, and some of my photos were cropped in a way I wouldn’t have cropped them, but the final product is high quality and I’m pleased.

Fonthill provides no editing and no fact-checking. They will help with some formatting, but you will get no feedback on the actual content. There are limited chances for edits after submission. It’s a good idea to get someone with a critical eye to review your work, which I didn’t do. My IHS error (and others) will haunt me in the afterlife.

My writing and my photos remain my property. I can continue to use the published photos however I see fit. The copyright for the book is in my name too, but there is some language in the contract restricting me from republishing the the exact (or updated) book on my own or with another publisher.

Fonthill took on the financial risk of publishing, printing, and distributing the book to online retailers. They also put my book on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google Books, and other online retailers, so I don’t have to do any of that. I am on my own (for the most part) when it comes to local marketing and promotion. Fonthill pays 8% royalties on book sales, which isn’t too bad.

Am I the greatest photographer? No. Do I have any kind of credentials or training that qualifies me to author a book? Also no. But this was an amazing learning experience and an incredible opportunity. I know I have no business writing a book, and I probably wouldn’t have sought this kind of thing out on my own. But I did it! And I learned a lot, including some things I’m going to apply to my next book … yes, I signed another contract with Fonthill! Stay tuned!

Buried America Series

I feel honored to be a part of this group of people who authored books in the Buried America series. Here are some of them to check out!

• Buried Long Island: History Set In Stone
• Buried Boston: America’s Revolutionary Necropolis
• Buried Louisville, Kentucky: President to Paupers, Graves of the City
• Buried Philadelphia: The Cemeteries and Burial Grounds of the City of Brotherly Love
• Buried Hollywoodland: The Cemeteries of Los Angeles
• Buried San Francisco Bay Area: The Fallen Star
• Buried New Hampshire: Graveyards Have Stories to Tell, Volume I
• Buried Rochester, New York Area: 200 Years of Cemetery History
• Buried New England: A Pilgrimage Connecting Past and Present
• Buried in Maine: A Tour of Maine Cemeteries and the Stories that Accompany Them
• Old Dutch Burial Ground: Beyond the Headless Horseman
• Cemeteries of Southwest Virginia: Exploring Appalachian Burial Grounds
• Gardens of Stone: The Cemeteries of New York City from Colonial Times to the Present
• Hartsdale Pet Cemetery: The Oldest Pet Cemetery In The U.S.
• Colonial Park Cemetery: Savannah’s Forgotten Stories
• The National Capital Area: Gone but Not Forgotten
• Burial Hill: Early Stories in Stone
• A History of the Milton Cemetery: Anthony Sammarco
• Graveyards of the Wild West: California