CrossHouse Publishing Amicably Launches out on Its Own After Seven Years Under Hannibal Books' Wing

As book-publishing undergoes dramatic changes brought on by the technological revolution sweeping the world today, CrossHouse Publishing reflects the best of those trends. The small, independently-owned, Christian-oriented company is designed and fashioned to meet the headwinds facing the industry as a whole and to soar on the backs of the eagle-like new technology available today. 

On October 1, 2011, CrossHouse Publishing officially was spun off from its parent company, KLMK Communications, d.b.a. Hannibal Books, which birthed and nurtured the new company into maturity. Hannibal Books will continue in the path of traditional publishers while CrossHouse Publishing will move forward rapidly into the emerging book self-publishing culture.

Corporately small, agile, and flexible, CrossHouse is designed to provide personalized service to self-published authors who desire to drive their own books into success in the marketplace. This contrasts with larger self-publishing companies, which have in recent years created their own versions of CrossHouse and rely heavily on impersonal phone banks to market their products to authors using software-based products that often leave new authors frustrated and feeling cut off from the freedom they had been promised.

The new company, officially known as Cross Communciations, Inc., is headed by Dr. Katie Welch, a Phi Beta Kappa Baylor University graduate, who also holds a Ph.d. degree in linguistics from the University of Texas in Arlington. Prior to forming Cross Communciations, Inc., two months ago, Dr. Welch worked for KLMK Communications, Inc., nurturing and leading CrossHouse Publishing into maturity.

Louis Moore, owner of KLMK Communications, Inc., said, "We anticipate that under the new ownership arrangement the company will continue to flourish and grow as it has for the past seven years."

"CrossHouse personifies every positive trend emerging in the book-publishing world's crystal ball: self-publishing, in which authors have more control over their final product, a cafeteria approach to services loaded with special perks for authors, flexibility in structure, agility in performance, and already set up for and fully embracing the current trends in the industry. Besides all I have described, CrossHouse offers personalized, individualized service unlike what you would find in some of the larger, phone-bank, self-publishing operations out there today," Moore said.

Dr. Welch said CrossHouse will continue to place a "premium on individualized service and quality products". 

"To assure our authors of the quality of our service, we are a member of the Dallas Better Business Bureau," she said.

"We want our authors to have a positive first experience with the book-publishing industry. In fact, many of our authors return to do their second, third, or even eighth books with us."

"CrossHouse works with lay people, pastors, missionaries, women's ministry people, mom, dads, and anyone who wants to share their story," said Dr. Welch. She said the company's selection of authors has less to do with denominational labels and more to do with having an authentic, inspiring life message to share.

The company publishes trade books, fiction, non-fiction, devotionals, Bible-study materials, children's books, poetry books, and e-books.

For more information on CrossHouse Publishing, contact Dr. Welch at CrossHouse Publishing, 2844 S. FM 549, Rockwall, TX 75032, or by email at katie@crosshousepublishing.org, or by calling 1-877-212-0933.

Today is National POW/MIA Recognition Day

2011 National POW/MIA Recognition Day poster

Traditionally observed on the third Friday in September, National POW/MIA Recognition Day is set aside to honor prisoners of war and remember those still missing in action. An overview of this day can be found at the VFWLady blog.

Recently, Hannibal Books released Left Alive to Die, a compelling story of one such American who was missing in action and then assumed a prisoner of war: legendary naval aviator CAPT Harley Hall. To read more about this book, visit the previous entry that summarized the book.

New Book Recounts Dramatic POW/MIA Story

On September 16, 2011, the nation will honor the more than 83,000 Americans who are missing from World War II, the Korean War, the Cold War, the Vietnam War and the 1991 Gulf War, as well as the countless American men and women who were captured as prisoners of war.

A new book, Left Alive to Die, tells the story of one such American: legendary naval aviator CAPT Harley Hall. Flying a crucial mission hours before the 1973 Vietnam War cease-fire, CAPT Hall was shot down above the Cua Viet River. Hall’s wingman and other squadron members watched while he safely parachuted to the ground. They were unaware that was the last time they would see or hear from Hall again.

At age 32 Hall was the youngest person in the Navy at that time with the rank of commander. In 1969 he achieved his lifelong dream as he became commanding officer of the Blue Angels, the U.S. Navy Precision Demonstration squadron. Not only was he an outstanding military officer, Hall was also a dedicated husband and father, an inspirational leader, a loving friend and a man of faith.

Left Alive to Die is written by Susan Keen, the wife of Jack Keen, M.D., LCDR, the U.S. Navy flight surgeon responsible for providing care to CAPT Hall’s Blue Angels team and the families. The book is a dramatic retelling of the romance of Mary Lou Marino and Hall, their marriage and life together and the tragedy of Hall’s disappearance. Readers will be captivated by details of Hall’s Navy experience, Mary Lou’s courageous life as a military wife and her years of searching for answers about Hall’s whereabouts.

In many ways Hall is a symbol of numerous Americans who may have been left alive in Vietnam as their government, according to this book, turned its back on them and left them in captivity. Mary Lou’s frustration over the lack of help is evident as the author describes Mary Lou’s efforts to persuade the government to pay attention to what she believed was overwhelming evidence that many men and women were still POW’s long after the formal war ended.

Susan Keen  is a mother of two, teacher, reader and world traveler. A native of Mississippi, she holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Mississippi College, Clinton, MS. She has written and published two cookbooks, was an interior designer, is a graduate of several French cooking schools and is a gourmet cook. She and her husband, Jack Keen, M.D., live in Fort Worth and are active members of Travis Avenue Baptist Church.

Read more about the book here.

Author Joe Hewitt Talks About Former Life as a Jehovah's Witness

On an August 3 interview with Pastor Brad Brannon on KKMS, Joe B. Hewitt discussed his book Rescuing Slaves of the Watchtower. He talked about details of the Watchtower Society, his former life as a Jehovah's Witness, and how to share the Good News of Christ with a Jehovah's Witness. Listen to the interview at KKMS (view the archives if not on the main page).

Blogger Discusses New Hannibal Book and Says We Are All Slaves to Something

In a straightforward review of Rescuing Slaves of the Watchtower, one blogger notes from the book and from the Bible that we are all slaves to something. She quotes Romans 7:14, "For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin." To read more of the review at A "Peace" of Mind, click here.

New Review of "The Man in the Green Jeep"

Check out a review of The Man in the Green Jeep on This Mom's Delight blog. We appreciate her honest review of the book.

The Man in the Green Jeep is the story of Chico, a young boy living in a poor, rural community in Honduras. A huge rain destroys the corn crop and washes away the road into town, so no supply trucks can enter. Then the chickens die. Other kids' families are in the same situation. Missionary author Viola Palmer gives a captivating glance into children's lives and culture in Central America. Enter the world of Chico and his friends, Rafael, Jose, Marvin, and Calvin, the "bully-turned-nice", and their experiences. Learn about missions through the work of "the man in the green Jeep.

Author Exposes Another Reason Jehovah's Witnesses Can Be Excommunicated

A new book, Rescuing Slaves of the Watchtower, examines this issue and more as they are presented from the perspective of Joe B. Hewitt, an ex-Jehovah’s Witness who, at age 10, was so deeply controlled by the Watchtower that he was going door to door and standing on street corners to distribute the organization’s literature.

Joe B. Hewitt has dedicated himself to exposing the Watchtower’s false teachings and to helping Jehovah’s Witnesses ascend from mental bondage into Christian liberty. He has served as a pastor, evangelist and missionary, and has received a bachelor of divinity and a master of arts in biblical studies. His first book, I Was Raised a Jehovah’s Witness, sold 45,000 copies in the English edition and was also translated and published in Chinese.