Delivered: My New, Expanded “Birds of Magnolia Cemetery” Book!

When UPS left this box at my door on Sept. 12 it felt like a late birthday gift or early Christmas present! 

Whoop! My books are here! 

I worked with My Book Printer of Madison Heights, Michigan on my latest publishing project. 

In 2023 My Book Printer featured my "Birds of Magnolia Cemetery" book. Click here to read the interview. 

Magnolia Cemetery is a beautiful Victorian rural cemetery on the outskirts of Charleston that opened in 1850.

In 2014 I published a book that showcases the fine monuments and landscape of this final resting place of so many prominent Charlestonians and regular folks too. 

That book is titled "In the Arms of Angels: Magnolia Cemetery- Charleston's Treasure of Mystery, History and Artistry."

And in 2022 I wrote "Stories from the Underground: The Churchyards of Charleston." 

Back to the birds...For a while, I had been thinking of doing an update to my first book, 2011’s “The Birds of Magnolia Cemetery: Charleston’s Secret Bird Sanctuary.” 

So beginning in May of this year the work began. I started laying out the pages in Adobe InDesign. This is the software I’ve used for writing and designing each of my books since the first one that I wrote in PowerPoint (a really long PowerPoint). In 2011 a local printer transformed the manuscript into a format so it could be printed and bound. 

I wanted my first book to also be set up in InDesign. And I also wanted, using Adobe Photoshop, to try to make the photographs sharper. So that’s what I did this summer, working on it, page by page, for three or more hours on most weekdays and between trips to Boston and our big Colorado-New Mexico trip in June. 

Before too long in the reformatting process, I decided this project would be a second edition “Birds of Magnolia Cemetery” book. 

I decided to keep the same image on the cover since it has so much meaning to me. Why? Buy the book and find out! 

Note the “Second Edition” on the thick branch below the Wood Stork. Under my name I mention two other cemetery books I have written. 

Book Cover Design to Final Version!

In 2016 I drew my idea for the cover of my new book. I’m no artist like my brother Matthew Harwood but I like how close this rough draft would be to the final product, what has recently come out in print.

New Book is Delivered!

I am so excited to share that my latest book has been completed, printed and delivered to my house!

This is an expanded version of my 2016 first issue. The title is the same: "Nature-ly Fun: Bird Photography From A to Z" but this new one has a hardcover.  This is something I really wanted because the hardcover looks so much better than the soft one, and the physical condition quality of the book is much better and longer lasting. 

The book's central themes remain the same: that birding and nature photography is fun, interesting, wholesome and healthy. This is truly a hobby that can be picked up at any stage of life and can last a lifetime. 

I used the alphabet's 26 letters to extoll an array of attributes of a hobby I enjoy so much. "A" is for Adventure, "B" is for Beauty- you get the idea.  A short essay supports each descriptive letter accompanied by several of my photographs that further illustrate each letter.

The book also includes what I call "Best of the Rest." These are other types of photographs I enjoy taking, such as sunrises and sunsets, lighthouses, cemeteries, churches, reflections and shadows, as well as animals other than birds.

I love this owl photo so much that I took a few years ago in the Hollings National Wildlife Refuge south of Charleston that I kept it on the cover. 

This second edition is 100 pages versus the first version's 85.
I even added a few types of birds not included in the earlier book, bringing the bird variety number to 90 from 85. 

Click on this image of the book's back cover to get more details on what's inside. 

I have just added this book to my three previous ones on my Amazon authors site.  Click here to see it. 

The book can be purchased through Amazon or from me directly, which I will happily sign. My email address is birdseyeviewspublications@gmail.com.

I will add Charleston area store locations where the book is sold as they become available. 

Many thanks to Whitlock Business Systems and its 360 Digital Books division for another fine collaboration.  This is the third book I've done with this company located near Detroit and I'm pleased again with the quality, service and pricing. 

Please contact me if you have questions or comments about this book or my previous ones. Thank you!