Recent Xeric Foundation grant recipient Gary Scott Beatty now offers his popular blog, the Aazurn Publishing Saga, on Aazurn.com, the site that carries information about his recent Xeric winning book "Jazz: Cool Birth." Into its third year, the blog details, step by step, Beatty's efforts to begin a comic book company.

Beatty recently won a Xeric Foundation grant to publish "Jazz: Cool Birth," a late night, 1957 jazz club murder mystery with artwork inspired by '50s album cover design. "Jazz: Cool Birth" will be solicited for preorder through comic book shops in September 2008's Previews magazine.

"I've been writing articles about the nuts and bolts of comic book production on my ComicArtistsDirect.com website for a decade," Beatty explained. "When I hired some talent who were friends of mine in the industry to start Aazurn Publishing, I decided to record every step along the way."

Beatty has been coloring and lettering comics since the late '80s and producing publications for 35 years. His career spans the cut and paste era of the underground comic movement through today's electronic methods.

"The people I learned from were always open with their information and willing to talk about skills and tools," said Beatty. "When I began ComicArtistsDirect.com there wasn't much on the internet that went beyond fan sites into real, solid information for people interested in the business and craft of comics." The site now houses a collection of informative articles by Beatty and others in the industry.

Today, Aazurn.com is home to the Aazurn Publishing Saga blog, with articles about writing scripts, proposals, and news releases; submitting to publishers; developing ideas with depth; building logos that communicate; and "entertaining ramblings." Beatty said a lot of sites discuss writing, drawing and coloring, but the Aazurn.com blog is unique.

"I'm not pulling any punches here. This isn't an 'everything is just great' kind of blog. Publishing is a difficult living. I'm just laying out the steps I'm going through so others can avoid some mistakes."

Two done-in-one, comic book short stories published earlier this year, "Seductions" and "Adam Among the Gods," received many positive reviews and just enough sales to keep Beatty's fledgling publishing company from disappearing.

At Aazurn.com, readers can join a mailing list to receive irregular updates to the blog so they can be a part of the ups and downs "as they happen," said Beatty.

"It will be entertaining either way," he laughed. "If I'm eventually successful, readers will cheer. If not - well, everybody loves watching a train wreck."

Gary Scott Beatty writes, illustrates, colors and letters for comics on Michigan's west coast. His ramblings about the business of publishing can be found at ComicArtistsDirect.com. Aazurn Publishing and "Jazz: Cool Birth" information, including an informative blog detailing the steps behind starting the company, can be found at Aazurn.com. Other stuff is at GaryScottBeatty.com.