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May 24, 2023

What's the BIG DEAL about Pub Day? she asked me!



 
The Butcher, the Embezzler, and the Fall Guy is now truly available Everywhere! Just learned it's not only on every indie bookstore's distribution list along with Bookshop, Amazon and Barnes and Noble, it's been picked up by multiple sites in the UK and WalMart and Target!! Thank you She Writes Press and Ingram Publisher's West for this great distribution!!

And wherever you shop for books

 

Count down to PUB DAY:


Last week, while in a doctor's waiting room, I struck up a conversation with a woman sitting next to me. One thing led to another when she asked: "So I have a friend who's a writer like you. What's the big deal about pub day?"


I looked at her, then my watch and wondered how long she had. Immediately, she was called into her appointment and I was left to ponder her question. Now that I've had about five years in the land of book production to publication, I had a lot to think about. From an author's point of view, especially if published by traditional or hybrid presses, or have publicity and/or marketing plans, EVERYTHING feels like it's about pub day! The fact (still true) that a very large portion of our total sales - forever, unless you're a big brand star - will come within three months of that date. So it's all hands on deck! Social media marketing, publicity, podcasts and influencers, ads; all of these become the seemingly nonstop conversation we have from about 6 months before pub day to about 3 months after pub day.


That said, each of us authors has learned that a year, two years, three years, five years out, readers are still picking up our books, reading them, reviewing them, and writing to us about them. We're still being invited to talk about prior books by podcasters, librarires, bookstores, and book clubs. I just had one of my best conversations about Poetic License on an upcoming podcast last week. So books have a potentially long shelf life, even if might not looks that way leading up to pub day. And I love that!


Here's why: I think one reason the podcast interview on Tell Me About Your Father was so engaging (which I'll link when it's airs) is becauise there was no rush. Both the wonderful interviewer and I could settle in more gradually to the conversation. But also, it's because I'm different now than who I was when Poetic License came out. Like each of you in your lives, I've grown, had new thoughts about my father, have heard from and corresponded with more readers of the book, including those who knew him and had things to say about him, and we've all cahnges from living through Covid, and in my case, moving to a new city in a new state.


We've all heard PUB DAY be compared to giving birth. And it's true -- production takes about nine months once the manuscript is entirely print ready. Then, our new, cute, handsome, or old-soul baby is out in the world. And despite our nourishing them through launch events and sales, ultimately they need to stand on their own. We are in awe of this production--we've worked damn hard and we should be PROUD on pub day.


Still, what I have found most fascinating and look forward to on this second turn, is just how much a book grows and takes care of itself and we, as authors, get to grow alongside it. Sneak peak: Let's just say that through a half dozen NEW podcast interviews this month and as many NEW conversations with event organizers/conversation partners in lead up to PUB DAY I'm already seeing how great this book is doing in the world of readers and how much I'm growing as a result of the conversation it's begging us to have.


Can't wait for what you think! It's out in less than two weeks -- on June 6th!

 

EVENTS


 

BOOK REVIEWS

Patti Smith

Woolgathering

Just reread this tiny gem from Patti Smith. Memoir in its most basic and beautiful form. Spare, haunting, riveting. I think I liked her Just Kids better, but this one conjured well her comment that memoir is an act of : "glimpses and gleans, piecing together a crazy quilt of truths." The perfect pick for an hour or two by a fire, on a train/plan/bus/beach or to have in your bag/pack to pull out in the back of a Lyft or while waiting in a doctor's office. Just read it. You'll see why.


John Grisham

The Appeal

Here's an example of how not to waste our reading time. At an ancient B & B late last summer while hiking in the White Mountains of Maine, we were treated to take whatever books we liked from the voluminous bookshelves scattered around this ancient Victorian home. The owner, while feeding us a fabulous breakfast with a family from Montreal speaking lickity-splicket French, conceded she was selling the place and needed to clear all her books. What an offer to an avid reader/writer, albeit that her taste was purely BIG HARDCOVER thrillers and such. But within the piles I found the Clinton/Penny book, a few Jonathan Kellermans, and this book by John Grisham. Didn't we all love his first four: A Time to Kill; The Firm; The Pelican Brief; The Client??? This may offend some of my friends and fans but when you have the talent he displayed back then and the zillions of dollars he's made form his books, wouldn't you just prefer to write something more original and interesting? I had hoped it'd be a fun, if light, tromp through a good Grisham courtroom and while the story was totally in my area of interest and concern (bad chemical company causes cancer for everyone nearby), couldn't he have made it more interesting? I should have put it down after 10 pages but I forged on, keeping up hope it'd turn more interesting. Anyway, a good lesson in putting books down that don't grab you -- there are just too many that will nearby!


Happy Spring!



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