Howdy! I’m feeling like a cowgirl today who is rounding up the cattle after a long drive back to the ranch.
I’ve picked my cover. Yep, it’s fabulous, and nope … I’m not showing you.
“Why?” you ask. “Anticipation and buildup,” I reply.
You have to wait until the book launch which is going to be sometime in May. I would tell you the exact date if I could, but the publisher won’t tell me.
Why is that anyway? To what end and to whom is that beneficial? It doesn’t help me organize interviews which you would think would ultimately help everyone, because it translates into a better chance for book sales. But I still don’t have what they call “The Pub Date.”
The next detail to round up was getting the blurbs done. You know those one or two sentences that grace the back cover of most publications. These testimonials are important because (if you’re lucky) they’re generally written by people who have good name recognition. The idea being, if so and so liked this book, you’re bound to as well.
The writing pixies graced me the day I asked, because Judy Rebick (activist) and Adrienne Mitchell (producer and director) agreed. YAY!
Then I wrote my bio, considered lying about my age on the Author Questionnaire (that’s a government document where the Library gathers all of their author information) and said no to an author photo because I thought it would muck up the cover design.
Do you think that was a mistake? Not the lying part, but the picture part. I told the truth about my age because I was afraid of The Allseeing Governmental Eye. But now I’m wondering about the picture. Do you think I made a mistake?
So most of the fussy deets are done. Next, this coming Thursday, a get-together with Greg and Emily to discuss the final full court publicity press.
Till later…..cb
PLEASE don’t have an ordinary book launch. It should be on the level of Truman Capote’s Black and White Party. Only you closest five milliion friends get invitations. There should be dancing serial killers, wonderful costumes, cops to beat up people who try to leave without buying a book, great food by a great naked chef, and Roo in diamonds, something the media will discuss for a century. You won’t need a photo on your book. You will have become legend. The event will rival Cleopatra’s arrival at Tarsus.
That picture behind the curtain is hilarious! Is that L’il Cathi Bond?
A good blurb-er is huge. Congrats on that.
It IS me!
You know how shy I am.
Hey all, I got this via email from poet/Wilfred Laurier English prof Tanis MacDonald and she gave me permission to post it. With one caveat. These are her observations and not an official study. Okay? Thanks Tanis
Hi Cathy:
Congratulations on your eBook wrangling! It is happening! As to why there’s no firm publication date, that’s because the press will be rushing to meet it themselves, so don’t want to give you an actual day for fear of missing it by a few days. We authors have to be satisfied with “by the end of May” and the like, and then get excited to know when the book is actually in and done! Welcome to the wonderful world of publishing; I’ll eat my hat if e-publishing doesn’t have parallel production scrambles to paper publishing.
Re: author photo – I’ve never gone without one, myself, so it will be interesting to see what the impact is of that decision. I don’t necessarily think it’s a bad thing, as sometimes author photos can be distracting. Anne Carson, for example, never uses one. But be prepared to send out author photos for readings and other publicity rounds, which is a whole other ball of wax.
Cheers,
Tanis