One year ago this month… I was putting the finishing touches on the first draft of the book that I was calling BAD LAND. A year from now, I’ll finally be drawing toward its release for G.P. Putnam’s Sons (although no firm date has been set). Today, I’m still simply making my way through that long valley in between: working on the sequel, waiting for my book’s launch in-house (in publishing, a book is “launched” inside the publishing house, where the marketing and publicity teams get a chance to read it for the first time as they begin to figure out how best to sell it) and checking off items on that list of stuff that has to happen before a book ever hits the shelves. I never imagined that it took between 12 and 18 months for a traditionally published novel to see the light of day (and I know it can take less), but that’s where I am right now.
A lot of ink has been spilled on Garth Risk Hallberg’s upcoming novel CITY ON FIRE. It sold for around $2 million dollars to Knopf back in 2013, and will finally see its light of day this October. It’s an 800 page behemoth, and Hallberg is being hailed as the “future of literature.” Right now the book is being featured at the ABA’s Annual Winter Institute, where three hundred signed galleys will be given out, against a stack of 6500 ARCs (Advanced Reader Copies). There are many, many traditionally published books that don’t have a final print run of that many copies, so Knopf has a lot of faith in the book; they really are putting all of their marketing and publicity efforts behind it. And by all accounts, the novel deserves the praise, and Hallberg is, I’m sure, incredibly talented. In fact, his editor at Knopf has hailed Hallberg’s writing of CITY ON FIRE as a “tremendous act of generosity…”
Hyperbole aside, there’s probably very little comparison between me and Garth Hallberg as writers – let’s put it this way, no one’s yet called me the “future of literature” (and I’m fine with that…we write what we write). But a year ago, I imagine Hallberg was walking through my same “valley”…waiting for his book’s release, anxious about its reception, and dreaming/hoping/praying for its success. While my book may go on to sell a lot less than the 6500 copies, for every debut author – trad or self-published, big deal or small – the months leading up to that first book’s publication are a weird mix of excitement and anxiety, fear and loathing. We’re proud of what we’ve accomplished, yet desperate for validation. We can’t wait to see our book on a store shelf, but we’re afraid that it will always stay there, never read.
That’s it for this week…I gotta lot more walking to do…
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