My debut novel, Enter Title Here, launched a week ago. I’d kind of known that a book launch is not like a movie launch. It’s not like very much actually happens. But it’s another thing to live it.
There was a day where there were lots of tweets and mentions by my fellow 2016 debut authors. Thanks guys! And then it was pretty much back to normal. Some good press. A few blog posts. Incoming Goodreads and Amazon reviews. Emails and text messages from friends who’ve read the book. One fan email from a guy in New York who’s apparently been anticipating the book for awhile! I did a reading at a bar in San Francisco, where I convinced two strangers to buy my book! And I had my launch party at the Berkeley Library. A hundred people showed up. We sold some books. It was awesome.
All totally normal stuff. And great fun. But it doesn’t exactly occupy very much time.
I think I’ve done a really good job of not going crazy during my book launch period. Like, a really good job. Most authors are nuts, and debut authors are crazier than most. I have been scanning self-googling like a madman and checking Goodreads every hour. But I haven’t yet had an emotional breakdown! Not even when I had unexpected last-minute problems with the book vending at my launch party (no fears, it was all successfully resolved).
And I even managed to get some writing done. I completed a draft of another YA novel, Tell Em They’re Amazing, and I sent it out to readers. Now I’m working on rewriting my middle-grade novel, Everyone Hates You. It’s going to be a ground-up, start-with-a-blank-page rewrite, which is a bit daunting. Although, I mean, the book is only thirty thousand words, so it’s not as bad as it could be.