Schlepping the Book
I’d kind of forgotten what it was like to have a new book out. It’s like this:
- Some people are incredibly nice and love the book and take the trouble to say so, which makes you feel like kissing their toes
- Some reviewers say you are smart and you think, Hey, yeah, I am smart, I’m REALLY GODDAMN SMART
- Some reviewers mistake your book for something else entirely and you have to remind yourself it’s not a good look for an author to post angry comments listing their CLEAR FACTUAL AND CONCEPTUAL ERRORS
- You are invited to speak at festivals and bookstores and on radio, which causes you to gradually re-learn atrophied social skills like talking
- Your time for writing shrinks and you start to panic because you’re not getting enough one-on-one time with your work-in-progress, which loves and needs you
- Some people you haven’t heard from in years remember you exist
- Some people take the time to email you how much you suck, which often seems to be a reaction not to the book or to you exactly but rather the fact that you are receiving attention, which infuriates them for reasons that are hard to know
- Some people give oddly insulting compliments, like, “Of your four terrible books, this is at least fairly readable,” and honestly seem to expect you will be pleased to hear it
- You notice things in the book you wish you had done differently
- You kind of want to know how it’s selling but kind of don’t
- Some people don’t seem to realize you have a new book out, and how is that possible, you’re spending all this goddamn time doing interviews and blogs and book trailers, have they seen that book trailer, HOW CAN THEY NOT KNOW
Basically, a strange time. And that’s even without a US book tour, which is usually a whole added level of surrealism for me. But I replaced it with the Skype tour, so I guess it balanced out. Actually, the Skype tour was far more successful than I expected. Or, more specifically, it contained far less crazy than I feared. I’m not saying you people are crazy. Not all of you. It was just that I was pretty sure that at some point I would find myself talking to a person who wanted me to join his underground resistance movement, and read his manuscript. But that didn’t happen. So thank you to everyone for being so nice and sane. The best part of book tours is getting to chat to readers—well, that and the hotel room service—so it was like taking just that part and condensing it down.
Tomorrow I’m off to the Brisbane Writers Festival, but next week, guess what? A clean calendar! I’m really excited about that. That means I can write.
P.S. I just realized I should probably link to some of the promotion I’ve been doing. To, you know, promote. I’ve been uploading YouTube videos, how about that? Here’s one:
Comments
This is where site members post comments. If you're not a member, you can join here. There are all kinds of benefits, including moral superiority!
Location: Sydney
Quote: "(insert something witty, eventually...)"
Posted: 4913 days ago
Karan (#1376)
Location: Sydney, Australia
Quote: "Quid Quid Latine Dictum Sit, Altum Viditur - Anything said in Latin sounds important"
Posted: 4913 days ago
stanley becker (#5283)
Location: black hole
Quote: "DON"T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER!!"
Posted: 4913 days ago
Location: Alberta, Canada
Quote: "I don't wanna ride the elevator."
Posted: 4913 days ago
On another note, I am really enjoying the book. I had thought about reading beside the serial to see how you edited it but that seemed like too much of a pain in the backside for a first reading. I would even be done already but I am too busy being sick and thus sleeping. I notice I don't cough as much while reading it though... Machineman, its medicinal! GET YOURS TODAY!!!
Booked (#5627)
Location: Illinois
Quote: "We tell you what to read"
Posted: 4908 days ago
Nate Murray (#1176)
Location: San Diego
Quote: "You can run, but you can't glide!"
Posted: 4905 days ago
Loved Machine Man, but then again I've loved everything since Syrup (check the join date! ((I even have a country in Nation States))). My reason for posting tonight is a little selfish though.
Tomorrow (in California anyway) is my sister's birthday and I was hoping you could tweet her a quick 'Happy Birthday, Emily'. She loves your stuff, and in fact has already tweeted about Machine Man's excellence, you responded to her and it made her so excited. I was hoping you could make an awesome sister feel awesome tomorrow in 140 characters or less. Her twitter handle is @lantern_emily
If it can't be done that's cool, we'll both remain huge fans either way.
Thank you for your consideration,
-Nate
Nate Murray (#1176)
Location: San Diego
Quote: "You can run, but you can't glide!"
Posted: 4904 days ago
yassir (#5641)
Posted: 4899 days ago
yassir
Location: Morristown, Indiana
Quote: "Why do I blog? Simple, because Max Barry blogs."
Posted: 4897 days ago
WHAT'S IN A NAME?
The Boneyard. A new nationstates feature has arrived where you can use old names that have been reserved for 8 years for people who will never use them. I will be taking a rather odd name, which I know will be reappearing in 13 days. What will it be? Wouldn't you like to know? I'm not sharing. You could steal it...defeating my whole plot. It's so good, I'm going to use it as bargaining material for something I want. You know. there is power in it's name.
...no, it's not "Jesus Christ". Although there is power in that name...and I'm debating on trying to take that name since I can't resurrect "the holy empire of Jesus" which used to always be ranked #1 for most compassionate citizens, which I think is hilarious and awesome.
That is all.
-Adam
Destructa (#5648)
Location: Silicon Valley
Quote: "A triple scoop of rage with giggle sprinkles"
Posted: 4897 days ago
Comments are now closed for this post.