I wrote a book, but this post isn't about that. It's about all the things that go into writing a book after you actually write the book. My friend and CL contributor Thomas Hallock describes this as the "book after the book" and he could not be more right.
A publisher put the power and might of their press behind it — and, along with it, a not-insignificant chunk of change, because printing and marketing books? Not cheap — and it comes out officially October 4. After you write a book and a press sends you a contract, one editor edits it and another editor copy edits it and you create an index and then — and then — the work starts, because writing a book no one sees means I've written a book no one reads, so my publisher has sprung into action and started booking me into all sorts of things.
First up? SIBA, or the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance. Booksellers like Inkwood Books belong to SIBA; being an indie bookseller in an Amazon world isn't easy, and SIBA helps indies (a growing market, by the way, but that's another blog) compete.
My job at SIBA is to carry my book around (and my nifty new business cards with a picture of the book cover on them) and talk it up. My publisher — the University Press of Florida — will host a shrimp cocktail party, at which I will chat up the book along with two other authors, and then I'll participate in a reading event called Parapalooza. I will sign 100 copies of my book that the Press will give to the indie booksellers to help promote my book. In short, I'm here to shill, but while I'm shilling, I'm having a great time and I'm learning a lot.
On the opening night — Thursday — the show kicked off at author Mary Kay Andrews' beach house on Tybee Island. She has a cookbook coming out in 2017, The Beach House Cookbook, and everything I ate tonight came out of that cookbook (and trust me, I ate plenty and it was plenty good, although I'm admittedly partial to something called a mater tot). And while it looked like a fun party — and it was, because, hey, free yummy food, Tybee Island and I get to meet an author whose style I admire — I worked. I met people from all over the south and talked about my book. I gave the "elevator pitch" about my book. I handed out business cards. I smiled. I tried to remember not to say fuck. I learned more than I ever imagined I would about indie booksellers — and that was all in three hours. I still have two and a half days to go.
I wrote a book but the real work starts now.
This article appears in Sep 15-22, 2016.