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ewein2412I have two weeks.
I would like to write something heroic and inspired before I go up in fireworks, but I am too stupid and sick with dread to think of anything. I can’t even think of anyone else’s memorable defiance to repeat. I wonder what William Wallace said when they were tying him to the horses that would rip him into quarters. All I can think of is Nelson saying ‘Kiss me, Hardy.’
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OK, so I’m not really sick with dread. And nothing actually ever happens on a book’s ‘launch day’. You wait and wait and wait and wait, you waste years of your life waiting, and the publication date comes and goes and if you don’t mark it with a handful of confetti of your own, you find you’re actually just waiting again—for reviews or ratings or feedback of some kind—only now the waiting has no demarcated limit and eventually trickles off into waiting for the next book. I know, I know. Special Ops Exec. Write -
I’m not ‘sick with dread’, but I am apprehensive about Code Name Verity in a way that is new to me. It is new to me because it has real hope in it—hope that is gradually sloughing off its gild of cynicism. And that is because people are reading and enjoying this book. I sit here at my computer and I see what’s going on, in the blogosphere and the reviewing world, and I can’t quite believe it. I certainly can’t see where it’s going. I am almost as apprehensive of success as I am of disappointment.
CNV is, for example, an Amazon Editor’s Pick for Best Book of the Month in May. This may generate what a couple of reviewers are calling ‘hype,’ but it isn’t hype in and of itself. Hype didn’t put it there - the book put itself there. And that just makes my jaw drop.
Of course, it’s already out here in the UK. I’ve no idea how well it’s doing—the excitement of the first ‘Book Birthday’ has tapered off, and I don’t know if it’s selling according to plan. A team of guerrilla CNV Special Ops agents send me pictures of the book displayed in the windows of independent booksellers, or occasionally on a prominent shelf in the chains, bearing a handwritten staff recommendation card. I don’t quite know where to file these small triumphs in my brain. They astonish me. When the phenomenal review of CNV in Publisher’s Weekly turned up, and I found it online before my agent or even the publisher knew it was there, I didn’t tweet it for three days because I was sure it must be an error. But it wasn’t an error.
OK, you all know the location of the first aid kit and the fire extinguisher, right? And how to open the hatches in the event of a forced landing? Echo Echo Whiskey, ready for departure.
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‘I may be going to hell in a bucket, babe, but at least I’m enjoying the ride.’ - The Grateful Dead
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Comment, and we'll do one of our lame 'Sara picks a name out of a hat' giveaways - an autographed copy of the UK edition of CNV. Closes 8 a.m. BST Sat. 5 May 2012 (that's 8 a.m. British Summer Time, so Friday midnight in California, I think. That way I can mail it on saturday morning and you have a chance of getting it before the release date. Yes, I will ship internationally. I am wild that way.)
I would like to write something heroic and inspired before I go up in fireworks, but I am too stupid and sick with dread to think of anything. I can’t even think of anyone else’s memorable defiance to repeat. I wonder what William Wallace said when they were tying him to the horses that would rip him into quarters. All I can think of is Nelson saying ‘Kiss me, Hardy.’
--------------------------
OK, so I’m not really sick with dread. And nothing actually ever happens on a book’s ‘launch day’. You wait and wait and wait and wait, you waste years of your life waiting, and the publication date comes and goes and if you don’t mark it with a handful of confetti of your own, you find you’re actually just waiting again—for reviews or ratings or feedback of some kind—only now the waiting has no demarcated limit and eventually trickles off into waiting for the next book. I know, I know. Special Ops Exec. Write -
I’m not ‘sick with dread’, but I am apprehensive about Code Name Verity in a way that is new to me. It is new to me because it has real hope in it—hope that is gradually sloughing off its gild of cynicism. And that is because people are reading and enjoying this book. I sit here at my computer and I see what’s going on, in the blogosphere and the reviewing world, and I can’t quite believe it. I certainly can’t see where it’s going. I am almost as apprehensive of success as I am of disappointment.
CNV is, for example, an Amazon Editor’s Pick for Best Book of the Month in May. This may generate what a couple of reviewers are calling ‘hype,’ but it isn’t hype in and of itself. Hype didn’t put it there - the book put itself there. And that just makes my jaw drop.
Of course, it’s already out here in the UK. I’ve no idea how well it’s doing—the excitement of the first ‘Book Birthday’ has tapered off, and I don’t know if it’s selling according to plan. A team of guerrilla CNV Special Ops agents send me pictures of the book displayed in the windows of independent booksellers, or occasionally on a prominent shelf in the chains, bearing a handwritten staff recommendation card. I don’t quite know where to file these small triumphs in my brain. They astonish me. When the phenomenal review of CNV in Publisher’s Weekly turned up, and I found it online before my agent or even the publisher knew it was there, I didn’t tweet it for three days because I was sure it must be an error. But it wasn’t an error.
OK, you all know the location of the first aid kit and the fire extinguisher, right? And how to open the hatches in the event of a forced landing? Echo Echo Whiskey, ready for departure.
---------------------------
‘I may be going to hell in a bucket, babe, but at least I’m enjoying the ride.’ - The Grateful Dead
---------------------------
Comment, and we'll do one of our lame 'Sara picks a name out of a hat' giveaways - an autographed copy of the UK edition of CNV. Closes 8 a.m. BST Sat. 5 May 2012 (that's 8 a.m. British Summer Time, so Friday midnight in California, I think. That way I can mail it on saturday morning and you have a chance of getting it before the release date. Yes, I will ship internationally. I am wild that way.)
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no subject
Date: 2012-05-02 10:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-02 10:35 am (UTC)(Also, you will take the world by storm, woman, I feel sure.)
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Date: 2012-05-02 11:04 am (UTC)(Also, you will take the world by storm, woman, I feel sure.)
you and i BOTH, woman! *hopeful fist pump in the air*
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Date: 2012-05-02 10:26 am (UTC)But seriously. So excited!
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Date: 2012-05-02 10:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-02 10:42 am (UTC)I have to say, I think this is going to be one of those instant classics, one of those books in this trend-driven genre that people are still going to be talking about in ten or twenty years. And if it's not, it darn well deserves to be. It's just such a beautiful story of friendship and loyalty and courage. I read a lot of YA and I have to say that Code Name Verity is a rare and masterful accomplishment, and if everyone else doesn't think so I will have to give them angry stares.
no subject
Date: 2012-05-02 11:26 am (UTC)it is hard to respond to praise like that! But thank you. One thing I am changing my opinion on is the "word of mouth" thing. I have heard over and over how this book or that suddenly came to the public eye not because of savvy marketing but because everyone was talking about it - and I never quite believed this. There is definitely some savvy marketing going on behind CNV, and I'm not sure it would be making such an advance splash if not for the huge number of ARCs out there. But still, someone has to read the ARCs. And it's people like you talking about it that will really get it moving. ♥
no subject
Date: 2012-05-02 12:53 pm (UTC)http://www.gladwell.com/pdf/sleeper.pdf
The bookstore he discusses: http://tbib.com/
Clearly we need to get some nexus people to read CNV.
I'll post about it the the NAG-talk list right now.
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Date: 2012-05-02 06:43 pm (UTC)Thanks for the NAG connection. I feel sure they were personally responsible for the initial success of The Winter Prince in hardback in 1993!
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Date: 2012-05-02 07:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-05 11:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-05 12:28 pm (UTC)tanita says:
Date: 2012-05-02 11:06 am (UTC)I just keep loving all of the places I see the book. I am SO EXCITED about this - when I met you, I thought you were astonishingly unsung. I wanted that to change.
I am excited that the chorus is warming up, the violins are doing that long-drawn-out tuning, and the choir is backstage doing scales.
We will now all sing.
♥
Re: tanita says:
Date: 2012-05-02 11:32 am (UTC)You have certainly heard a lot of my whining and complaining behind the scenes, SO. I will stop myself before I try to make some goofy reference to the guy who stormed the beaches of Normandy playing the bagpipes. I am listening for the choir!
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Date: 2012-05-02 12:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-02 12:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-02 12:39 pm (UTC)dire influencehelpful guidance of the Sounis LJ community. So there might be others like me out there.And it's true that in the paranormal/dystopia world that makes up so much of the YA market at the moment, pure historical fiction is going to stand out and different.
There's also the fact that it's a great story fantastically written.
(I don't need to be entered into the drawing, as I already have my UK copy. *hugs UK copy* Although the US cover is growing on me. At first I was sort of put off by it, but now I find it a very striking image. And for me, it has a sort of weird tie to Coalition of Lions, when Goewin and Telemakos are waiting in the tunnel.)
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Date: 2012-05-02 12:50 pm (UTC)I will do another lame giveaway when I have some US copies to sign... at the moment I only have 2, which I refuse to part with!
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Date: 2012-05-02 12:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-02 05:59 pm (UTC)Unless, of course, you count
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Date: 2012-05-02 01:17 pm (UTC)Also, excellent timing, because it's coming out while I'm away from home attending a conference, so I'll actually have time in the evenings to sit and read it rather than chasing after my toddler. :-)
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Date: 2012-05-02 06:45 pm (UTC)I hope you enjoy it. Be warned: have tissues.
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Date: 2012-05-02 01:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-02 06:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-02 02:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-02 06:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-03 12:09 pm (UTC)This is not a comment.
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Date: 2012-05-03 12:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-02 06:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-02 06:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-02 11:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-03 12:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-03 02:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-05 07:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-02 11:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-03 12:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-03 04:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-03 12:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-05 02:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-05 07:50 am (UTC)WELL MIGHT YOU ASK. It is, well, waiting - it *is* finished - but for various reasons it remains without a publisher. I have been keeping quiet online about its ups and downs because it feels like the professional thing to do. But it does exist, and one way or another it will eventually become available. It'll be a wait, though, I'm afraid.
(You'll have noticed I try very hard to maintain a chipper and positive public image. so. Focusing on CNV but not forgetting Telemakos...)
no subject
Date: 2012-05-05 07:52 am (UTC)