I’ve just passed the six-month point: less than six months until my third novel, The Four Ms. Bradwells, releases. And yes, I’m occupied with all the things that occupy any about-to-be-parent when a new literary child is soon to be born: Are the advanced reader copies – going out this week or next – going to be picked up and read, or will they sit in unopened packages in magazine and newspaper editors’ inboxes? Will the sales force enthusiasm for the book convince booksellers to pick it up. Will they read all night, or set it aside after page 22? Are the pearls on the new cover the right ones, and will book-shoppers care?
What’s an author to do?
For me, the answer is:
KEEP WRITING!
I think it often surprises readers to find that a just-published novelist has already moved on to a new story long before the one they are reading hits bookstore shelves. But the fact is that it takes about a year from the time a final manuscript is in the hands of a publisher for it to be released. It isn’t the printing of the book itself that takes all this time; that is done in relatively short order these days, allowing publishers to opt for print runs that come pretty close to matching sales orders. It’s all the things that have to be done to make a book attractive (see, e.g. All-True #6) and to help it get noticed when it does release.
One of things the publisher does is put together tools for the sales force to use to sell the book to booksellers, including the catalog the TI-CAT. In the not-so-olden days (like last year, when The Wednesday Sisters came out in paperback) publishers used catalogs like you might get from Sears to sell books to booksellers. But when is the last time you received a Sears catalog in the mail?
My editor tells me the sheets they use to sell books now are called TI-CATs, which she allows is a “mysterious term.” You can see the Four Ms Bradwells TI-CAT here. TI stands for “Title Information,” and they are used now instead of catalogs “primarily because they’re easier to update as new information comes in (e.g., quotes) to make sure that sales has the latest details on hand when they’re presenting the books.” Covers are added as they are finalized (mine isn’t, stay tuned on that!), and the sales force also uses separate color prints of the covers and “marketing/publicity one-sheets,” as well as advanced reader copies of the book. They don’t put account-specific information on the sheets going to all accounts, so as not to appear to show favoritism. So while you’ll see some nice mention of The Wednesday Sisters on the Four Ms. Bradwells TI-CAT, you won’t see a mention that it was a Target Bookmarked selection. If Ballantine is distributing books through the Amazon Prime program or pitching it to independent booksellers for an Indie Next selection, mums the word here. (“Mum” meaning “mmmm,” as in lips are sealed – a phrase first used by Shakespeare in “Henry VI” in 1592, by the way.)
The writer’s role in a TI-CAT, though, is pretty simple: Spend five or ten minutes reading it carefully, call your editor and tell him or her it looks great, bask for a few minutes in the beautiful thing that is having a book coming out … and get back to the writing.
Ditto with the galley letter, which is a letter the publicity team puts together to send out to those magazine and newspaper editors we hope to entice into reviewing the book, or giving it some “off the book page” attention.
With a big focus on that getting back to the writing bit.
One of the things I write at this stage is short pieces that might be placed to coincide with the book’s release. Since the price of a full-page ad in the New York Times Book Review would buy a car, and for the price of one in People a whole house might be found (ok, at today’s depressed prices, and one at the end of a dusty road, with a single bathroom and needing paint, but you get my point)… At any rate, a piece that might – just might – land in, say, the “Modern Love” column, is worth the few days investment. Or gamble, is perhaps the better word here, because the chances of a piece actually being picked up for “Modern Love” is slim. Small gamble, big pay-off, low odds. But hasn’t that always been a writer’s life?
More importantly though, for me, is starting a new book. As much as I struggle with first draft, the actual writing is the sweet spot of the writing life. When I’m writing, hours and even days pass when I don’t even think about reviewers or book buyers or even my Amazon ranking. (Ha! Getting carried away there!)
As the great Ray Bradbury said in Zen in the Art of Writing, “You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.”
(Right, staying drunk on writing! Although the absinthe Hemingway was so fond of is looking pretty good now, too.)
So this week, I put words to page for a new novel – after spending hours in the library doing research over the last few months, and more hours reading the things I found there. I’ve written a one-page synopsis of a new story, and two preliminary character sketches. I’m about to start a third sketch this afternoon. And I’m making travel plans to visit the setting for this new novel later this month. The Groom’s Cottage on Lake Windermere in England, here I come! – Meg
