Promo Your Book in 26 Days--GO!

Friday, December 9, 2005

26 Days til the Release of BOUND AND DETERMINED

Today, yes, December 9th, my lovely agent Deidre Knight informed me the news: the release date for my latest novel (my 10th so far) has been pushed up a month. No one told me or her. We are in trouble.

Quickly we decide to abandon the old promotional campaign (it will all be waaaay too late for the release date) and start anew. It is then that Deidre has an idea: Publishing Survivor.

For those who follow along, you'll get an up close (probably too personal) look at what happens during the countdown to publication for this full-time corporate employee, mother, author and way-stressed-out Gen X insomniac. Each day I will set a Reward Challenge. What will I win if I successfully complete the Reward Challenge? My sanity? Oops, too late. I probably never had any. As you read, you can judge for yourself... Will I be Dancing with the Stars or a candidate for the Biggest Loser? I'm throwing my all into this. I'm game. Are you?

Bound to the Coorporate World:
4:00 pm - After a chaotic day in the business world, a call from my editor. Hmm. It's late in NYC. She's very nice. We talk about what's going on with the release of BOUND AND DETERMINED, now that it's just weeks away. Berkley is going to feature me on the Berkley/Jove website. Awesome! But damn cold as I stand outside and talk on my cell phone. Geez, it's a balmy 38 degrees here today. I'm dying. My co-worker originally from Fargo laughs as I whine.

Bossom Buds:
9:30 pm - Confer with another writer friend who got her backcover copy for her next book. It's good copy, and she's pleased, so smiles all around. We discuss my shifting publication date, and she provides suggestions for getting the word out. Very helpful. We've been buddies for a long time. She pouts about the fact she's having a hard time finding a publicist. I console. She leaves to finish her laundry. See, we aren't such glamorous creatures? Anyone who thought our lives were all about boas and Bon-bons...didn't we have you fooled?

A New Disorder: Blankophobia
10:00 pm - Sit down to write my first entry for Publishing Survivor. Stare at the screen a requisite ten minutes, wondering what the hell I'm doing. Empty screens and me have a bad history. We go way back... There's got to be a name or something for this particular disorder. Blankophobia? Cursor Blinkitis?We're closing in on 11. I'll read the emails that have been flying in my inbox as I wrote this, answer the necessary ones (aren't the all, except those asking me if I'd like to have a larger penis or would be willing to use my bank account to help someone whose funds are trapped in an African bank account after a loved one's death), then collapse into bed.

Reward Challenge:
1) Write at least 5 pages on current manuscript
2) Complete tomorrow's Publishing Survivor entry
3) Successfully manage to give a neighborhood dinner party for 16

The Reward:
I'll steal an hour to watch either the latest Trading Spaces or read the book tucked beside my bathtub. Ah, heaven.

Tune in tomorrow to see if I can make it!
Shelley Bradley