This is part of the Bittersweet Book Launch case study, where Dan Blank and Miranda Beverly-Whittemore share the yearlong process of launching her novel. You can view all posts here.
by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore
“In the tradition of THE GREAT GATSBY, Miranda Beverly-Whittemore’s heroine is an outsider invited into the secret, labyrinthine world of the super-rich–but the twist is, you never met such debauched people as the Winslows. BITTERSWEET is a satisfyingly dramatic, super-juicy read.” ~ Jenna Blum, New York Times and internationally bestselling author of THOSE WHO SAVE US and THE STORMCHASERS
Jenna Blum and I have met exactly once in person– at the first book event I ever participated in, Misty Valley Books‘ fantastic 2005 New Voices weekend in Chester, Vermont. A handful of authors were invited to come stay in the local inn, go cross-country skiing, and read to the townsfolk, many of whom enthusiastically attended the events. It was a lovely, community building weekend, as evidenced by the fact that Emily Raboteau, one of my other fellow readers, is now one of my closest friends.
Anyway, Jenna had driven in from Boston for the day of the reading– for some reason it wasn’t going to work for her to spend the night– only to discover when she arrived that she had developed a horrible migraine. Since she was only in for the day, she didn’t have a room booked, and so my husband and I gave her the keys to ours, if memory serves, she spent the better part of the day crashed in there on our queen bed.
Since then, I’ve followed Jenna’s amazing career with enthusiasm. She is such a fantastic example of someone who worked her booty off on behalf of her books, primarily through her book club outreach. At one point, she was meeting with three book clubs a day, and that kind of generosity has landed her books on bestseller lists all over the world.
And she’s so nice on top of it all! When I reached out to her to ask if she could write a blurb, despite the fact that we’d only met one time in person, or that she had a ton of travel booked for this fall, she said she’d try. And she did more than that– she wrote me a dynamite blurb (and I think she won’t mind my telling you that she apparently read a lot of it in the bathtub, which, I’ll agree, is one of my favorite spots to read something juicy).
Bummed as I am that she had that migraine all those years ago, I can’t help but thank my lucky stars that it meant she and I got to know each other. I hope I’ll get to see her again in person someday soon.