Category: bittersweet

The Emotional Journey of the Book Launch

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.

Looking back on our work together this year, it is so cool to see a lot of it captured here in this blog, and Miranda’s end of year post does a good job of sharing the highlights.

She and I have our final call of the year later today, which sounds more ominous than it should, since we will likely chat again in 2 days anyway. We have both been in the habit of documenting our conversations, and I was looking back through a couple of screenshots of our last call, and loved how they captured the emotional journey of working through the book launch.

Here we have Happy Miranda:

Pensive Miranda:

And finally: Miranda Full Of Dread:

*(Each will be available as fully posable action figures.)

This process was reflected well in an end of year blog post from another author, Jessica Shea:

“That is where I’ve been for most of 2013. Feeling like a failure. Like a disappointment. Like people bet big on me and I let them down.”

The post gets a bit more upbeat from there, but it’s a wonderfully honest look at the minefield of emotions that writers need to work through before, during, and well after a book launch.

Thanks.
-Dan

Looking Back, Looking Forward

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

 

It’s that time of year where the world is full of “Best of Last Year” and “Most Anticipated of Next Year” lists, that liminal space in which we are encouraged to take stock and make resolutions and dream of the future.

I’m finding myself doing the same, looking back on what has been a whirlwind year and slowing down to appreciate all that has happened to me, and all the work I’ve put in to try to make the most of the investment others have made in me.

In February, Crown bought Bittersweet. My spring and summer were spent revising the book with my thoughtful editor, as well as beginning this online work with Dan. The fall was more about filling my days with Book Launch work, from the redesign of my website, to the building of FriendStories.com, to the creation of a newsletter.

But more than all of that, this year has been, I realize, about refocusing, and redefining, my writing career. For so many years, I had lost such faith in myself and in the career I’d worked so hard to build. As a result, I’d let so much of what I’d worked hard to create just slide. I’d let my website fall out of date. I’d stopped reaching out to my newsletter. I’d stopped believing I had a career and so I’d started acting like I didn’t.

This year has been about reclaiming that for myself. And you know what? I’m really proud of myself for doing it, because it hasn’t always been easy.

Next year? 2014 holds a LOT. Bittersweet’s publication in May. Before that, the launch of FriendStories.com, many short pieces to write and try to place (both online, and in print magazines), book trailers to release, the final draft of Bittersweet to read. Not to mention starting, in earnest, on my next book.

Whenever I feel overwhelmed, I remember myself a year ago, when Bittersweet was just a small spark of hope in what otherwise felt like the dark room of my writing career. And then I remember that I am profoundly lucky. Every step I’m taking is about making that luck as big as I can, and sharing it– there’s finally enough to go around.

Turning Franzen’s Lemons Into Our Lemonade

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

Remember that ridiculous letter Franzen wrote to the Times this year about how there wasn’t really that much sexism in the book world? Remember how I laughed my booty off with all my fellow female writer friends? And then one of them and I joked about making bumper stickers that had on them Franzen’s even more ridiculous byline?

AND THEN REMEMBER WHEN MY FRIEND SENT EXACTLY THAT TO ME FOR CHRISTMAS???

Aaaaaahhhh I love it so much.

 

Writing Articles To Help Bittersweet

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

I’ve never published an article or essay in a magazine. In fact, what I’ve published is limited to five things: three novels, an essay in an anthology, and a short story in a literary journal. I have no experience pitching magazine editors, and I don’t know much of anything about that editorial/publishing process.

But I told myself I was going to do everything I could to get the word about Bittersweet out. So even though it scares me a little, I’m pushing my boundaries and working on a few pieces that my publicist and I can pitch.

It helps that my publicist, Rachel, is a generous font of wisdom, experience and information. A few weeks back, we sat in her office and talked over the many themes that exist in Bittersweet which might appeal to a magazine. These include:

-family secrets
-a preppy/aspirational life
-summer vacations
-my connection to the place where Bittersweet is set
-girlhood friendships (which link to FriendStories.com)
-mother/daughter relationships
-the underbelly of the art world

We also came at it from a different angle, looking at editors/magazines where she had a strong connection, or saw a good match for Bittersweet, or places I’d imagined might be receptive to some of my ideas, from long-lead women’s magazines to online journals.

Then we started narrowing, throwing around specific topics and article ideas that could address the thematic possibilities we saw.

In the weeks since, I’ve been narrowing, refining, brainstorming, and writing. There are many more pieces to write, and there are days I feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount I feel the need to produce, but you know what? I also feel empowered by what I am able to create that could spread the word about my book. I feel lucky to have so much support, and I’m glad I started this process early so I feel I can devote ample time and energy to it.