Over on my other blog, I shared LOTS of photos of Miranda’s book launch event at BookCourt this past week: see them here!
I also shared reflections on the nature of publishing, and how in some ways it involves SO MANY people, and then the unique way that a single individual – MIRANDA – is at the center of it all.
So excited for this week coming up!
-Dan
Miranda and I had a giddy chat yesterday – it was amazing to see how much she was able to enjoy publication day. Oftentimes, I feel this day is more emotionally complex in the minds of the author – akin to how we build up a prom or New Year’s Eve plans in our mind, and they come to represent more than they should about our identity.
What it should be is a celebration.
There are lots of highlights for Miranda that have nothing to do with sales figures:
Tonight is her book launch party, which I am so excited about!
Mostly, what “the morning after” publication day means is that people can now access the story Miranda wrote, they can read it, and through them, it becomes part of the fabric of stories we tell.
-Dan
After a very long road, Bittersweet is available today! Miranda and I chatted yesterday, and she appropriately described the metaphor of one’s wedding, where after months of planning, you realize that this is actually a celebration, and you should just enjoy it.
🙂
So excited for Miranda! I’ll post updates throughout the week.
-Dan
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
Patty Griffin’s song I Don’t Ever Give Up was my daily listen a few years back, in the time before I wrote Bittersweet. Do you know that song? Stream it right now! It’s on her brilliant album Children Running Through, which has some of my other favorite songs of hers on it – Burgandy Shoes, No Bad News (a love song to her dog), and Up To The Mountain, to name a few. Stream the whole damn thing while you’re at it! In the meantime, I’ll tell you why I Don’t Ever Give Up became my personal anthem in those days when I truly believed my career was over. Actually, I guess it’s pretty self explanatory if you read the lyrics:
I’m no kid in a kid’s game
Did what I did, I got no one to blame
But I don’t give up, no, I don’t ever give up
It’s all I got, it’s my claim to fame
I’m no fighter but I’m fighting
This whole world seems uninviting
But I don’t give up, no, I don’t ever give up
I fall down sometimes, sometimes I come back flying
Liars are lying, airplanes are flying
Love isn’t here, love isn’t here
But it’s somewhere
You turn to forget me
But something won’t let me
Love isn’t here, love isn’t here
But it’s somewhere
I’m not clean, I’m not washed up
This dream, I don’t ever give up
I don’t ever give up
I don’t ever give up
No, I don’t ever give up
No, I don’t ever give up
No, I don’t ever give up
I don’t ever give up
It was a hard song to listen to some days- some days it made me angry. Sometimes it made me cry. Sometimes I sang along with it at the top of my lungs. Some days I didn’t want to listen to, but I made myself.
And then I made myself write a few words. And I made myself believe in my dream- the dream to write another book, to have someone want to read it, to have someone want to publish it, to have someone want to review it.
And that day has come.
It’s a good thing to know that my stubbornness is sometimes worth celebrating.
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.
“Is this thing on?” That feels like the question that is being asked when a book is published, when it is “launched.” The story, the book, it exists regardless. But the act of “publishing” it is that moment by which it seeks an audience – to connect with a reader.
I mentioned a few days ago that good things are happening with Bittersweet. And since then, it has become apparent that watching Amazon rankings is the next indicator of whether things are happening. Here is the Kindle Store ranking from mid-day Friday:
And here it is right now, about a day later:
And while this is fun (and somewhat addictive) to check, it is just amazing to consider that behind sales figures, rankings and reviews, is a reader making a personal connection with a story. And that indeed, this thing is on.
Excited for this week!
-Dan
