Category: 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.

---

Miranda had a big day yesterday, sharing the news that:

• People Magazine prominently featured Bittersweet in a very positive review.
• Entertainment Weekly did the same.
• And that Entertainment Weekly also featured her in their Must List.

We just got off the phone, and she described her husband’s reaction to her comment to him. She said: “This means that at least 100 people I don’t know will read the book!” He, clearly, encouraged her to think a bit bigger than that.

This process reminds me so much of the reason Miranda stated for wanting to work with me, and work so hard on the book launch: “I just want to feel that I did everything I could.”

This week, the one before her release date, suddenly seems otherworldly, the kind of thing authors dream of. It is amazing to consider how at once this comes down to the simple fact that Miranda wrote a wonderful book that is resonating with people; but also that she has so many people on her team at Crown working so hard to share this book with the world.

-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.

---

It is funny how for both Miranda and I, now that we are firmly in the “book launch” period, it has felt less natural to update this blog!

I suppose that could be because with a year’s worth of preparation, things sort of “happen” now. There is a LOT of behind the scenes chatter about book reviews and placement that has been confirmed, but I am never sure what can be shared publicly, and when.

Miranda and I had lunch earlier in the week, and stopped to get a shot of ourselves afterwards. I couldn’t quite get the exposure right, so you will have to blend these two images in your mind:

I think that once publication date arrives, (um, REALLY SOON!), we will be able to reflect more on what has worked best in this process.

Thanks!
-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

Dan and I had lunch together yesterday and it was this kind of amazing firestorm of Ohmygoodnessit’shappening!!! combined with Howarewesupposedtofeel??? crossed with Whathappensnext??? In between, I stole his french fries.

So what do I feel? Well, of course I feel excited. In two weeks the bookstore I walked into today will (hopefully) be selling Bittersweet! But if there’s one thing book publishing has taught me is that there are many other feelings, good and bad, that come along with this whole big old process. I’ve been talking to a few other writers who have books coming out in the next little bit of time, and they’re running the gamut of feelings too, perhaps best summed up in this fantastic Facebook post written by Porochista Khakpour, whose novel, The Last Illusion, is the featured book in today’s OMG! All The Books! Giveaway:

Here are my feels for today, in no particular order:

– I’m feeling guilty that I haven’t been posting on this site in recent weeks!

– I’m feeling nervous that none of the possibilities that my publicist mentioned in our phone meeting today might come true.

– And then I’m feeling chagrinned, because *one* of those possibilities will probably happen, right? Right???

– I’m feeling a general wash of anxiety when I first wake up every morning. I’ve learned the best solution to that problem is to just get my butt out of bed and start the day, but the anxiety still comes in little waves of ohmygoodness as the day goes on.

– I’m feeling distracted- I can’t really focus on much of anything for a long period of time. So I’ve started lots of small projects in my house, but my husband can attest to the fact that the dishes really aren’t being washed all that regularly. Still, I like to think that all that distraction is making me a fun mom, since I’m much more likely to curl up with a book or suggest we watch some Tom & Jerry or be up for a trip to the ice cream shop.

– I’m feeling moved and honored to see so many people I know and love (and a growing number of people I haven’t met yet) feeling enthusiastic about Bittersweet as we near publication.

– I’m also prone to burst into tears much more often than usual. Like, about anything.

My mantra for these next two weeks: be easy on yourself. A good mantra to adopt for the rest of my life, I suppose, and yours too!

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.

---

It’s funny how much a daily giveaway just becomes a normal part of your daily existence. Julia, Miranda and I now coordinate in the mornings and evenings every day, and there is often a flurry of emails with the participating authors to just check, double-check, and triple check a million details.

So how are things going so far? Well, let’s look at some basic data:

Included here are the number of entries per day, and then the TOTAL website traffic for this time period. We saw around 75 entries per day in the first week, and around 50 per day the second week. Also, you can see that the site overall had a lot more traffic in that first launch week.

Does this mean the giveaway is a roaring success or a pathetic failure? Well, for that, we have to consider the qualitative stuff:

• To enter the giveaways, people need to answer a question related to the books being given away. The answers have been incredible to read. Many are very personal, and have been so much fun to read and share (anonymously) with the authors.
• There is a lot of conversation about the contest on the authors’ social media feeds and the #OMGbooks hashtag on Twitter. That’s just fun to have a reason to promote these authors’ books each day.
• Private emails between Julia, Miranda, myself and the authors have been so much fun. Lots of enthusiasm and encouragement.

The result: this feels like fun! And Google Analytics can never tell you that.
🙂

Thanks.
-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.

---

It’s funny that it has been quiet on the book launch blog here, because there has been SO MUCH going on that it becomes difficult to stop and reflect on it.

With Bittersweet’s release date now less than a month away, the publicity and marketing that Crown setup has really bloomed. Miranda announced two magazine features yesterday. An excerpt in Cosmo:

And Martha Stewart Living has chosen Bittersweet as their May book club pick:

Over on the OMG! All the Books Giveaway! things have been going really well. Each day we have had 50-75 entries, and the best part is all of the interaction and conversation on social media, and what people share in answering the questions to enter each giveaway.

Plus the first Amazon Vine reviews have come in:

There is so much else going on, but I wanted to share a few highlights.
More to come…
Thanks!
-Dan