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.
I usually make a big distinction between the idea of a platform for an author, and publicity and marketing for a specific book. In other words: I care less about someone giving you $12 for a product (in this case a book), and more about the connections that happen before/during/after that transaction that truly makes our lives more interesting.
So in her last post, Miranda touched upon this, that here we are nearly a year before the book launch of Bittersweet, and we are already thinking BEYOND the book. Like, what will all of this mean in 2 or 3 or 4 years? Now THAT is what I am interested in.
Too often, I think we focus on the wrong thing. A bestseller list or book sales comes to REPRESENT the things we really hope for, and over time, REPLACE those things.
So yes, I do hope that Bittersweet is widely read, well reviewed, and becomes a bestseller. But I’m also not pretending that those are THE goals. They are a means to an end: enabling Miranda to most powerfully connect with others based on stories, and the things underlying those stories and human connections. And of course, to ensure all of this is sustainable.
-Dan