Days remaining to publication day: 44.
I loved following along with Hope Edelman in her "Countdown to Publication" for The Possibility of Everything, so I'm thrilled that SheWrites has asked me to take over, now that Hope's terrific memoir has hit the shelves. My book is The Happiness Project, an account of the year I spent testing the wisdom of the ages, the current scientific studies, and the lessons from popular culture about how to be happier. This is my fourth book (or my fifth book, if you include a book I did in collaboration with an artist).
My pub dates looms ahead, so close and yet so far, and I'm running around doing everything I can think of to help support the book. It's a tough, tough world for books out there. In particular, I've been thinking a lot about the relationship between blog readers and book readers.
I have a fairly big readership for my blog, The Happiness Project, and naturally I'd like to coax people who read my blog to buy the book (even better--to pre-order the book). I'm trying to figure out the best strategy to make that argument -- in a way that's convincing yet not annoying. I'm open to any suggestions! I still feel like an old-fashioned writer.
If I'd known five years ago that I'd be blogging, tweeting, Facebook updating, guest posting, and all the rest, I would have been astounded. Now I take all this for granted -- and I love it. But because these tools are so new, it's not always clear how best to use them in helping spreading the word about books. Ah well, I keep reminding myself, this is the fun part!
I will be following your experiences closely, trying to soak up all the wisdom and ideas you have to share. Best of luck!
During these tough times, who wouldn't want to know the secrets of happiness, especially if they don't cost much--or anything! Beth
I can't wait for your book! Even if these are tough times for books, I'm still reading, more than ever. I'm sure there are others out there like me (I hope!) I'd like to think the addition of social media has only helped spread the word about books, but it is worrying that people can get so much content for free, i.e. when do they have time to read, after they've surfed the internet all day! I think the key is to get the book mentioned as much as possible, so as many people as possible have heard of it, because it's a great topic!
What a great concept for a book. I think this will be getting a lot of attention. Best wishes, Beth
Thanks for the good wishes! that makes me very HAPPY!
Congrats! I feel the same way. My book comes out on December 10th, and I just started with the pre-orders today ... and it's a trip! Between emails, and tweets and social media, I'm constantly going, and loving every minute of it!
Gretchen -- I am so curious to see how this journey unfolds! I feel like I have been some small part of it for awhile now, and it is absolutely mind-blowing to see what you've created with The Happiness Project. I am kind of holding breath to see what happens next. Thanks for sharing it with us here.
It's such a fun cover. I think your book will do well!