Shadowlight Arrives

Shadowlight, my first Kyndred novel, officially lands on the shelves today. An excerpt from my upcoming June '10 release, Dreamveil, is included in the back pages.

I'll spare you guys the usual "Buy my book" post; by now most of you have heard it a couple dozen times. I've had a lot of help getting the word out on this one (your fault) and really, what more can a writer ask? All right, if everyone wants to support PBW and/or insure my future employment, I suppose you can go out this week and buy a copy, or request it from your local public library. But I'm guessing most of you already have, and I thank you for investing and requesting.

I've been brooding for some time about something veteran literary agent Georges Borchardt said in his interview with Poets & Writers:

The pub date used to mean the author would get a bouquet of roses or there would be a party. There was practically always a party for the author. The birth of the book was something to be celebrated. Now it's just the question of "Do we admit to the author that the actual printing is only one-fourth of the announced printing?"

I didn't know that releasing a book used to be such an event. Maybe back in the day publishers could afford to throw a party because there weren't that many books being published, so they didn't have to do it very often. Now release day for most authors seems to be focused on exhausting varieties self-promo, checking to see if blog ads and book videos go live, waiting for the lists and not much else. Publishers are never involved, and I think that's pretty sad.

I seriously doubt anyone in the biz will ever throw a party for me (maybe one to celebrate the day I retire, or whenever I drop dead), but I've always spent my pub dates with my family. We're pretty tame, so our idea of fun is going out to dinner or spending the evening with a big bowl of popcorn and a new movie, but we have fun together, and the gift they've given me is ten years filled with happy memories on release days. Publishing can never top that.

I hope you writers out there don't forget to take a little time off from the endless promoing to party on your pub date. Whether it's the release of your first or your forty-fourth, a new book should always be something wonderful in your life. When it arrives, do something special to celebrate it.