Secret Covers

Sometimes when I want to write a story but I don't have time, have to finish other projects and/or want to wait and let it simmer a bit more, I make secret cover art for it anyway. Sometimes it's to try out art for stories I plan to make into freebies, but more often it's just for my own amusement. I'll print out a secret cover for my personal journal, the idea file or any notebook I've started on it, but otherwise no one ever sees it but me. I feel like I've made a million of these secret covers, too.

In the spirit of spontaneity, and (hopefully) me being a bit more transparent, here are the three latest secret covers I've made:



My sequel to In the Leaves, for the day when I can get back and write more of Sally's story. Definitely writing this one.



This cover is for some notes I found on a novella series I planned to write to continue the story from Frostfire (and alas, never got the chance.) It's unlikely that I'll ever write all five stories I outlined, but you never know -- and the ideas were really solid and fun.



I have a story sorta/kinda based on/partially set in/orbiting distantly the StarDoc universe that has been bouncing around in my head for a couple years. Lately I've been revisiting the idea while I drive around running errands, so I jotted down some notes and decided to make a cover for it. I have seriously mixed feelings about this one. I also have ten million excellent reasons to never revisit StarDoc in any way shape or form. This might end up being the novel that they only find after I'm deceased, along with the twenty-eight others no one has ever seen that I have hidden away. Kidding. There are only like seventeen.

Do you ever do weird stuff like this? Confess your secrets in comments.

Image Credits:

Far Seer -- massonforstock
Frenchman's Pass -- zacariasdamata
21 -- Molodec

New Cover Art

This is for the German edition of Frostfire; Kyndred #3, which will be released next fall. I've been delighted with every book they've done for me -- their artwork tends to be phenomenal -- but I think this is one of the best covers I've ever had, period.

Discoveries Week: Stephanie Tyler

The winner of the Discoveries Week: Shiloh Walker giveaway is:

Shrouded Heart, who can't wait to read Thea Harrison's Oracles Moon;

Shrouded Heart, when you have a chance please send your full name and ship-to address to LynnViehl@aol.com so I can get your prize package out to you. Thanks to everyone for joining in and making so many great March recs.

As much as I enjoy my Darkyn immortals, I think human characters can be just as much fun to write. Simone Derien, the female protagonist of Nightborn, is an extraordinary woman who wanted nothing more than an ordinary life of serenity and service at a French convent. To have it, she had to make a terrible bargain, but in the ten years since she's mostly forgotten about the price of her freedom. When a courier arrives at the convent with a message from one of the deadliest of Kyn assassins, Simone's promise comes due, and her quiet, peaceful life is suddenly gone forever.

While writing my Kyndred novels, I fell in love with other extraordinary humans much like Simone. No matter how powerful their gifts or heavy their burdens, the Kyndred always coveted most what the rest of us take for granted: our simple, ordinary lives. While we often admire and envy those who are exceptionally gifted, we rarely appreciate that deep down they're just like us, and want to be accepted and valued and loved for who they are, not what they do.

As one half of the Sydney Croft writing team, and author of her own Shadow Force and multiple SEAL novel series, Stephanie Tyler is already a very accomplished storyteller with wonderful range. This month she's debuting her first novel of the Eternal Wolf Clan, Dire Needs, a new paranormal romance series about the Dire Wolves, immortal shape-shifters battling an ancient enemy in the modern world. This story moves like lightning from the first paragraph, and has such vivid, wild characters that you're fully immersed in their dark and dangerous world within just a few pages. I think this is the most exciting debut series book being released this month, and definitely worth checking out.



Or you might win a copy from me, along with all four novels in my Kyndred series, an adorable stuffed pup named Scout, a writer's words mug from Author Outfitters, a black cameo edition of my BookLoop and some other goodies. If you'd like to win this bunch, in comments to this post name your favorite shifter book or series (or if you can't think of one, toss your name in the hat) by midnight EST tonight, Thursday, March 8, 2012. I will draw one name at random from everyone who participates and send the winner an unsigned copy of Stephanie Tyler's Dire Needs, signed copies of my Kyndred novels and the rest of the goodies. This giveaway is open to everyone on the planet, even if you've won something here at PBW in the past.

Charlotte Arrives

Nightshine, the fourth and final novel in my Kyndred series, is hitting the shelves nationwide this week.

This is probably one of the most unusual stories I've written in the dark fantasy/paranormal genre, but I had a lot of fun with it. I think those of you who have been following the Kyndred will be pleased with the wrap-up of the series.

A release day is one of the few times I ask my visitors to do something for me. I don't accept advertising or any form of compensation for Paperback Writer, so if you find my blog to be a useful resource, buying my book is a great way to say thanks. If money is tight right now, which I know it is for many of you, you can also show support by requesting a copy of my novel at your local public library.

To buy online, visit these retailers:

Books-a-Million
Barnes & Noble.com
Amazon.com

Coming Home

In a few months Nightshine, the fourth novel in the Kyndred series, will hit the shelves. Normally I would say that this is also the final book in the series, and as it happens I did wrap up as much as possible with the Kyndred in this story. But as I am currently back writing in the Darkyn universe again, who's to say what the future will bring? I have to leave it in the hands of the publisher and the readership.

I'm quite happy with what I got on the page while writing Nightshine. I had a lot of fun with the storyline, the cast and the world-building. As with the other books in the series it's definitely not the usual thing, but for all the exotic aspects involved in the story, writing it reminded me of how it feels to come home after a long road trip.

I don't think everyone should have to wait until November to read the book, though, so I've got a stack of Nightshine ARCs to give away today. If you'd like a chance to win one, in comments to this post name the title of a book you felt was a particularly satisfying reading experience (or if you can't think of one, just toss your name in the hat) by midnight EST on Saturday, July 16, 2011. I'll draw ten names at random from everyone who participates and send the winners a signed ARC copy of Nightshine (if you win and have not read the first three books in the Kyndred series, or would just like to have a matched set, I will send along signed copies of Shadowlight, Dreamveil and Frostfire as well.) I will also be including a Nightshine-inspired BookLoop in every winner's ARC. This giveaway is open to everyone on the planet, even if you've won something here at PBW in the past.

Sneak Peek

Here's a first look at the cover art for Nightshine, the fourth and final novel in the Kyndred series, which will be released on November 1, 2011.

Elsewhere

For a chance to win my latest giveaway, aka this lovely Fight Evil Read Books tote and all three Kyndred novels (signed by Yours Truly) you have to leave me now and head over toThe Romance Reviews, where the very nice folks there have posted an interview with me about Frostfire, the Kyndred books and some of my upcoming new releases.

This interview includes some stuff that I rarely talk about, and one thing I've never mentioned, so check it out before it ends up on WikiLeaks. I will also be stopping in to read comments, answer questions and generally be a pest.

You can find the interview here, and the contest page here. TRR will also be running the contest for the entire month of March. Which is also their Grand Opening month, so if you want to join the part, check out this page. and from the front page it looks like they're giving away all kinds of stuff, including a nice bunch of gift cards.

Elsewhere

Today I am also guest blogging again, this time over at Word Nerd, where I'll be talking about that little line from Frostfire that spooked me so much. My very kind hosts are also giving away this lovely Kyndred gift basket filled with a signed set of all three Kyndred novels, a mug, hot cocoa, teas, and nibblies:



Stop in if you have a chance and say hi.

Odd Times

In a short while I should hear how well Frostfire did with its release week sales. I have been asked if/where I think my novel might land on the lists, and that's a tough question. Shadowlight, debuted at #17 on the Times mass market, and Dreamveil made the extended list at #26, but that doesn't guarantee anything.

New release-wise, January has always been a lucky month for me, but most of the time titles that were released in December roll over onto the lists. I just took a look at the Times mass market, and nearly all of the listers are Big Names with huge bestsellers (very tough competition for yours truly.) There has been lots of positive buzz about Frostfire, and I know many of you have gotten your readers, family and friends to buy the novel, which I appreciate more than I can say. It's also the third novel in a series, and that's the point where you start losing new-to-you readers, so believe me, every sale helps.

Basically, though, I have no idea how well it will do. My non-psychic intuition tells me (in keeping with the other stuff that's already happened in 2011) that this book's performance is going to be odd. Odd-good or odd-bad, I can't say. Could go in either direction.

But we should have some fun with it, so let's have another Times Pool. In comments to this post, tell me if you think my novel Frostfire will make the NY Times mass market bestseller list. If you don't, simply put "no" (and you won't hurt my feelings if you vote no.) If you do, put "yes" and guess at what number it will appear on the list or the extended list (that would be a number between 1 and 30.)

Once the Times lists for the week of January 23rd are released (I believe that's the list I have a shot at), I will close the pool, announce how Frostfire did (or didn't) do, and award the person who guessed correctly a BookWish*. If more than one person posts the correct guess, I will put all of the names of those who are correct in the magic hat and draw one at random to be the winner.

This pool is open to everyone on the planet, even if you've won something here at PBW in the past.

*A BookWish is any book of your choice available to order from an online bookseller, up to a maximum cost of $30.00 U.S. (I'll throw in whatever shipping is involved.)

Lilah Arrives

Frostfire hits the shelves today, and one of my duties as its author is to tempt you into purchasing it.

If it were a car, I could pop the hood and invite you to admire its gleaming engine while I regale you with details of its many innovative features. I could point out the care with which I designed and built it, and mention some of the pleasures involved in taking it for a ride. For once even the exterior on this one is pretty neat (God bless the factory paint job people.) You won't find anything else like it on the market, I'd say, and it wouldn't be a lie. Too bad it's not a car.

Perhaps I could go for the emotional blackmail approach like James Patterson. I noticed he did another of those Buy my book or I'll kill my protagonist TV commercials during the holidays. It's true that novel royalties are my sole income, and healthy book sales assure that I remain employed, which is ammenable to you, yes? Okay, maybe not. I need to employ someone who no one will want to suffer, which isn't me . . . maybe the new puppy?

Not a hair on my dog's head will be harmed whether my book sells or not; let's just be very clear about that upfront.

But imagine little Skye looking up at you with her sad and beautiful dark puppy eyes, while a sign around her neck reads in wobbly lettering: Please, buy my human's book. She's so small and helpless and entirely dependent on me for buying her growth assistance food, paying for her vet visits and restocking her supply of toys. Only she's too busy playing tug-of-war with Cole and the stuffed toy candy cane that squeaks. I want to kill that candy cane; does that count? Probably not.

I could do the artist thing and talk about the novel's new world-building (Frenchman's Pass and the Ahnclann), the unusual characterizations (alternately dreamy and nightmarish to write), and how three of the cast constantly tried to steal the story for themselves. I could tell the story behind the dedication and the lucky dictionary thing between me and author Larissa Ione. Or mention that one, spooky line that came out of nowhere; so perfect and so unexpected and shook me up so much I actually had to stop writing for a couple hours so I could process what had just happened on the page. Like any writer, I'm certainly capable of boring you with all the details. Willing to? Not especially.

We'll just have to go with the standard. So:

My new book Frostfire is being released nationwide today. It's a book about the Kyndred, third in the series, but more of a standalone this time around. For those of you who liked Samuel Taske from Dreamveil, he's part of the story, as are Nick and Gabriel from the fourth Darkyn novel, Night Lost. If you have a bookstore gift card or some cash left over from the holidays, I hope you'll consider checking it out.

Or if that doesn't tempt you, look into these eyes:

Early Frostfire Redux

One of the ARCs I had reserved for the Forecast: Early Frostfire giveaway back in September remains unclaimed to date, and I've been unable to contact the winner. Rather than let it sit here and gather dust I thought I'd do another drawing for it (if I ever hear from the original winner I'll send a signed first edition as a replacement.)

In comments to this post, name the title of an upcoming release you're looking forward to (or if you're presently in a reading anticipation void, just toss your name in the hat) by midnight EST on Monday, November 29, 2010. I'll pick one name at random from everyone who participates and send the winner the unclaimed Frostfire ARC (which I will sign for you.) This giveaway is open to everyone on the planet, even if you've won something here at PBW in the past.

Sneak Peek

Here's an early look at the cover art for Frostfire, Kyndred book three:



Barring any unforeseen acts of the Publishing Gods, this one will be hitting the shelves on January 4th.

Winner

You've all been very patient while I've been offline getting my surprise ready, so let me first announce the winner of the Dream Retreats giveaway:

Eugenia Tibbs

Eugenia, when you have a chance please send your ship-to info to me at LynnViehl@aol.com, and I'll get this box out to you. Be careful picking it up when it lands there, too; it's a heavy one.

Now something for everyone else out there -- yes, I still have a surprise for every single one of you, even those of you who didn't enter the giveaway:



Just click on the cover art and you'll go to the page where you can read, download, print out and/or freely distribute my first free e-book and novella of the Kyndred, Rain Lashed.

Rowan Arrives

Today is the official release day for my novel Dreamveil, the second book in my Kyndred dark fantasy series, which means I am obliged to write a buy my freakin' book post.

We should have some fun with this chore, yes? Let's see, I've already done the ten reasons you should buy or request it list. I know:

Ten Things You Will Not Find in Dreamveil by Lynn Viehl

Angels or Demons. There is a restaurant in the setting that has an angelic name but no connection to the divine or the profane. I hear the food is pretty good, though.

Bite Scenes. Any nipping that occurs during the story is purely incidental and passion-spurred. Said nips do not actually break through any of the characters' skin surfaces, will not save anyone's life, destroy anyone's life or turn them into a blood-dependent immortal.

Brand name female designer clothing/shoes/purses/accessories: My protagonist is poor and couldn't afford them.

Cardboard Secondary Cast: I loved working with these talented imaginary people, but unfortunately all of them flatly refused to take a position by the nearest structure-support divider and make like the covering.

Genetically-altered superhuman villains: Alas, the only bad guys I could persuade to join in this time are strictly human.

Patricia Briggs. My protagonist reads her books, and does comment on them, but the author herself does not actually appear in the story.

Predictable Ending. I try not to do those. But: you already know this about me.

Rap music references: There's a single album title ref to flesh out my graffiti scene, but no real life rap artists were quoted or real buildings defaced during the mention of it.

Secret Babies. A pregnant character does appear briefly in the story, but everyone following the series already knows that baby. Wait, now that I think about it, there's another one but she doesn't actually appear in the story. Except in a flashback. That doesn't count. What?

Usual Suspects. In this novel there are no BDSM dungeons, condoms referred to as foil packets, female deities (wrathful or otherwise), girls cooing over each other's glittery hoohahs, intimacy marathons that last longer than 24 hours, mystical treasures of disturbing origin, pointless quests, shape-shifters who sprout fur, fangs or claws, swords of incredible power, troubling omens, underground or above ground portals to hell, vampire brotherhoods, we-must-have-sex-to-save-the-world scenarios, or weapons of mass destruction. Oh, and absolutely no dragons appear in the story at any time whatsoever (okay, there are a couple of tattoos. But that's all. I swear.)

Dream Retreats

Summer is just around the corner. In a couple of weeks the kids will be out of school, the days will stretch out long and lazy and I'll be shamelessly wallowing in picnics, beach days and cookouts -- which I need after this past seemingly endless winter.

For all those reasons summer is my favorite time of year, but especially because it's my season to read. No school = more spare time for me = extra hours to read. I can go to the bookstore or the library and not rush to make my selections. I can curl up with a novel and stay curled up. I never have a summer TBR; I constantly demolish it. I'm also in more of a mood to try new-to-me authors and genres I don't read that often.

When and where we read often has a direct effect on how much we enjoy reading. Certainly I'd rather be on a beach watching the waves roll in than sitting in a doctor's waiting room or being twisted into a pretzel by my physical therapist. Most of my time is spent at home, however, so I have reading nooks all around the house. My bathtub (I love to read when I'm soaking), the comfy but not-too-comfy sofa in my office, and a folding chair in the garage are popular reading spots.

My latest and favorite reading retreat is this corner of my back porch. Every morning and afternoon the pup and I are out here hanging out, watching the birds, enjoying the breeze and soaking up the peace and quiet. Since my guy screened in the porch we can be out here whenever we like and not have to worry about bugs and critters interrupting. All I need is to come out here with a cup of tea and my latest read (today it's Chimera by Rob Thurman) and I instantly relax. It's such a great retreat that I often do my editing out here, too.

I'd love to send you all a personal reading retreat, but the shipping would be outrageous (never mind trying to find a box big enough to fit it in.) However, I can send you something to kick off the summer reading season and enjoy: a fully-stocked retreat bag. If you'd like a chance to win this, in comments to this post tell us about your favorite spot to read (or if you're not that picky, just toss your name in the hat by midnight EST on Tuesday, June 1, 2010. I'll draw one name at random from everyone who participates and send the winner my dream retreat bag stocked with:

--Unsigned hardcover copies of A Secret Affair by Mary Balogh, The Endless Forest by Sara Donati and Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris

--Unsigned trade paperback copies of The Book of Unholy Mischief by Elle Newmark and Broken by Shiloh Walker

--Unsigned paperback copies of Cry Wolf by Patricia Briggs, The Hellhound King by Lori Devoti, Desire Unchained by Larissa Ione, The Fire King by Marjorie M. Liu, Scarlet by Jordan Summers, Chimera and Trick of the Light by Rob Thurman and Hard to Hold by Stephanie Tyler

--Signed paperback copies of Shadowlight and Dreamveil by yours truly

--Melissa Etheridge's new album on CD Fearless Love

--A cool blank journal to write in

--The Nature poet magnetic poetry kit to play with

As always, this giveaway is open to everyone on the planet, even if you've won something here at PBW in the past.

Support PBW Ten

Ten Reasons You Should Consider Buying (or Requesting) Dreamveil by Lynn Viehl

Alexandra and Michael from the Darkyn series make a cameo appearance in the book.

Everyone so far has been surprised by the ending. Seriously surprised. Well, not my editor or my agent, but they read the synopsis before the manuscript so they cheated.

How well this book does will have a direct effect on what novels I will be writing and publishing in 2011. If you like my dark fantasy, buying this one or requesting it at your library is an effective way to vote for more.

I finally caved in responded to many reader requests and this time included a French-English glossary in the back pages so that you'll know exactly what words like Écrase mean. Not that I'm saying Écrase to everyone who wrote and demanded a glossary. Dansant says it in the novel to Bernard. They're French. What?

It's shipping two weeks early, so you probably won't have to wait until June 1st to get a copy (and you don't have to wait; I've already hit the top twenty of the NYT mass market BSL twice so they aren't yelling at me about that anymore. But if you want to wait so that my release week numbers look stunning and my agent has to stop whatever she's doing and e-mail me when the Times list comes out, I won't argue.)

Recombinant DNA: it's a beautiful thing that inspired me but that I do not use as an info dump sledgehammer with which to club you throughout the story. Promise.

Rowan from Shadowlight is the protagonist; you'll also see more of Drew and meet Paracelsus and Taire. Originally I had not planned to make Rowan a protagonist until book three or four, but requests for more of her story came in such a flood after Shadowlight released that I decided to shift her novel to the number two spot in the series plan.

Sales from the purchase of the novel will provide much-appreciated income for my publisher, my agent and yours truly. I don't know what they do with their take, but among other things my share finances 100% of the things I do here at Paperback Writer (which is also why there are no ads in your face when you come here.)

The print novel is lightweight, highly portable, does not require batteries, a power cord, on-off switches or scroll buttons to operate. Simply open the cover and, like magic, the story begins. Alas, I can't say the same about the e-book, but since that now appears to be trapped in price-squabbling limbo, you might want to get the paperback.

There is an orange tattooed man wearing a wrinkled wife beater featured on the cover, but I personally guarantee that in the story he's not orange, wrinkly or a wife beater (disclaimer: he is tattooed, but his sleeves cover up the ink most of the time.)

Buy Dreamveil from my favorite online bookseller, Barnes & Noble.com

Buy Dreamveil from Books-a-Million.com

Buy Dreamveil from Borders.com

Buy Dreamveil from Amazon.com

Best of PBW 2009

Thanks to the economy 2009 was a tough year all the way around. Too many friends lost their jobs; too many businesses closed their doors (although I and a bunch of non-writer friends were able to help keep one from going under.) Publishing had more than its fair share of new problems along with the usual turmoil and squabbling. I don't think I'll be alone when I happily kick 2009 out the back door for good.

On the career front I had many blessings: wrote six books, sold rights to five, finished two novel series (Darkyn and StarDoc), began a new series (Kyndred) and am now working on a novel trilogy in a new-for-me genre that will debut in 2011. I'm grateful to my guy, my kids and my blogpals and visitors for helping me stay upbeat and focused on what's important.

Memorable moments from 2009: Cole joining the family, me joining Genreality, having a book rank in the Times BSL top twenty for only the second time in my career, photographing stuff for my year-long art project, PBWindow.

Unhappiest moments from 2009: not receiving the original, beautiful cover art I was shown for Rob's book, having eye surgery and the aftermath, having to give up LB&LI, nursing my kid through H1N1.

Weirdest Moment of 2009: No contest there, it was definitely discovering that a bird had nested in our grill.

My favorite PBW post of the year was Publishing 911, which also proved to be one of the most popular with everyone who stopped in during 2009.

The book that was the most useful to the writer me in 2009 was definitely Sage Cohen's Writing the Life Poetic. I hate to pick favorites in fiction, so I'll just say the most surprising novel I read in 2009 was Trick of the Light by Rob Thurman.

Some other fun posts from 2009:

January: Ten Things to Explain Why You Can't Update Your Blog

February: Ten Things Your Romance Novel Heroine Should Never Do, The 22 Immutable Laws of Publishing

March: Hate-Mail Fun, The RITA Drinking Game

April: Warning, Writing with the Stars

May: Cafe Temptation

June: The Seven Deadly Writing Sins, Writer Jeopardy, Ten Things I Hate about Your Antagonist

July: Phalluses and Fallacies, LBL&LI Virtual Workshop #5 -- Art Vs. Life

August: Mawked by Dawkness

September: What Goes Around, Ten Things You Probably Shouldn't Ask for During Contract Negotiations, The Promonator

October: Ten Chinese Cookie Fortunes, and What They Really Mean for Writers

November: The Last NanoPost, Ten Things That Appear in Your Novel, and What They Tell Me, Ten New Terms for Writer Woes

December: Ten Things I Don't Want for Christmas

2009 was my eleventh year working as a pro, and while a great deal has changed for every writer, too much in Publishing has stayed the same. I'm looking at 2010 as a year of opportunity for me and the industry, and I hope we're both up to the challenge.

What will you all remember from 2009? Let us know in comments.

Cover Art

Dreamveil, the second Kyndred novel and Rowan's story, will be out in June 2010.

Updates

According to my SF editor, Dream Called Time, the tenth and final StarDoc novel, will be released in August 2010.

The pitch for my third Kyndred book (title pending approval) has been accepted, and it will be a crossover Kyndred/Darkyn novel (and to avoid spoilers that's all I'm going to say about it for now), tentatively scheduled for release in late 2010.

Last but not least, I feel that the Shadowlight e-ARC experiment was a great success. I've never had a book place so high on the Times list, and I'm sure a nice chunk of my sales were due to the immediate response from my visitors and their help spreading the word about the book, which was simply outstanding. Here is the last round of reviews and write-ups that were sent in to me:

Amazon.com reviews: Margaret Fisk ~ Zeek ~ Nina Paules ~ C. Stone ~ C. Vandehey ~ Harriet Klausner

Amazon.com.uk/Margaret, also on The Book Depository

B&N.com reviews (the ones I could view): Margaet Fisk ~ Npaules ~ 4kidsmom ~ Debra_ Saturday ~ Nemhain ~ harstan ~ Zeek319 ~ lxz ~ CatsMeowAZ ~ Chad ~ Pandababy ~ Madonna_lily

The Drabbler/Robin

Erotic Horizon, also on Goodreads

Literaturely Speaking/Breia

Shiloh Walker

The Writing Playground/Danniele Worsham

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.