Beth Revis's Blog, page 63
December 27, 2010
How to Prepare for a Book Launch
There are *gulp* just a little over two weeks before ACROSS THE UNIVERSE is out. I mean...really out. Some of you have read ARCs, and your reviews have bolstered me and filled me with joy (many times as I'm reading them I'm thinking yesssssss, they get that point! Yay, they liked that twist!). But there's something oddly terrifying about the idea that soon it will be really out there. As in, people who have never heard of me at all might pick it up off the shelf...and might put it back there. People who I hated in high school might recognize my name and roll their eyes that the nerdy girl wrote a nerdy book (that one doesn't bother me that much, actually). People who I really like and admire might read it...and hate it. My friends might read it and hate it. My family might read it and hate it.
This is why I panic so much.
Backstory!
When I was 16 years old, I had a sweet sixteen party. Now, it was nothing elaborate. I wasn't in the "cool kid crowd" (shocker!) But I did invite about five or six of my closest friends, and we were going to do the exciting thing of eat pizza and watch movies.
And....no one came.
Dude, I was crushed. I mean, my friends all had good excuses. One got called in to work unexpectedly. One locked herself out of her house. One's car broke down. But fate or whatever made it so that on my sixteenth birthday, no one came to my party.
Which has totally given me a complex about parties ever since then.
I have never had a party since. Not really, unless you count my wedding (and one of my showers was crushingly short of attendees). Dude. I invited my parents to eat Christmas Eve supper at my house last week, and called them three times to make sure they were coming. My parents. I usually have tons and tons and tons of confidence, but when it comes to me + a party, all I get is self-doubt.
Here's where the relevance comes in!
...I have a book launch party in about two weeks.
*dies*dies*dies*
I'm not telling you all this because I'm fishing for compliments and reassurances. I tell you all this so that you know why I'm going crazy right now.
So, to make sure that someone actually comes to my party this time (because really? how could it be much worse than a zero-attendance rate on a Sweet Sixteen?) I've been wracking my mind for ways to promo the book launch party, beg family and friends to come, and berate strangers into accepting invites.
First: design things!
I made a poster to print and hang around town:
This took me a ridiculously long time to make.
And I also made invites to send to family and friends and people I was vaguely connected with and random strangers I'd berated into giving me their address and people who lived at least 100 miles within range of the book store. It was basically the same poster, but without a background, much smaller, and with specific directions of how to get to the bookstore. (PS: if you live near Forest City, NC, and/or are willing to go there, pop me an email and I'll send you an invite, too!)
Then I made up a gift basket:
Clicky to embiggen!
Contents of the gift basket:
Star mints, suckers, and gummies
Pin buttons
A metal bookmark that has moons and stars
A bright pinkish-purplish booklight
A "Reach for the Stars" Keepsake Box
THE AUDIO BOOK OF ACROSS THE UNIVERSE!!!!
Oh, did I forget to mention that I have the audio book of ACROSS THE UNIVERSE now?! BECAUSE I DO AND IT IS AWESOME AND I LOVE IT SOOOOOO MUCH. More on that later.
So: preparation for book launch. Posters? Check. Invites? Check. Gift basket? Check. I'm also going to work on refreshments...and, of course, Fireside Bookstore (which I adore and LOVE) are also doing the same things and making it even more awesome. And I'm working on the program: a short speech, a reading, and a Q&A session.
What do you guys think? Any ideas I should be incorporating into the book launch? What would you, personally, like to see at a book launch?
This is why I panic so much.
Backstory!
When I was 16 years old, I had a sweet sixteen party. Now, it was nothing elaborate. I wasn't in the "cool kid crowd" (shocker!) But I did invite about five or six of my closest friends, and we were going to do the exciting thing of eat pizza and watch movies.
And....no one came.
Dude, I was crushed. I mean, my friends all had good excuses. One got called in to work unexpectedly. One locked herself out of her house. One's car broke down. But fate or whatever made it so that on my sixteenth birthday, no one came to my party.
Which has totally given me a complex about parties ever since then.
I have never had a party since. Not really, unless you count my wedding (and one of my showers was crushingly short of attendees). Dude. I invited my parents to eat Christmas Eve supper at my house last week, and called them three times to make sure they were coming. My parents. I usually have tons and tons and tons of confidence, but when it comes to me + a party, all I get is self-doubt.
Here's where the relevance comes in!
...I have a book launch party in about two weeks.
*dies*dies*dies*
I'm not telling you all this because I'm fishing for compliments and reassurances. I tell you all this so that you know why I'm going crazy right now.
So, to make sure that someone actually comes to my party this time (because really? how could it be much worse than a zero-attendance rate on a Sweet Sixteen?) I've been wracking my mind for ways to promo the book launch party, beg family and friends to come, and berate strangers into accepting invites.
First: design things!
I made a poster to print and hang around town:
This took me a ridiculously long time to make.
And I also made invites to send to family and friends and people I was vaguely connected with and random strangers I'd berated into giving me their address and people who lived at least 100 miles within range of the book store. It was basically the same poster, but without a background, much smaller, and with specific directions of how to get to the bookstore. (PS: if you live near Forest City, NC, and/or are willing to go there, pop me an email and I'll send you an invite, too!)
Then I made up a gift basket:
Clicky to embiggen!
Contents of the gift basket:
Star mints, suckers, and gummies
Pin buttons
A metal bookmark that has moons and stars
A bright pinkish-purplish booklight
A "Reach for the Stars" Keepsake Box
THE AUDIO BOOK OF ACROSS THE UNIVERSE!!!!
Oh, did I forget to mention that I have the audio book of ACROSS THE UNIVERSE now?! BECAUSE I DO AND IT IS AWESOME AND I LOVE IT SOOOOOO MUCH. More on that later.
So: preparation for book launch. Posters? Check. Invites? Check. Gift basket? Check. I'm also going to work on refreshments...and, of course, Fireside Bookstore (which I adore and LOVE) are also doing the same things and making it even more awesome. And I'm working on the program: a short speech, a reading, and a Q&A session.
What do you guys think? Any ideas I should be incorporating into the book launch? What would you, personally, like to see at a book launch?
Do You Live Near or In Western NC?
If you're not too far away from Forest City, NC, email me your address and I'll send you an invitation to the book launch party on January 11!
December 24, 2010
Starry Christmas
[image error]
Used under the Creative Commons license:
credit to badastronomer.
Flying at Night
Above us, stars. Beneath us, constellations.Five billion miles away, a galaxy dieslike a snowflake falling on water. Below us, some farmer, feeling the chill of that distant death, snaps on his yard light, drawing his sheds and barnback into the little system of his care.All night, the cities, like shimmering novas, tug with bright streets at lonely lights like his.
Ted Kooser
Used under the Creative Commons license:
credit to badastronomer.
Flying at Night
Above us, stars. Beneath us, constellations.Five billion miles away, a galaxy dieslike a snowflake falling on water. Below us, some farmer, feeling the chill of that distant death, snaps on his yard light, drawing his sheds and barnback into the little system of his care.All night, the cities, like shimmering novas, tug with bright streets at lonely lights like his.
Ted Kooser
December 22, 2010
Newsletter!
I'll be sending out a newsletter soon--if you want to check it out, feel free to sign up! It is over there--->>> in the side bar.
This month's newsletter is a bit of a repeat of lots of news here (so my non-regular readers can catch up), but I will be including a hint about the prize for the next contest, as well as my recommended read, and more.
Also: next newsletter will be more awesome. I'm still getting a hang of this newsletter thingy.
Edited to add: Newsletter went out! Clicky here to read, if you want to.
This month's newsletter is a bit of a repeat of lots of news here (so my non-regular readers can catch up), but I will be including a hint about the prize for the next contest, as well as my recommended read, and more.
Also: next newsletter will be more awesome. I'm still getting a hang of this newsletter thingy.
Edited to add: Newsletter went out! Clicky here to read, if you want to.
December 21, 2010
Because Blogger, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube aren't enough...
I thought I'd try out Tumblr. It may not be my thing, but I thought it might be nice to have a place to post short things, like pics or writing quotes I like. Just trying it out for now, but people do seem to like it.
So, yeah. Now I tumbl.
So, yeah. Now I tumbl.
YouTube review of AtU!
OK, I promised myself I'd never spam you guys with reviews (if you want to read some, you can click here or the link on my sidebar), but I just saw this one done on YouTube, and I'm a sucker for video reviews, and I think she did a great job of summing up the book, and oh, I just had to share!
Maildrop of DOOM
And so today I went to the post office.
First, I had to pack everything up--but I wanted to show you the scope of everything, but the dog didn't want to cooperate.
The big black hole around the envelopes is my dog.
He was NOT moving for something as simple as 100 pieces of mail.
Fortunately, I've got a HUGE bag that actually fit all the packages in it. I think the bag is actually a TARDIS--bigger on the inside.
This bag amazed me.
And then off to the post office! Now several of you expressed concern that I'd be in line for hours. But no! You are mistaken! My post office is teeny-tiny. Only the last third of the building is the post office. The other two-thirds of the building are actually just store-fronts, I think. They're boarded up. It is, perhaps, a passage to Hogwarts. I must go tap some bricks.
This picture was taken from my car.
I live in such a small town, I can stop in the middle of the street and take pictures.
I adore my post office it's really old--with a sign in the front to tell you about it.
And the inside is tiny and cute, too, with those really old-fashioned PO Boxes (mine is #27).
This is the entirety of the post office--I'm standing in the far corner as I take this picture. It's deep enough to support a line of about three or maybe four people in front of the window. I should have taken a picture of the window--it's frosted with old-timey gilt lettering.
And that was my postal adventures for the day! One hour and one hundred packages later, and I left feeling very much like Santa!
First, I had to pack everything up--but I wanted to show you the scope of everything, but the dog didn't want to cooperate.
The big black hole around the envelopes is my dog.
He was NOT moving for something as simple as 100 pieces of mail.
Fortunately, I've got a HUGE bag that actually fit all the packages in it. I think the bag is actually a TARDIS--bigger on the inside.
This bag amazed me.
And then off to the post office! Now several of you expressed concern that I'd be in line for hours. But no! You are mistaken! My post office is teeny-tiny. Only the last third of the building is the post office. The other two-thirds of the building are actually just store-fronts, I think. They're boarded up. It is, perhaps, a passage to Hogwarts. I must go tap some bricks.
This picture was taken from my car.
I live in such a small town, I can stop in the middle of the street and take pictures.
I adore my post office it's really old--with a sign in the front to tell you about it.
And the inside is tiny and cute, too, with those really old-fashioned PO Boxes (mine is #27).
This is the entirety of the post office--I'm standing in the far corner as I take this picture. It's deep enough to support a line of about three or maybe four people in front of the window. I should have taken a picture of the window--it's frosted with old-timey gilt lettering.
And that was my postal adventures for the day! One hour and one hundred packages later, and I left feeling very much like Santa!
December 20, 2010
Contest Prizes Packed and Ready to Ship!
WHEW!
Well, my label maker failed me, and I ended up printing out everyone's addresses on the prizes by hand, which delayed me a bit, but I finished up tonight, and will post pictures tomorrow.
And--you guys are awesome. I was overwhelmed by the number of people who participated! Originally, I thought I'd be able to send everyone a little something, even if it was just a postcard...but within the first day you guys went through more postcards than I'd had printed! I was able to sneak in a few extra prizes, though, so...
How about some statistics:
At least one person from all 50 states entered the contest49 countries entered
Top ten most entries came from (in order):1. California2. Canada3. Texas4. North Carolina5. New York6. Michigan & Florida (tied)7. Australia8. Pennsylvania9. Illinois10. The United Kingdom (all countries represented!)
The Grand Prize went to someone in the US1 ARC Watch Prize went to South Africa3 ARC prizes went to other foreign countries12 smaller prizes went to foreign countries
It was so surreal to be filling out the envelopes and see names I recognized--at least a dozen bloggers whose blogs I've been with or who I've conversed with on Twitter. One of the winners was someone I knew personally--a friend from college who I've not seen for at least five years and had no idea she even knew I had a book coming out (hi Amber!).
It was even more surreal to see names and places that I had no idea people even knew who I was. In some cases, it brought back memories--I'd been to Switzerland and France and (ironically) stayed on a street nearby one of the London winners when I did my study abroad. The foreign envelopes were so much fun to fill out--my favorite was one of the winners' addresses from Sweden--I got to make all sorts of funny accent marks on the letters and it just made my day! And it was so weird to see that mulitple entries came from countries where I've not sold yet--China, Barbados, Herzegovina, Slovakia (a winner came from here), Macedonia, Malaysia. And it was especially neat for me to see that FIVE people entered from the Netherlands--I know one of them (hi Corrine!) but not the other four!
This was SUCH a blast. I'm actually glad I didn't get the label maker to automate the labels and I was able to hand-write all the addresses. It was so much fun writing down the addresses and imagining each one whizzing off to a far corner of the world. I'd smile when I got to another California or Texas (I think these two had the highest percentage of winners; ironically, of the top ten most entered places, North Carolina had the fewest winners). The person with the longest name of all--it took up two whole lines on the envelope--was from Puerto Rico, and I spent a good five minutes trying to pronounce the name.
Right now, I can't wait to see my small local post office worker's face when I show up with two laundry baskets full of mail going all across the world and the US!
Well, my label maker failed me, and I ended up printing out everyone's addresses on the prizes by hand, which delayed me a bit, but I finished up tonight, and will post pictures tomorrow.
And--you guys are awesome. I was overwhelmed by the number of people who participated! Originally, I thought I'd be able to send everyone a little something, even if it was just a postcard...but within the first day you guys went through more postcards than I'd had printed! I was able to sneak in a few extra prizes, though, so...
How about some statistics:
At least one person from all 50 states entered the contest49 countries entered
Top ten most entries came from (in order):1. California2. Canada3. Texas4. North Carolina5. New York6. Michigan & Florida (tied)7. Australia8. Pennsylvania9. Illinois10. The United Kingdom (all countries represented!)
The Grand Prize went to someone in the US1 ARC Watch Prize went to South Africa3 ARC prizes went to other foreign countries12 smaller prizes went to foreign countries
It was so surreal to be filling out the envelopes and see names I recognized--at least a dozen bloggers whose blogs I've been with or who I've conversed with on Twitter. One of the winners was someone I knew personally--a friend from college who I've not seen for at least five years and had no idea she even knew I had a book coming out (hi Amber!).
It was even more surreal to see names and places that I had no idea people even knew who I was. In some cases, it brought back memories--I'd been to Switzerland and France and (ironically) stayed on a street nearby one of the London winners when I did my study abroad. The foreign envelopes were so much fun to fill out--my favorite was one of the winners' addresses from Sweden--I got to make all sorts of funny accent marks on the letters and it just made my day! And it was so weird to see that mulitple entries came from countries where I've not sold yet--China, Barbados, Herzegovina, Slovakia (a winner came from here), Macedonia, Malaysia. And it was especially neat for me to see that FIVE people entered from the Netherlands--I know one of them (hi Corrine!) but not the other four!
This was SUCH a blast. I'm actually glad I didn't get the label maker to automate the labels and I was able to hand-write all the addresses. It was so much fun writing down the addresses and imagining each one whizzing off to a far corner of the world. I'd smile when I got to another California or Texas (I think these two had the highest percentage of winners; ironically, of the top ten most entered places, North Carolina had the fewest winners). The person with the longest name of all--it took up two whole lines on the envelope--was from Puerto Rico, and I spent a good five minutes trying to pronounce the name.
Right now, I can't wait to see my small local post office worker's face when I show up with two laundry baskets full of mail going all across the world and the US!
December 16, 2010
Ask Me Anything
After discussing it on Twitter, I decided to try this out...
Some of you may have noticed that I have a FAQ on my website. And...er...it's kind of lame. Because the Frequently Asked Questions are, for the most part, questions I made up to fill out the FAQ.
So I thought--are there any questions you want to ask?
Some of you may have noticed that I have a FAQ on my website. And...er...it's kind of lame. Because the Frequently Asked Questions are, for the most part, questions I made up to fill out the FAQ.
So I thought--are there any questions you want to ask?
December 15, 2010
Bookanista Feature: Franny Billingsley's CHIME
The Bookanistas are a group of writers - in various stages of the publishing process – who have decided to band together and review the special books of our peers. No negative reviews here! We post every Thursday and cover various topics– upcoming ARCs, books we love, special diamonds in the rough, classics, and even cover reviews.Here is a list of the Bookanistas: Christina Fonseca, Jamie Harrington, Michelle Hodkin, Kirsten Hubbard, Shelli Johannes-Wells, Myra McEntire, Shannon Messenger, Bethany Wiggins and Suzette Saxton, Beth Revis, Lisa and Laura Roecker, Sarah Frances Hardy and Katie Anderson, Scott Tracey, and Carolina Miller
CHIME by Franny Billingsley
I read this book out of desperation. Seriously. I didn't intend to read it at all. It didn't seem like "my" kind of book--the cover looks a little angsty, and the back description didn't hook me. But a friend pressed it into my hands after she heard that I'd run out of books to read on an airplane trip (I'd only packed one book, and should have packed three), and she insisted I would love CHIME.
And damn was she right.
CHIME is gorgeous. It's rich and vivid in language and description, it's brilliantly crafted in plot.
CHIME is one of the best books I have ever read in my life.
Seriously.
I'm not talking about this year. I'm talking about EVER.
Reasons why I loved CHIME:The magic is dark and twisted and scary, but vividly realistic
The main character, Briony, is riddled with guilt, but rightfully so--but she's not angst-ridden or stupid or even self-hating. She accepts that what she did was wrong, and she strives to make up for it.
The love interest is a genuine love interest. Their relationship starts as a friendship and develops over MONTHS of talk and mutual attraction. This isn't silly I-love-him-because-he's-hot. This is what true love is.
There is sacrifice. There is GREAT sacrifice. Not everything ends with a shiny bow on top, and the story is so much more real because of it.
This book reads like a Grimm fairy tale. Not like a Disney one. There is a difference.
The language is just amazing. Voice exudes from the pages. You can absolutely picture the entire world just from the dialect of the writing.
The plot is twisty, but solvable. The ending doesn't come out of left field, but it's something you have to think about, too.
The book requires your focus--but you will enjoy giving your undivided attention to it.
CHIME will haunt you in the way all good stories haunt you, hovering around and poking at your conscious long after you close the cover.
CHIME is one of the few books that I would unreservedly present to someone. It needs no corollary. It simply IS one of the best books I've read.
*~*~*~*
Other Bookanista Features Today:Kirsten Hubbard celebrates JOHN BELUSHI IS DEAD and THE MOCKINGBIRDS
Elana Johnson gives a little love to JOEY FLY 2: PRIVATE EYE
Beth Revis chimes in on CHIME
Lisa and Laura Roecker rave about BOOKS THEY'RE DYING TO READCarolina Valdez Miller looks ahead to JANUARY RELEASES
Bethany Wiggins fawns over Firelight
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