It’s weird, sending your book-baby out into the world. It feels a bit like what parents must experience when sending their kids off to college for the first time, unsupervised, living independently, and in danger of falling in with the wrong crowd. Although, who am I kidding? I am happily child-free so I have no idea what that really feels like!
Either way, my debut novel The Love of My Other Life, having graduated from the high-school stage of agents and acquisition, is now entering the University of Publication – and is now out of my hands. And it’s honestly pretty wild to see it take on a life of its own.
This is happening in a number of ways:
1. My publisher revealed the cover on social media, and announced this, plus and launch date and e-book pre-sales, with a promotional video trailer! For those who haven’t already seen it on my social feeds, here’s the final cover, of which I talk about the creative/approval process in my previous post.
And the video trailer is absolutely gorgeous – totally gets the right vibe – and makes all this feel really real. Check it out on my Facebook page and make sure the sound is on, as the music is great too!
2. We’re in e-book pre-orders right now, until launch day on June 30. Which also means that ARC (advance reader copy) reviewers are currently devouring the galley they’ve been sent for free in exchange for an honest review. I consider these reviewers to be like Frosh/Fresher Week buddies, there to guide the newbies into their newly published reality. And the reviews are coming in hot on Goodreads! Check them out here. I’m so happy that readers so far seem to like my baby and are being very kind. I’m also aware that this could change after launch day, as non-ARC community reviewers tend to be less generous with their praise – and why shouldn’t they? They had to pay for their copy! So I’ll gratefully take all the good reviews I can get right now.
3. Some of these ARC reviewers, who are also book bloggers and social media bookish types, are also talking on their social feeds about the book being their latest review, and posting pictures of the cover. Which in turn is causing their followers to respond to the cover/blurb/review in their comments. Whole streams of conversation, all about my novel, without me even there! I can hardly get my head around that, it’s so exciting. Even when somebody comments, “IDK, doesn’t sound like my kind of book” I’m still thrilled that it even made it onto this stranger’s radar to comment!
Yes, my mind is truly blown by all these things that are happening beyond my control. I’m also told pre-orders of the e-book are “going really well” but my publisher is the gatekeeper of those numbers, so we’ll see how that turns out. I’m just happy anyone is reading, or buying, or reviewing it at all.
Thank you everyone! I’ll keep you updated.
CJ Connolly 