So I’ve got a new book coming out. I may have mentioned it once or twice.
Authors can be an anxious bunch at the best of times but more so when they’ve a new title about to hit the shelves.
They’ve sweated over every word, they’ve laboured over every sentence, they’ve strained over every chapter. It’s taken months of blood and tears, of writing and rewriting and chopping and changing and slicing and dicing until, finally, the printed book is in their hands and about to be unleashed on the world.
The launch comes first. That’s when you sit in front of an audience, generally made up of people who know you but ‘proper’ readers are always welcome, and you talk about yourself and your book. They’re fun affairs, very relaxed, and the publishers generally provide free wine, which proves an attraction to friends and relatives who are fed up hearing you talk.
After that, the book’s out there on its own. Your baby, fending for itself with bloggers and reviewers, fighting for breathing room on bookshop shelves, desperate to be face out but often finding itself spine out, until the author or some gallant friends come along and fix things.
Worry lines
I’m sure there are authors who don’t give a tup’penny damn whether people like their books. They may be so certain that people will buy them that they can breeze through this process with a song in their heart and a confident smile on their lips.
I’m not one of them and I don’t know any authors who think that.
I worry. I mean, real worry. I even seek solace in whisky. Okay, I do that even when I’ve not got a book out.
Here’s what goes through my head …
Is it good enough?
Will they like it?
Will it sell?
Does it make sense?
Will it get good reviews?
Will it get ANY reviews?
Will it sell?
Is it too sweary?
Is it too violent?
Should I have taken that sex scene out?
Should I have kept the aliens/dinosaurs/vampires/zombies/superheroes/animated characters in?
And finally…
WILL IT SELL?
My sleepless nights began on Monday night. It’s now Wednesday. The launch is tomorrow.
Now, where’s that whisky..?
Devil’s Knock will be launched in Waterstones, Argyle Street, Glasgow at 7pm. Entry is free but we may charge a fee to get back out again! If you’d like to go, and you are most welcome, please phone the store on 0141 248 4814.
Caron Macpherson of Waterstones Argyle Street introduces Michael J. Malone and Douglas Skelton at the launch of ‘Crow Bait’ in 2014.
