Well, here I am on the eve of the official release date of my first novel, "The Other Sister."
What a fascinating process it's been; turns out that the actual writing of a book ends up seeming like the smallest part of a protracted process of finding a publisher, working out the contract, undergoing editing, developing a cover design (not my area, thankfully), printing, publicizing, and, finally releasing the finished product. (Followed by more publicizing, and, hopefully, more printing!) In the flow of all this, you get to meet alot of smart, talented, and enthusiastic people who make the whole experience more fun.
The term 'release date' has always struck me as funny; as if the book is something we've been holding captive, restrained by its binding (haha). If that is the case, "The Other Sister" will be unleashed tomorrow upon an unsuspecting, but hopefully welcoming, public.
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The true nightmare of release dates, from a publicist point of view, is that the official release date might be March 1 but most of the box stores (B&N, Borders) list the release date as the END of that month (March 30) as a "buffer zone," in case something weird happens and the books aren't in their warehouse by March 1.
Where this becomes a problem is when authors try to set up signing events for early in the month and their local B&N says, "No, we can't do a signing on March 10 because our computer says the book isn't available until March 30 and I can't order it until it's available."
Then *I* get authors on the phone, panicking, and I have to assure them that as soon as the chain has the book in their warehouse (usually 2-3 weeks BEFORE the March 1 release date), the computers will be updated and everything will go off without a hitch for that planned March 10 signing.
Ugh. It's a mess.
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