Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire

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Fifty days. How time does fly.

(Real quick: g33kboi, this is my last call. You have won an ARC of A Local Habitation. If I do not receive email through my website "contact" link with your mailing address by bedtime tonight, I will give your prize to someone else. For serious.)

As of today, we are fifty days away from the official release of A Local Habitation [Amazon]|[Mysterious Galaxy]. (Of course, if Rosemary and Rue is anything to go by, we're actually about thirty-five days away from my hysterical meltdown in the Borders near my office.) If I had a penny for every day remaining before the official release, I wouldn't have enough to buy myself a cup of coffee. I would have enough to make a penny roll, though, which is always soothing. I like penny rolls.

Rosemary and Rue [Amazon]|[Mysterious Galaxy] was my first book. It taught me a lot about marketing, pre-release crazy, post-release crazy, going crazy from good reviews, going crazy from bad reviews, living by my own rules regarding engaging reviewers and trying to explain myself, hyperventilating when I see my book on shelves, and trying to look nonchalant when I really just want to be screaming "I WROTE A BOOK OH MY GOD YOU GUYS LOOK LOOK LOOK YOU CAN TRADE MONEY FOR GOODS AND SERVICES AND THE GOODS AND SERVICES ARE MY BOOK!!!" while jumping up and down and providing expository hand gestures. It was, in short, a learning experience, and while I'd like to claim that it has left me a calm and mature author, prepared for anything, the fact of the matter is this:

I am so totally going to cry the first time I see A Local Habitation on the bookshelf. And then I'm going to call Vixy and make shrieky bat-noises until she talks me down from my happy hysteria. Because that's just how we roll around here.

I only have one convention between now and book release—Conflikt, in Seattle—and unlike last year, I'm not the Guest of Honor, which means that I have time to breathe. Of course, I have a convention immediately after the book is released (Consonance, in Santa Clara), but again, not Guest of Honor, just Head of Programming, so I'll be able to stop and stick my head between my knees every once in a while. This is A Very Good Thing, especially since, once A Local Habitation is safely out, I'm going to be putting on my Mira-pants and going immediately into freaking out over Feed.

Fifty days. A year ago, I was worried that no one would like Toby, that she'd just disappear into the urban fantasy jungle and never be seen again. Now I'm worried about not letting people down, and whether they'll still like Toby now that she's a little more comfortable with her new apartment.

Fifty days.

Wow.
Tags: a local habitation, busy busy busy, math is awesome, toby daye
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  • 42 comments
I am really, really so truly happy for you :-D
I'm happy and hysterical. Fun for the whole family!

sheistheweather

7 years ago

I keep on staring at the Pre-Order on ALH on Amazon. So sooooon!


Here's an author question for you - does it make any difference to you as an author if someone buys your book as a paperback or on Kindle? Does it affect your numbers, your royalties, etc?
That's a big and complicated question. What it comes down to, superficially, is "not really." A sale in a brick-and-mortar store is better than a sale through Amazon, if only because it encourages them to re-order, but I get roughly the same "amount" on both Kindle and physical books.

Kindle saves my publisher the cost of producing a book, but also means the physical book isn't produced, which reduces the size of the print run. It's so confusing. I spend a lot of time confused.

In conclusion: OMG KITTY!

all_ephemera

7 years ago

seanan_mcguire

7 years ago

How FANTASTIC is all this? :D Just don't forget to BREATHE, OK?
I have long since forgotten!
In a similar vein to the question above, I've preordered from Amazon, but is there somewhere to buy your book that's better for you...cuz preorders cancel easy, I'd buy it anywhere.
:)
If you have a local bookstore, especially a small, independent local bookstore, you should always buy there if you possibly can. Just because we like keeping small, independent local bookstores in business.

Otherwise, a book is a book.
Oh, yeah, been meaning to ask.

Which is better for how your sales show - buying a physical copy of the book, or buying the e-book?

Most of what I buy is on the iphone kindle these days, as I don't have a local bookstore that stocks the books I want that has hours where they are open when I can get to them, and I hate waiting for books to arrive when I buy them on Amazon (not impatient at ALL, no not me). But if physical sales mean more than electronic sales, will just get hard copy.
Right now, they mean about the same. Get whichever will make you happier.

tikiera

7 years ago

seanan_mcguire

7 years ago

YAY You!

I will be heading to a brick-and-mortar store in your honor to get ALH...and try not to gush to EVERYONE IN THE STORE that "I know this author personally...errrr...well kinda personally...online...but not stalkerish online...I mean online in a good way...."

Penny rolls remind me of my grandmother from Superior, WI, who used to bring my sisters and me two penny rolls each when she came to Phoenix, AZ for Christmas. She was the first person I ever heard use the term "rubbers" too...but she meant those rubber overshoes she wore to keep her real shoes clean and dry.
Feel free to gush, and let me know if they need bookmarks.
Was in the Redwood City Public Library this morning. There on the shelf was a copy of Rosemary and Rue =)
Squee!
So excited! We finally get redacted for spoilers! I mean ... book 2!
So excited to go back to the bookstore for another Seanan-book! And I like coin-rolls too; putting them together is meditative; everyone thinks I'm nuts, though, since my credit union has a spiffy coin-machine that would do all the work for me.

AngelVixen :-)
My only problem with coin rolls is the looooooong period, post-rolling, wherein I am too damn lazy to take them to the bank.

angel_vixen

7 years ago

Hooray! I look forward to hanging out with Toby some more when the new book comes out!
Glee. :)
Yay! This means I can get the book before I head to Japan! I'll have read it long before we leave, too. Personally, I hope to find it at the Exchange again, because that will hopefully mean that I'll still be able to get any further books at the Exchange, as well, even overseas! *waiting anxiously for the new book to come out* I can't wait to get my greedy little hands on it. :)
That means you can read it twice. Yeah. That's it.

l_l_u_w_d

7 years ago

As someone who got to go "Hey, cool, I know that person" when seeing your book on the shelf, I can only imagine what your reaction is upon seeing your own work.

Rock. :D

Also, remembering to breathe is good. Ambulance trips are bad, unless you're the one who gets to drive. ;)
Mostly one of vague unreality. I keep waiting to wake up.
Toby is our darling. You don't need to worry (although you likely will, anyway, because that is the fate of the published author.)
I'm good at worrying!

deakat

7 years ago

People will not be let down.

People will be pleased.

I have faith.

I will trust in your faith, my dear.

paradisacorbasi

7 years ago

I very much look forward to your squeaky bat-noises. :D
Good, 'cause they're non-optional.
Maybe you have already seen this, and if so, I apologize. If not, well, I thought of you when I read this:

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/992776/jumping-jellyfish-leaps-aboard-boat
YAY FLYING JELLYFISH!

Great Pumpkin bless Australia.
Are you going to have signed copies available at Consonance, so I can get Stone Dragons to pick one up for me? Pretty please with chainsaws on it?
No.

I don't do direct sales of any of my books, because if I attempted to do so, I might actually catch fire. They can be purchased at bookstores, and I'm happy to do signings, but I won't have any for sale-by-me.