7 things you can do to help.: seanan

7 things you can do to help.

Well, here we are. Late Eclipses [Amazon]|[Mysterious Galaxy] comes out in one week, exactly. If past trends hold true*, people will begin reporting sightings in the wild any day now. This will either cause me to clap my hands, cry, hyperventilate, or all of the above. Safe money is, as always, on "all of the above." And so here are seven things you can do to help with this book release!

7. Talk about the book. Are you excited that it's coming? Awesome. Are you excited about the series as a whole? Awesome. Do you plan to use Late Eclipses to fuel your world-buster canon? Rock on. Word-of-mouth is the best advertising there is.

6. Review the book. Do it on your blog, on Amazon, on Goodreads, wherever you feel comfortable. Reviews help more than almost anything else. (But please, please, do not send me copies of your Amazon reviews. I try to avoid that particular pitcher plant of pain.)

5. Loan copies of Rosemary and Rue to people you think might be interested. The first hit's free!

4. Do not poke at me with sharp, sharp sticks. I am a very thinly-stretched blonde right now, on account of book release and all, and I am neither fast to respond nor particularly well-suited to being jabbed at. Please, be gentle, and understand that right now, you're looking at a longer than normal response time.

3. I love fan mail, and I respond to everything I get, although it can sometimes take a while. Please don't get upset if I don't answer right away.

2. Also? Please don't ask for kitten pictures. Seriously.

1. And the number-one thing you can do to help Late Eclipses have a successful launch is...buy the book. Please, please, buy the book. During the first on-sale week if you possibly can, because that's the week that counts against all the bestseller lists. Making those lists is a long shot, but a girl's gotta dream, right? So if you're planning to buy the book, please, go out and do it. Let's see if we can hit the NYT.

If we do, I promise to faint.

(*Past trends may not hold true. Traditionally, early copies have been spotted at Borders, and I don't know whether Borders will be receiving any shipments of Late Eclipses. I actually dare to hope that my on-sale date may be accurate this time.)

dornbeast

February 22 2011, 22:51:21 UTC 6 years ago

New comment

If we do, I promise to faint.

If it makes any difference, I'd prefer that you either post something like "OMG OMG OMG NYT BESTSELLER OMG!!!" or call up a friend to squee at first.

seanan_mcguire

February 23 2011, 21:16:04 UTC 6 years ago

Deal.

drcpunk

February 22 2011, 23:14:09 UTC 6 years ago

I think three of the NYC Borders are closing, which is rather distressing, but I'm hoping the remaining ones will have it. I'd really prefer to buy it in the store.

re #2: Is it okay to ask you to pet teh kitties?

February 24 2011, 15:53:25 UTC 6 years ago

Of course. They have been petted!

Deleted comment

February 24 2011, 15:53:32 UTC 6 years ago

Yay!

kitrinlu

February 23 2011, 01:56:01 UTC 6 years ago

According to the Book Depository, my pre-order has arrived, and they'll be shipping it sometime in the next few days. No idea when it'll make it here, since the earthquake will have totally disrupted shipping in this neck of the woods, but I'm waiting impatiently.

February 24 2011, 15:53:48 UTC 6 years ago

Yay!

And I'm glad you're okay, with the quakes and all.

cassiopia

February 23 2011, 02:58:46 UTC 6 years ago

How do ebook sales count towards the bestsellers lists? Does buying the Kindle version during the first week count the same as buying a real book?

February 24 2011, 15:54:25 UTC 6 years ago

They count, but I'm not entirely clear on how. That is the realm of publishing math, in which but few are wise...

yellowblackhaze

February 23 2011, 03:42:58 UTC 6 years ago

I'll be getting this as soon as I can, hopefully Dymocks will come through as they have in the past and get this in before most of the other places in Melbourne.

February 24 2011, 15:56:35 UTC 6 years ago

Brilliant.

alicetheowl

February 23 2011, 04:47:25 UTC 6 years ago

I ordered it through my local independent bookseller, and recommended they start carrying your books. They called to let me know they listened, saw how well-received Feed was, and would start stocking it.

So that's a start. I'll be calling them to make sure my copy comes in, and I'll pick it up within the week. Yes, even though I already read it. I need a copy that'll withstand numerous devourings.

February 24 2011, 15:56:54 UTC 6 years ago

That makes me very happy. :)

6 years ago

biguglymandoll

February 23 2011, 04:54:14 UTC 6 years ago

Can't wait to buy the book - in fact, I have to buy two copies since I hooked my sister on them as well. Also, I've been lazy about reviews, but I will try to use this book as a good way to review the whole series and hype my readership on them all!

I've realized recently that my readership is largely Canadian. I haven't been to Canada since 1977, where I was attacked by geese and nearly lost in a peat bog. I don't know why that is...

February 24 2011, 15:57:09 UTC 6 years ago

Hooray!

Thank you so much. :)

idancewithlife

February 23 2011, 05:10:05 UTC 6 years ago

Well, cool. I can buy an epub through Penguin as my reading copy, and then will stop by OCH this weekend (if the snow actually doesn't get down to sea level) and get a paper first edition for my collection :-)

February 23 2011, 05:12:19 UTC 6 years ago

The book will not be available this weekend; release date is March 1st.

sirriamnis

February 23 2011, 05:47:07 UTC 6 years ago

Ok, podcasted about it. http://sirriamnicast.libsyn.com/geek-girls-rule-podcast-19

Hope this helps. Each podcast averages a couple hundred downloads.

February 24 2011, 15:57:19 UTC 6 years ago

Brilliant. You rock me.

fadedbluejeans

February 23 2011, 10:39:22 UTC 6 years ago

My copy has been on preorder at the bookstore where I work since the beginning of the year. Of course, since I live in Australia, I won't have it for another 2-4 weeks.

But, I'm reasonably certain that the sale counts from the moment the US supplier ships it(and it hadn't got to them yet when I checked today), so at least I'm adding to the tally.

We're out of copies of R&R at the moment, which is sad, but this is because when we got a couple of copies in two-three weeks ago it took me about three days to sell them, which is good, right?

I want this book so badly. It cannot get here soon enough.

February 24 2011, 15:57:43 UTC 6 years ago

It will be with you soon, and then you can know the joy of me KICKING THE CRAP out of Toby.

ladymurmur

February 23 2011, 16:36:15 UTC 6 years ago

Just this past weekend, had a conversation with the first (girl)friend I dealt...I mean loaned R&R to. It went something like "Can't wait!Can'tWaitCAn'tWAIT!" "IknowIknowIknowIknow!!!" with much bouncing. The boys looked at us a bit funny, then each (separately) asked if they could borrow the book. :-D

February 24 2011, 15:58:39 UTC 6 years ago

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!

Win.

lysystratae

February 23 2011, 21:31:35 UTC 6 years ago

I've had the paper and kindle versions on preorder for a while now; did you know you can't gift a preorder? I was going to send one to my ex, but I;ll just wait til it comes out and send it to him then :)

February 24 2011, 15:58:57 UTC 6 years ago

I did not know that!

Is B&N a trouble source?

jarissa

February 24 2011, 00:19:51 UTC 6 years ago

I tend to do most of my book acquisition through the local Barnes & Noble, as my only other option around here is Books-A-Hundred (well, they say "million", but the store doesn't have much selection and a hefty chunk of the inventory they DO have is religious in nature).

You're one of several fantastic authors who tend to include an Amazon link and a link to someone else, but not the B&N link. Is it because they fill the pre-orders any time they please? Are they taking more of the proceeds than any other seller? Are they carriers of an otherworldy voodoo curse which affects only creators? Do they have a secret lawyer contract with Wolfram and Hart? Do they not report your total sales numbers in time for the NYT calculations?

If they're doing you (and other authors) wrong, or even less than right, I will cheerfully move more of my book purchases to Mysterious Galaxy, and restrict my in-person purchases to stuff that's been out a good while. If they're normally as well-behaved as any other seller, I'll just continue to not pre-order books from them.

Thank you kindly!

Re: Is B&N a trouble source?

February 24 2011, 16:00:11 UTC 6 years ago

They're not a trouble source; their sales code is just a lot harder to manually update than Amazon's (which makes it blazingly easy). I link to MG, even though Borderlands is my local, because they have the program set up to, again, make it easy. When it's not easy, we don't do it. Sad but true.

I love B&N.

Whew!

groblek

February 24 2011, 05:40:15 UTC 6 years ago

I've already called our local bookstore to have them order a copy for me. :)

February 24 2011, 16:00:25 UTC 6 years ago

jane_dark

February 25 2011, 01:11:37 UTC 6 years ago

Seattle is generall very good about not putting your books on the shelves in advance. I think that the local Fred Meyer put ALH out a little early, and I admit I am tempted to go and see, but I am Being Very Good And Staying Right Here. But I've got my order in at Ravenna Third Place, and I'm putting in a Kindle order as well.