What do you do after the book is published?

Hi all!

I thought I’d take some time to talk about what happens after the book is published.

First of all, I kind of hit the wall this past weekend. The combo of my husband’s health stuff plus pub week really flattened me, emotionally. I felt like I simply could not make one more decision or respond to one more email or worry about one more thing. So I spent the weekend mainly watching John Wayne movies. It’s something I do to relax, and I know I’m weird. (I also know John Wayne was a big ol’ racist and I hate that, but I also do enjoy his westerns.)

My husband left the house for the first time in 10 days to trail along with me at an art fair, too. Chicago has so many good art fairs and our favorite is the juried Old Town Art Fair. Over the years we’ve bought some beautiful pieces, although this year we were just looking. (Oh – and we had hellacious storms over the past week here, and I know so many in the Midwest were impacted. I hope everyone is safe, and ready to buckle back up because more are predicted this week.)

I had a couple of book events before I hit the wall, and they were fun! I got to meet Natasha Lester when we appeared together at Blue House Books in Kenosha, WI.

Then I reconnected with some of my old neighbors out at Anderson’s Bookshop in Naperville, IL.

I have another event, with my friend Renée Rosen, at The Book Stall in Winnetka, IL Tuesday, the 16^th. All event details here; I’ll be adding a few more over the summer.

So. After hitting the wall, what’s an author to do?

Worry, eat, worry, eat, worry.

How do we keep our book in the conversation? That’s the million dollar question these days. I try not to live too much in the land of “But it used to be THIS WAY!” but I’m only human.

In the olden days, I would have been on a pretty extensive book tour, usually starting the day after the book is published. But for the most part, authors are not being sent out on the road the way they once were. Of course, there are exceptions. But usually if an author tours these days, it’s mostly on her own dime and I decided to spend my own dime(s) on other things, like advertising. (Although as I said above, I will be adding a few more events in the future.)

The truth is, I’ve never had to spend my own money to promote my books before; I was a fortunate author in so many ways. But I have to now. We all do. The climate is simply so very different than it used to be. And that’s all I’m going to say about it.

So after that initial pub day bounce, the ball, as they say, is in our court, as authors. And we have to keep it bouncing somehow. We promote ads on FB, we keep reaching out to bookstores and libraries, we wave our hands and jump up and down to capture book club and reader attention. (WAVING HANDS – HERE’S A FUN PAGE ALL ABOUT THAT ON MY WEBSITE!)

We feel so responsible for any chance of success, more responsible than ever. Every author I know feels that stress. If I take a day off from social media I fear I’m losing ground. If a day goes by without a new reader review or mention on a blog, I worry about ever getting a contract again.

Eventually, we have to realize that there will always be one more thing to do, and that it’s not humanly possible to do them all. Someone very wise once told me that, and it helps me a lot. Eventually, we have to release our book to its fate and turn our attention back to writing another. Because that is still—despite all of the above—the only thing we can control, and the only thing that matters in terms of having a career.

I’ve shared I have a lot of ideas, and that I’m trying to circle around one or two to hone and polish and eventually, decide to write. But I also think it’s good for me to take some time off from worrying about my career. My husband and I had a lot of worries this past year and sometimes the brain just can’t take anymore.

I also find that it’s precisely when I’m not actively thinking about publishing or writing that I come up with my best ideas. Like yesterday, I was getting ready to go to the art fair when I had a flash of insight about one of these ideas. I was literally thinking about which shoes I should wear when a voice called out to me. Lord, all these voices in my head! If you love or know an author, understand that it’s not just one person you love or know. It’s an entire village, a carnival, a circus.

And it was a really great insight! So I’m going to be very mindful of shutting my brain down for a while, because I could use more of those creative, joyful Eureka! moments. They make me giddy.

They remind me why I wanted to be an author in the first place.

It’s funny; at my event with Natasha Lester someone asked us about our writing routines and we both said that we try to take daily walks where we force ourselves not to think about what we’re writing. And then, that’s when we get the biggest flashes of insight or answers to thorny structural problems.

I haven’t been able to take many walks these last couple of weeks. But that’s what I’m doing right now. I’m typing this and sending it and then putting on my walking shoes and getting in a nice walk before the next round of storms hits Chicago.

I highly recommend that you do, too.