The real scoop about authors & their finished books!

As some of you know, I got to hold a finished copy of The Cinderella Society in my hands this week. I wasn’t expecting to see it so soon, since it doesn’t officially hit shelves until April 13th, so it was a HUGE thrill to get my copy early!

How did I celebrate? Why, with pink cupcakes, of course!

Now, authors receive finished copies of their book as part of their contract. And while most people may think this is so we can give them away to our family and friends, this is generally not the case.

Especially for debut authors who are gearing up for signings. Like yours truly.

One of the first things the store manager for one of my signings asked me was “Will you have author copies with you just in case?” See, the thing is… as a new author, no one (including you) has any inkling about how many books you might potentially sell at a signing because you have no track record whatsoever. Ordering books for signings is always a crapshoot, but at your very first signing? It’s pretty much grasping at straws.

So rather than overordering to the extreme, they’ll usually order a respectable amount plus a little extra and then use author copies if the signing exceeds everyone’s expectations. Then they replenish your supply by ordering more after the fact. So my author copies? Yep, they’re going in my trunk and traveling around with me to the various signings I’ll be doing this spring.

And besides, we kind of hope our family and friends will support us by buying the book (I think my family has pre-ordered a dozen!).

But here’s the other thing most people don’t realize. Holding your book in your hands is a little bit like holding a newborn baby. You know it’s coming, but until it gets there, you really can’t anticipate how you’re going to feel. The range of emotions may be different, but let me assure you… they’re probably going to cover a wi-i-ide range.

To give you just one author’s example, here is how my own experience went.

9:15 a.m.
“Finished copies are here! OMG!!!”

10:00 a.m.
Intermittent giggling and joyful eating of celebratory pink cupcakes

11:00 a.m.
“Here you go, The Cinderella Society. Meet the keeper shelf. These are your new buddies. Go have fun, Pookie.”

12:00 p.m.
Gazing happily at keeper shelf and thinking how lovely it is that TCS has friends to play with

1:00 p.m.
“Wow. It’s amazing how much TCS looks like a real live normal book up there on my shelf. How cool is that?”

2:00 p.m.
“Erm, does TCS have to look *so* normal up there? I mean, it looks like ‘Ho hum, another book on the shelf’. But I *wrote* this book! And… and… it was HARD and stuff!”

And so it went. What I’ve gleaned from this is that I don’t think I’ll ever look at a book the same way again. In all the times I’ve ever browsed in a bookstore (and this is many much times), I’ve never really stopped to think about the fact that the book I’m reading back cover copy for was something another author slaved over for months, years, or even decades. I mean, how often do you look at a painting and think “I wonder what the artist went through to bring this painting into the world”, right? You just consider the end result and decide whether it appeals to you. Or at least I do.

Not anymore, Monty.

I’ve always appreciated good books, but the next time I’m in a bookstore, I’ll be appreciating them on a whole different level. Because I’ll be taking a moment to think about all the authors who worked so hard to create stories to entertain us and let us escape from our own troubles for a while. And blowing them a little air kiss for good measure.

Long live fiction! Huzzah!

Entry Filed under: Writing Life