Searching for the Perfect Pub Date and Happy Beltane!

May 01, 2016


Okay, the date for Crimson Death has changed again to October 11, 2016. I’m 99.999% sure that is the final on sale date. My editor at Penguin Random House told me days ago that they were changing the date so I could announce to all of you before they put it up on line. Media Minion Jess and I had a great idea to do a sort of Alton Brown explanation with a white board and props, but I’ve been trying to actually finish writing Crimson Death. So the cool announcement didn’t get made on our end. Jonathon says that we’ll make it on Monday if we want to try to do the cool props and such. If I’m still writing furiously on Monday then maybe that won’t happen until after this book is complete and the fun video will be more a “how this part of publishing” works. Until I was a bestseller and hitting #1 on a semi-regular basis I had no idea that a publisher plans placement of a “big book” like a general plans a battle. What other big books are coming out at the same time? What other books that are similar are coming out and when? The Publisher’s reps talk to the bookstores about physical placement in the stores. If the author is doing a tour, especially a big one, what other authors are on tour and what stores are they doing? We routinely follow each other around the country on tour just like musicians follow each other, and for many of the same reasons. That’s just a few of the considerations that go into picking a release date for what the publisher calls a “big book,” which seems to mean a book that they think will sell lots of copies, have a chance to hit #1 on The List, and has a wide audience appeal.    
Also, this blog is going up on May 1st which is May Day, or Beltane. Think of it as Wiccan Valentine’s Day except without a saint having to give up his life to name the holiday. So Merry Beltane, everyone! Sadly, Hallmark does not have a card for this holiday. Wiccans’, and most pagan faiths, have eight major holidays a year – eight! Think of all the cards we’d send and merchandise we’d buy if corporate America embraced us as viable consumers. But I think that is a blog for another day. May the day be full of joy for you and everyone that you love in your life! That includes yourself, because love begins in your own heart and then spreads outward.

9 thoughts on “Searching for the Perfect Pub Date and Happy Beltane!”

  1. But do you really want pagan holidays commercialized like Christian holidays?

  2. Imagine there’d be quite a hubub about ethically sourced paper and images getting proper clearances and such. The three-fold rule can sometimes take a good idea and make it bite you in the bum.

  3. Ouch! And here I thought it just might come out before my vacation so I could bury myself in a new read for the whole time.

    Bull-cookies!

  4. What a beautiful picture. I saw it and smiled. Thank you. Blessed Be. Excited about the next book. Thank you for all you do.

  5. Boooo! I was so excited to read Crimson Death next week. But at the same time glad that I have a bit more time to reread the books again for the fourth time. And maybe, just maybe, I’ll have my own book out at that time too. Super excited.

  6. Damn! This was going to be the big treat for getting through finals and papers and pre grad school orientation!! 🙁

  7. I really hope this is it. Hard getting psyched to read it, only to have the rug pulled out….not once postponing to Sept, but twice with October. I know it’ll b a good one for sure with this long a wait. Keep up the good work. Patiently awaiting next Merry Gentry as well.

  8. I am so excited. You are truly one of my fav indulges in life. When I get to read your latest novel, I am psyched. I sound like a loony but I don’t care.
    I recently just started responding to your blogs and anti blogs, just so you know I’m another Super fan…,
    Anyways, please keep the Blake and Gentry series going!!! I a mother of 6 and work full time as a behavior tech for autistic children, so when I say you are a delicacy in my life, I truly mean it. Thank you for your brilliant and ever evolving psyche.

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