By "pub date" I mean, of course, the date of publication of your book, not an assignation you've set up at a local watering hole. Mind you, since my most recent book involves drinking–and not only at pubs, but also restaurants, serious bars, and at home as well as at the homes of others–it isn't really too much of a leap to mistake one pub date for the other. (The book's called Make Mine a Double and you can read about it here:
http://www.upne.com/1-58465-759-6.html
Having said all this, however, I've decided to offer some advice for new (or, as they are now called, "emerging") authors, who might not know how to handle the complex experience of seeing their own word in print and between hard covers.
Some writers see the hard work as only starting once the books themselves are finished. Writing, for many of us, is the easy part. The hard part is getting the book into the hands of a willing reader.
And so perhaps all authors are emerging authors: with every new work, we stick our necks out once again, waiting for the axe to fall or for the crown to descend. It's rare that either of these things happens, of course, and that's why the experience of publication is not as joyful, glamorous, or as easy as it might appear.
Here are some ways to take the pressure off yourself and your poor, wee, trembling, brand-new book:
1. Never Look At Your Numbers. You will not make it onto the Amazon Top Reads: accept this. Unless you have written the Bible, Twilight, or you are an offspring of Sarah Palin and have become pregnant, your book will not instantly ascend through the ranks to become a bestseller. Bestsellers are like aristocracy, insofar as they are made through lineage, patronage, and dynastic means. If you're Danielle Steele or Tom Clancy, your books are bestsellers. If you have written a lovely, interesting, original book, congratulate yourself and then do yourself a favor and block your own access to Amazon or any other site that ranks sales.
2. Choose your battles wisely. Don't argue with your editor, the publicist, the head of marketing, or the nice people in sales if you can help it. These folks might not be your best friends, but they aren't your enemies unless you make them into your enemies, and you'll do that at your peril. If your Aunt Kathy calls you to announce "I went to Costco and they never even heard of your book. Why isn't your book in your pile in the front of the store with all the other ones?" do not call or email everyone in the publishing house and demand to know why. Tell Aunt Kathy where she can order one from a local independent bookseller.
3. Aunt Kathy leads us right into this next point: everyone you know will expect you to give him or her a book. They think you get your copies for free, which you don't-not even if you self-publish. It's not that they are dying to read your prose; they just want to see what you've been up to. Most of these people (if your family is anything like mine) won't actually read the books you give them, and will sometimes glance at them only to offer criticism ("You look a little heavy on in that photograph on the back flap"; "Why didn't they put a pony on the cover? People like ponies.") Tell them it would help if they'd purchase a copy of their own and that you'd be happy to sign it.
4. Do not be surprised when they don't.
5. You're allowed to be proud of your work, but you can't torture people with it. You can't use your book as a weapon to make your old ex-friends feel jealous or your old ex-lovers regret the fact that they ever let you go. Well, you can't do this for more than three weeks, anyway.
6. Whenever you can manage it, enjoy yourself, have a laugh, and tell a funny story about the writing or publishing process. Remember what it was like to want to have a book published but not having a contract? That's how a lot of people feel: they are happy for you as long as you're not whining or complaining about what they perceive as your good fortune. While not every part of the publication process is part of a fairy tale (okay, almost none are), you should at least be able to get a good story out of it. If you can't, how on earth did you get published?
7. Be Proud of Your Fabulous Self. It's clear, isn't it? You did it. You wrote something good and now it's out there. That's an authentically big accomplishment and you deserve congratulations. Don't forget it.
**Bonus: Always have an answer ready for the question "And now, dear, tell us about what are you working on next..."
