tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30897652.post4455336552039418697..comments2024-03-27T15:44:43.564-08:00Comments on What Do I Know?: Proud Parents Push Daughter's BookStevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10498066938213558757noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30897652.post-15723865302583841872015-08-14T09:23:00.639-08:002015-08-14T09:23:00.639-08:00Ellen, no, no, I like all the detail. It offers in...Ellen, no, no, I like all the detail. It offers insight into publishing and raises a question about the business ethics of Amazon. Like, are the agreements that list release date contracts or just requests? And is Amazon so large it can ignore them with impunity?<br />In any case, congratulations on the sales. Our local library doesn't have it - understandable if the pub date is Aug 29. But they don't have your earlier book either. So I'll have to put in a request.Stevehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10498066938213558757noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30897652.post-62395851438274136342015-08-12T10:58:24.370-08:002015-08-12T10:58:24.370-08:00Steve,
Thank you for opting for a library loaner f...Steve,<br />Thank you for opting for a library loaner for my book, LANDFALL. While I don't discourage sales -- for I like income as much as the next person -- I also spent much of my youth in libraries and think they are one of our greatest national resources, so I appreciate you for frequenting and supporting them!<br /><br />As for the pub date .... well ..... that HAS caused some confusion (for us all).<br /><br />When my publisher acquired LANDFALL almost exactly a year ago, we picked Aug 29 as the pub date to work toward -- as that is the exact day that Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans ten years ago. However, the publisher's national distributor (Legato, a division of PGW/Perseus) has a single pub date each month for all titles releasing nationwide. For August 2015 titles, that was August 11. Because we liked the synchronicity of the book LANDFALL releasing on the say the storm made landfall, however, we continued to advertise it as such. <br /><br />But then it got even trickier when Amazon received their stockpile of books on July 23, in advance of the release date, and immediately started shipping them to all the customers who'd preordered. We then had a real-time experiment in the influence of Amazon and social media on our hands. When customers started excitedly posting their glee at getting their books early, none of the other booksellers in the country wanted to get left behind, and so they started putting books on the shelves as well. The downfall? There wasn't any specific, celebrate-all-at-once release. The benefit? LANDFALL went into reprint even before it was supposed to have been available! So I'm not complaining. <br /><br />That's the long answer for your short question. Thanks for tolerating my long-windedness!<br /><br />Warmly,<br />Ellen<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00125081536537000770noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30897652.post-31584460724822392082015-08-12T08:10:39.382-08:002015-08-12T08:10:39.382-08:00Ellen, it was a pleasure to see their enthusiasm a...Ellen, it was a pleasure to see their enthusiasm and love. We're in a clearing out rather than taking in period of our lives, so I'm going to check on your book in the Anchorage library. I've read <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeitoun_%28book%29" rel="nofollow"> Zeitoun</a> and watched <a href="http://www.hbo.com/treme/episodes/index.html" rel="nofollow">Treme</a>, so I'm curious about your story. <br /> <br />In Thailand back in the late 60s, I actually had electricity. Running water was available from a spigot outside that I could get into my rooms via a hose, even though I lived in a backwater provincial capital. Thailand probably was one of the easiest countries to be a Peace Corps volunteer. Food was only one reason, the warmth, friendliness, and inclusiveness of Thai people was another important factor. But people had good and bad experiences everywhere. And it's clear in hindsight, that life was easier, in general, for male volunteers than females, just like it is everywhere. <br /><br />And I do appreciate how much work it is to get a book published - especially one that is good. Congratulations. Can you answer the question about dates I raised in the post? Did the publication date just get moved up or did Powell's score early copies?<br /><br />SteveStevehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10498066938213558757noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30897652.post-54358068867943888772015-08-12T06:47:38.026-08:002015-08-12T06:47:38.026-08:00Hello, Steve!
You made my parents' day when ...Hello, Steve! <br /><br />You made my parents' day when you took their picture and told them you'd post it on your blog -- they called me from the store to say they'd earned their keep on the promotional bandwagon! I am uncommonly blessed to have parents who cheerlead for me as loudly in my 40s as they did when I took my first steps or said my first word, and in a long list of people I have to thank for the sort of love and support necessary to birth a book, my parents are right up there at the top of that queue. <br /><br />But it seems you and I have much more in common than just books. So you were in Thailand, in the early years of the Peace Corps, I suspect (given that you mention it's been 45 years since you've seen some of your friends)? The part of Guatemala I lived in was likely not all that different from the sites many of you initial volunteers encountered: no water, no electricity, a one-room mud hut with a thatch roof. To those who ask what the Peace Corps experience was like (and as you know, everyone asks), I always say that it was magnificent and terrible, heartwarming and heartbreaking, thrilling and terrifying -- a stew of opposites that, in sum total, was the best thing I ever did. I hope your experience was similar. <br /><br />Again, my thanks to you for the kindness you extended to my parents and, by proxy, me. If you get a chance, run over to Facebook and befriend me there so we can keep track of each others' adventures. <br /><br />All the best to you-<br />EllenAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00125081536537000770noreply@blogger.com