It never gets old, the arrival of a new book! Deadpoint was officially released into the wilds today (and, by wilds, I mean your local bookstore, library, or online bookseller…)! I love the quote on the bookmarks, “Fear is not an option.” I even like the punctuation – that period at the end of the statement is just so final. In fact, I think that statement deserves a whole blog post all its own because these days I’m living in a strange state of simultaneous excitement and near panic (kind of like how I feel when I’m climbing, in fact).
Even though the appearance of the book marks the end of one phase of the creative process (I really, truly can’t make any more changes at this point), having the book in hand is also the beginning of a new phase. With any luck, someone will now read it and then, maybe there will be some reviews. Even better, the reviews won’t be awful. There is nothing quite so demoralizing as reading uncharitable words about your baby. I say that even though I try not to take reviews (good, or bad) too seriously. Even though I try to keep them in perspective, it is still MUCH nicer to read a good review than a bad one. That said, write enough books and both good and bad are bound to happen eventually.
The reviews, though, are actually kind of important when it comes to selling books, particularly those like Deadpoint which have the potential to reach an educational market. Schools and libraries prefer not to buy books that are roundly panned. Fair enough. With limited budgets and shelf space, it’s impossible to just have a standing order for every new book that comes out. Teachers and librarians tend to read trade journals when looking for feedback on new titles. The rest of us tend to look at what people are saying on Amazon or Goodreads or Facebook (note: if you are a reader, it actually does make a difference to sales if you take the time to share your thoughts on a book. And, be honest – there’s actually not much benefit to saying you love a book when you don’t. If you hate this one, though, perhaps don’t send me the link… what I don’t read can’t break my heart.)
After a book comes out there’s also an expectation that an author will get out there and talk about it. If the book is for kids or teenagers, school visits and library presentations are the order of the day. I’ll try to do my share of those over the coming months. For non-kid audiences, bookstores are the most likely place for an event. For example, for Victoria-area folks, I’ll be at Russell Books on February 23 along with Miji Cambell and Trisha Cull. Here’s the poster – it would be great to see you there if you are in the neighbourhood! (We will be talking about writing memoirs – and I will touch on how real life had a huge impact on the writing of Deadpoint).
Deadpoint also got a little early publicity when a few precious copies were given out as prizes at the Night of Lies event in Canmore in November. That was quite the memorable evening, not just because people got a sneak preview of the book, but because that’s where I did a presentation about climbing as a metaphor for relationships in general and, more specifically, climbing partnerships. That in itself wasn’t terribly noteworthy (I do lots of presentations each year), but at the end of this one, I proposed to my now-fiancé, Fabio. It was a good thing he said ‘yes’ as we had several hundred witnesses and a negative response would have been… well, way worse than a less-than-flattering book review.
These days, there’s also an expectation that an author will do some social media promotion for a new title. I guess this could count as my obligatory ‘the book is out!!’ blog post and if you follow me on Twitter (@writergrrrl) or Instagram (writergrrrl) or Facebook you’ll know I’ve started to let the world know on those other platforms as well.
In fact, the work of promoting a book doesn’t really stop until the book goes out of print. It can be hard to support every title when one has quite a few out, but at the same time, it’s shocking how fast a book can just disappear if you don’t give it a little love and attention.
With all that in mind, may I present to you:
(If you’d like to purchase a copy, please try to buy this first at your local, preferably independent bookstore, but if you don’t have one in your town, then here’s the link on Amazon. Thanks for supporting your local indies!)
Categories: Orca Sports, Uncategorized, Writing, Writing Life, Young Adults
Nikki Tate - Author 
Congratulations! Sounds like a good read.
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Thank you! It’s great to see it out!
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