Friday, January 9, 2015

It's 2015?

Well, it's 2015. (Actually, it's been 2015 for, like, a week, but I'm sure you already noticed.) In my personal life, it feels like time is speeding up, but in my writing life, it feels like time is stretching out. THE SOUND OF LIFE AND EVERYTHING comes out in a little less than four months, but that doesn't mean much to me right now. The same thing happened to me before Honey Bear came home from his mission. I remember staring at a calendar the week before his homecoming and thinking, "Wow, he comes home in a week," but it didn't feel any different than the previous week/month/year had felt, so it didn't feel real. This doesn't feel real, either.

This is the roundabout way of saying that I'm planning to do things a little differently around here. I'm trying to think more like an almost-published author, so you might notice a decline in my agent-focused content. (If you've been hanging around for any amount of time, you've probably already noticed a decline, but let's pretend you hadn't.) That said, I love "Agent-Author Chat" too much to give it up, so I'll probably keep posting those interviews occasionally. Writing friends, take note!

As I mentioned above, I'm trying to think more like an almost-published author, but I must admit that I'm kind of at a loss for how to implement it on the blog. Which kinds of posts would you like to see more of, and is there a part of the process you want to know more about? I'm always on the hunt for great ideas.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Squee!! I am so excited for you! :)

I would love to see your journey as you prepare your book launch and what you do to market your book once it's published. Will you do book signings and school visits and such? From everything I've read, so much of the marketing responsibility is on the author. You are smart, sweet, AND savvy, and I'd really enjoy learning from your experience. :)

Unknown said...

I agree with Megan. What are you doing to promote the book, pre-orders, etc. thanks!

Emily R. King said...

I would love to hear anything and everything about your launch. There's so much leg work that goes into it, and I think it would be great to share what you learn!

A.J. Cattapan said...

I'm in the same boat! As an almost-published author myself, I've been wondering about what to do with my own blog. Do I keep doing book reviews? How much about my publication journey do I share? My blog's always been kind of a mish-mash (some book reviews, some writing posts, some travel posts, some general interest posts). Do I just keep it that way? I even went through a period where I let the blog slide a lot--even let my blog reading slide (well, part of that was due to the fact that I GoodleReader closed shop, and I never quite got feedly to work the way I wanted it to. Now I'm using bloglovin to keep up with blogs, so hopefully, that will work.) Here's to our debut year!

Ninja Girl said...

Congrats, Krista!! You've done so much for aspiring writers on your blog, and I'm so happy to see your success with your book(s)! I just love seeing whatever you post--sorry, I know that's no help lol--but it's true!
Ninja Girl

Carrie-Anne said...

I'd love to see some posts on book covers, like how they're conceived of, created, tested out, etc., as well as how typography (both on the cover and in the actual book) is chosen.

Krista Van Dolzer said...

Thanks for the suggestions, Megan. I am planning to do book signings and school visits, so I'll have to remember to blog about them.

I'll be honest, Merriam--I'm not doing much now. I don't really know what I should be doing right now, if you know what I mean (though I am getting some bookmarks and postcards made, which I've heard are really helpful). But as I learn new things, I'll let you know!

Will do, Emily. Thanks for the suggestion!

It's such a balancing act, isn't it, Amy? If you come up with any great ideas, definitely share them!

Aw, thanks, Ninja Girl. You're so sweet.

Great idea, Carrie-Anne. I did an interview with a cover designer a while back, and so many of his answers spawned more questions in my head. I'll have to see if I can put together some more interviews like that one...