Debuting in the Time of COVID: Three Historical Novelists Reflect on Launching Their First Book this Summer
Publishing amidst the pandemic is not just a clever alliteration—it has become a new way of navigating literary life for many authors, literary agents and book publishers. While, in many cases, COVID-19 has resulted in the movement of publication dates, the temporary closure of bookstores and the cancellation of in-person reading and signing events—certain authors have found a way of being creative in how they host their events online and reach their readers through any means possible. In this guest post, three historical fiction authors, who are clients of mine with Blackstone Publishing, share their optimism and positive experiences of debuting as authors this summer—despite the constraints of the coronavirus.
Measure of Success
by Jotham Burrello, author of SPINDLE CITY, publishing July 21 (Blackstone Publishing)
I remember sitting in the basement of the Fall River Historical Society ten years ago reading program for the 1911 Cotton Centennial and thumbing through photographs of President William Howard Taft addressing the crowd in his black top hat. I read everything about the event and made photocopies, as it would play a key role in my novel. Weeks later at my writing desk, I recalled the cinematic opening of Don DeLillo’s Underworld while I struggled with how to reimagine the Cotton Centennial week into a single day for my novel, Spindle City. I learned from DeLillo how to mix imagined and real characters into short scenes and jump cut between actual speech and fiction. At my desk, I figured out how to structure the opening of my book.
It’s exciting to be a debut writer. Once the novel is sold, there is suddenly a team of professionals to assist. Agents and editors talk about discovering a new voice. There is no sales trail of previous books to estimate success or failure—you may indeed sell a million. The more sobering angle, one that I tell debut writers at my indie press, is while this is all true, debut writers are unknowns publishing a book no one—bookstores, critics or readers—is waiting to read.
SPINDLE CITY by Jotham Burrello
Given I’ve been publishing other writers and teaching for twenty years, I knew the deal prior to the forthcoming release of my book and was uniquely prepared for the marketing. Then six months ago, the publishing ecosystem collapsed. And not just for debut writers. An arts editor at a regional newspaper contacted me about an interview with the caveat that we needed to get the interview done before June 22 because she was being furloughed. Another arts reporter emailed that she couldn’t write about the book because all reporters were pulled to cover COVID-19 and the protests for racial justice. Arts coverage became slim in the dailies and on the radio. The indie bookstores, those beloved institutions that had made a comeback from the big-box store invasion of the ’90s, a usual hive of activity, are fighting for their survival. Many have made a smooth transition to virtual programming, but now readers are showing signs of fatigue. Recently, a bookstore emailed to cancel my reading at their store: “Unfortunately, we will not be able to host your event as planned on July 23. The bookstores will not host in-store events and as mentioned, the virtual calendar then becomes extremely limited across three stores. At this time, I will not be rescheduling.”
Writers now rely on screen presence. We utilize social media to the max, but we’re all battling for screen time. Readers are distracted—heck, we’re all distracted. And regrettably, the biggest publishing event of the summer is by a writer with the last name Trump.
As Billy Pilgrim would say, “So it goes.”
I’m reminded of an article published in Poets & Writers Magazine in 2009 that I still share with my students. It’s called, “Measures of Success: What Publishing Your Book Really Means” by Duncan Murrell. He wrote, “If you put the writing first, and you have something new to say, your work will be found.” Murrell reminds us that the process is what we’ll remember because the advances will eventually run out, and we’ll forget about the readings and the reviews. Rather writers, “Remember the day you figured out how to open that chapter you wrestled with for half a year, that time the words came.... You’ll one day realize that you miss that book, and that you’ll never get to write it again.”
Ten days out from the release date of Spindle City and I’m already nostalgic about the writing process. (Debut novelists have a lifetime to write their first book, so there is plenty to be nostalgic about.) I’ve been rereading chapters for an outdoor event I’m throwing in my backyard. It will be one of the few public readings around the launch, and I plan to make the most of it.
Jotham Burrello
Jotham Burrello is a writer, teacher, publisher, farmer, and multimedia producer. He is the author of the Writers’ e-Handbook and producer of So, Is It Done? Navigating the Revision Process. Other writing has appeared in literary journals, the Hartford Courant, the Christian Science Monitor, and he’s a proud winner of the New Yorker caption contest. He teaches writing at Central Connecticut State University, directs the Yale Writers’ Workshop and the Connecticut Literary Festival, curates the Roar Reading Series, and is the publisher of the award-winning Elephant Rock Books. More @ Jothamburrello.com. Book Trailer.
What’s Keeping You Sane?
by Liza Nash Taylor, author of ETIQUETTE FOR RUNAWAYS, publishing August 18 (Blackstone Publishing)
It started with the cancellation of my last remaining live book gig, a library talk scheduled for mid-December. No virtual version in the works. No re-scheduling. For some reason, that was the last straw and, without becoming maudlin, I can admit that for a few days last week, I fell down into a dark place, spending two of those sorts of days I’ve only known in grieving—where one’s bones become so heavy it’s difficult to move.
But I grew bored at that pity party. I won’t say I shook it off, I absorbed it. I had a stern talk with myself, about gratitude and grace, and I talked to God a lot. I have much to be grateful for—my 92-year-old dad is healthy and comfortable at home, my husband and I live in the country, with our own spaces for retreat. My grown kids drop by, and my two remaining dogs make me laugh. When our ancient bulldog died in her sleep, in June, I felt grateful that I had been here for her last days, and not traveling as I might have been.
So, this week I went back to work. My actual publication day is August 18, and when the Blackstone team told me that at our launch call, I choked up a bit. August 18 was my mother’s birthday. She died 17 years ago, and I wish she could have seen this happen.
ETIQUETTE FOR RUNAWAYS by Liza Nash Taylor
With the help of Lauren Maturo, Senior Publicist extraordinaire at Blackstone, and my publicist, Ann-Marie Nieves, I finalized plans for a virtual launch. Then I totally stole an idea from another author who debuted last week, and I started planning “party boxes” to send to friends, family, and supporters ahead of the event. The Champagne-soaked, catered launch party of my dreams is not to be this year. But maybe I can have it in 2021, when my second book comes out on August 10.
I love this photo. It was taken last October in Paris, by Brett Walsh. I had hesitated to book a shoot. I needed to lose those 10 pounds, it felt vain to book a professional. Finally, just a few days before I left, when my travel companions had gone home and I was alone, I called Brett and set up a shoot. We met in the Tuileries Gardens at the Louvre. Brett took a lot of photos, I mean a lot. This is one of the final shots. The sun was going down, reflecting off of I.M. Pei’s glass pyramid and I was starting to shiver in the cold. We were about to go into the Cafe Marly (behind me) for a glass of wine to celebrate being finished for the day. I stood there, at the top of those steps, in one of those rare, exhilarating human moments that we know will come to define the attainment of a dream. I looked into that lens, and I thought, this is a moment I will remember forever.
Liza Nash Taylor
Liza Nash Taylor’s debut historical novel, Etiquette for Runaways, was featured in Frolic’s list of The Best 20 Books of Summer, 2020 and Parade.com’s 30 Best Beach Reads for 2020. A native Virginian, she lives in Keswick with her husband and dogs, in an old farmhouse which serves as a setting for her novels.
Such is Life
by James Wade, author of ALL THINGS LEFT WILD, June 16 (Blackstone Publishing)
It was just as I had dreamed it. Release day for my debut novel came and I was quarantined at home with a one-month-old baby and a two-month-old beard. My wife made a banner proclaiming that today was All Things Left Wild Day, but she shortened it to ATLW Day because even the most valiant efforts are not without limitations.
Okay, so maybe it wasn’t quite what I’d envisioned, but such is life. My wife endured the make-or-break months of her first-ever pregnancy while we self-isolated. She had no help from family, canceled her baby shower, and was stuck with me the entire time—including at the hospital where she gave birth in a mask. Point being, my not having a big release party has dropped several rungs down the priority ladder.
Additionally, the new online nature of book marketing allowed me to “attend” events in New York, Arizona, and Texas, all while changing diapers in between Zoom sessions. I strongly suspect I have been able to do more promotion and reach a wider audience, thanks to the online shift. Readers and reviewers alike have also commented on what they called a therapeutic-like quality to reading All Things Left Wild—given its wide-open settings and plentiful landscape descriptions—while being stuck at home.
ALL THINGS LEFT WILD by James Wade
Fortunately, Blackstone Publishing has also proven to be agile and adaptable when it comes to book promotion. They’re working with libraries, indie bookstores, and trade publications, to get their titles and their authors in front of regionally diverse audiences via online events. Jeffrey Yamaguchi and Lauren Maturo continue to shine on the marketing and publicity front, finding ways to ensure I’m able to put my best foot forward with rolling out the novel.
Have sales been impacted one way or the other? It’s hard to know. This is (contrary to the saying) my first rodeo. I don’t have much to compare it to. However, much of the disappointment I feel is on a purely personal and somewhat selfish level. I would have loved to be at Book Expo America in New York, to see so many people fired up about reading and writing. I would have been so happy to sign books in-person at our local bookstore; or return to the library in the town I was raised and tell the folks there how much they mean to me. But those things can wait. Those things are no longer on my mind.
Texas, my home state, is dubiously leading the nation in COVID cases. Both of my parents tested positive earlier this summer. We have a crisis that is no longer just on the doorstep, it’s having coffee in the kitchen with the family. We need leadership from our elected officials and sacrifice from our populace—a populace that is already hurting. Businesses are shuttering, families are fracturing, and so many are having to make do with so much less. Those are the things I’m thinking of each day, not the missed readings and canceled conventions.
James Wade
James Wade lives and writes in Austin, Texas, with his wife and daughter. He is the author of the novel, All Things Left Wild and a winner of the Writers’ League of Texas Manuscript Contest. Before his fiction career, James spent time as a journalist, water conservation lobbyist, and a legislative director at the Texas State Capitol.