Monday, May 19, 2014

#Gratitude

The Art of Lainey doesn't officially go on sale until tomorrow, but copies of the book are already appearing on bookstore shelves. Check it out!

Looking fancy at a Florida Books-a-Million!

It's such an exciting and terrifying feeling, but mingled in with all that is this tremendous sense of gratitude. And so today I've created a sort of hybrid playlist** and extended acknowledgments page.

I've talked a lot in different blog posts about how thankful I am to have an agent who is the perfect mix of tough and honest and supportive. She's more than that, though. She's insanely well-connected and business-savvy. She's attentive. She's efficient. She puts up with long angsty emails where I basically worry for pages about nothing, and then she manages to make me feel better in two sentences.

I'm also so grateful for my editor, who really understood my vision for the book and pushed me to make it even better. She was always there to say, diplomatically: "a little too much, maybe?" Who? Me? :-) Yes--it's true. I am the Queen of Too Much when I write. I never hold back. It's easier to remove stuff that's not working than remember that thing I wanted to do but didn't because I was too afraid to go for it. My editor also listened to me obsess over irrelevant minutia and fielded an endless barrage of questions about editing things, promotional things, and other burning concerns. Despite all that, her enthusiasm for Micah  the book never waned.


"How about me enjoying a moment for once?"


(I really wanted that to be a clip of Boyz II Men's Thank You, but I couldn't find a licensed video for it. If you do the Spotify thing, you should check out that song too. Oh, and, just a warning. Alanis Morissette is naked in that video. Don't ask me. It's a good song.)

My friends and family have also been awesome throughout this journey, as have my coworkers in Portland, and my lovely YA Valentines co-bloggers. And #TeamLainey--I have a fantastic street team of people from all over the world who are tweeting and posting and making fan art, some of them for a book they still haven't read! Basically, I am incredibly lucky to have such a fantastic support system.



"Oh, and I might fail. Oh, I might succeed
Whatever the outcome is just keep your faith in me
Just believe in me and I will be there."


But here's what really blows my mind: the immense outpouring of support from strangers who read my book and liked it. Part of my self-guided promotional plan involved reaching out to "big bloggers" and asking for reviews. Most of the people I reached out to read the book and liked it. And then, in many cases, they told their friends to read it. Who then told their friends to read it. And suddenly my book was getting reviewed all over the blogosphere and I was being invited to do giveaways and guest posts on sites with high visibility and traffic.

Many authors believe that blog exposure doesn't help sales, but I can see in the comment streams where reviews written and posted by people I don't know literally changed the minds of their blog followers who weren't going to read my book. That is HUGE. That is just, my heart like swells up and splits open thinking about it. You spent your time writing reviews and answering comments essentially telling people to read The Art of Lainey and now they are. And every read matters. I know one girl on twitter who got the ARC passed to her by a friend and she loved the book so much she sponsored her own giveaway. She's been telling everyone to read it. [ETA: Another giveaway has sprung up, sponsored by another kind reader!] You can't buy that kind of enthusiasm with marketing dollars. You guys--the blogosphere--you got the word out for me so that people who would love the book are managing to find it. Every read matters. Every review matters. Every sale matters. No matter how many books I sell, some of those sales will be because of you. Thank you for being so kind and generous.



"For your kindness I'm in debt to you
And I never could have come this far without you."


Got #gratitude? What are you feeling grateful for today?


**All videos were uploaded to youtube by the content rights holder and are embedded in this post without infringement.

19 comments:

  1. You are so sweet! It is really hard to tell whether bloggers have an effect, but I like to think we have a sort of trickle down affect upon book sales. Who really knows, though. Congrats on Lainey's release tomorrow. It was fab, and I hope many people find it and appreciate it, even if there is no real torture pancake restaurant. I am not over that not being in the world. :-p

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    1. I believe there is definitely some effect. It might not be huge, but every little bit counts. And it's not just about sales. It's incredibly rewarding and motivating to see reviews where people really enjoyed my book. It definitely helps those stressful WHY DO I DO THIS TO MYSELF? moments pass.

      My brother insists someone is going to get rich off that restaurant idea. I will keep an eye out for rich possible investors ;-) Can you Shark Tank a restaurant concept? I think Mark Cuban would be all over this.

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  2. I am sending you giant hugs through the computer screen. YOU ARE JUST SO RIDICULOUSLY SWEET. You and Lainey are both amazing and I'm so happy I got the chance to read it and shout about my love for it to anyone who will listen.

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  3. This is such a fantastic grateful post, Paula! I did find out about the book through some of my blogger friends that loved it and reading their reviews made me want to preorder the book, and now I'm waiting for it to download at midnight into my Kindle app!

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    1. I am hoping you like it enough for SOCCER CUPCAKES! (I have cupcakes on the brain today.)

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  4. I LOVE YOU AND YOUR BOOKS AND MICAH IS SO HOT!!! Have I earned teeny bopper status yet? :-)

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    1. I'm afraid no matter what we do, we'll never be as cool as the teens :-) Good thing they at least let us hang out with them on their Twitter thing :-D #WeLoveYouTeenReaders

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  5. This post is just so full of awesome <3 I am checking out all the songs now!

    I think that bloggers are heavily forgotten about in the industry. Inadvertently, our reviews on Amazon or our blogs or Twitter can sway people towards the positive or negative if they're on the fence, though we can't make or break a decision. I know that I've put the book in the hands of at least 10+ people and it's a gratifying experience to share something you loved with other people, even if you don't know them. And Lainey and Micah are so worth it.

    I cannot wait to get a copy of this in my greedy little hands which has to be signed to match all of my other copies of your books.

    I'm so happy to call you an author friend, Paula! <3 You deserve the explosion that this book is about to cause.

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    1. Whoops! I forgot to warn people Alanis Morissette is naked in that video O_O I...don't know. It was a very girl power thing to do back in the day.

      Thank you for recommending the book. I'm proud to call you a blogger friend :-) And although I like the sound of "explosion," I'll be happy as long as I get a little ripple so I can keep selling books.

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  6. Great post! It's been a ton of fun being a part of #TeamLainey and I can't wait to see LAINEY out in the wild. Thank you so much for being a fantastic author friend and I hope you have the happiest of book birthdays. :D

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    1. Thanks, Eli! Thanks for everything you've done for a book you haven't even read. I'm glad you won a chance to be in the novella--you totally deserve it.

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  7. This is such a wonderful story! It worked really well for you and I see your book coming by on different blogs over and over again. It looks like a great story and I'm definitely going to read it!

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    1. Thanks :-) Yeah, you hear people talk about the power of word-of-mouth but it all seems like grasping at stars, you know? Regardless of whether it translates into reviews or sales, seeing people I don't know recommending my book to others has made this experience so overwhelmingly positive for me.

      Thanks for being a librarian. I've got a post on illegal downloading coming up soon that talks about the power of librarians as author-allies, and how people who can't or don't buy books should use the library instead of pirating.

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  8. Congratulations! Another book published! That's impressive and awesome, Paula <3 I actually don't see this kind of post very often - the long gratitude ones :) I think a lot of times, both authors and bloggers alike forget how much work both sides put into something, anything - a book, a website, etc. I love that you poured everything out there, and put so much thought into this post. It's humbling! :)

    (Hopefully I didn't offend anyone with that comment. I have a tendency to say exactly what I'm thinking, without really filtering it.)

    Alyssa @ The Eater of Books!

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    1. Thanks, Alyssa.

      Well, I tend to overshare. Part of me reads this now and goes "OMG--I am so sappy." But whatevz, I am who I am. Better my blog be sappy than my books, right? :-)

      And I think most people find your "tell it like you see it" attitude refreshing. I know I do :-)

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  9. Congratulations!! Thanks for having #TeamLainey, it has been so much fun taking part in all of the stuff.

    I have gone around to some of the blog tours telling people that Micah is mine... I guess I'm spreading the word that way? Clearly there's something wrong with me. :D

    You deserve all of the awesomeness. <3

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    1. Thanks, for your kind words and your Micah obsession :-) He said he's going to do some fun stuff on twitter starting in June. Maybe #MicahMusicMondays? #MicahBakesStuff?

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  10. Happy Belated Book Birthday to LAINEY! And all kinds of hugs to you, Paula. I'm really glad that I was able to be part of sharing Lainey, even in a small way. And I say thank you to you, your agent, and your editor for this wonderful story :) I sincerely hope that we bloggers are making a difference, even a small one, in getting LAINEY out there because it deserves all the love its getting and more! <3

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I love your comments like I love cupcakes! Thanks so much for stopping by :-)