Launch (Summer 2013)
BASICS: So launch is where editors tell sales reps, publicists, marketers, and other editors all about the books they have on the upcoming list. This is sometimes disconcerting because the list you’re talking about is practically a full year away from where you are right now. So today, we launched Summer ’13 titles. Yikes! (Side note: This is why I’m pretty much oblivious to what year it is all.the.time.)
Remember in middle school when you’d have to go up in front of the whole class to debate the pros and cons of the death penalty or read your moving essay about your favorite imaginary childhood pet’s meal of choice? And remember how clammy your hands got and how much you wished you were curled up in bed or braving a snowstorm or even running away from a murderer—anything to not have to stand up in front of the popular girls and the snobby nerds and the boy you were totally in love with, only to make a complete and utter fool of yourself? (Think Anne Hathaway about to throw up during her class debate in The Princess Diaries and that one terrible kid yelling, “She’s gonna barf! Cover the tuba.” Worst nightmare.)
Fast forward a few years and you have launch. Launch is when every bookish person who ever hated public speaking (which is almost every single one of them) and then happily found themselves in the most bookish profession imaginable (publishing) now has the rug pulled out from under them as they are made to sit in front of an entire room full of people and talk about the books they have coming out. Cue shaking, tears, and tuba-covering.
Except, something miraculous happens somewhere between stammering your way through a speech about Egyptian ink in the 7th grade and getting up in front of a room full of people to talk about the book you acquired six months ago that changed your life. You start to care about the things you’re talking about, you start to fall head over heels for them, really. And you find yourself in a room in which every single other person cares, too. Or if they don’t to begin with, you’ll convince them to by the time you’re done. And because of this miraculous transformation, launch ends up being one of my favorite parts of the year.
WHAT I’M MOST EXCITED ABOUT FROM THIS MORNING’S LAUNCH:
- Ok, so Karin Slaughter’s next book sounds amazing. We’re going to a new location in the South, and while I can’t tell you anything too specific about the plot, it’s darker than ever before. I absolutely can’t wait to read this when it comes out.
- Karen Robards, who will be guest posting on here in a few days (thank you, Karen!), has a book coming out this August called THE LAST VICTIM. It’s sexy and scary all at once, and though I’m not usually drawn to this genre, this book is unputdownable. So today, when her editor launched the next book in this paranormal romantic thriller series, we were pretty excited.
- How Carolyn Jess-Cooke finds time to write is beyond me. Not only does she have a brood of children, but she’s won about a billion prizes for her poetry collections, writes an impressive amount of non-fiction, and publishes amazing novels, as well. I don’t know how she does it, but her latest book, THE BOY WHO COULD SEE DEMONS, is chilling and heartbreaking all at one. The title tells you pretty much all you need to know plot-wise, and if you’re a fan of Audrey Niffinegger or Emma Donoghue, like I am, it seems like a must-read.
- All I’m going to say is that Lynn Shepherd, the author of The Solitary House, has a new book coming out next summer, it’s called A Treacherous Likeness, and it has this whole Mary Shelley thing going on that kind of sounds like it’s going to blow my mind.
- Andy McDermott, we are so glad you’re coming out with another book. The latest is super high tech and Bourne-esque, filled with conspiracy and betrayal, and just hearing Andy’s editor talk about it got me all riled up.
SOME NON-THRILLERS THAT HAVE US THRILLED:
- I don’t know if you’ve heard, but Lauren Graham, star of Gilmore Girls and Parenthood (and my dream best friend) has written a novel. A wonderful, colorful, funny, heartwarming novel. I don’t know if I’m more excited to read this novel or to stand outside her editor’s door from now until eternity, hoping she’ll swing by for a surprise visit.
- And, because I’m totally ok with letting my geek flag fly, Bryan Lee O’Malley, the author and artist of the Scott Pilgrim series, has a new graphic novel coming out next summer starring a kick ass heroine. I’m in graphic novel heaven!
