As Kirkus folded while Ellen met with them in NYC ( among other services ), I had a funny thought about timing. What if The Last Track would up being among the last batch of reviews Kirkus released? That would be kind of cool, actually.

Many publishers harbored conflicted feelings about Kirkus. Or so I’ve read. In fact, a few ceased submitting projects to Kirkus in recent years, since they were beholden to neither the reach of the publisher nor the author’s legacy. But oftentimes when I loved a title, odds were good Kirkus had some nice things to say about the book, too. Oddly, I have trouble recalling a bad Kirkus review. Then again, selling the Last Track sharpened some pretty intense filtering mechanism in my fragile little mind.

Despite the years of querying, very few replies have survived the shredder. Perhaps five or six personal notes and emails are what remain from that entire period. Maybe I could have kept them, but one form letter is pretty much the same as the next.

The book club meeting got rescheduled due to inclement weather. However, the Revolution Reading Club were kind enough to provide a very nice review in the meantime which will appear with the book.

Meeting with a book club who read The Last Track this weekend. Thanks to the Revolution Reading Club for an opportunity to dialog with the only people who matter: readers.

Ellen ( PR ) is meeting with some of the review services this week about this and other projects, so hopefully Santa brings some good tidings in the way of a review coverage. Or a nod. And some gin. Definitely gotta bring some gin.

Ah, if all the stuff that happens–and I’ve been told must happen–behind the scenes to get a book ready for a launch matched the excitement level I felt actually writing one. Not that the “coming out” process is tedious or demonstrably less fun, I’m just the type of person who prefers the writing part of the cycle more than the business.

What sort brave new world awaits a novelist after the sale? Hmm. Pitch letters. Solely for the marketing contingent, pitch letters help the publisher recognize and target different demographics. Then there’s the synopsis–probably the most grating word in the English language to a thriller writer. Also, the author bio, and the obligatory “what is the story behind the book?” I plan on recycling both the bio and the “gee you’re clever, how did you get that way” pieces forever.

All of that is the dry run for the review process holding pattern hang-glide. The marketing person wraps up all the little notes the publisher asked the writer to draft, takes a copy of the book and sends it to places like:

New York Times Book Review

American Library Association

Publisher’s Weekly

. . . and so on. In this case, the publisher secured an ace marketing person for the project, Ellen. Ellen kicks ass for a number of reasons, not the least of which is her proven track record of guiding favorable reviews from distinguished sources in a timely fashion. And you really need someone like Ellen in your corner because, well, review services are under no obligation to review any title at any time for any reason whatsoever. A book is received and it’s assigned a reviewer or it goes down the void. Even with an reviewer assignment, the publisher receives the book review, well, whenever. The receipt being as much as a year after its release.

However, the time spent hang gliding over a volcano pays off, because once a single service says something nice about a writer that golden phrase can forever more adorn the book jacket.

Sweet.

After a few rescheduled sessions, the actor reading The Last Track for the podcast series had some free time for a run through of a few scenes Monday night. Good Christ, I liked him before, but now I want to marry him.

Here were the directions provided to him: “Take 25 pages. I’ll see you in three weeks.”

The time between meetings passed without any interference. Honestly, even I had been so inclined, I couldn’t have gotten involved.  At this point, the part of the day not spent at work, commuting, or writing, is reserved for freaking out about the reviews which will be coming back over the next two months. The machinations and politics of the review process makes for a whole other post, actually. Maybe a series of articles.

Anyway, working with only those 25 pages, the actor not only came up with a kick-ass approach for narration, which I approved of instantly, he recognized the more subtle points of the story. He struck a balance between acting and delivering–right out of the gate.

In short, he got it.

So I left him another section of the book and set up a meeting for the weekend.