Moving along...

So it'a been a month since the big announcement about A CURSE OF ASH AND IRON. Now that the confetti has all been swept away and the balloons deflated, I'm in that limbo between acceptance and publication. Waiting for edits, waiting for a cover. Hurry up and wait. And also, do a whole bunch of stuff.

What am I doing now? Let's see, lining up appearances, getting things in order for when I DO have the cover (so that I can make promo stuff), and just basic pre-promotional craziness. Trying to line up a venue for the LAUNCH PARTY. I'm SO having one. A big one. With cake. And possibly glitter.

There's all this STUFF that has to be done, most of it through emails and twitter. Things I do know will happen is that the book will be on NetGalley. It will have a Goodreads giveaway. In addition to my regular yearly appearances, in July I AM going to CONvergence, a four day SF/F convention in Bloomington, MN, so that I can sign ARCs and meet more Strange Chemistry authors. I have never traveled so far for a con, but I've never had a publisher who would have ARC's for me to sign either.

I am also going to be at the Steampunk World's Fair in Piscataway, NJ, handing out promotional stuff. Exciting!

What's left? Making video blogs, and arranging blog tours and interviews, and all that other stuff. And working on the next book, of course.

I've done all this before, but this time it's different because this publisher is really bigger than any of the others I've worked with. They're not HUGE, but they have a marketing person (who I've met, he's awesome), and a publicity person whose job it is to see the book and I get as much exposure as possible. The publisher has over 1,000 people subscribed to their newsletter. They use Random House to sell and distribute their books (and they can put books on store shelves). They will be sending the book to the BIG reviewers. No guarantees but at least it will get there.

I feel so much less stressed this time around. I'm still working my butt off, and will continue to do so. I mean, there's no BEA this year, no ALA booth. The publisher isn't doing those yet. But they're big enough that I feel I am on the path to something great. Oh, and this novel sale also qualifies me for PAL membership in SCBWI and SFWA. Which may not mean a lot to most of you, but it means LOADS to me.

Meanwhile, the book is up for pre-order on Amazon, and people have ALREADY bought it. Squee!!!