So this is going to be the official discussion entry for the book. And thank you so much to everyone who's been (and continues to be) so incredibly supportive all this time. I promise that we'll get the book out in North America, even if it's only through Amazon, as soon as we can.

Tags: bookdays, discussion, m15m book

I vote we sing this to anyone who ever has a bookday from now on (courtesy of ) allthelivesofme:

Happy Bookday to you,
Happy Bookday to you,
May you sell lots of copies,
Happy Bookday to you!

By the way, there seems to be some weirdness going on with the way some stores and sites are listing the title and/or author of the book. What you're looking for is ISBN# 0575076879. The author may be listed as Lauren [One of At Least Two Last Names I've Seen So Far]. The Lauren part, at least, is really me. The title has also been listed as "Fifteen-Minute Movie Epics." Again: go with the ISBN if all else fails. And if you happen to see an instance of "Cleolanda" in Germany, seriously, let me know. I still can't quite get over that one.

Sightings!

First one, from fba!

From darthfox!

From shoppinggoddess!

The New Releases page.

The Hot 100. Note: we were hovering around 3000 on Monday. We were at 92 earlier today, and now we're in the 70s and two slots away from a Lost companion. We can totally take that bitch. And just below something called The Gruffalo's Child. WTF is a  gruffalo?

Update: We now seem to be at #64, ahead of both editions of the latest Harry Potter. Which would be really impressive if this were the same week HBP had come out and not, you know, three months later, so let's not get too carried away about that. : )

Something really encouraging yesterday--I took a copy to class and gave it to my professor afterwards, because we had talked about the book earlier, and I know the university was interested in possibly milking a little publicity from it (and God knows I'm more than happy to do that), and a few people had already left, but the two or three who had stayed behind to put the tables back in order seemed kind of interested and/or surprised by the whole thing, and I got to tell them a little about the whole crazy thing. And so Ann(e) (I don't know how she spells her name) read the back and then was flipping through it, and I don't know where she stopped, but whatever she saw made her say, "I have to have this. I will pay you for this. I am serious, I have to have this." I'm hoping random browsers in whichever bookstore will have the same reaction, with any luck.

That, and I can't believe they put an excerpt including the word "shit" on the back of the jacket. Although my sister said it would make her buy it. Well, not the "shit" part, actually--the part about Sam's "attempts at heterosexuality" just under that.

Okay, here's the part where things kind of start to suck, but I feel like I should tell you sooner rather than later:

I was trying to hold off on telling you until I was absolutely sure, but it seems pretty clear that I've been living a lie. My real name is Erica Windermere and I don't actually exist* we're not going to be able to get the book on North American shelves any time soon. In fact, I'm hearing that the soonest it might get on shelves is fall of next year. Let me repeat that: fall 2006. It's an issue of timing, of getting it into bookseller catalogues, and of getting it out in a season where it will sell--i.e., the holiday season. It's not out of an unwillingness to sell it; it's a logistical situation. And if that's the hand we're dealt, I think we can make it work just fine, in terms of selling to the general market.

What I'm really concerned about is getting the book in front of people who already know about it and want it--i.e., y'all. I'm trying to see if we can get a North American edition put out on Amazon.com and Amazon.ca. But I don't know when that might happen. If you are in the U.S. (where I am, ironically) or in Canada, and you do want the book, and you don't mind paying the extra shipping, you can get it from Amazon.co.uk, where the new fall releases are already 40% off anyway (as reflected in the £5.39/$9.58 price.) And it's a pretty thick book, so... seriously, that's a fairly good deal. If you want to wait until it gets on an Amazon closer to home, or even until it hits real shelves, that's totally cool. But at the very least, I know that a lot of people have mentioned in comments that they can't decide what to do, and I feel like I should give you the information as I know it, now that it's pretty solid.


* Uh, sorry about that. Em and I got way into Law & Order: Criminal Intent last night.

ETA: I don't know why, but the book seems to be coming out November 1 in Australia.

Tags: distribution, north america