4 things that happened 4 months from my debut pub date

Land ho!

I just got off a week-long Disney Cruise with my family. That photo above is us at our stop in Tortola, British Virgin Islands, which kicked ass. (That yummy looking orange drink is the original Painkiller, invented in the BVI at the very beach bar we visited — pineapple, orange, cream of coconut, dark rum, and fresh nutmeg... It does the job.)

The entire trip was amazing, if exhausting, but now...

... I'm home and ready to publish my book!

Only a few more months to go. If you're following along at home or about to embark on your own publishing journey I wanted to share a little bit of my experience 4 months out from the publishing date of my debut novel.

Here are a few highlights.

One. Got more great blurbs!

Our blurb lineup is absolutely STACKED.

I can't tell you how good it feels to get such a positive early response on the book, especially from writers I admire.

Still can't officially say too much about these, but I should be able to share them soon. The team at Dutton, my publisher, might even be working up some cool graphics for me to share over on Instagram so make sure you're following there.

I can't say for sure if that will be the end of the blurbs or not. We made some pretty big-name asks, and although our deadline is officially in March to finalize the book jacket, I'm sure we could find a way to use a late quote from a major celeb, if we're lucky enough to get one.

Two. First Goodreads giveaway.

Right after we got back from our vacation, Dutton launched the first giveaway for Dad Camp on Goodreads!

It's really a great promotional tool, especially for new authors.

Basically, they offer up a certain number of copies available to win. To enter, people need to fill out a short form and add the book to their Want To Read pile on Goodreads.

Since people love free books, the giveaway helps juice those numbers and get the book in front of an audience that may not necessarily be following me or Dutton already. They can discover the book on Goodreads by browsing the giveaways for titles that might interest them.

It's been an absolute thrill to see the numbers climbing this week.

And combined with some of the early marketing/PR pushes (I'll talk about that below), we're seeing lots of requests to read the book early on sites like Netgalley, and more early reviews coming in.

As of this writing Dad Camp is in the #2 spot of most-requested Dutton books, woohoo!

(And that's my debut friend Jamie Harrow there next to me, who I share an editor with. Congrats Jamie!)

Three. Marketing kickoff.

Yes, it's true.

I had the fabled Marketing & PR Kickoff call that all debut authors dream of.

But seriously, this call gets a LOT of discussion in the debut groups I'm in. I think people get really antsy to see what their publishers are going to do to market and publicize the book (or, in some cases, not do).

Before this, most stuff is really happening quietly, behind the scenes, and it's just you and your agent and editor.

But now I am happy to say I'm officially met my book's whole marketing & PR team, which was amazing. They had all read the book and had such nice things to say about it and it seemed like everyone was really excited.

They walked me through a really lengthy and detailed document that outlined all of the pre- and post-pub promotion that they'll be doing for the book.

Some of it is stuff they'd do for all/most books, like trying to get reviews in literary trade publications and big newspapers and magazines. Other stuff is tailored to Dad Camp, like trying to get coverage in parenting outlets, men's lifestyle outlets, trying to reach parenting influencers, etc.

Things are already happening behind the scenes and I can't wait to share when we start getting trade reviews, media features, podcasts, and more... ahhh!

I'm really pumped and confident in the team and our plan.

Four. Writing.

I sent some new material to my agent this month and we had some great back and forth revising it.

Having a really kind, smart editorial agent in your corner is like a cheat code. Seriously. Highly recommend.

I'm really excited about what I'm working on now, but other than saying I'm working on something, I've got to keep the lips zipped for now.

What's next?

I think that was about it for February!

Most of the month was dominated by our big February break vacation (yeah, February break is a thing here, believe it or not).

The big push is really just about to start, and I can't wait to fill you in on the marketing & PR wins as they roll in.

So don't forget to follow on Insta, subscribe to the blog, add Dad Camp on Goodreads, and pre-order your copy!