5 things that happened during my debut pub month

Hey, did you know that my debut novel Dad Camp is NOW FREAKING AVAILABLE?!

I know, I had been doing a pretty good job of documenting everything leading up to pub day, but I've been quiet for a while now — at least on the blog.

(Reminder to follow me on Instagram if you're interested in more updates!)

Let me catch you up on a CRAZY summer and pub month and try to answer the question, "What is it like when your debut novel comes out?"

One. Launch Party.

We officially kicked off pub month for Dad Camp with a big blowout launch party for friends and family.

This wasn't an official event put together by the publisher, just something we put together privately to celebrate the weekend before the book came out.

After all, you're only a debut novelist once, right?

We rented out Tin Pin Game Bar – a pinball arcade not far from our house — and stuffed everyone with tacos, cake, and drinks.

People from so many corners of our life showed up to celebrate. We invited family, our best friends, our kids' friends, old colleagues, and anyone we thought might want to come out and have a good time! Some of my absolute best lifelong friends even flew in from out of town, along with my one out-of-town brother, which was amazing.

We gave out Dad Camp swag (cozies, bookmarks) and had everyone sign a copy of the book for me to keep — a really fun idea I stole from an author friend ;)

The party cost a few bucks, but I have no regrets. It was outrageously fun and it was a really great way to celebrate/feel celebrated without having to perform (no readings, no book signing, just hanging out). I really don't love being the center of attention, as a lot of authors can relate to, so this was a great low-stakes way to get my feet wet.

Also, it was a star-studded event! My brilliant author friends Kate Dramis and Jill Tew made appearances.

Two. Pub Day.

On Tuesday, June 11, Dad Camp officially hit shelves!

I would describe pub day as... not anticlimactic, per se... but a little surreal and bizarre.

I didn't have any events scheduled for that day. We had the party the weekend before, and the first bookstore event was coming up the next weekend, so the actual day of publication was a little quiet.

We were able to drive around to some local bookstores and spot Dad Camp in the wild, which was super cool.

The closest store to our house is actually a Barnes & Noble, and they had sold their lone copy by the time we got there! (To a friend, but still...)

So we had to venture a little further.

But in a turn of events that is SUPER on brand for the book, June means summer vacation which means my oldest daughter was home with me — and she had a swim team meet that evening. So, after hitting a few stores and signing a few copies, regularly scheduled Dad Duty had to resume.

I did get some truly wonderful notes from my editor, Cassidy Sachs; my agent, Andrea Blatt; and the rest of the team at Dutton and WME — those were amazing and I will definitely be holding on to them so I can reread in the future when I need a pick me up.

One thing I wanted to mention: The day after pub day, I was invited by the Much Ado About Writing group to come and chat with them via Zoom. They're a writing and critique group and every month or so they try to host published authors for a Q&A. Kate and Valerie were SO fun and gave me such a warm welcome, and I had an absolute blast chatting with the group members (of whom there are a lot!!!) This was definitely a highlight of the 'press tour' so to speak, and if any of you authors out there get a chance to go talk to a writer's group, I highly recommend doing it — a lot of the members told me they planned on buying the book after hearing me talk!

Three. First Book Event at FoxTale.

The Saturday after the book came out — and the day before Father's Day — the amazing FoxTale Book Shoppe hosted me for my first official author event.

We had known we wanted to host there for a while, but the one thing missing was a "conversation partner."

They usually like to find you another author in your genre to chat with rather than a bookseller (which is also great!) or, God forbid, doing it all on your own!

These "in conversation" events between authors are awesome and really have a lot of extra texture that you don't get from normal interviews.

My agent eventually introduced me to Alison Rose Greenberg — an extremely talented author and screenwriter that also lives here in the Atlanta area. Luckily, Alison agreed to hop on board and do the event with me!

Alison was just so outrageously cool and generous. She read my book, sent me just the kindest email about it, and came up with an amazing list of discussion questions for the event. Meeting in person was so much fun — we immediately hit it off and, afterwards, everyone kept telling me how much they loved her.

Our discussion was fantastic. We really got to dive into the themes of the book and the writing process in a way I hadn't been able to in previous interviews. Her insights as a mom and an author really made for a fascinating chat.

Truth be told, I do think I cannibalized my own audience by throwing a big party the weekend before the book came out — ha! I was hoping for a slightly better turnout, but I was so appreciative of everyone who made the journey out to come here me blab.

Near the end of the event, while I was signing, a girl came in and told me that her father had passed away a few years ago and she hadn't been able to celebrate Father's Day since, but this year, she was going to give it a try and she thought my book might be the perfect thing for the occasion. I'll never forget that one.

Thanks again Alison — everyone please check out her books!

Four. Journey to The Ivy - Baltimore, MD

So the way it works is that for most of us authors, especially debuts, publishers aren't usually footing the bill to fly you all around the country promoting the book.

(I know, in the movies, you get a book deal and then they fly you to New York so you can schmooze with the publishing elite and then you get a villa in Hawaii to concentrate on finishing the manuscript.)

It makes sense. No one has heard of me. I'm not going to draw a crowd at a random bookstore in Tulsa, OK.

So what publishers do is look to set up events in your hometown and then, if you want to do more, you have to take some of the initiative.

So early on, I picked up on the fact that what a lot of authors do is organize their own little "tour" by visiting places where they have a network of friends, family, followers, etc. Places they may want to visit anyway, and then they're able to connect with a bookstore in that area.

I knew for sure that I wanted to do something in Baltimore, my hometown, where I have lots of friends and a little family. And I knew of a great indie bookstore right down the street from the house I grew up in — The Ivy.

I also just so happened to kind-of know an incredible author that lives there, that I admire greatly, and that I had a good hunch might be willing to do an event with me.

Matt Norman!

I LOVE Matt's books and he was at the very top of my blurb list way back when — so he had read Dad Camp and written me an amazing blurb for it. Luckily, he was generous enough to agree to chat with me at The Ivy.

So we were all set!

Side note: I brought my oldest daughter with me on this visit (wifey and little one stayed home), and we took the Amtrak train — partly to save a few bucks, partly for the adventure. It was definitely... an experience. We got some great stories out of it (a dude almost tried to fight me over a seat on the way back, yikes) but I'm not sure if I would travel on a train in coach again. It takes forever (14 hours or so!) and it's hard to sleep on the train, plus the microwaved food isn't the best. But the views were fantastic. Core memory, for sure!

The event at The Ivy kicked ass. I don't know how else to say it. Their outdoor space was beautiful (a deer and a rabbit walked by during the chat) and the turnout was amazing. I knew a lot of my friends and family would show up, and they did, but old acquaintances and colleagues showed up, and there were LOTS of new faces that I didn't recognize.

So many people had stumbled upon the book/event!

I met a dad whose daughter had bought him the book for Father's Day, a dad who found it while browsing and bought it because his daughter is also named Avery (and he brought her to the event), and so many more.

Talking to Matt Norman about writing, about being a dad — it was just really cool and I think we did something really special that night.

So grateful to everyone who came out and to Matt and to The Ivy for hosting us so graciously.

Everyone buy Matt's books!

Five. The Elephant in the Room - Sales.

A lot of people have been asking me how the book is doing, how sales are going, etc.

Some debut authors I talk to get upset by this, but I think it comes from a good place — people wanting to root for me and see me succeed, plus some genuine curiosity at how the industry works.

Now that the book has been out a month, I do have access to some sales numbers, but overall it's still an incomplete picture.

(Authors under the Penguin Random House umbrella have a portal where we can login and see our sales numbers. But it doesn't necessarily include everything and there is a margin for error, so I'm waiting for a more official update from my editor in the near future.)

I'm not going to share the numbers right here and right now, but this is a place where I want to be honest and authentic and as transparent as I can be.

So I guess the best non-answer I can give is: There is still a long way to go — no NYT bestseller list for me, yet — but I'm also trying to remember how amazing it is that people outside of my friends and family are buying this book and reaching out to me about it.

There are just realities of the industry that all authors face. Unknown debut authors don't just magically sell 10,000 copies the first week their book comes out! It takes time to build up word of mouth and ideally you want your book to have long legs, to keep finding new readers over time. So it's not a failure if it doesn't all happen at once up front.

I hope and believe that people will be buying Dad Camp for a long, long time.

There's so much that's out of my control. We had some GREAT success with marketing and PR (thanks Nicole & Kathleen!) — you can see my Press page to get a glimpse of all the places that are talking about Dad Camp. We were in basically every Barnes & Noble in the country, usually front and center on the New Releases shelf! (Thanks Dutton Sales team!)

But there have been disappointments, too.

Dad Camp isn't being sold in Targets or airports, for the most part hasn't gotten any special displays or been chosen for big book clubs (there can only be so many Reese or Jenna's picks). Despite good media coverage and really positive reader reviews, Dad Camp was, weirdly, completely snubbed by all the literary trade publications that review books like Kirkus, Publisher's Weekly, Library Journal, and Booklist.

So it's out there doing its thing the best that it can, and I am just trying to keep meeting other authors, keep engaging with readers, keep networking and putting myself out there the best that I can. Other than that, it's totally out of my hands!

It's been a promising start, and all the doors are still open for Dad Camp. The book is still a baby — maybe a fussy toddler — and has a long life ahead of it yet.

What's next?

Well, we keep the train moving, so to speak, and I try to keep connecting with people and spreading the word about the book.

You can help, by the way! If you've read it and liked it, recommending it to a friend or posting on social media goes a long, long way — and I'll be forever grateful.

In the meantime, I write!

Will hopefully be able to share some good news on that front real soon.

Thanks for reading, hope you got something out of all this!