Dis and Data
19/07/09
I went back to the Dubs to reboot my attention to the book and the blog. It’s a sunny Sunday morning and the A. & W. is empty, except for the Muzak - which is C&W not Oldies for some reason. I like Country, but it doesn’t seem a propos here. Well, plus ca change, plus I don’t like it. :>)
Anyway ... the publisher is happy that sales of the novel have reached half of break-even, with the main fall marketing cycle yet to come. McNally Robinson and Chapters are pleasantly surprised with their in-store sales. So, commercially, all is well. Critically, we have good feedback from individual readers, and not so much from at least one public voice. Regardless, we (the publisher, me, the editors) are happy with how things sit, and are excited about carrying out the rest of of the marketing plan. This is easy for me: I get to talk and sing. The people at Bendecido Books (www.bendecidobooks.ca) get to do the work, and deal with my whining! I’ll list the places and dates as we get nearer to the time, but I know for sure that one of the gigs will be a fashion show - with readings and songs. How cool is that! I mean, isn’t it every author’s dream to be on the catwalk? Or near anyway.
Regarding the music, I have a firm commitment from the Producer that we will complete and post ‘Hopelessly Lost in Love’ by the end of July. I look forward to hearing how it is received as a track. We’ve done it twice live and it went down well. However, (I don’t mind saying) the Producer and the Meadowlark Orchestra set the bar pretty high on the first three tracks, or so I gather form the unanimous praise we’ve received. (Life is full of surprises for this late-blooming amateur!) So the recorded version will have to be much more than passable. The last two songs are estimated to be done by, say. mid-September - in time for the fall sales campaign.
For details on how ‘Hopelessly’ was composed, and how and why it and the other songs became incorporated in the novel, see the blog postings for April, 2009. Just click the ‘Apr 2009’ icon to the right of this text.
Bye for now. See you soon, unless you see me first.
Regards,
The luckiest Old Fart west of the Payless.
Anyway ... the publisher is happy that sales of the novel have reached half of break-even, with the main fall marketing cycle yet to come. McNally Robinson and Chapters are pleasantly surprised with their in-store sales. So, commercially, all is well. Critically, we have good feedback from individual readers, and not so much from at least one public voice. Regardless, we (the publisher, me, the editors) are happy with how things sit, and are excited about carrying out the rest of of the marketing plan. This is easy for me: I get to talk and sing. The people at Bendecido Books (www.bendecidobooks.ca) get to do the work, and deal with my whining! I’ll list the places and dates as we get nearer to the time, but I know for sure that one of the gigs will be a fashion show - with readings and songs. How cool is that! I mean, isn’t it every author’s dream to be on the catwalk? Or near anyway.
Regarding the music, I have a firm commitment from the Producer that we will complete and post ‘Hopelessly Lost in Love’ by the end of July. I look forward to hearing how it is received as a track. We’ve done it twice live and it went down well. However, (I don’t mind saying) the Producer and the Meadowlark Orchestra set the bar pretty high on the first three tracks, or so I gather form the unanimous praise we’ve received. (Life is full of surprises for this late-blooming amateur!) So the recorded version will have to be much more than passable. The last two songs are estimated to be done by, say. mid-September - in time for the fall sales campaign.
For details on how ‘Hopelessly’ was composed, and how and why it and the other songs became incorporated in the novel, see the blog postings for April, 2009. Just click the ‘Apr 2009’ icon to the right of this text.
Bye for now. See you soon, unless you see me first.
Regards,
The luckiest Old Fart west of the Payless.
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