The Arrival Part Two: Wired For Sound

For as frightening as the prospect of people reading and, in turn, reviewing, "Pray" is, it is thankfully currently being overshadowed by a somewhat regular stream of adrenaline and enthusiasm.  In other words, I'm amped.

It's a pretty fantastic feeling, really, although I'll admit that it's made logging hours at my day job even more tedious than normal.  And perhaps this is the only time when I'll feel this way, assuming that I will end up either basking in the glow of wonderful reviews and incredible sales or or reading horrible reviews while wiping my tears with pages torn from the stacks and stacks of unsold books.  Still, I have a thing for eve's, the night before the main event, and right now I'm riding an extended eve before the book campaign moves into full swing.

Which, coincidentally enough, kind of sort of starts tomorrow.  While the books has yet to be officially released to book stores, it will be available for them to order soon.  Getting bookstores to order a book by a first time author about an unknown person is probably about as hard as you would think, which means they'll take some convincing -- and there are a lot of bookstores out there.  It would be great if there were some way for me to talk to a lot of different bookstores in one spot, in one afternoon...

And, lo, I live in Los Angeles, and this weekend is the Los Angeles Time Festival of Books!

My publisher sent me an information sheet for the stores to use (ordering info and the like), as well as bookmarks good for any occasion (but mostly for promoting the book).  So tomorrow I will brave the bright California sun as I make my way from booth to booth, trying to convert bookstore managers to the "Pray" cause.

It's kind of an impressive step for me to take, to be honest.  I'm generally a misanthrope with periodic bursts of overly enthusiastic social tendencies.  I also generally dread anything that I plan in advance.  Needless to say, I'll probably be pretty nervous tomorrow.  But I think the fact that it's a book fair will put me at ease.  These are people who are in the business of books, but who also love books.  And while they might be flooded with hundreds of new books every month, they still want to find the best books for their store.

So, please, wish me luck.  And if you know anyone who's going to the LA Times Festival of Books on Saturday, tell them to get in touch with me, or look for me: I'll be the sweaty guy trying to give things away.