04/18/2023
Publication day is one of the highlights in an author’s journey. You authors know how much blood, sweat, and tears you invested into your book. From the initial spark that ignited your passion to write, through all the hours of isolating yourself from distractions to put down the words, publishing your book probably took a lot longer than you ever imagined.
Sacrifices had to be made to spend time pecking away at your computer keyboard. You traded hours to write for time you could have spent with loved ones, or with friends or colleagues, time you could have been doing something lifegiving for yourself. “It will all be worth it,” you kept telling yourself, the vision of holding your finely printed book firmly fixed in your mind’s eye. Only on publication day can you begin to answer whether it was worth it. And the answer for most authors is yes, indeed. Because from that moment forward, the book is out in the world for readers to benefit from your story, words, and ideas. It could change people’s lives and thereby the course of history.
No one but you could write your book. Although I have no firsthand experience of giving birth—I am a dad but not a mom—publishing a book must be like giving birth to a child. That child is unique and solely the offspring of her or his mother and father. Your book is all yours, from publication day to the end of time. You take the kudos and the criticism. Your spirit rises and falls with glowing and scathing reviews, with author reading and signing events that are jam packed or sparsely attended, with the book’s presence or absence on bestseller lists, with awards won or not, and with the figures on sales reports and royalty statements. That book is your baby and you will stand with it come what may.
Publishers and our partners also celebrate the day a book goes on sale and the public flocks to bookstores and online to buy it (at least that’s the vision we aim for). We believed in you and your book, and committed ourselves to publishing it and being by your side for the long haul. We want to take your story to a world craving the kind of message you offer. But publication day is not the end of this journey.
Lest you get the mistaken idea that publication day is the finish line, allow me to remind you that you are running a marathon, not a sprint. On your marathon run, publication day is only the midpoint marker. At that moment, you celebrate but, after that brief pause, you quickly pivot and kick into high gear your planned marketing and publicity activities, speaking engagements and personal appearances, and keep pounding the pavement, selling your book and pushing your message out into the world.
Congratulations to all you authors who are running the marathon, to those who can celebrate publication day today, tomorrow, or one day soon, and to those in the final stretch promoting your books. You inspire us.