With 94 days to go until the English-language release date, things are heating up at the publishers.
While the book is being readied for a second round of proofreading, the publicity and marketing departments at Viking and Headline are working to make sure that the word is out about THE BOOK OF LIFE’s July 15 release date in the US, Canada, UK, Republic of Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and other Commonwealth/Former Commonwealth countries. Pictured here is one of the gigantic posters for the UK edition of THE BOOK OF LIFE, taken just this past week at the London Book Fair, one of the world’s largest gatherings of book trade professionals. A similar gathering will happen in New York City at the end of May, and I will be there to meet with booksellers and librarians and talk about THE BOOK OF LIFE so that they are as excited about the release as you are!
My appearance schedule for the US, Canada and the UK are being finalized, too. You already have the US tour dates (they are on my website deborahharkness.com as well as here on Facebook under the EVENTS tab–which you can now view from your mobile device thanks to recent Facebook changes. Very shortly I’ll be able to release Canadian and UK details, as well. Then it will be on to France, the Netherlands, and other locations in western and central Europe.
First up is the LA Times Festival of Books, where I will be taking part in a panel on historical fiction this Sunday, 13 April 2014, on the campus of my own university, the University of Southern California. They’ve been setting up tents all week outside my office in readiness for the crowds. If you are in LA, this is a great event–free, open to the public, with many well-known authors in attendance. My panel is as 12:30, and I will be signing books in the signing area from about 1:30 on so if you want to swing by and say hello and get a jump start on getting your books signed, you can! I won’t be talking about THE BOOK OF LIFE–my focus will be on SHADOW OF NIGHT–but it would be lovely to meet some of you there. Full details are on the LA Times Festival of Books website, including how to get advance tickets for the panel if you are worried about the room filling up before you get there.
In terms of the book’s production, we need to get that second round of proofreading done before the text can be recorded for the audio book (which will be available for purchase and download the same day, July 15) and released to the foreign presses for translation. Once that is complete, and Jennifer Ikeda is busy recording the book, the covers, special endpapers, and books will be produced so that the books can be printed and warehoused in time to be shipped all around the country in advance of the strict on-sale date. More about that process in coming weeks!
We are also working on some special treats for readers, so stay tuned as we hope to make the waiting just a bit easier starting in the middle of May and continuing until July 15.
Have a great weekend and see you back here in two weeks for the last April update.
–Deb
