Category Archives: Shameless self-promotion
Weekend notes
Hitting the road this weekend for a trip up the New Hampshire. Limited internet access, and hopefully a chance to put in some solid work on the Iron Night edits.
Hope everyone has a great few days, and a few last links:
There’s an interview posted today over at SciFiChick.com along with a chance to win a signed copy of Generation V.
Plus a very nice review over at All Things Urban Fantasy — four out of five bats can’t be wrong, people!
So if you’ll have any free time over the weekend, wouldn’t you like to curl up and meet this Fortitude Scott guy that everyone in my links is talking about? Of course you would.
Baby black panther thinks you should buy Generation V. Who can argue with baby black panther?
Generation V out in the world
Ever since Generation V was bought by Roc last year, most of my time (when not focused on work, or during the time when I was writing and polishing the initial draft of Iron Night) and focus was on how to best work on promoting the book before it was published. And now… the book is out. I can visit it any time in the bookstore, and now when I talk to people about it, they can actually order copies on their phones, and have e-copies pretty much immediately.
Which is incredible and amazing… but now I can’t help but wonder, now what?
Oh, don’t get me wrong – I know what I need to be doing. The classes I’m teaching are just going into finals, so there’s a lot of hand-holding and correcting going on there. Plus I received edits back from Anne for Iron Night, and those need to be worked on and finished before June 1. Plus I have the third Fortitude Scott book to plan and write. And I really should mop the floors of my house, because that totally got pushed to the back-burner for a few months when I was crazy busy.
But in a larger sense, regarding Generation V, now what? Worrying about how well it’s selling, or doing research and sending emails to try to get more people to talk about it – that has occupied the majority of my days this week. And I know that with my to-do list of actual writing, that’s going to have to change really soon. Maybe I’ll be able to spend a few hours a week thinking about and working on publicity stuff, but that’s probably it.
I’ve made a deal with myself – I’ll keep focusing on Generation V until the end of the week, but then the shift to Iron Night has to happen. So this is an interesting transition time.
So until the rest of the week to keep obsessing about how awesome Generation V looks on a bookshelf at Barnes & Noble.
It’s like a baby picture that I can’t stop flashing!
Stuff To Check Out!
One of my favorite interviews ever at Yummy Men & Kick Ass Chicks – fantastic and thoughtful questions!
Another great Interview at The Qwillery.
I’m guest posting at Guest post at Michael J. Martinez’s blog & at Smexy Books.
The Supernatural Smackdown is still going on at Dark Faerie Tales, and Fort gets a speed date over at the Book Swarm.
Finally, another really strong review of Generation V by Tori over at Smexy Books. Very thoughtful and great stuff.
And in closing, my usual appeal – wouldn’t you love to own your very own copy of Generation V?
Three out of four baby otters approve of you buying Generation V. The fourth would have approved it, but was too busy snoozing adorably.
Generation V debut — interviews & celebration plans
Here’s the big question everyone is asking me on the release day of my debut book – are you having a big party?
The answer is… sort of.
Firstly, today is a Tuesday. So most people I know are actually at work for most of the day, and then they’ll have to get up tomorrow and go to work again on Wednesday. That cuts out most of the crazy partying options. I’ve actually spent a good part of the morning correcting final essays and submitting college grades – interesting fact, having a book debuting today made me a much more forgiving grader than usual! (example: Oh, student who still can’t figure out the difference between “it’s” and “its” – normally your complete inability to just write the rule down on a post-it and follow accordingly would drive me into a frothing rage, but today I just find it cute. Enjoy your B.)
Oh, and I have a doctor’s appointment this afternoon. Yes, what better way to celebrate my success than a trip to the dermatologist? You can see that I truly am living the dream.
But I do have some great plans – after the dermatologist, I’m driving up to meet some friends, and we are heading out to a Barnes & Noble to admire Generation V on the shelf and exchange high fives of congratulation! And then there might be lattes! WOO!
First Season Riker rolls his eyes at me. Sorry, Beardless Riker, we can’t all have orgies on Risa!
There is a lot of other exciting stuff going on today, though, that everyone should check out:
A fantastic interview and review of Generation V on Candace’s Book Blog.
Amazing 5+ star review of Generation V by Julie at Yummy Men & Kick Ass Chicks.
An interview with the Bibliophilic Book Blog.
Interview and giveaway at My Bookish Ways.
And an entry in the Dark Faerie Tales Supernatural Smackdown event. This one is very funny – a lot of other writers are involved, everyone did a guest post from the POV of their main character, and there are even voting buttons so that readers can decide who won the “fight.”
Anyway, thanks to everyone who helped out so much to make this debut day so exciting! Why not buy a copy of Generation V to celebrate?
Sleeping sea otters holding hands think that you should buy a copy of Generation V! Are you going to tell those sleeping sea otters holding hands that they are wrong?
Five days to go!
Only five days to go, and things are incredibly exciting and busy for me! The very nice publicity rep at Penguin gave me a list of every blog that he’d sent an advance copy of Generation V to, and I contacted a bunch to ask if it would be possible to do an interview, or a giveaway, or some kind of guest post, and everyone has been hugely supportive and wonderful. So I have a lot of stuff coming up the pipeline (including some really fantastic interviews that were so much fun to do) over the next week or so.
Exciting stuff for today:
Check out the Top Ten list I did over at All Things Urban Fantasy. They are also hosting a giveaway, so if you would like to win a free signed copy of Generation V, check it out there!
Everyone should also check out Kirsten’s review of Generation V over at A Book Obsession. Four out of five butterflies can’t be wrong!
I’ll be posting again tomorrow, but for now — wouldn’t you like to pre-order Generation V? You know that you would!
Cross-dressing Data wants you to pre-order Generation V.
And you should.
Because he’s cross-dressing Data.
Guest blog
I’m guest blogging at The Qwillery today. This is a topic that I’ve actually spent a lot of time thinking about, which is “The Weaker Protagonist.”
At the start of Generation V, Fortitude Scott is a guy whose life is sucking and who has no intentions at all to be heroic. Forget saving the world, he’d just like his roommate to pay his half of the rent — and Fort can’t even make that happen. In an early chapter, Fort is mugged by Bruins fans.
In fairness, some Bruins fans can be dicks. But not you, of course. You are a Bruins fan for all the right reasons. Because of the skill and athleticism displayed in the sport. You sniff judgmentally at those who go just to see the enforcers beat someone up. You watch for the *strategy,* and drink only in moderation.
But that’s what I like about Fort — because he’s not some super-powerful guy who can wipe out continents with a thought while also practicing his kung fu that would make Chuck Norris weep. He’s a guy with a film degree and a minimum wage job, yet he’s thrust into circumstances where he chooses to act heroically.
So pre-order my book. And if you have moral objections to Amazon, it’s also available from Indiebound!
One month to liftoff!
You know that feeling you start getting when you are little and you’ve just finished off the last of the Thanksgiving turkey? The knowledge that in just a month, you are going to be running downstairs and seeing a pile of presents under the tree with your name on them?
That’s what this feels like. Giddiness, impatience, and the wish that you could just skip the next month.
You know that feeling you started getting when you were a senior in college, and the order form arrived for your graduation gown? That knowledge that in just a month, you were going to march in a line, wave to your family, and then be expected to find a job in order to start paying off those massive student loans?
That’s also what this feels like. Anticipation mixed with fluttery gut-deep nervousness, and a vague apprehension of what’s about to happen.
I’m simultaneously in two very different emotional landscapes. It took a lot of years and hard work to get to this moment, so I’m very intensely desperate to see the fulfillment of Generation V sitting on a bookstore shelf. On the other hand, I have that nervous worry – what if no one really likes my book? But then I remind myself that if the book truly sucked, then my editor wouldn’t have bought it in the first place. Plus, Devon Monk and Karen Chance both said very nice things about the book, and I never even met them! Which helps for five minutes until I start thinking about the possibility of seeing one-star ratings on Amazon.com. But then I think about how nice it would be to see five-star ratings.
It’s awesome and complicated at the same time.
Some good things:
The Goodreads giveaway of Generation V closes in two days! 25 copies of the book will be given away, and right now there are 627 people requesting – so that’s pretty cool.
Generation V got its first review! You can go over to RT Book Reviews to check it out – heads up, though – you can only see the review if you are a subscriber to the magazine. Two months after the print magazine hits the stands, everyone will be able to read the review, but for now you need to be able to log in. But I got a peek, and the reviewer, Bridget Keown, gave it four and a half stars out of five, which I am assured is a big deal for a debut! (and Keown used the word “sensational” to describe Generation V!)
I’ll be guest blogging at The Qwillery next week as part of their 2013 Debut Author Challenge, and there will also be an interview posted the day after Generation V hits the stands (May 7th!)
Finally, my author copies arrived – the book looks AMAZING! I’ve included pictures below! (oh, if you run a blog or a website and would like to review Generation V, please email me and I’ll send you a copy!)
It looks good coming…
… and it looks good going!
Generation V Giveaway!
Less than two months to go before Generation V is available in bookstores everywhere, whether brick and mortar or online! May 7 is the magical date, for those of you who *haven’t* inscribed it on every available surface. Fun secondary fact – it turns out that this is also the release date for the conclusion of Charlaine Harris’s Southern Vampire series – so if you’re going to be in the bookstore anyway to buy Dead Ever After, why not buy Generation V while you’re at it? Or, if you’re buying it online, throwing Generation V onto the order will get you (almost) to the $25 minimum for super saver shipping!
There have been some fun developments as the debut gets closer. For one thing, Generation V now has a Goodreads Giveaway! Link is here. Twenty-five advance readers copies, so that’s pretty exciting. Even more exciting – if more people sign up for my giveaway than for my friend Django Wexler’s epic fantasy The Thousand Names I will have total bragging rights. (Fact: I am horribly competitive, and so is my brother. It has gotten to the point where our mother refuses to play board games with us anymore unless our spouses are also involved.)
A few other things are brewing, and hopefully I’ll have more to say about those shortly. Apparently the ARCs have also been circulating among the trade magazines, and I’m starting to hear that the book is getting some good reception. I’ll talk about those a bit more at a later date, hopefully when I have links for reviews.
A blog called The Qwillery has included Generation V in their 2013 Debut Author Challenge. I really like this idea, and I’m excited to get to be a part of it. I’ll get to do a guest blog on the site in April, and then they’ll be posting an interview with me the day after Generation V’s pub date.
That’s mostly tying things up. The last few months I’ve been keeping my hands busy by working on the sequel to Generation V. That’s with the editor now, so I’m occupying myself now with planning major events for Book Three. More details on those will come later, but I’m very eagerly waiting to see what people think about Generation V.
But as I’m biding my time until the day that I can go to Barnes and Noble and take photos of my book on the shelves (fact: I’ve already gone and admired the spot where it will be), here’s what I’ll be doing on March 30th!
Cover art!
My editor sent me the cover art for Generation V (out in May 2013)! Check this out!
C’mon, look at that cover. You want to read this book, don’t you? It’s gritty! And cynical!
I am really so thrilled about this cover. My editor really surprised me a few months ago by asking me to put together some information about my preferences for cover art – artists I liked, other covers I could imagine fitting in with the tone of Generation V, and physical descriptions of the characters. I got to see an earlier version of this cover about a month ago, but it was very hush-hush until it got final approval.
But, honestly, it fulfilled all of my major hopes for the cover, in that it:
1: Looks really cool and badass. As my main example of how this could’ve gone wrong, gentle reader, I turn your attention to the awesome book Ariel by Steven R. Boyett:
This is what a badass cover looks like.
Look at that cover. It’s dark, the dude looks all kickass, weaponry is involved, and could New York City look any more apocalyptic? No, short of having Mothra making an entrance on stage left, it could not. This book is the literary version of a guy in a leather jacket leaning against a high school hallway wall and smoking a cigarette. You look at that cover in a bookstore and have to immediately give in to peer pressure and read this book.
Now, here’s what the original cover looked like:
Let us charitably refer to this as “less badass.”
Can you see the difference? For one thing, the guy on that cover looks like he’s about to burst into Disney-levels of song. And while everything on that cover is technically accurate to the book (including the *sigh* happy little dolphins) it’s not entirely stylistically appropriate. For one thing, that unicorn curses like a sailor.
It also fulfilled my cover desires in that it also:
2: Is not something that would make me embarrassed. Namely, it does not feature eroticized shirtlessness. Or the heaving of the bosoms. (not that there isn’t nudity in the book, because there totally is — I’m all about the fan service) An example of this would be like is what happened with the Laurell K. Hamilton Anita Blake books.
Here’s the original cover of the first book in that series, Guilty Pleasures:
Kind of cool, right? Has the heroine holding a gun, apparently threatening a building, plus the head of a dude with fangs. Kind of covers the main themes of the book.
Now here’s what the re-issued cover looks like:
That’s a cover that has implied theme music. And that music goes bow-chica-bow-wow for five minutes before the moaning gets too loud to hear it anymore.
So, that was pretty cool. Also cool? Well-published authors who were sent advanced copies of Generation V have said nice things about it! You can see the Karen Chance comment on the front – here’s the actual full text on it:
“I loved M. L. Brennan’s GENERATION V. Engrossing and endearingly quirky, with a creative and original vampire mythos, it’s a treat for any urban fantasy lover!” –Karen Chance
Suddenly I’m a bit more impressive, aren’t I? Well, brace yourselves, because here’s another one!
“Full of vivid characters and terrific world building, GENERATION V is a fun, fast-paced romp of a story that kept me glued to the pages to the very last word. Loved it! Bravo, M. L. Brennan, bravo!” — National bestselling author Devon Monk
I’m trying to figure out a faux-humble way to put these quotes on my Christmas cards this year. Which also leads me to the interesting etiquette quandary of, does one send thank-yous for good reviews? I was always told that you can’t say “thank you” for a good review, but that you should say “I’m glad you liked it” – apparently that removes any potential whiff of nepotism in action or something. But I’m also not sure how to phrase that email – “We’ve never met, but you liked my book, so thank you. PS: Loved Dead Iron. XOXO – M. L. Brennan”
Hm. Has possibilities.
In last news of the awesome, Generation V now has its own pages on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble! You can even pre-order it! (hint.. hint…)
Brand-new site!
So here’s my new site! If it looks extremely standardized, that’s because it completely is. Hopefully there will be bigger and better things in the future, but for now I had exactly $26 set aside for marketing myself, and I just blew it all.
BUT, I do plan to be making good use of this over the next few months. I’ve got big plans for the blog part of this page, which I hope to post to weekly (at least, in this stage). Most of the early posts are going to be background, but I actually do have fun stuff to talk about, notably the publication of my first book, courtesy of the fine folks over at ROC. It’s scheduled for May 2013, so I’ll have good stuff to post about, from the basics like how I got an agent, how the manuscript was bought (because when I was working on those things, I spent far too much time scouring the internet, hoping that I would find directions for that “secret handshake” that I was partially convinced was what I really needed), plus the process of what getting a book published is like. I’m currently elbow-deep in the guts of Book Two at the moment, so I might talk about that a little.
Other stuff that I plan to do – FAQs are important, there’s an About section to fill up, plus the critical Contact portion. The Fortitude Scott portion is set aside for specific book stuff, which I’m sure I’ll fill up more once I have marketing info. I may do a Links section eventually, but that would probably just devolve into a long list of authors who I have a writer’s crush on. It would be nice to figure out how to put up a Forum section, but that can wait until I have, you know, people reading this other than my agent.
M. L. Brennan 