I’m going to be all over the place in today’s blog. There’s too much on my mind to stick with one subject.
Life can be utterly bizarre at times. I’m still amazed how you can go from overwhelming joy to devastation within weeks of one another. Please send your good thoughts to my friend. She needs all the positive energy she can get right now. Hang in there H.T.
After hearing her crap news yesterday, I started thinking about the New Year. I hate to admit it, but I’m fairly superstitious. It worries me when the New Year starts off with negative things happening. My temporary refusal from my agent is minor and all but non-existent in comparison to my friend’s news. I spiraled down this worrisome path all day yesterday until my dh pointed out that our New Year actually started out as a lovely celebration with friends and family nearby. This made me relax…a bit. Do you all think if negative things happen at the beginning of the year it’s a precursor to how the rest of the year will go? God, I hope not.
I attended the Brava chat last night. It was one of the liveliest I’ve been to so far. Tons of book giveaways. All and all a success I’d say.
I also browsed through Amazon last night and it said my book was shipping. I’m not sure if that’s the case since it’s still saying that the official release date is Feb. 1st. It may be a psych on Amazon’s part. If anyone receives a copy, please let me know. This will definitely skew sales.
January 12th, 2005
January is always a weird tough month for me, but not a precursor of what happens all year (thank GOD for that). Chin up Chica!
by Cece January 12th, 2005 at 9:31 amOoohhh… knowledge! Share how this skews sales. I don’t know.
And I’m feeling a weird vibe this year too. I hope it’s just hormones. Or nervous nail biting over Story #2.
by Sylvia Day January 12th, 2005 at 11:27 amCece, I hope you’re right. Thanks!
by Jordan January 12th, 2005 at 12:00 pmSylvia,
It can make the difference between making any of the bestseller lists or not. (Not that I expect this book to do anything like that with three unknown authors.) Just about all the lists are calculated by sales in the first week of release. With that in mind, if say Amazon releases the book three weeks early, but the bookstores don’t stock the book until the scheduled release date, then your sales numbers are skewed. That’s why last year Christine Feehan’s publisher made all the bookstores pull one of her releases because it didn’t tie into the date they’d set. For her, it would make the difference between the NYT’s Bestseller’s list or not. (A big deal.) Lori Foster also said having releases too close together can screw up your chances of making any lists. I can’t remember why though. Hope that helps.
by Jordan January 12th, 2005 at 12:06 pmThank you for the insight, Jordan. I never would have guessed. I just figured they counted books sold and that’s it. I didn’t realize they counted books sold within a timeframe (the first week). Very interesting. I have noticed that Amazon seems to be in the habit of releasing Brava books early. I’m fairly certain almost all of Alison’s SG-5 series were released weeks before their official release dates.
by Sylvia Day January 12th, 2005 at 12:51 pmOh, no - it’s the opposite, in fact [I’m superstitious as well!]. It’s been said that worse it is, better the end of this year will be. Jan is the reversed mirror of Dec, Feb - Nov, March - Oct, and so on. I think there is truth to this probably weird belief because for me, last December was the worst but last January was the best yet last Feb was the worst yet last Nov was absolutely fabulous. So, look on those bad moments as good signs of what you will have this December.
OK, I’ve just outed myself as a wacko. I’ll leave quietly and watch Desperate Housewives. 
by Maili January 12th, 2005 at 1:22 pmSylvia, Apparently they have a habit of shipping the second they receive the product. I’ve been told that all we can do is hope that the bookstores do not follow suit.
by Jordan January 12th, 2005 at 1:46 pmMaili, LOL! I like your reasoning, but I hope like hell that the first half of the year doesn’t have to suck so that I can have a good second half. LOL! It would make sense if I were comparing this past Dec. to this Jan. It was wonderful.
by Jordan January 12th, 2005 at 1:48 pmJordan’s right…Bestsellers lists have to do with velocity–# sold in a set amount of time and in the case of the NYT magic, voodoo and independent booksellers LOL. So early sales would weaken a book’s velocity which makes sense even if didn’t think about it before.
by Cece January 12th, 2005 at 5:17 pmHi Jordan… I always feel low, uneasy and troubled in January. But it’s not too bad, because I *expect* to feel that way at this time of year. It’s always a crap month after the relaxed, lazy time of Christmas… Don’t quite understand the thing about early releases and sales, but that sounds rather disquiet making too! Love, Wendy
by Wendywoo January 13th, 2005 at 12:42 amI hope things turn out okay for your friend.
by Larissa January 13th, 2005 at 8:30 amInteresting discussion on the bestseller stuff–and on the January thing. Will keep my fingers crossed in every area! *g*
Thanks Wendy and Larissa! I am hanging in there. I appreciate the well wishes for my friend. She truly needs all she can get right now.
by Jordan January 13th, 2005 at 11:37 am