WEEKEND BOOK THERAPY
Your chance to ask me anything about book publishing.
Confidantes,
Welcome to Book Therapy!
This community is for paid subscribers, and the goal is to create a safe space where you can ask questions about the publishing industry/process, book publicity, and marketing. It’s also a space where you can share what you’re worried about in book publishing.
Please post your questions in the comments, and I will answer them throughout the day & weekend.
PLEASE READ THE RULES:
-If you are asking a question about YOUR book, please tell me a little bit about it, or my response will be, “It depends on the book…”
-I cannot answer questions via email. Please post your questions in the comments. You'll need to be a paid subscriber to do that.
-I can only provide ADVICE when I respond to specific questions, not definitive answers.
-This is a forum where questions are asked. It is not a forum to write lengthy commentary about your book or the publishing industry (or political beliefs, etc.). If you reply to someone’s question, do so in a helpful way.
-Be respectful to me and others. Everyone’s experience is different. Be kind. Unkind comments will not be tolerated.
-If I don’t know the answer, I will tell you and try to provide a resource where you might find it.
-Please don’t use the comments to self-promote. That’s not what this thread is about.
-There’s no such thing as a stupid question. We don’t know what we don’t know!
-Please be patient. I’ll pop in and out to answer you.
-The more context you provide, the better response I can give you.
-Please allow me the weekend to answer your questions. The deadline to post a question is Sunday night. After that, you’ll have to wait until the next edition of Book Therapy.
Please limit your questions to one comment so I can keep track of them and be fair to others.
-I have the least experience in YA and kids’ books, so I don’t feel comfortable advising that territory.
-This is a community effort, so others may chime in with their own knowledge.
Ready? Go!
-Kathleen
Hi Kathleen. Thanks for you informative newsletter. My question is about the market in the US for books set in other countries. I'm working on a queer coming of age romance set in Australia and I'll be pitching to UK and US agents. In your experience is there anything that makes a novel set in another country more appealing to a US audience, do you think? Have you ever had to publicise a book set in Australia and what was that experience like?
Hi Kathleen,
I have a novel coming out in January with a traditional publisher. It's my 9th book of fiction, a standalone sequel to my last book, which came out in 2021. It's a shorter lead time than I'm accustomed to, as it's not yet available for pre-order and I don't yet have ARCs to send out for blurbs.
I'm not very active on Instagram but feel that I probably should be. The new novel is set in Paris, while the previous one was set in the California suburbs. Question: should my focus be on reviving interest in the first book in the series to lead up to the pre-order window for this one? Or should I perhaps focus on Paris content, which would probably have more traction for potential readers who have never heard of my books? Or should I be doing both? (I've made one instagram post that tries to tie the two together, pinned at instagram.com/michellerichmondsf, and one post pinned to my author Substack).
Thank you!