Thursday, February 11, 2010

Here Comes Your Man

It gives me great pleasure—and just a hint of queasiness—to announce that my novel Here Comes Your Man will be released on April 1, 2010 by Hysterical Publishing.

(woo-hoo!!!)

Now, as exciting as that sounds, there are a couple of caveats I should share:

About the publisher:
Hysterical Publishing is an extremely small, independent press that has (to my knowledge) just one employee: me. So while I do plan to talk about myself in the third-person as much as possible, you should know that this is really a self-publishing effort. I’m handling everything from cover art, to page layout, to satisfying the diva author’s incessant demands for more PBJ sandwiches and Diet Coke. (And if this self-publishing venture follows the script of most others, I will also be buying the bulk of the books myself as well.)

About the release date:
Since Hysterical Publishing is such a tiny operation, they can't actually guarantee that Here Comes Your Man will be released on April 1st. They say they're going to try really really hard, and they've promised that, if the book isn't released on April 1st, it will definitely be released at some time before or after that. (And that's way more than any other publisher has promised me, so I'm going with it.)

About distribution:
Once Here Comes Your Man is released, whenever that might be, you’ll be able to get it in both paperback and e-book format from Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and a variety of other outlets. (And if my daughter has her way, one of those other outlets will be a little stand in front of our house, where you’ll get a handmade "friendship bracelet" with every book.)

Anyway, I think that’s enough fine print for now. What’s the book about?

Whenever people ask me this question in person, I usually look down at my shoes and say something like, “Uhhhhhhhh…”

Lucky for you, this is not a real, in-person conversation, so you can just read the book's back-cover blurb instead. Here goes...

Here Comes Your Man

Meet Garrett: 30-year-old computer geek, master of irrational optimism, and serial-kisser of women who (it turns out) don’t like him that way. After three blurry years of business travel and inadvertent celibacy, Garrett is so ready for a serious relationship that he’s a little bit dangerous.

Inspired by a romantic near-miss on a flight home to Seattle, Garrett hurls himself into the deep end of the dating pool, determined to find happiness no matter how miserable it makes him. Too bad the women he falls for don't share his sense of urgency: Froot Loop sculptress April worries she’s warping his personality, cynical attorney Corinne suspects he likes her too much, and upstairs neighbor Meryl just wants to be friends.

Garrett refuses to give up though… well, at least until he does. But sometimes, after you’ve finally abandoned hope, you find that someone else hasn’t given up on you.

So that's my big announcement for today! I'll be blogging more in the coming days and weeks about books, carrot cake, Andre Agassi, and the whole self-publishing process, so...stay tuned! Or at the very least, drop by on April 1st to see if the Hysterical Publishing team and I can hit our deadline: We guarantee you a book, or a really solid excuse!

16 comments:

  1. And just in time for my birthday!

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  2. You're talking about the friendship bracelets, right? Because they do make lovely gifts...

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  3. I heard Vonegut started the same way. Kewl, as they say in show biz 'break a leg' eddo

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  4. You have officially become the coolest person I know!~Jen

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  5. Even better, Eddo: Vonnegut was also a Saab guy!

    Thanks, Jen. In all seriousness, you're probably the warmest person I know...which is pretty darn cool. (And that's definitely not any kind of joke about your malfunctioning heat...)

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  6. Best of luck with this venture! It's a damn fine book.

    So, uh, is Hysterical Press open for submissions? ;-)

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  7. Looking forward to the Friendship Bracelet. Oh, and the book too! Congratulations!

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  8. Thanks, Todd & Ryan!

    We at Hysterical Publishing are still refining our submission guidelines, but rest assured that they will be both arcane and arbitrary. Have you had all of your vaccinations? That's probably as good a place as any to start...

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  9. I want one from the stand at home, with a friendship bracelet, and an autograph from the author!!! I can't wait to read it!!!!

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  10. Hey, that was MY anonymous comment, but I didn't choose anonymous. Karen

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  11. You just need to get a Google account, Karen...and a sweet picture like Ryan's!

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  12. P,S. Diane did not give me a friendship bracelet, nor was my copy autographed. Maybe you need to come to Plano TX for a book signing? Barb

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  13. Good-ish book.

    Will look forward to your soph. effort.

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  14. Thanks for stopping by, Anonymous!

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