Welcome to My Hard Self-Talk Pre-Pub Audit for The Deepest Lake

What I did wrong (and right) and how I'm driving myself batty about things I can't control, because it's almost showtime! Plus Steve Martin, a giveaway, and more

Apr 17, 2024

The Deepest Lake, my sixth novel and my first in the exciting and more commercial (don’t we hope!) genre of suspense, comes out in three weeks. A month ago, just when I was ready to pat myself on the back for being a grounded author with a good attitude, I had a pre-pub crisis. Is my publisher doing enough? Did I do enough? Are we seeing buzz? Are we hearing crickets? Is it too late to get into a time machine and start this ride back at square one?

Which gave me the idea to perform an audit on what I’ve done right and what I’ve done wrong in preparation for this book launch. Just in case you’re curious!

But first, the requisite pre-order plea. If you haven’t ordered a copy, here are some links!
Buy at Barnes & Noble, where I just spotted a bookseller quote describing The Deepest Lake as satirical, emotional and chilling. Lovely B&N person, you are the first to notice it’s meant to be a satirical novel, in part. Thank you for that!
If you buy The Deepest Lake at the bookshop.org site for Secret World Books, you support a brand new bookstore opening in Highland Park, IL. The shop is owned by author Gayle Brandeis and Secret World is where my novel’s main character would choose to shop. (She’s a North Shore mom.)

What I did right

I looked for blurbs—especially the first two—early, even before my publisher asked for them. (There are so many things an author can and should do before the publisher asks. Trust me.)

By early, I mean ten full months ahead of pub day. I reasoned that if I could lock in two friendly blurbs, I’d be way less nervous as we approached strangers with fingers crossed. Also, these early blurbs could go on the ARC (advance readers copy).

The strategy worked. I kept getting nice blurbs—one thanks to my editor but most from my own personal “asks,” which were wildly uncomfortable. I met my personal goal of five strong blurbs, and from there on it felt like visiting a carnival and trying all the games even if you know some of them are fixed. In the end, I got eleven blurbs. I’m grateful for every kind word. Guess what? None of us know if blurbs even matter! (Some people think readers ignore them; I personally think they are a signal at every stage in the game, from in-house to booksellers and so on). But the main thing blurbs gave me was a feeling of support and belonging.

My publisher was all about getting blurbs from suspense novelists. But I wanted a few from memoirists as well, since this novel asks some questions about the world of memoir and what happens when writers lose control of their own stories. I don’t know Joanna Rakoff personally. Aren’t authors nice?

What I did wrong

For my last book, Annie and the Wolves, which came out one year into the pandemic, I focused on social media and online events of all kinds. Library events! Radio/video interviews! Classroom visits! Thank goodness Zoom exists, but I gotta tell you. I have a lot of bad hair days. For this book, I was hoping to get on a lot of podcasts. (Audio only! Hallelujah.)

I assembled a short list and I shared it with my publisher and time passed and…well…from what I can tell podcasts in general are not the thing with my publisher (except for the big proven ones, like Fresh Air), and I get that, because the less famous ones have smaller audiences. But I’m open to all kinds of podcasts. Meanwhile, my publisher was doing other important things.

The error I made was not staying on top of what mattered to me. I regret that now. Even though I told myself that with every new book I’d pick one new promotional strategy to focus on and learn from, I dropped those reins. I did contact two favorite podcasts, by the way, and was informed by one of them that they were already booked nine months out. Now I know. I’m so far behind on the podcast train that if I start contacting podcasters now—and I may—I will be pitching them interviews about my next book, due out in 2025.

My version on the Chinese quote about planting a tree. The best time to pitch podcasts was ~~twenty years ago~~ a year ago. The second best time is ~~now~~ nine months to one year before your next book comes out.

What was just fine in the beginning and has now become wrong wrong wrong

I started obsessing over Goodreads early. If there was a way to install a specific Goodreads blocker—one that can’t be overridden—on all my electronic devices, I would. Or at least now I would.

Truth is, the GR focus was giving me important info for three to six months. It reassured me that my publisher was getting the word out, it introduced me to the type of readers I may get for this book (not my usual ones in many cases), it showed me that the audio audience for this book is larger than I realized, and it got me accustomed to the general themes of reader response—the things some people love and other people don’t. (Some people want endings tied up in a bow and some people don’t, and gosh darn, you can’t please them all.)

Many people say that authors shouldn’t read their Goodreads reviews. For me, reading early reviews is a form of exposure therapy. I’d rather get used to criticism than have it splat onto my face from the sky like bird droppings. I take no joy in being clueless about how my book is received. On top of that, emphatic praise shows up, too. There’s nothing more reinforcing than reading that someone couldn’t put your book down and is willing to bet it will be made into a TV show. (From your lips to God’s ears, as my mama used to say.)

Having said that, once I hit the one-hundredth rating/review, the info stopped being novel or useful. My dopamine system is all out of whack now. Must…stop…checking. Unless you tell me you are about to post a Goodreads review! In which case I will check happily! (Ding ding ding.)

What may be right or wrong; I can’t tell!

For the last year, I consciously emphasized new writing over random social media use and other ways of saying, “I’m here! Remember me? Hello hello hello!”

The result is that I have my next thriller fully drafted. I’ll be handing it in soon. The other result is that my X notifications have dwindled to almost nothing, my Instagram posts are no longer seen by as many people, and if there are new online places where all the cool kids are hanging out, I’m not aware of them.

I would love to think that focusing on writing over promotion, relationship maintenance, or insider hustling is the smart and noble thing. But maybe if I’d been out there giving digital high-fives I’d have more interviews lined up or I’d be more on top of the publishing zeitgeist.

What is wrong but I just can’t help it so F-me, I’m not going to be remembered (aka the dark night of the soul I experience once every 4-5 years)

I am convinced that the best way to find your readership—to sell more, to be known and understood by readers, reviewers and booksellers—is to develop a recognizable brand. I know what I’m getting when I buy a Lisa Jewell or Tana French or Louise Erdrich novel, for the most part. “Brand” is a dirty capitalist word but we all develop clear ways to be recognized by members of our species. Just look at birds. And flowers. Look at everything! Nike didn’t start this game.

I, however, seem incapable of staying in one lane—or blooming in the same color, or chirping out the same song—for more than one or two books. My next novel is indeed suspense/thriller (it’s a doozy, I promise!), and like Deepest Lake, it also features an intense mother-child relationship. But the book after that is entirely different. It’s another one in my series of “weird” books (like Plum Rains or Annie and the Wolves) that mixes genres and blends a real historical figure with fiction with some philosophy and darkness thrown in. That means that I’m harder to market. And that keeps me up at night, sometimes. I sleep a little better when I get a review like this one, my latest from Donna Seaman, the Editor at Booklist:

All who enjoy writer-focused thrillers will be enthralled by Romano-Lax’s morally and intellectually intricate tale, while her fans will marvel at her versatility as she shifts from complexly imagined literary fiction, like Annie and the Wolves (2021), to this psychologically and culturally spiky work of suspense.

I wish there were a dozen Donna Seamans in the world. Spiky. I love it!

And then again: the loving the process part of success

When I am excited about a new project, none of these marketing or identity questions bother me. I just grab onto the next idea and go. I can’t stop myself. Which makes me incredibly happy. As long as it’s not book launch/promo time!

And then again, part II: the lottery ticket theory of success

Also, I do believe that if you just keep writing the books you want to write and even more, the books that only you can write, you have better chances of unexpectedly striking gold. Every additional book that you pour your heart into is another chance at an award, even if it’s a little one; a film option, even if it expires after 12-18 months. Or you may write something that people keep talking about long after the publicity window has closed.

I have one book like that, and it’s a very funny thing. It’s a book that hasn’t sold many copies, but it is my got-closest-to-Hollywood-adaptation book, my best-reader-rated book, and my most-checked-out-of-libraries book. It brings me tangible rewards and warm fuzzies, still. I am thinking of a sequel. But here’s the thing, I’ll only write that sequel if it begins to obsess me.

ICYMI:

I was thrilled that Jane Friedman gave me a soapbox for the following blogpost, “Workshopper Beware: Navigating the Risky Waters of Writing Classes and Retreats.” Lots of great sharing in the comments section.

The new Substack newsletter I think authors or would-be authors should read: suspense author Andi Bartz does her homework in posts like “5 Authors Get Real About Hiring a Book Publicist.” She also has an entire tab dedicated to successful query letters shared by scads of her writer friends. Talk about transparency and helping others just because. She deserves an award for this.

In TV land, I was enchanted by the two-part Steve Martin documentary on Apple TV. I hadn’t realized his stand-up career was so huge that he could fill stadiums, or that he gave up stand-up at the peak of that first career, when he pivoted to movies, which is part II. But here’s what made me sad: that Steve Martin himself seemed so sad (at least until he found a real family very late in life) and unaware of the joy he brought so many people. He said he’d be happy if five movies out of forty turned out well, and he surpassed that. (Rotten Tomatoes ranks them all here and considers 19 of them “certified fresh,” meaning really good.) In old clips, he seems resentful and anxious that people didn’t appreciate his risk-taking in movies like “Pennies from Heaven,” which may not have been a huge commercial success. But looking at the arc of his career, I think—I hope—that his fans did appreciate when he kept taking risks in some odd movies, like “All of Me,” in addition to embracing the funny roles in bittersweet movies that were his trademark, like “LA Story” and “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.”

I am perfectly okay with the fact that some of your movies were duds, Steve! That’s the cost of taking risks! You ended up living an amazing life and I’m really thrilled you finally found love, and also found cool hobbies, and continue to create whatever the hell you want to create! (Am I really talking to Steve, or am I talking to myself and my future self and every artist and writer I know?)

Book Clubbers:

Do you plan to read The Deepest Lake with a group? Either with or without an author visit by Zoom (I will take requests until my schedule fills, email me!), you should consider whether some beautiful bookmarks would sweeten the deal. Let me know and I’ll mail you some.

If I could be anywhere right now I’d be de-stressing in this incredible pool in Croatia. I just love how long it is.

CONTEST

Send me a photo of your favorite place to swim or the lake/pool/seaside you WISH you could visit, i.e. the place you’d love to be reading a summer thriller—with permission for me to post on Instagram (tell me any details you want shared or just send photo and your name or initials) and I will enter you into a drawing for a free copy of The Deepest Lake!