It's Release Day!

Happy book birthday to my thorny little fairy tale! I'm really enjoying seeing posts from readers as they devour their copies -- some have even gotten their hands on hard copies already, which is ahead of me! (I'm waiting to do my ceremonial post-release re-read until I have the physical copy and can enjoy the interior illustrations.) Most likely, if you're reading this blog, you're already a fan of some subset of my writing. So I'm going to do a big ask, even though I always feel very self-conscious about this sort of thing.

The Language of Roses has a chance to really bump up my visibility as an author. I think it's a great book -- the best I've written to date. It has strong and targeted publisher support. It falls solidly in the middle of a recognized sub-genre (fairy tale retellings) rather than falling between fuzzy boundaries of categories. And I even dare to dream that people might nominate it for awards.

But what I need is help making the book visible to its potential audience, and that's where the ask comes in. (I know not everyone is comfortable or in a position to do this, so please don't take this as a personal imposition.) What will really help is if people are willing to go the extra steps to help spread the word and increase visibility, whether that's posting reviews, or recommending the book, or simply squeeing in public about how much you like it (assuming, of course, that you like it). If you have a local bookstore, see if they'll carry it. If you know of lists of books it might belong on, see if you can add it. (Always, of course, without being obnoxious about it!)

I hear other authors talk about their "street team" of fans they can mobilize to create buzz and I've always felt really weird about that concept. I don't have a formal team. But I do have friends and enthusiastic readers. And I'm asking you to help The Language of Roses find its place in the world, with the knowledge that success creates more opportunities for my writing in the future.