I’m still not clear if this is running in this weekend’s paper, or in next weekend’s paper. But in any case, there you go.
GIRLS OF ATOMIC CITY Hits 4 NYT Best Seller Lists!
GIRLS OF ATOMIC CITY Hits 4 NYT Best Seller Lists!
This’ll be quick. We heard yesterday that Denise’s book hit four upcoming New York Times Best Seller Lists.
The lists, and the book’s rank, as they will appear in the April 14, 2013 newspaper:
#8 E-book Best Sellers
#14 Hardcover Nonfiction Best Sellers
#15 Combined Print & E-book Best Sellers
Not appearing in the newspaper:
#21 Print Hardcover & Paperback Combined Best Sellers
Denise on the Daily Show, Part II
Denise on The Daily Show, Part II
This is the extended portion of the interview, available only online.
Denise on the Daily Show, Part I
Denise on The Daily Show, Part 1
This aired March 28, 2013.
Denise talks about THE GIRLS OF ATOMIC CITY on Morning Joe
Denise on MSNBC
I’m finally getting around to posting the videos of last week’s interviews.
Here’s the video of Denise’s interview on MSNBC’s morning show, “Morning Joe.”
Denise on MSNBC Thursday AM
Change of plans: My wife Denise Kiernan will be on the MSNBC program “Morning Joe” Thursday AM talking about her book, The Girls of Atomic City.
This is a three-hour morning talk show and it looks like Denise will show up in the last hour.
I’ll post a clip later if one is available.
We’re still a go for The Daily Show Thursday night as well.
The PBS airing really boosted sales, if the Amazon ranking is any indication. It took the book from the mid-600s to #46 when we woke this AM.
Denise presents THE GIRLS OF ATOMIC CITY at NYU
Video: Denise’s lecture in New York!
This is a one-hour video of Denise talking about her book, The Girls of Atomic City, as part of the Speaker on the Square series at New York University.
The talk was attended by 300 people.
Denise on PBS News Hour
Video: Denise on PBS
Late Friday, The PBS NewsHour postponed airing their interview with my wife, Denise Kiernan, talking about her new book, The Girls of Atomic City due to late-breaking news. But they did upload the video, shown here.
You can read the article they posted here.
The clip will mostly likely air late next week.
We’re still on for The Daily Show Thursday, and Morning Joe Friday morning. I’ll keep you apprised of any details or changes.
The Daily Show posted Denise’s pic/bio here. The show airs March 28 at 11 pm and then re-airs Mar 29 at 7 pm.
THE GIRLS OF ATOMIC CITY ad in The New Yorker. Yes, The New Yorker
An advertisement for The Girls of Atomic City appears in this week’s issue of The New Yorker.
This blew us away. The media hits on Denise’s book have been pretty good. Every day seems to bring a new one. By far, I think, the NPR interview (which you can hear here) did the most to announce the book, but there have been good reviews in Shelf Awareness, Book Page, Geekadelphia, USA Today, and um, a few others that escape me at the moment. In the last couple of days there have also been: invites to do an Irish radio talk show, more US radio show interest, three TV appearance invites, not to mention creepy notes from freaky dudes checking out my wife online. (We reported you, a-hole). And there will be a few other media things happening in the cities she’s visiting this month (DC, NYC, Oak Ridge).
On the marketing side, this ad, and the ones running on Salon.com, are obviously the publisher’s doing.
Neither Denise nor I have ever gotten this much pub week press for a title of ours, so it’s really educational. I’m actually impressed by the impact that blogs can have on this. A lot of the enthusiastic bloggers turn out to be librarians or freelancers who go on to file their reviews with larger outlets, such the book trade press. And then they of course post those same reviews on Goodreads. It’s interesting also to see a lot of Atomic City “extended alumni”—people whose parents or grandparents worked at the site featured in the book are turning up as well.
So it’s been cool.
More later as I digest this all.
***
Still cranking on my latest book. Going well. Not much else to report.
Denise Kiernan. That's me.: Happy Pub Day
A post from my wife, Denise Kiernan, whose book, The Girls of Atomic City, is out today.
Happy Pub Day
It’s here—that day all authors wait for which, when it finally dawns, is one of the most anticlimactic career events ever, no matter how many times you go through it. Pub day.
Books are a long haul. You get a kernel of an idea, do a little digging and try to decide whether this is a topic you want to live with for years. Then of course there’s the business end of the entire endeavor which, if you’re like me, can’t be ignored if you want to make a living: Can I sell this to a publisher and can that publisher sell it to readers?
So the kernel sprouts and you decide that you do want to live with the idea until you don’t and then until you can’t live without the idea again. Then there are the proposals and the meetings and all the while you’re trying to keep researching and come up with a clear vision for this project that you’ve already told major publishing corporations you really do have a vision for. Then you get the deal. Relief. Deadlines. A schedule. Sort of. An end date? In a sense, sure.
You write. You rewrite. You keep researching. You turn in the first draft, which is maybe the most anticlimactic of all the anticlimatices. (New word! It’s one of those vertices you think you’ve reached but feel underwhelmed when you actually do.) You’re still so far from done and you know it. You wait for your editor. You already want to make changes the minute you hit “send” and your manuscript went out into the ether on its way to your editor. That’s fine. Changes are coming.
Your changes. The editor’s changes. Changes from those trusted colleagues you allowed to see your ugly, ugly first draft. Revisions and more drafts follow. The end is so much closer and you know now that the time to really whip things into shape is shrinking fast.
A first look at your cover blows a little wind up your skirt and you get excited again. A cover! It’s real!Do you like it? they ask. You do! You really do! You’re not just saying that to avoid sounding like a moody, picky writer with no design experience. Everyone weighs in. Then polite “suggestions” from the real power-wielders at any publishing house: sales. They don’t like the cover. Am I OK with that? Absolutely. After all, there are bigger fish in this fry-daddy.
First pass pages! Am I done? No. The copy editor has seen it, maybe a proofer.Only make necessary changes…Necessary. Never do writers have more trouble defining such a two-cent word than when they are instructed to make only “necessary” changes.
Pencil marks. Post-its. Use this pencil, not that one. You finish…sort of. You mail it in. You’re done!
No, you’re not.
Promotional materials. Second pass pages and galleys. The book is in print…sort of.Ugh..I could invent a drinking game based on the number of times I used the word (insert favorite adjective here)…I can’t believe I….Can I still change…? Your editor is about to hop on a plane and pry the pages from your cold dead hands. Promotional materials again. Web sites. Meetings. Lists of people you hope will give this book a second look. Finally, there are no more changes to be made. The book is off to the printer.
But you’re still not done. Wrangling for press, emailing, tweeting. Yay! I got a piece in yadda-yadda magazine! Boo! Whozeewhatsit doesn’t want to have me on their show! Yay! Boo! Wine.
Then, finally, on a rainy Tuesday, the book is officially out in the world. Sort of. Actually there has already been press. People have already been tweeting pics of the book after purchasing it BEFORE the pub date from stores that ignore those sort of contractual restrictions. Emails from friends and people I haven’t heard from in a while are, by far, the best part of this day, and I will answer every single one.
However, I’m still not done. I have talks to give, traveling to do, presentations to prepare (clothes to buy…) I open my laptop and try to get back to work. The inter-web sink hole drags me down into the neuro-pacification that is KenKen and I wander over to…
Hang on. What’s that a picture of…? Who isthat? She looks fascinating. She didwhat? When? Huh. You know what would be a great story…
And another kernel sprouts in the dark. Happy pub day.
***
I’ve been watching Denise’s march through the trad pub world with interest, comparing it to my own experiences in self-publishing. I’ll do a post on this shortly. I just want to collect my thoughts on it all.
