I was going to do a big dramatic post about the Sweethearts paperback on its official publication date: January 1, 2009, but it’s already turning up in stores and is shipping, so…why wait? What’s that you say, Sara? It’s already turning up in stores? Why, that means I could get it for someone THIS VERY HOLIDAY SEASON! But does it have a reader discussion guide? Yes, in fact, it does and thank you for asking!
It’s been a good year for Sweethearts, and paperback releases are exciting, so I’m going to go ahead and indulge in a little self-promotion. Let’s review:
- First, I wrote it. And sent it to my editor, and she eventually responded – wow, hey, great idea, love the concept, now let’s rewrite it five times! (I’m paraphrasing.) Just as I was gearing up for the hardest revision, I ran out of money and went back to work part-time. Somehow, a miracle happened, and we wound up with a finished book. YAYYYY!!!!! I mean, seriously, I don’t often get super excited on my blog, especially about myself, but man. It’s always kind of a miracle, isn’t it? Y’all know what I’m talking bout.
- Then, Alison at LBYR designed the most amazing cover ever, and for real, I’m still blown away. As I revised the book, I kept trying to imagine what a cover concept for this book could be and I couldn’t even begin to picture it.
- The book, inspired by a childhood friendship I had with one intriguing young lad named Mark, came out in February. I went to Park City to go on TV, and the book almost became a posthumous release. Alive, I embarked on a whirlwind three-city tour (yes, I’m counting Salt Lake!). There was a heart-shaped-cookie throwdown, won by Jennifer Laughran & Co of Books, Inc., in San Francisco. (So I bought a couple of Books, Inc. gift certificates to be raffled off at a NYMBC event.) Runner-up cookies from a Bay Area high school the name of which I can’t remember (but I do know Ms. Abbott made them) and The King’s English, a la Jenn:
- A blog tour ensued, and I went on something like 15 blogs in 12 days to talk about Sweethearts and life after the National Book Awards. I got sick of myself, and quite possibly you all got sick of me. Nonetheless, I offer you the chance to sicken of me all over again, as the interviews are archived here. Here is a randomly pulled quote from one of the interviews: “Families can be very loyal to their secrets or to a particular version of events that has somehow become absolute truth.”
- Meanwhile, the Establishment gave me the a-okay, and Sweethearts received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and VOYA. Thank you, Establishment! The New York Times even mentioned the book, and thanks to well-placed ellipses I can now quote them as calling my book “…an engrossing novel.” There are a whole bunch more review quotes here.
- But way better than thumbs up from the gatekeepers, Sweethearts generated and still generates so much fan mail from readers who were drawn into Jenna and Cameron’s story, who had stories of their own about special bonds with special people, and most of all who want to know WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?! (You know what would be awesome? Is if someone wrote some Jenna + Cameron fan fiction. Maybe they can go to outer space, and find each other on another planet or…something.)
- Other fun stuff happened, like I went to L.A. to record the audiobook and the director cried so much that when we were done I called Mark and put him on the speakerphone to assure her that the real life Cameron is just fine. Also, the book came out in Vietnam and the German rights sold. It was nominated for BBYA, and an ARTY, and for the Taysha reading list, and I think a bunch of other stuff happened I’m pretty sure I’m forgetting because right now the new WordPress dashboard is freaking out on me and making it very hard to type because every time I backspace, which is a lot, the screen flickers. Aaack.
- Most recently, I held a giveaway for the paperback at the Teen Fiction Cafe blog and was bowled over by the contest entries. I totally wish had 50 copies to give away. But you know what I’ll do? If you want your copy of Sweethearts signed, you just let me know and I will send you a personalized bookplate that you can stick into the book.
All this is say: I’ve been so blessed by the responses to this book, because for awhile there in the writing process I kept thinking, Is anyone but me going to care about these characters? And you did. And you told me so. And I feel very honored, lucky, smiled upon, warm and sunshiney when I think about it and there’s not much that could make my life as a writer better right now. Except maybe being a NYT best seller. Let’s make it happen, people! (Remember – personalized bookplate!) But seriously. Thank you, thank you, a thousand times thank you for helping make this a great year, and I’m so glad that this book can now be yours for the low, low price of $7.99! Or, as a Kindle e-book! Or, still free from the library!
If you read this blog at sarazarr.com (rather than at LiveJournal, which you can do, too, and is where most of the commenting happens), you may have noticed over there on the right —> a new little gizmo from blip.fm. If you scroll through the scrolly part and click “play” you can hear whatever song I’ve got there at the mome. And over the next couple of months, I’ll be trying to put some Sweethearts book-soundtracky songs for your listening pleasure. If you are reading this on LJ, the songs will automatically come up in your friends feed.
And I think….that’s it. Yes, I believe I’ve covered this topic thoroughly. There will be more Sweethearts-related things going on throughout 2009. And other excitement, like Geektastic and Does This Book Make Me Look Fat? and Jesus Girls: True Tales of Growing Up Female and Evangelical (more on that later). Also, eventually, my next novel. Whew! Suddenly I’m a lot more excited for next year than I was ten minutes ago. Thank you for reading this very long, very self-involved post. May the road rise up to meet you and the wind be always at your back etc etc etc…
