Adjusting To Life, Questions After A Book Release
Sarah Gilbert (cropped) / flickr.com/cafemama
It is time for best-selling author Joshilyn Jackson to slow down. After launching “The Opposite of Everyone” last month, her book tour and events are finally over and she can shift back to writing her next novel. While Jackson is ready to focus on a different book, many others are not done checking in on her latest release.
“People are asking me how it’s going,” Jackson says. “And they mean one of two things, sales and reviews. Usually both.”
Jackson explains that this question could be inappropriate to ask an author so close to their book release, as it will sometimes be interpreted as “so I was just wondering if you’re a total failure at life or not.”
Still, Jackson can report that her numbers are “healthy” according to her publishing house. This is a good term.
“Editors and agents tend to speak in euphemisms – gentle euphemisms with authors, but it’s easy to interpret what they mean.”
As for reviews, they have looked good too. Most notably, for the first time in her career Jackson was reviewed by the New York Times. She was not too concerned whether or not the review was good.
“Just to have The Times acknowledge you exist, even if they don’t like you – it sort of takes you seriously in a way that I think most writers want,” she says.
And while Jackson focuses on finishing her upcoming book over the next three months, she plans to spend most of her time in her pajamas, “not talking to very many people.”
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