...to receive your copy of a completed & published book? Does your 8th book (for example) feel any less exciting than your 1st?
Authors: How does it feel...
- Thread starter Emissary of the Prophets
- Start date
For me, the moment always feels surreal. And that has been true of all my work, from seeing my name on a television screen the first time to seeing it on the cover of a book the last time.
For me, it never gets old. When you see the finished item, it's the first time it is actually "real" - it's no longer just a bunch of ideas you had, or a pile of paper, it's a physical object with weight and mass and spineage.
I'm the weird one (surprise, surprise). It was neat when Prophecy and Change came out to see one of my stories on the shelf in a bookstore. That said, I got past the coolness factor pretty quickly. Yeah, it's neat, but it's kind of a this is my job, this is what I get paid to do, seeing the book on the shelf means everyone else did their job right. I basically see the books on the shelves and think good, it's finally made it. Now, how prominently are they displaying? How much can I improve the display? IMO, my job doesn't end until a reader finishes the last line of the last page of the story.
Yeah, I am working on a publishing project that I hope to have up and running by the end of the year, so that colors my thinking toward the business end of things a whole lot.
Although, I have a feeling when the Atlantis novel hits the shelves, that "Finally!" is going to have a lot of layers to it.
That book carries with it something of a gauntlet that was thrown in front of me, so it's going to have some psychological value to see it on the shelf when it finally gets there. 
I let everyone else think it's neat and "Oh, wow, COOL!" now. Which my mother appreciates.
Yeah, I am working on a publishing project that I hope to have up and running by the end of the year, so that colors my thinking toward the business end of things a whole lot.
Although, I have a feeling when the Atlantis novel hits the shelves, that "Finally!" is going to have a lot of layers to it.
That book carries with it something of a gauntlet that was thrown in front of me, so it's going to have some psychological value to see it on the shelf when it finally gets there. I let everyone else think it's neat and "Oh, wow, COOL!" now. Which my mother appreciates.
The latest one is just as cool as the first one. It's proof that someone paid me to make stuff up. How can that not be cool?
It's a nice sense of accomplishment that I take a moment or two to enjoy before getting back to work on the next project.
By coincidence, I got my first copies of the new 4400 novel yesterday, and, yeah, I've been haunting my mailbox impatiently waiting to lay eyes on it. So, no, it doesn't get old.
Dare I confess I've been known to buy a copy of my own book at Barnes & Noble because I can't wait for my author copies to show up?
Dare I confess I've been known to buy a copy of my own book at Barnes & Noble because I can't wait for my author copies to show up?
FWIW, I never get tired of seeing my name on the cover of a new book. This is a job I've wanted since I was a child, and to actually be able to do it full-time is a daily thrill.
For me, there's this sense of minor disbelief: "Really? That's not a typo; they really meant to put my name under Picard and Worf's picture???"
Actually, the more thrilling thing is when other people tell me they've seen it.
Actually, the more thrilling thing is when other people tell me they've seen it.
I've heard other authors do this as a "good luck" kind of thing, to go out and buy a copy of their own book. Was that just that one author or is that something you guys do as well?
^ I actually refuse to buy my own work. There just seems to me to be something perversely wrong about me paying money for my own tales.
I do most of my writing as soon as I get up or late at night before I go to bed. (An old habit I picked up from back when I had to schedule my freelancing around a regular 9-to-5 job.) So, whenever I see the finished product of my work, I can't help but think: "Wow. Someone just spent a lot of money to print a story that I wrote in my underwear."
Yeah, I still love getting the book with my name on the cover. But I still think and do all those things TerriO mentioned, too.
But yeah, 40 novels later, it still rocks to get a book that I made.
But yeah, 40 novels later, it still rocks to get a book that I made.
Dude, I so did not need that visual..........................
I concur, the excitement of seeing the printed book never fades. Remember, we've lived with the specific project for months, if not years, and then there's this long gap between seeing the galleys and the printed book and we've moved on to other things. Then the package arrives and all you want to do is stop and stare at the book with pride and a touch of amazement that it's actually in your hands.
While I'm not as Trek published as the others, it was still an amazing feeling when I got my first copies of SNW IV. My story was the lead-off of the volume so my name was first on the back cover.
I have to agree with a lot of the others. It was part amazing thrill, part validation, and part " they published a story from ME?".
Since I predominantly write and compose theater these days, an equivalent thrill was seeing my name up on a theater marquee for the first time. And it was spelled correctly! (My actual name. I use "TG Theodore" for science fiction.)
--Ted
I have to agree with a lot of the others. It was part amazing thrill, part validation, and part " they published a story from ME?".
Since I predominantly write and compose theater these days, an equivalent thrill was seeing my name up on a theater marquee for the first time. And it was spelled correctly! (My actual name. I use "TG Theodore" for science fiction.)
--Ted
I'll chime in. I'm somewhere in between these reactions. It's not like the first time, but it's not dull, either. What never gets old, and is as good the first time as the last is when someone says "I read your book." Liked it or not, that someone took the time to read it always tickles me.
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