Next Steps on My Publishing Journey

Publishing a book isn’t just about writing. Of course you wouldn’t get to the publishing stage if you hadn’t spent your time writing, but there’s more to it than that.

As the publication date nears, you’re no longer writing to write. You’re writing to promote. But it’s not about bland web content or pieces cheering on your book. Instead, you select key book themes and pick suitable venues in which to publish essays around those themes, with the plan that they’ll come out around the time your book does. They serve as a form of advertising – showing not only that you have a book coming out, but what that book is about.

Of course this doesn’t happen in a vacuum. I’ve got ideas for four companion pieces and have pitched three of them, so am waiting to hear if they’re even accepted. If not, I have to go to plan B, and then plan C (which is a bit thin at this point).

One of the pieces is about Phyllis Munday, a British Columbian mountaineer who was the first white woman to climb Mount Robson. She started climbing when she was 16 and living in Vancouver, taking the train to Grouse Mountain, climbing the three hours up and back down, then catching the train home again. After she married Don Munday, her climbing career became even more storied. From the 1920s to the 1940s, the two of them and their colleagues made first ascents of many peaks in the south Coast Mountains, some of them in search of a way up Mystery Mountain (which is now called Mount Waddington). Even becoming a mother didn’t stop Phyllis—she carried her baby with her on the trail, in a backboard with a net over the top to keep off insects. Munday was a historical mentor to me, a woman who did what she loved exploring the mountains, making the most of being outdoors.

Another piece is about science memoir: what it is, and how it’s written. I’ve noticed that there are a lot of sub-genres in memoir: trauma memoir, mother-daughter memoir, relationship memoir, true-crime memoir. After having difficulties in describing my book and others in the same vein, I decided to call them science memoirs. This term seems new – it doesn’t appear in Google n-gram, though “trauma memoir” does (it started in the late 1990s and continued to grow into 2022). Some might confuse “science memoir” with “nature memoir,” whose use started in 2000 and peaked in 2008. But science memoir is usually written by scientists about their own experiences and how they’ve been affected by them.

A third piece is about the myth of meritocracy and the need for DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) programs. This is a particularly important topic for those who aren’t heterosexual white males, and forms one chapter of my book. It’s particularly significant right now as Donald T*ump pushes for an end to DEI programs and a return to meritocracy, which he thinks is better (less “woke”). This piece explores what DEI is relative to meritocracy, why it’s important, and the successes it’s had. I’ve written on these topics previously, so am hoping I have a strong pitch.

Fingers crossed that I get positive responses but long deadlines, as I need the mental space and time to pull each one together.  

I’m also starting to think about how I can promote the book given my difficulties with being in public (aka doing public readings or talking on the radio) and answering questions on the fly. This is assuming I even have such events!

Dave had a good idea: come up with a list of standard questions that writers get at readings, put them on cue cards, and have him ask me each one so I can practice. This way I won’t be stuck hemming and hawing when I get an audience question. I can also pick sections of my book to read and practice reading them beforehand, so I don’t trip myself up during an event. For interviews, either in person or by podcasts, I can ask for questions in advance so I can prepare my answers. Or at least have a sense of what we’re going to talk about so I know what to expect. My counsellor suggested I start a reading by mentioning my mental illness and forewarning people that it takes me a bit of extra time to collect my thoughts. She said it could be a good segue into the book content, which has a chapter about my mental illness. I’ll have to think about that. Another good idea would be to have a slide show of various field sites, so the audience is less focused on me while I’m talking.

So I’m slowly transitioning into the book promotion phase from the book editing phase, continuing to wrap my brain around a different way of looking at my book: as a series of themes and ideas, rather than just a straightforward narrative.

Wish me luck on my pitches!

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