Part 4.  Going Public

 Shortly before the major release of the Terra Incognita novel THE EDGE OF THE WORLD and the crossover music CD from Roswell Six, BEYOND THE HORIZON, Rebecca and I attended the LA Times Festival of Books.  I was there on behalf of Orbit Books (for Terra Incognita) and HarperCollins (for my new Batman/Superman novel, ENEMIES & ALLIES).

 The night before my appearance at the Festival, Shawn Gordon from ProgRock Records met us for a launch party at a local brewery and pizza parlor (where we had first met to discuss the project a year and a half earlier).  Grinning like a proud father, Shawn handed out the first copies of the CD, hot off the presses.  In addition to Shawn, Rebecca, and I, we were joined by two of our vocalists, John Payne and Michael Sadler, our drummer Chris Quirarte, cellist Mike Alvarez, and bassist Kurt Barabas.  Over dinner, we autographed over 200 copies of the CD booklet for a special signed-limited edition.

That weekend at the very crowded LA Times Festival of Books, Rebecca and I did two book signings, where we passed out copies of the Roswell Six poster, EDGE OF THE WORLD sticky notepads, and the fanclub newsletter (featuring the Terra Incognita novel and CD as well as ENEMIES & ALLIES).  I was interviewed on stage for an hour by one of the entertainment editors from the LA Times, where I talked about “Terra Incognita” and ENEMIES & ALLIES.

In the following weeks, press releases went out to science fiction venues, music magazines, entertainment publications, pop-culture markets.  Nearly a hundred review requests came in.  We set up dozens of interviews on the radio, podcasts, newspapers, websites.  I had a booksigning last Thursday in Las Vegas, and I will be driving around to autograph copies in many local bookstores in Denver and Colorado Springs.  The Roswell Six songs are beginning to get international airplay . . . last Friday I was on the radio for half an hour in Copenhagen just before their national Rock Fest.

 Oh, and I did finish writing Terra Incognita #2: THE MAP OF ALL THINGS, and I’m on my third edit.  I’ve already begun talking with Shawn Gordon and some of the members of Roswell Six about doing a second CD for the second novel, since the first one turned out so well.

As an author in a very tough marketplace, just writing a good book is no longer enough.  If you care about your work and your readers, you need to be there to support the novel in any way possible.  You have to do what you can to give it the best shot at succeeding, because all the literary talent in the world won’t help if you you never connect with the audience.

 –Kevin J. Anderson