Signings, stickers, & other second book sweetness 💌
Happy February!
We are less than 2 MONTHS out from the release of NOT HERE TO STAY FRIENDS - 8 weeks from today, to be exact! It has snuck right up on me, and I have lots to share today about events, signed copies, fun treats you can get for pre-ordering, and maybe even a glimpse into my regularly scheduled 2 Months Til Book Release Breakdown, if you’re lucky. Let’s get started!
Nice things people have said about me
Okay, not about me, but about my book! NOT HERE TO STAY FRIENDS got a lovely trade review from Kirkus (preview in the image above, though they didn’t draw those hearts) that made my heart feel happy. For those outside publishing who may not know, Kirkus is a publication that reviews a lot of books and as I’m writing this I realize I don’t even really know how to describe who/what they are, but I DO know it’s a big deal to have them say nice things about your book. The full review can be found here! They did also say “some events are a bit hard to believe,” to which I say, “oh yeah bb 😌✌”.
Other things people have said about NHTSF that have made me a pile of emotional + grateful mush:
“very very funny with a real and believable romance in the middle of an absurd situation”
“the characters really felt like 17 year olds” *insert me as Steve Buscemi’s “hello, fellow kids” meme*
“unique and refreshing story that scratched that reality show drama itch”
“all my friends should order this book written by my granddaughter” - a very unbiased source
PRE-ORDER NOT HERE TO STAY FRIENDS!
Not Here to Stay Friends PRE-ORDER CAMPAIGN!
If you’ve been around a while, you might recall me being all “save your receipts! 👀” for months. Now is the time to use them, and get some cool things in return!
“But Kaitlyn, that’s so many words! And I can’t swipe for more details!” I know, I’m a writer, not a graphic designer! And I didn’t wanna make another graphic! But I will try to put it simply-ish:
Pre-order Not Here to Stay Friends anywhere —> get stickers and a KHill signature in your book!
Receive said stickers and signature one of two ways:
Order a signed, personalized book from my local independent bookstore, Joseph-Beth!
Choose to have it shipped anywhere in the US, or pick it up at my in-store signing April 8th
You will get the stickers with it automatically!
Order the book anywhere else in any format!
Fill out this form to receive the stickers and a signed bookplate to stick in your book!
Open internationally
So, if you’ve already pre-ordered your copy anywhere that is not Joseph-Beth, skip to filling out the google form! Thank you sooo so much for supporting my second book + me! Every pre-order is like a warm hug saying, “I care about u and ur words and want u to succeed, Kaitlyn”!
Did you say BOOK SIGNING?
Oh ho ho YEAH I DID, and this time…we’re going on tour!! (To a small swath of the country where I can go in my Prius and believe people will show up to see me!) The signings to celebrate the release of Not Here to Stay Friends are as follows:
Tuesday, April 4th at 6:00pm — Malaprop’s in Asheville, NC — dual book launch with Mazey Eddings, author of The Plus One! This is a hybrid event, happening in-store and being streamed online, and you can register for either option and pre-order books here! I’m SOOO excited to celebrate with my lovely friend Mazey as we both have books coming out that day, and to return to beautiful Asheville!
Saturday, April 8th at 2:00pm — Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Lexington, KY — in conversation with Gwenda Bond! The return of the hometown book launch party, yaaay! You can pre-order your signed copy and/or RSVP for the event (not required) here.
Thursday, April 13th at 6:30pm — Union Ave Books in Knoxville, TN — in conversation with Lauren Morrill! My first signing in my other hometown, at the loveliest bookstore! So looking forward to this one, and will let you know when the event goes up on their website.
In Love from Scratch news + writing updates
Yesterday, I was surprised to learn that Love from Scratch was nominated for a Swoon Award! It’s in the semifinals for Best YA Romance 😍 As a voracious romance reader, I’ve loved following these awards and voting in them since the beginning, and totally didn’t expect my YA debut to be in the running for one! You can vote for LFS and as many of the other wonderful nominees as you want to here.
Are you perchance going to be near Danville, Kentucky next week? I’ll be there signing copies of LFS at the Boozy Book Fair on Thursday 2/16 from 5-8pm! It’s at Morley’s Backyard, co-sponsored by Plaid Elephant Books and the Centre College Bookstore. Author pals Heather Henson and David Arnold will also be there hanging out and signing books, and I’m super looking forward to it!
You can still get Love from Scratch for very little monies in its lovely new paperback form! Some retailers (aka Amazon, so far as I’ve seen, but possibly others!) also have the hardcover available on sale! Run, don’t walk, etc etc!
Finally, pleased to report that I have almost 30,000 words of a new ~secret~ project written, which is enough that I feel pretty fully committed to finishing the thing, so that’s exciting! And I’m in the stage where my brain always has the story running in the background, generating ideas and dialogue and details about the characters, and I love that part of the process. It will be interesting to see how well I can balance it with starting revisions for YA #3, Wild About You, soon, because so far I’ve never been able to work on more than one story at once. But I’m going to try this time, mainly because I’m stubbornly wanting to finish secret project in the first half of this year. Trying to be a mover and a shaker when I am at heart more of a sleeper. Send good vibes!
This newsletter is a lot already!
You’re tellin’ me. But I did promise you stream of consciousness, so let’s end on a few miscellaneous things I feel like telling you about my life:
In the spirit of my teen-drama-slash-reality-romance inspired book, the two shows I’ve been watching lately are One Tree Hill (a 3rd? 4th? rewatch) and The Bachelor (obviously). But with OTH, I’ve been rewatching mainly to finally start listening to the podcast Drama Queens, on which the three female leads from the show talk about each episode from their perspective 10-20 years later, behind the scenes stuff going on at that point, etc. OTH is one of my all-time favorite shows (first watched it in a depressive spiral my sophomore year of college lol good times) and I love all the actresses so much, so it’s been SUCH a comforting viewing/listening experience. The Bachelor, as ever, is a mess! But a mess that I will probably cling to until its demise.
Quite a few people have asked recently how my second time publishing a book is different from the first. In truth, right now I alternate somewhat constantly between “ohhh yeahhh I’ve got this author thing figured OUT” and “I have no idea what I’m doing, no one likes my books or likes me or knows they exist or I exist and it’s all gonna completely flop.” This has not changed much since book 1, and I do wonder if it ever will! This career, being a ~creative~ who shares these pieces of yourself with the world to be commodified and consumed and critiqued in all different ways, is so humbling. It can be hard to separate the value placed on your books—literal value from your publisher in your advance, marketing budget, etc all the way to 1 and 2 star reviews from readers you’ll never meet—from your value. I feel a little more distance from my book the second time around, as this one doesn’t get into some of the more sensitive/personal themes LFS did, and I’ve also lowered some of my less realistic expectations as I’ve learned more about how the industry works. As someone who got a book deal in the first place, then a second one, let alone is a middle class white gal without a family to support or other day job to balance, I’m one of the lucky ones! I never take that for granted, and also wish that I could 😂 I try (contrary to what this whole rambly bullet point might suggest) to focus on my gratitude and excitement more than anything. At the end of the day, it is UNREAL that I’m close to seeing TWO books with my name on them, full of things I came up with in my head while falling asleep at night or watching my trashy TV favs or sitting in my marshmallow chair in my pink home office. That’s always going to feel amazing! And I still love writing more than I love doing just about anything else, and I’m one of the super fortunate few who gets to do something they love for their career, whatever drawbacks it entails and for however long I get to keep at it. So now you know how much people who ask “how are things different with your second book” regret ever opening their mouths and starting a conversation with me. Learn from their mistakes 💘
Hmmm okay let’s put that brief semi-breakdown glimpse in a sandwich between two light n breezy things. I ordered a yoga mat that just got here today, and I’m now going to be a Person Who Does Yoga. I really will. It’s not gonna sit in my closet collecting dust because I have to report back to my newsletter subscribers on my new yoga hobby! Also because it will be “good for me,” allegedly!
Whew okay, thanks for sticking around! If you read this far, you get a piece of the cake sitting in my freezer that I’ve decided to thaw out and eat tonight. U DESERVE IT. You are all my Valentines and I’m sending lots of love your way!
xoxo,
Kaitlyn
^ me after getting into yoga
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