Today’s my birthday, and I decided that if I couldn’t get the local bookstores in my area to stock my book, I was going to go to a place that did and see it on the shelves for myself!

So the family jumped into the car and drove the 65 miles to Dublin, CA, where the Barnes & Noble had a couple of copies left. They enthusiastically welcomed my embarrassed inquiry as to whether they’d like me to sign them, and one copy was immediately snatched up, allowing me to personalize it for the customer.

Now we’re in San Francisco, staying in a nicer room than we normally could afford (thank you, Hotwire). Tomorrow morning we plan to drive to Napa for breakfast, then return to Sacramento for a family event, where I’ll meet an aunt we’ve only known existed for a year or so (the 40s and 50s were weird, folks).

Overall, a good birthday. Even if I do have to admit I’m getting closer to 50.

Here we are, two months past the release of The Widening Gyre. How does it feel?

Weird, man. It feels weird.

I’ll elaborate on that, but first, some answers to FAQs:

How are sales doing?

I don’t know. I really don’t. I get sales reports quarterly, but because the book released two weeks before the end of the quarter, I’ll have to wait until the next one in August before I get any sort of solid answer to that. Having said that, I’ll admit I’ve done some calculations. I figure I’ve sold at least 200 copies since release. Amazon’s NPD BookScan link tells me I’ve sold 64 copies. I know from other writers that Bookscan can be inaccurate as hell, but given that I’m not sure how many actual brick & mortar stores have TWG on the shelves, I’m not sure how far off Bookscan is–it could be pretty accurate.

That said, Bookscan doesn’t account for all sales. WorldCat, a website that searches for books in libraries around the world, tells me I’m in 97 libraries in the US, the Netherlands, Australia, and New Zealand so far. Back when it only listed about 60 libraries, I actually spent an hour going to every library website WordCat linked to and counting the number of copies the library had. At that time, there were 104 verified copies on library shelves, with 25 of them checked out at that moment. I haven’t gone back and checked again, and probably won’t–it was a moment of weakness.

How are the reviews?

They’re not bad. In fact, they’re pretty great, and even the most critical reviews had some good things to say.

Publishers Weekly gave me a decent review, with some negatives, but they called my book a “flawed but promising” debut. Booklist gave me a starred review, and said “Johnston, with skillful plotting and impeccable world building, takes the tale of Tajen and his crew searching for home and shapes it into an unforgettable journey.” Others have said some equally good things.

The book is holding at about 3.94 on Goodreads, and 4/5 stars on Amazon.

How are you?

Well, and here is where we get to “weird.”

It’s very cool that my little book is all over the world, and people I’ve never met are reading it. I’m glad the reviews so far are mostly positive.

I’m also paralyzed with fear and exhaustion, and it’s affecting the writing of book 2. I’m working on it, and I’m still hopeful I can kick into high gear when school let’s out, but for now it’s hit-or-miss. Some days I get 1000+ words, other days I can barely get 300 out. I second-guess myself a lot more this time around.

I feel like I have four jobs: Teacher, dad, writer, and promoter. The day job and being a dad take precedence, but writing used to be ONE job, and now it’s two. It’s doable, but I’m such a beginner that I don’t know what I’m doing.

All in all, I’m very grateful that I’m here. But as many writers say, getting here isn’t an end; it’s just a beginning. In RPG terms, I’ve “leveled up,” and I have a whole new set of skills and “powers,” but I also have more and bigger issues to deal with.

Lately I’ve been a bit panicky, because despite having a contract and a synopsis, I’ve been really stalled on book 2. But somehow I seem to have broken through my brain’s resistance, and now we’re getting off the ground in a big way.

I’m still a little bit nervous, because I’m just now reaching 20%, and the MS is due in July. And I’d really like to get it at least polished once before turning it in. But considering a week ago I was at 13%, I guess I should take the win, right?

In any case, I seem to be making good on my wordcount goals, and I’m getting to a point where it isn’t too hard to keep moving. So hopefully, I’ll be proud to turn in my MS in July, and not secretly terrified of my editor.

Starting this month, I’ve joined Authors For Families, a collective of authors (and other publishing professionals) offering various items and services at auction to support organizations that seek to reunite immigrant children with their families and fight against inhumane immigration policies.

We support:

• CASA in Maryland, D.C., Virginia, and Pennsylvania. They litigate, advocate, and help with representation of minors needing legal services.

• Women’s Refugee Commission advocates for the rights and protection of women, children, and youth fleeing violence and persecution.

• Kids in Need of Defense works to ensure that kids do not appear in immigration court without representation, and to lobby for policies that advocate for children’s legal interests. 

• The Florence Project is an Arizona project offering free legal services to men, women, and unaccompanied children in immigration custody.

• RAICES is the largest immigration nonprofit in Texas offering free and low-cost legal services to immigrant children and families.

My offerings:

A signed, personalized hardcover book.

This isn’t anything super special; it’s just a book, autographed with a personal message to whomever the winning bidder chooses. I can either write exactly what the bidder wants, or just come up with my own message; your choice.

Name a character in The Blood-Dimmed Tide

The Blood-Dimmed Tide is a more violent, bloody book, as the Remembrance War kicks into gear. The winning bidder gets to name a secondary character, AND they get to choose: Will the character die in a blaze of glory, or live to the end of the book?

Follow the links to take part in the Silent Auction.

As of today, The Widening Gyre, my little space opera novel, is (theoretically) on store shelves!

If you can’t find it in hardcover or paperback at your local bookstore, you can either order it from them or you can order it from the links here on this site. Pick your retailer; we’ve got ’em all.

For you ebook fans, the book is available on Amazon, Kobo, and Apple Books.

Audiobook lovers can find it on Itunes, Audible/Amazon, and Google Play.

Over on Mary Robinette Kowal’s My Favorite Bits feature, I wrote about my favorite part of the book and why I liked writing it so much.

If you see the book in the wild, I’d love to see it! You can post pics on Twitter and @ me at @MREJohnston, or Instagram, where I’m @michaelr.johnston.

Good reading!

Here we are, 3 days and change from release. I’m mostly sanguine about it, at this point. The book is written and printed; the audiobook is recorded, the ebook is waiting for release–and of course, the only part of that I had anything to do with is the writing.

So I can sit back and relax now, right?

Well, no.

I’ve got an AMA scheduled on Reddit’s r/sciencefiction community on Monday the 11th, and there are several posts about the book going up for a little over a week–most of these I don’t have to write, but I do need to do more than sit back on my laurels. I need to be pushing the book, in as unobnoxious a way as I can, for at least a week, maybe more.

I’ve discovered that a lot of readers assume this kind of self-promotion is only the domain of self-published or Indie authors, the but the truth is, even writers published by Big 5 Publishers have to do a fair amount of this.

The truth is, though, that at this point, there is very little I can do. The book is edited, printed, and shipped. People will either buy it or they won’t. I obviously hope they do, but I’m also terrified about it.

My stuff. Out there. In people’s hands. The horror!

But also:

My stuff! Out there! In people’s hands! The joy!

I’ll keep updating as this whole thing continues.