Book Releases + Community
This week was a big week in the book world. I’m not a bookstagramer or a booktok girlie in any sense of the word. In fact, I have never had TikTok and I probably have some hot takes on the app and how people reacted to the ban of it. That’s a different conversation for a different day though.
As a writer, I’m a huge reader. My love of writing probably comes from my love of books. I love when a story can suck me in and make me want to stay awhile. I love meeting fictional characters that can make me laugh out loud. There is something really amazing about books and how they can bring people together over the love of a good story.
I say it was a big week in the book world because the long anticipated Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros released. This “romantsy” book series has taken the book world by storm. Last I heard, the first two books were still sitting on best seller lists. Now, I actaully feel a little bad because another author I love, who is an auto-read author for me, also had a book release on Tuesday and it definitely got swallowed up in the hype around Onyx Storm. Don’t worry, I’ll still be getting that author’s book. I’m talking about this book release though because I witnessed something that has been on my mind ever since. I saw, with my own eyes, how drastically our culture has shifted. It made me long for the days before the big boom of technology. Although, I think 2020, COVID, and the lockdowns might have played a bigger role in our society and how it changed so quickly than the technology boom. The technology boom is definitely part of the slower, over time changes we see throughout our society though.
I know, okay boomer. I know I sound like a fossil as I write this. I think this is why millennials always feel nostalgic, we know the current technology and current trends and societal norms but we clearly remember the times without all this technology and ease of life— it wasn’t that long ago.
So with the release of Onyx Storm, I saw a lot of things online and on social media about the shipping of pre-orders getting delayed. The book wasn’t even out yet and people were leaving one-star reviews on the book for shipping delays, cancelled pre-orders, and things that literally have nothing to do with the book or the quality of the story.
Seeing all those things made me decide that I would head to the store to get my copy of Onyx Storm on the day it was released. I even got a little excited about it because that was something I used to do growing up. I would go out to the store to buy books on the day they released. When Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was released, I called every single Borders in Vegas to see if they had any copies available that weren’t set aside for their pre-orders. (When I was a kid, you pre-ordered in the store and you picked up your pre-order in the store.) If you want a visual of this, imagine a middle schooler with a phone book and her dad’s early 2000’s cell phone that could fit in your palm. If memory serves, none of the Borders locations had additional copies so I started calling Barnes & Noble stores. (You shopped at one or the other, never both, iykyk) I was able to find an available copy and my dad took me down to Barnes & Noble and I was able to go home with that book on it’s release day. That was well over 15 years ago and that memory still sticks out to me. We had some funny conversations with people as I ran to the display and picked up the book. We had even more conversations with the sales associate as we checked out. It was a community bonding moment.
Book releases and movie releases used to be such a big deal, they became community events. You would line up early (like my friend Nicole who made us show up at like 5PM for a midnight release of Breaking Dawn), some people would dress up like characters, and others would wear their fan merch. By the time you walked into the movie theater though, you would have made a few friends and there was a sense of commoraditory as you watched the movie.
Tuesday morning arrives, I wake up and make the final decision to head over to Target. If I was going to buy the book on the day it released, I might as well try to get the Target only edition, right? I even remember thinking that it wouldn’t be a huge deal. People don’t line up for book releases or movie releases (remember how movie theaters started to “midnight release” a movie at 9PM the night before, before that kind of thing stopped happening?) anymore. Add in the online upset I saw over the fact that Target was releasing their own edition, you couldn’t pre-order it, I really thought nobody would be lining up for it. I saw so many people call this edition a money-grab. I also had a conversation with a friend about consumerism and how the limited edition was driving up the desire to have it and how it was a heart check moment.
I would say that blaming Rebecca for the Target only edition though is probably misplaced. Publishers have a vested interest in making money and stores have a vested interest in getting people into their stores to buy things. Having a Target only edition of a popular book would get people into Targets to get the book. Let’s be real, none of us are thinking about hitting the bookstore and implying running over to Target. Any books I have bought from Target were books I stumbled upon. Onyx Storm would be the first time I ever went to Target with the intention of buying a book.
Turns out, I was wrong. I rolled up to my Target and discovered a line from the door over to the side of the building with a small loop around a tree so people could stand in the sun while they were in line. I got there a little before the store opening so I wasn’t standing in line long but in that short time, those of us in line, started talking. There were people who had come to buy the book for friends or family members so they were asking what the book was about. Right before the store opened, an employee came out and told us that they only had fifty copies of the book and he had counted about forty-nine people in line. In that moment, I knew I could feel mostly sure that I would be able to walk away with a copy of the book. What made me laugh was that everybody in line at that moment basically agreed that with only fifty copies and how many of us were already in line, everybody was going to get one copy. I held that with a healthy dose of skepticism though. I used to go to midnight store openings for Black Friday, people turned the second the products were in sight. I thought about the flats I was wearing and wondered if I was in a position to run if it came down to it. Would I run over a book? Was this book worth an asthma attack?
The doors opened and our line started moving inside. The anticipation stirred in my stomach, reminding me of all the times I had been to midnight releases, launches, and everything else. It was exciting. It was a little moment in time where people came together to love a book, an author, and a world she created.
Once inside, I quickly learned to follow my line straight to the registers where they had a few registers opened with books at the registers for purchase. It was very organized and calm as we waited for our chance to buy the book. Out of the fifty copies Target had, only twenty-five were Target only editions with the other twenty-five being the deluxe edition. I missed out on getting a Target only edition, but I did walk out with a deluxe edition so it was a successful mission. Plus I got to feel a little nostalgic over the moment. (Target also made a rule of one per customer after they saw the line so no hands were thrown over getting a copy)
After that morning, I’ve been thinking a lot about how our world today almost discourages moments like this. We don’t do midnight releases or big launch parties. I know there were some places that had launch events for this book but I also know that it got exclusive and had requirements of purchase in order to go (beyond just buying the book). Some of the outrage over the Target edition was that you couldn’t pre-order it, you had to go to the store. If we are ordering everything online, we’re not engaging in our community, we are engaging with our email. I met some interesting people during release parties and midnight launches and I think it is time we bring them back. I think we should make more of an effort to connect with our community, not less of one.
So for me, I’m going to be looking for more ways to do release events or author signings at bookstores. I think sometimes, in our constantly communicated with world, we forget to look for the things we are interested in. We just trust that some algorithim will show us the events we want to see. I don’t think that is true because I think technology is completely fallible and algorithms can be manipulated and changed. So I’m making an effort to check event calendars, follow the places on social media so I can keep up with events, and I’m going to start inviting friends to go with me.
Photo by Viktoriia Kondratiuk on Unsplash