Publication Approaches

The Wall Street Journal today published an excerpt of the book about Vicky Hurst. It looks great and my hopes are rising that Shooting for Tiger will be a success.

The official publication date is on May 4. Despite the Journal success, I know from previous experience as the author of three books that publishing is a bit of a crap shoot. Why one book sells and another does not remains a mystery . Success requires talent, but also luck. My previous works received good reviews in prestigious publications including the Journal, the Washington Post, and the New Yorker. Yet they sold modestly.

I keep my expectations in check. After the Journal article appears, I see the book gets a sales bump, but then quickly falls back in the rankings to around 9,000.