(this is not the kind of parade we at First Second really do, but it looks like all sorts of fun nonetheless!)

One of the most interesting parts of marketing is watching things happening. 

When we're putting out a book, there's a limited number of people who are at the zeroth point, right?  It's all of us here at :01 and also the author.  And (presumably) if we never told anyone that the book existed, no one would know.

(Of course this would be sort of a silly and self-defeating way to publish a book, presuming that your point of publishing books is for people to find out about them and read them.)

When you're in the first stages of promoting things, it is fascinating to watch things happen because most of everything you can draw a direct line between the things you know you or your author did to what happens.  So — I pitch an article, the people at the magazine know about the book because of the pitch I sent. 

Later in the game, it becomes more difficult to draw those lines, and therefore even more interesting!  So — was the rush of review copy requests I got last week for Vera Brosgol's book because Booklist Online featured her starred review as their Review of the Day?  Or was it because people named Jess like to talk about Anya's Ghost on the internet? 

Unfortunately as information becomes less privledged, it's less fun to watch.  But I love those first two stages.  Information dissemination in action!