I spent 20 years learning how publishers launched hardcovers. I still feel like a beginner there, but a slightly-educated beginner. Paperback launches, I've barely even read about. Not for lack of trying. No one seems that interested. I am.
So the book is out there, and here is my attempt to midwife it a little:
I'd love your ideas, and help spreading the word. Thanks.
Launch Week
Mon: Unveil the expanded edition. (Thumbnails here; much more below.)
Tues: Live updates & photos & from my trip to NYC (on Facebook & here)
Wed: The Discover Awards ceremony (noon ET). Live photos and updates here and Facebook.
Th: Rest. (Or pretend I will.)
Fri: Lesson Plans for COLUMBINE for college or high school courses. We hope to have the first ones to post Friday: English lit and psychology.
Expanded Paperback
Here are the major additions, with snippets of each I scanned in. 1. New 12-page afterword: "Forgiveness."
I spent another year examining three disparate victims' struggles with grief and recovery nearly 11 years later. I hope you find it as rewarding as I did. It also includes startling new revelations of four secret meetings with the killers' parents. (Link is to an excerpt we just ran in The Daily Beast.)
2. Actual journal pages from Eric Harris & Dylan Klebold (several pages in the book):.
3. Book Club Discussion Questions (19 questions in the book):
4.Diagram of Columbine High School and environs.
5. Large-print edition (newly available, also paperback. )
Other formats include Kindle, Nook, and unabridged audibook on CD, cassette, MP3 on CD, or audible.com. Autographed copies available.
The official release date is Wednesday, but it's available now at Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and in most indie stores and physical B&N stores. (Use the BN link to order online or check availability at a store nearby.) Amazon has it for $9.35.
Please Help
Please spread the word by posting some or all of this to:- Your blog
- Email friends
- Your book club
- Goodreads, LibraryThing, etc.
- Photos from the original book tour coming.
- Announcement on touring, presentation options coming.
Awards Summary
If your friends are skeptical, they can check out the summary of awards Columbine has won. Extended passages from most reviews are there, too. Highlights:- LA Times Book Award finalist (winner announced in April)
- Edgar Award finalist (winner announced in April)
- Discover Award finalist (winner announced Wednesday)
- Audie Award finalist (winner announced soon)
- GoodReads Award winner (Best Nonfiction Book of 2009)
- Best Education Book of 2009 (by American School Board Journal)
- Named to two dozen Best of 2009 lists, including NY Times, LA Times, Publishers Weekly, Salon, iTunes, Amazon, American Library Association.
- NY Times Bestseller (for 8 weeks in hardcover, peaking at #3)
Book Trailer
I didn't know the paperback version was out until early last week when I snatched it off the shelves at B&N. I have been wanting to read this book for quite some time. Mr. Cullen, I was a news editor at a small Indiana newspaper when the shooting happened, and it's been one of the indelible moments in my life. I hadn't realized though how the media's role created so many false stories that how could we even begin to know what really happened. Add the police's ineptitude, and a bad dream turned into a terrible nightmare. Thank you so much for devoting the past 11 years of doing justice to the profession of journalism -- to find the truth and answer the questions we all had.
ReplyDeleteAll the best.
Dave,
ReplyDeleteI just linked and recommended Columbine on my writer's blog, helping to get the word out.
The writing was a privilege to read, your awards well deserved.
Congrats.
~Lola
Dave,
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking the time to comment on my blog. Columbine was such a monumental event which shook up the daily lives of ordinary people. As media outlets expand and technology grows I think it's so important for people to realize the confusion that can be created by live updates. We have so much to learn from Columbine. Thank you for your continued work to sort through the reports, recreate the timelines, and put a face to the people involved.
-Elizabeth
Still feel like I am being cheated on.
ReplyDeleteThere are more information and diagrams on your site than your paperback book.
:< I am kind of piss, but over all good book
I just finished reading the paperback book and found it hard to put down. I don't understand why so few were killed and injured. Harris wanted to set a record and figured he could kill as many as 110. He had the means to accomplish this. Yet they wandered aimlessly about for much of the time. Anyway, thank you for the excellent book.
ReplyDelete