No, I have no plans to fly an autonomous
helicopter into the CN Tower on 9/11

Blazing Reader,

I know it might look suspicious: For the last week, I've been researching helicopters (particularly autonomous models). And, then on Wednesday, I announced I'd be releasing my next novel, All the Humans are Sleeping, on September 11th.

Rest assured, I'm not a desperate indie author planning to crash a self-piloting helicopter into the CN Tower to kick off the release of my novel on 9/11. I assure you this is conspiratorial hogwash. The helicopter research is for the many new chapters my Muse recently added to the novel, not so I can enjoy record book sales from a cell in Guantanamo Bay.

Instead, here are seven reasons why I'm delaying the book launch until September 11:

1. World War III: In the novel, World War III begins on September 11, 2041, with a nuclear attack on Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, Regina, Calgary, Vancouver and Winnipeg. Tying a speculative fiction into this historical date should hopefully spark some free publicity (good or bad) from the press (mainstream or alternative).

2. Proofing Takes FOREVER: After the final professional copyedit of Much Ado About Corona, the novel still went through eight successive proofreaders — each uncovering new errors. I'm a typo machine. So I want to give All the Humans are Sleeping enough time to ensure there are no missing commas or extra apostrophes.

3. Listening is the New Reading: Four months will give me time to complete the audiobook version of All the Humans are Sleeping. A quarter of the fiction market refuse to read novels anymore — preferring to listen to audiobook adaptations. Releasing the print version and the audiobook versions together will not only increase sales, but recording it will help catch even more of those aforementioned typographical gremlins.

4. Advanced Reader Copies: Having a proof ready two or three months ahead of the release date will allow time for influential people to read it and provide testimonials, write reviews and generate some social proof (or, if they hate the story, publish some controversial critiques).

5. Summer Sales Suck: Every year, authors around the world see a slump in sales around June (which doesn't let up until the beginning of September). People may read novels on the sunny beach, but they're novels bought in the dark of winter. In the book world, it's generally accepted that the summer is the worst time to release a book.

6. The 2X Rule: Most of my projects take twice as long as I expect (or even three times as long if disaster strikes). I'd rather pick a release date I know I can achieve at a natural pace, without risking sleep deprivation. The easiest way to keep your promises is to only make ones that have a lot of buffer room.

7. Memorable Book Launch: Lastly, I want to have time to prepare behind-the-scenes videos, interviews and other content to be released daily for the eleven days preceding the launch, culminating with a live reading of the opening chapters.

So those are my reasons for the delay, and, I promise, I won't be flying any helicopters into the CN Tower. I wrote All the Humans are Sleeping to prevent, not predict, such doomsday scenarios.

John C.A. Manley

PS On the subject of proofing, check out "Keep Proofing" — a song I wrote and sung about the eight rounds of proofreading that went into scrubbing all 150,000 words of Much Ado About Corona.

PPS Reason #8 for the delay: I also want to spend as much money as I can on advertising the book launch. Por ejemplo, as income from sales of Much Ado About Corona comes in, I can recycle those funds into promoting All the Humans are Sleeping. So if you'd like to help save the world from World War III, buy more copies of Much Ado About Corona and give them to your friends to read on the beach.

John C. A. Manley is the author of Much Ado About Corona: A Dystopian Love Story, the forthcoming All The Humans Are Sleeping and other works of speculative fiction. Get free samples of his stories by becoming a Blazing Pine Cone email subscriber at: https://blazingpinecone.com/subscribe/