THE BOOK IS OUT, THE BOOK IS OUT, GOD ALMIGHTY, THE BOOK IS OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

November 11, 2014

hi guys.

THIS IS IT. THE BOOK IS OUT TODAY. if you haven’t got it yet….this is the week to do it.

why? it’s me against george bush, who also has a book out today.

if anyone out there has incredible design skills, i’m hoping for a george-bush-art-of-asking mash-up to magically appear. (edit: it did appear!! courtesy of Fame House below.)

i wonder if george bush will read my book. somehow i think he won’t.

just kidding. i wish george bush all the best.

BACK TO THE POINT….

this is a good time to say THANK YOU. so many of you on this blog poured out your stories, your hearts, and your help to get this book off the ground.

so to anyone who shared advice, stories, suggestions here on the blog: i couldn’t thank you all in the acknowledgments (which are already like 8 pages long)….but i know you’re there.
THANK YOU.

i poured my fucking bloody heart and soul and brain into this book for the past year. i hope, more than anything, to make you guys proud.
a lot of it is the story this community – what i’ve learned from being here. i hope when you read it, you see yourselves there.
i’m really, really proud of it.

you’ve been watching. it was a brutal road to get here.

so this is also a good moment to thank, out loud, a couple people without whom this book wouldn’t have happened.
emily, my editor at hachette, who signed me and held my feet to the cutting room fire.
jamy, my book doula, who went through hell and gave up his own life for three months to make this fucking book. no thanks are enough.
eric, kate, and everyone on my office team who stood by patiently while i lost my fucking mind this year.
and dear, sweet neil gaiman….who keeps saying that his biggest contribution to the book wasn’t the last-minute arduous editing help (which was amazing)…
but the fact that he gave up his wife for about a half a year so this book could happen.

i hope the sacrifice was worth it.

and……now, i’m also taking a page out of my own book (kinda almost literally) and i’m asking for your help.

hachette is still locked in a death-battle with amazon.com (US only), which means that while my book is technically available on the amazon site,
it’s at a high-list price and takes a while to ship.
it’s a real handicap and it means i am relying even more than usual on my grassroots community to spread the word.
i don’t know how george bush is promoting his shit, but i know how i’m promoting mine:

I AM ASKING YOU. HELP ME SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT THE BOOK.

it should be in your local bookstore. if it isn’t: ASK THEM TO ORDER IT!

if you want to order it online: wherever you’re from, we have a list of where to order…
and if you like ebooks or audiobooks (which i read myself), ALL the info is here: http://amandapalmer.net/

and most important: if and when you read (listen to) it, and if it touches you, if you like it:

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE TELL PEOPLE.

write a blog about how it hit you, write a review on goodreads or amazon, write a tumblr, write a facebook post, tweet the link, tell your aunt elanor, give it to your graduating nephew….buy a stack of copies and hide them in your employees bathroom under the maxi pads…..i need you guys. you are my word of mouth, and i’ve never needed you more. get creative. there’s no rules about how to promote a book.

i hope, most of all, that the book creates a bigger conversation about love, art, connection, human beings, the internet, and how we can take this bizarre moment in history to help each other fearlessly.

here’s to the extroverted taylor swifts, the introverted PJ harveys, the george bushes, to the dalai lamas, the U2s, and to everybody on earth.

we’re all in this together.

and you……thank you guys, for everything.

here’s to you.
without you, none of this would have existed.
LOVE
AFP

p.p.s. there’s still a handful of tickets left for a few tour cities (boston, philly, DC), but we’re almost sold out!!! http://amandapalmer.net/shows/

p.s. i’m fecking exhausted and leaving for tour on empty. but i’m also high on life. yesterday’s was neil’s birthday and after a huge street party in harvard square…where jason webley and i played music, i shouted my gratitude to harvard square and life in general, and everybody sang a rousing HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO NEIL…..

(photos by artemis)

(photo by katy)

….we paraded a mile or so down ill-fated massachusetts avenue, where jason webley played more songs, neil read from the book, i read from the book, and then i SIGNED UNTIL THREE IN THE MORNING.