I’m over the moon to announce that I’ve signed a contract with Heliotrope Books for my memoir, An Old Man’s Darling, about my age-gap marriage to my first husband, to be published in May, 2026. Actually, I signed the contract over a year ago, but it seemed almost unreal in March, 2024 and I was facing a very long time between signing a piece of paper and holding a book.
It doesn’t get old (although I do). Signing my second book contract was just as thrilling as signing my first, although the thrill is just the teensiest bit tempered because I know what’s in store.
I know that the time between now and the publication date will seem forever, until it isn’t, and you wonder how you’ll get everything done before launch day.
I know I’ll have the same anxious days–and nights: Will anyone buy my book? Will readers like it? Will anyone show up to my book events? Have I revealed too much? Will friends and family be shocked? Offended? Will they still love me?
I know I’ll be riding high in those heady post-publication days and that I’ll check my Amazon ratings daily (talk about a time-suck): First in memoirs? First in age-gap marriage? Waiting with bated breath for Oprah’s Book Club (or Reese’s or Jenna’s) to contact me with an offer I can’t refuse. And wouldn’t it make a perfect Lifetime movie or mini-series? Waiting for those guys to reach out, as well.
And those royalty checks that will pour in from my publisher? But of course!
But there’s something different the second time around. I’ve watched all the hype around my first book launch drift to…nothing four years out. Six months post-publication it was no longer a hot new book (if it ever was: 300,000 books are published traditionally in the U.S. every year and that climbs to about 3 million when you add self-published books. The competition is fierce). No Oprah’s Book Club, no mini-series, and my last quarter’s royalty check was $25.
This is the reality of book publishing today, and so I go into my next book’s publication with eyes mostly wide open. I hope I have good press and good reviews. I hope for moderately good sales, and I am making every effort toward that goal. I’ve hired a publicist and a social marketer. I’ve solicited blurbs from well-respected writers (and, bless them, most have said yes). I have a team of writer friends who will support the book on their social media platforms. I will write related essays which my publicist will place in relevant publications. I will visit local bookstores and ask them to carry my book (two of them have already said yes and will be hosting book launches as well). I will send emails to all the libraries in Maine requesting that they each purchase a copy. My accomplishment will be listed in my high school and college alumni magazines and maybe the curiosity of my old classmates will be piqued. I will make several appearances on mostly local radio and TV stations, and maybe on a couple of podcasts as well.
And, yes, the book fairs. But, I realize, unless you’re Stephen King or Jodi Picoult, six or seven figure sales are just not in the realm of probability.
What I will have accomplished when An Old Man’s Darling comes out is this, though: I have written and will hold in my hands a book I’m immensely proud of; I will connect with readers who connect with my story—while most people aren’t involved in an age-gap love story, most know that sometimes love is just– inexplicable ; and I will—if the stars are all aligned– at the age of 79 when the book comes out on May 12, 2026, still be a vital and productive human being, bearing the message that it’s never too late to create.
And some royalty checks would be nice, too.
So, please put An Old Man’s Darling on your “want to read” list. And if waiting 11 months till it comes out seems like a very long time (it does to me) and you haven’t already read my novel, So Happy Together, you can pick up a copy wherever you buy books.