Launching The Canticle Kingdom: From Final Countdown to First Book Signing

The launch of The Canticle Kingdom did not become real in a single instant. It became real in stages: when friends learned that I had quietly been writing since high school, when the release date finally arrived, when I saw a copy on a bookstore shelf, and when readers and friends gathered around my first signing table.

Originally published January 31, 2010. Substantially revised and expanded July 2026.

When a Private Dream Becomes Public

As the release approached, one reaction appeared again and again: “I had no idea you were a writer.”

That response made sense. Writing had been part of my life since high school, but much of it had happened quietly. A person can spend years outlining, drafting, revising, submitting, and waiting without the people around them seeing much evidence that the work exists. The daily process is private long before the finished book becomes public.

Publication changed that. I could no longer describe writing only as a dream, hobby, or project hidden on my computer. A publisher had accepted the novel. A release date had been announced. Other people could soon hold the story and form opinions about it.

That shift was exciting, but it also made the work feel newly vulnerable. The book had spent years belonging mostly to me. Release week meant learning to let it belong to readers.

The Final Countdown

During the week before publication, I decided to answer common questions about the process of writing the book—from the first concept to the moment it reached the shelf. Friends and relatives had begun telling me about their own writing aspirations, and I hoped that an honest account of the process might be useful.

Looking back, that countdown captured an important truth: a book launch is not only a sales campaign. It is also a moment when an author begins explaining what has previously happened in private.

• Where did the idea come from?
• How did the manuscript change during revision?
• How did it find a publisher?
• What happens between acceptance and release?
• What does it feel like to see the finished book?

Those questions eventually led to many of the writing and publishing resources now collected in Fiction Fundamentals. The release countdown was an early attempt to turn personal experience into something another writer could use.

Gratitude Before Release

On the day before the book reached the public, gratitude outweighed nearly every other emotion. I thought about my wife, my parents and siblings, the staff at Cedar Fort, and the many people who had encouraged the book through its long development. I also recognized my faith and my dependence on God as central parts of the journey.

A book may carry one author’s name on the cover, but a first publication rarely feels like an individual achievement. Family members absorb the hours spent writing. Friends listen to explanations and disappointments. Editors, designers, publishing staff, teachers, and early readers help a private manuscript become a public book.

Release Day: February 8, 2010

The Canticle Kingdom officially reached shelves on February 8, 2010. The original announcement listed several bookstore chains and online retailers where I expected readers to find it. Some of those businesses, links, and distribution arrangements have since changed or disappeared entirely.

That rapid change is part of the publishing story. Authors naturally treat release-day information as urgent, but store lists and purchase links can become obsolete much faster than the book itself. A permanent article should preserve the experience rather than pretend that an old retailer list is still useful.

What remains important is the feeling of the day: a story that had existed in notebooks, files, proofs, and conversations was suddenly available to strangers.

Seeing the Book on a Shelf

Two days after release, I found the first copy I had personally seen on a bookstore shelf at Layton Hills Mall in Layton, Utah.

The placement made the moment even more memorable: the book was sitting beside Harry Potter.

That did not mean my first novel had suddenly become part of the same publishing phenomenon. It meant that, for one photograph and one delighted author, the new book had found itself in distinguished company.

Seeing a physical copy in a public store felt different from seeing a proof or author copy. A proof still belongs to production. A shelf copy belongs to the world of readers. Anyone could notice it, pick it up, read the back, return it, buy it, recommend it, or pass it by.

The First Book Signing

My first book signing took place at the BYU Bookstore. I sold most of the copies the store had in stock, and many friends came by to support me.

For a first-time author, familiar faces mattered. They transformed what could have been an intimidating public event into a celebration. Every person who stopped, talked, bought a copy, or simply offered encouragement helped mark the transition from aspiring author to published author.

The original post also announced another signing at Provo Towne Center Mall. That date passed long ago, so the notice no longer belongs in a current archive. The lasting part of the memory is not the expired schedule. It is the discovery that a signing can create connection around a book in a way online announcements cannot.

Later events taught me more specific lessons about audience, presentation, and listening to readers. Those reflections are preserved in Three Lessons from My First Book Signing.

What My First Launch Taught Me

• A launch happens in stages. Contract, cover, proof, release day, shelf sighting, and signing each make publication feel real in a different way.
• Private work creates public surprise. People may not know how long a writer has been practicing until a finished book appears.
• Gratitude should precede measurement. A first launch rests on years of help that cannot be summarized by sales numbers.
• Retail information expires quickly. Preserve the story of the launch, but direct readers to current book pages for availability.
• Photographs become part of publishing history. Ordinary snapshots may later preserve details that no sales report can recover.
• Friends and family make early events possible. Their presence helps an author learn how to speak publicly about work that was created privately.
• A signing is about contact as well as sales. The conversation surrounding a book can matter as much as the number of copies on the table.

Where The Canticle Kingdom Went Next

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