Copper River to London to Vilnius

Dear worldly reader,

Fireweed blooms with Miles Glacier icebergs in the background. This was near our final camping site.

One of the side-effects of all this book excitement is that I have become an obsessive email checker. As much as I try, I cannot walk by my laptop without taking a quick peek.

To be honest, it was a relief to be out of internet/phone range while I floated the Copper River. As much as I enjoy the roller-coaster ride of publishing, there is a purity that comes with any time I spend in the wilderness. Life is reduced to necessity — food, clothing, shelter, safety. You don’t worry about Twitter or Facebook or online reviews.  You worry about having enough clean water to drink and staying warm enough, finding a place to unroll your sleeping bag and not shooting a hole in the raft if you have to scare off a bear in the night.

But as soon as I returned to civilization, after I had hugged my family and taken a shower, well … I got online.

“See?” I told my husband with a touch of panic and excitement in my voice. “See? THIS is why I have to check my email.”

Headline Publishing's cover for my UK edition

One of the first emails I came across was from my UK editor. She was sending my first glimpse of their beautiful cover for my book.

Then the roller coaster nose dived. There was an email from the publisher of Little, Brown. My fabulous editor, Andrea Walker, had announced that she would be leaving to become senior fiction editor at Penguin Press. This is the editor who acquired my book, who worked with me the past year to prepare it for publication, who had the vision for the cover. We had come to enjoy each other both as colleagues and friends. I was sad, but also excited for her. And, ultimately, I was calmed by the knowledge that my book continues to be in the hands of the amazing Reagan Arthur and everyone else at Little, Brown & Co.

Lithuania, located between Poland and Latvia.

Then, scanning through the inbox, my eye caught on a chain of messages titled “Lithuania.” The emails were between my agent and Tracy, who handles foreign rights at Little, Brown.

“Lithuania? Lithuania!”

Yep. While I was floating down the river, the UK settled on a cover, my editor announced her departure, and The Snow Child sold to Metodika, a publisher in Vilnius, the capital of  Lithuania.

“See,” I said to Sam, just in case he hadn’t heard the first few times. “I’m telling you. That’s why I have to check my email ALL the time.”

Cheers!

Eowyn

8 Comments

  • Melissa Behnke says:

    Eowyn, do you know if we are going to be able to get these other editions? The covers are all so great! I think I’ll want copies of each, even if I don’t read the language!

    • Eowyn Ivey says:

      I don’t know, actually. And I don’t know if we’ll be able to order them online somehow. But I know what you mean — it’s so fun to see the different covers, and I’m excited to see it in different languages, even if I can’t read a word 🙂

  • Sue Mathis says:

    Love this UK cover! So simple but if you’ve read the book, the blue sticks in your head. I’m so very excited for you Eowyn! How many more countries around the world will publish The Snow Child?? What I said about an internationally famous author seems to be prophetic!

  • Chickaloon Jenny says:

    Copper River has given us a few red salmon, in the few hours we dipped into the glacial river. The hospitality of Kenny Lake Carla was more beguiling than additional hours in Wood Canyon. Oh well, our four salmon will fill the smoker!

  • Betty Rachel says:

    Thank you for reminding us why we all need to get away from life sometimes – but then be glad when we return.

    • Eowyn Ivey says:

      It’s true, isn’t it? Just getting away for a while helps keep things in perspective. Fun to see one of my fellow Betties on here 🙂

  • RH says:

    That would be neat, to have the international editions in the store. Well, we did sell Harrius Potter et Camera Secretorum in Latin, didn’t we? (Actually, I think I bought it….) But really, we do have a lot of international visitors in the summer, and some of them would probably want to buy a book from this place, that is so much of this place, but be able to read it in their own language. Just this Monday I heard two men have a long conversation in French at Vagabonds, and not long ago I met some nice motorhomers from the Netherlands, so they’re out there.

    Who knew there was a Russian exclave between Poland and Lithuania? Not me.