Promoting a book when the world is on fire
This is fine
Over the last week, I spent close to 20 hours sitting in a tiny booth, recording the audio book for When We’re in Charge (which you can pre-order now on Amazon, Bookshop.org, or anywhere else you get books — and if you want it signed, you can order it from my local bookstore, Greenlight!)
Finishing the audiobook kicked off the six-ish week countdown leading up to publication, and I am really sitting in my feelings about it all.
As many other writers have noted, it’s a weird moment to be selling a book.
It’s a particularly weird (fortuitous? coincidental? correct??) moment when the book is related both to my day job and also to the larger discourse right now re: generational change and the desperate need for new leaders.
For example: As I’ve been talking in the media/online/wherever anyone will have me about the need for our older leaders to step back and how they’re not up to the fight, I’ve been thinking about these few paragraphs from pages 10/11 of the introduction to the book, which come as I reflect on what got me into writing it…
Many of the leaders we’d helped elect across the country were making national headlines and showing the way millennial and Gen Z politicians could enter spaces not built for us and transform the energy, the focus, and the fire.
Political reporters noticed this trend, too, and a few reached out to ask: What’s the common thread among these younger leaders who kept making headlines?
The answer was obvious to me.
Our generations—millennials and Gen Z—lead differently.1 We have no patience for bullshit—we demand authenticity or, at least, perceived authenticity. We show emotion when it’s real, but we’re also vigilant about boundaries. We believe that our missions are urgent and important, but we understand that not every task in service of those missions shares that urgency. We’ve grown up online and understand intuitively how to use the internet strategically.
We believe in inclusivity as both a moral good and as a necessary tactic to achieve our goals. We love our work (sometimes), but few of us want it to be all of who we are. We’re collectively trying to break the cycle in nearly every aspect of our lives: to be better bosses, better parents, better leaders than those who came before us.
Feels right for this moment, no?
The thing is, while When We’re in Charge is connected to politics in that I am a professional political operative and I wrote it, this book is really not about politics.
It’s about what it means to do things differently — about why the way things were done yesterday does not dictate the way things have to be done tomorrow.
The book is about what our communities, workplaces, and maybe even our country could be like if leaders had the tools and practical steps to lead in ways where authenticity, compassion, and efficacy weren’t considered mutually exclusive.
It’s also got jokes, and is occasionally tender, and is peppered with references to pop culture like Taylor Swift, the Dear America YA novels, Lost, the 2018 congressional hearing where Mark Zuckerberg said “Senator, we sell ads,” and that viral Bowen Yang/Tina Fey interview (among other things). I’m really proud of it!
But also, since we’ve started sending advance copies out to people and press (and if you have any reason to credibly want one, just reply to this email!), oh boy do I want to throw up.
I’m not afraid of publicity — I have been doing press and public stuff for 8+ years now and when it comes to my organization, I’m fired up ready to go — talking about our work is important, both because it inspires more people to run for office themselves and also because it gets us in front of the folks who might be able to give to help sustain the work.
But promoting a book, especially this book, feels a little different.
I wrote it during my hardest year yet as a leader, and I was extremely honest about that. I own up to my failures, the ways in which I disappoint myself and others, and the things I’ve learned through both my successes and mistakes. (I was also pregnant so was pretty hormonal and deep in my own head about my changing relationship to everything.)
I tried to write as if no one would ever read it, which was perhaps a little foolish since I actually really want lots of people to read it.
(But also, I maybe just want everyone to buy it and no one to read it? I don’t know! The folks who’ve read it so far have told me, among other nice and positive things, that they feel like they know me better now — which is just horrifying.)
The audio book recording process felt kind of like an out-of-body experience: I wrote this! I’m reading it for other people to hear it! And yet, it is not me. Even as I write this newsletter, I keep catching myself calling it the book, not my book. It is something distinct from me.
I suspect that’s a good thing. Criticism of the book (which I know there will be) is not criticism of me. The art is not the artist; the creative output is not the creator.
And as I keep reminding myself: Even as I use my experience as a starting point, the book is not about me, either. It’s about what I’ve learned from the hundreds of leaders I spoke to and have worked with, and more than that, it’s about all of us.
But really, it’s about you, and what you can do to show up as a different kind of leader, or a more you kind of leader, in any kind of context.
So come mid-May, I’m really excited for people to read it. I’m really scared! I’m also really tired and my throat is pretty sore, because audiobook recording was fucking exhausting.
Pre-order the book, OK? (And if you want a signed copy, you can pre-order from Greenlight Bookstore!)
Two book recs:
Sunrise on the Reaping - Suzanne Collins - One of the new Hunger Games prequels, all about Haymitch Abernathy’s year as tribute. Super violent, hits particularly hard as America slides into fascism, but if you liked Hunger Games, you’ll like this! I didn’t re-read the other ones (or even really remember the details) but it didn’t matter.
Early Thirties - Josh Duboff - Most coming of age stories are either teenage tales or early 20s; it was interesting to read one about the unique dynamics of friendships in your early thirties, as people’s lives often wildly diverge. This book had some winding digressions, but overall, I liked it as a story to hang out in.
No other reading recs this week, tbh - I was stuck in the recording booth for two very long days and my eyes were glazed over by the time I got home.
If you’re into this newsletter, you might like my book, When We’re in Charge: The Next Generation’s Guide to Leadership, available for pre-order and officially on sale on May 13th.
Get it in all the normal places: Amazon. Bookshop.org. Barnes & Noble. BAM!
Get it signed from Greenlight Bookstore
Later in the intro I do a bunch of caveats - not all millennials, not all Gen Z, not all boomers, etc. Assume I do that here!