Turns out promoting your own book is a full time job.
📮 21 days before my book publishes so here's a snapshot of my week
Hello Powells,
It is now 21 days until my debut book comes out.
I am already hard at work (and behind schedule, naturally) sketching the second book in the series. In the past week I have flipped, like a fish out of water, between looming deadline panic (book 2) and pre-publication hysteria (book 1). I have been an absolute delight to be around.
Promoting your own book is a job in itself and I spent the last 7 days doing mostly that when I absolutely should have been doing something else.
Some of the tasks that occupied my time have been:
• Take one and a half million photographs of the art from the book in bad lighting with a dodgy iPhone, the battery of which lasts only 4 minutes.
• Spend half a day trying to Airdrop the dodgy photos to your computer, which is only 30cm away from your phone but still ‘can’t be found’.
• Prepare 576 instagram posts that only two people will see (my mother and Stefan, when I make him look at dinner).
• Order a fun and postie themed rubber stamp to stamp the VIP Mailer with.
• Invite everyone you know to the launch party and then do nothing but refresh your email for 48 hours to see who RSVP’d yes.


• Re-order the rubber stamp for the VIP Mailer because you made an error and a stamp that says ‘POTSAGE’ was absolutely not what you wanted.
• Email yourself the launch invite to check that your email is working - it’s been 72 hours and only one person has replied (Spoiler: they can’t make it).
• Impulsively order a die-cutting machine to make your own Marty Moose postage stamps. (As if I have time for this.)
• Waste several hours deciding whether or not to go to Bologna Children’s Book Fair in March…
• Hound everyone you invited to the launch party for their RSVP via other methods of communication.
• … Waste several more hours discussing with Stefan how you’re not going to Bologna because you don’t have time, but then change your mind in less than a heartbeat when your editor says foreign rights could meet you there.
• Have the stark realisation that your (newly diagnosed) ADHD is actually quite out of control and is derailing every single day of your life. Admit to yourself it might be time to do something about it.*
• Cheer yourself up by playing a round of mini golf for your friend’s birthday. (I came last out of 12 people but I did receive affirmative emails from two launch party invitees when I was on hole 14, so that’s a win as far as I’m concerned.)
• Order wrapping paper and string but be sure to spend far too long agonising over how much string and wrapping paper is needed to wrap 50 books.
• Chat to lovely Naomi and James from Words and Pictures but forget to show them your book, which you purposefully put right next to you minutes before the zoom began for that EXACT purpose.
• Figure out how to take a photo of yourself from your iMac.
• Book flights to Bologna.
• Underestimate how long it will take you to sketch the 150+ pages of Marty Moose book 2.
• Figure out how to send some of the wrapping paper back because it turns out 16 rolls is quite a lot.






• Tell everyone on every social media platform and in every interaction you have that you have a book coming out on February 6th and could they please pre-order it… otherwise it will all have been a waste of time.
Yours, grateful in advance that you pre-ordered my BOOK which is suitable for 5-80 year olds and has LOTS and LOTS of illustrations in,
Powell x
*For all of those on the same (uncomfortable, painful but also liberating) ADHD journey, this book is excellent, this app is good, and this plugin for Gmail helps minimise email distractions. All have helped me start the process of self-acceptance in the last week and maybe they can help you too. ❤️
Marty pre-ordered! Your map alone looks stunning! Huge congrats in advance of the launch
I am waiting for my Marty❤️🐾 and wish You strength and inspiration. Love Your work so much🤗