It’s a big day, sugarplums! The Christmas Past book publication date has finally arrived!
I’m overjoyed that everything has finally come together, and that I’m now able to share this with you. I hope you’ll love it!
The journey began in early 2021, after the close of the 2020 season of Christmas Past. It was a year of big changes. A new house, a new baby, and still in the thick of the pandemic. And the podcast had grown to the point where it got me wondering what’s next.
A book seemed the natural thing to try. And I’m very lucky to have had so many people who believed in the idea and helped to make it happen.
Around February, I reached out to Alex Palmer, author of The Santa Claus Man and The Atlas of Christmas. We had collaborated on a few things, including my 2019 miniseries, My Dear Santa. He gave me generous and very helpful advice on creating a book proposal.
After a handful of queries (and rejections) from literary agents, I was lucky to have met Eric Myers. In April 2021, I signed on with Myers Literary Management, and the search for a publisher was on!
In October of 2021 I got the call from Eric that Lyons Press was interested in buying the title. But they wanted to put it for Christmas of 2022! If you know anything about publishing — all the many steps involved in producing a book — you’ll know that is a very tight timeline.
To get everything into shape and stay on schedule, we brought in Alonso Duralde, longtime friend and collaborator for Christmas Past, to contribute and consult.
In January 2021, while in the middle of writing the manuscript, I got word that Recorded Books wanted to license the title for an audiobook. It seemed only natural that I would narrate. Even still, I had to officially audition for the role.
In early March of 2022, I submitted the final manuscript to Lyons. Two months later, I spent a week at Reeds Recording Studio in Campbell narrating the audiobook.
Shortly after that, the book became available for preorder on most online bookseller platforms.
Things were quiet for a few months, and then in August, I met with Jess Kastner, my publicist, to come up with a promo plan.
And now, here on Nov 1, 2022, it has all finally come together. It was truly a team effort. This book wouldn’t exist without the involvement of everyone I mentioned here. And of course, there’s also you! None of this would have been possible without all the support you’ve given the show over these last seven seasons. It’s you who helped the show to grow to this point, and it’s you preordered the book and are sharing it now on social media.
I’m overcome with gratitude, and very excited for the next chapter for Christmas Past.
May your days be merry and bright!