Hi, there. Today is A Day! The Project is now available in paperback wherever books are sold. It features a fresh new look and includes a bonus chapter that I happen to love a whole lot. I hope it finds a home on your bookshelves.
Pocket still has some signed bookplates and stickers left if you order your copy from them! They speak to the hardcover’s original design. We could call them collector’s items. If you’re interested in converting a perfectly happy person in your life into a Courtney Summers Reader, it would make a wonderful gift for the upcoming season.
Paperbacks represent the opportunity to reach new readers and serve as powerful reminders of those who brought the book this far. In celebration of its release and to thank you for your support, some offerings to round out your reading experience:
THE PROJECT: AN ANNOTATED CHAPTER (pages 171-180)
Available to read until December 5th. After you’ve read the book (advisable because spoilers), go behind-the-scenes with this annotated chapter exploring Lev and Lo’s cat-and-mouse dynamic, The Project’s ideology, its complicated editing process, thoughts on marketing, and what it really meant to and for me to write a story like this.
THE PROJECT PLAYLIST: PAPERBACK REMIX
The paperback is a VIBE and a complementary playlist was absolutely in order. See the original playlist here. When I tell you Nick Cave’s Hand of God is the spiritual successor to Vessel’s Red Sex and that these track are truly two sides of the same Cult Daddy? You’d probably tell me to get help. Whatever!
YOU GIVE DEATH A BAD NAME
Earlier this year, in case you missed it, I did a deep dive into the writing and publication of The Project, which leans more on its Peoples Temple influence and the craft work behind creating Lo, a protagonist who tries a lot of people’s patience and lives very deeply in my own heart—maybe because we have that in common.
As the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes illustrated, the self-protective instincts driving creative industries don’t always align with meaningful support of or loyalty to its artists, who will continue negotiating various power imbalances and looming existential threats, such as AI, to protect our art, livelihood, and audiences in ways seen and unseen. Being an author and working in publishing is an experience frequently defined by the consequences of things far outside our control—but salvaged by a beautiful and urgent need to tell a story, by the industry members who honor, respect, and endeavor to uphold that and, especially, by the readers who remind us it’s worth all related risks and uncertainties. Thank you for championing my books at each stage of release, however you choose to. I hope you enjoy these extras.
That’s all for November. Next month, we’ll close out the year.
xo
Purchase the paperback edition of The Project.
Purchase I’m the Girl.
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Oh I love your annotated offerings 💖💖💖 please do keep sharing anything you wish to.
I have re-read The Project a number of times so I look forward to re-reading it with the angle you suggest 😁 my paperback edition should be here Friday so I look forward to my bonus chapter!
The phrase "cult daddy" makes me feel deeply uncomfortable which is how it should I guess 😖. Also yes I regarded Paul from SVO as predatory (there are so so many variations of a predator that people need to be aware of ☹) and that this may have been a stepping stone to Lev. (Also as a side note, I often wondered about Eddie Reeves Father in Fall for Anything - Culler Evans is clearly predatory and manipulative, but what of her father? There are certain references & between the lines stuff that is said about her mother's relationship & age difference & not ever having really lived without him that feel like red flags to me. But I could be way off. And obviously you don't have to address this 😊 I'm just writing thoughts aloud)
Finally (trying to be careful with what I say so I don't spoil anything) I'd say a gift from Bea, but I can totally understand why it is a question to Lo.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us 💖
Love this book and recommend to readers at my store. PB release is on our display table