Today was a big day in my career. I have literally gone to sleep hundreds of times fantasizing about Publisher's Weekly reviewing my book, and giving it a starred review.

Today it happened. Woohoo! My editor is ecstatic. Me, too. Most of my friends are confused. My family, too. They tried to cheer me up for getting only one star. 

I forgot that most of the world has never heard of the weird book-industry lingo. Here's the primer:

There are four major trade journals, that review books weeks ahead of publication: as a guide for editors of the books sections at newspapers and magazines, booking agents for TV shows, booksellers, Hollywood scouts, etc. The most important, by far, is Publisher's Weekly, or PW.

(Good Slate piece about how the trades work from 2003 here.)

They all use the same system, which is entirely different than the four-star movie system. With books, most get a one-paragraph review, with no stars. A few get a star.

That's their top honor, and there's an actual pink star printed on top of it. (The star below is the actual gif from the PW website.) There is no such thing as multiple stars in their world. Their definition which I found online and I think matches what I've seen in the print version of the mag is:

"A starred review indicates a book of outstanding quality."

Getting a starred review can really help a book take off, though they probably have less influence than they used to with buzz, but much more influence via Amazon and B&N online. Both of those signed agreements with PW, so that the first review shown for every book on Amazon is PW's. (I'm not sure about the B&N arrangement, but I think it's similar. Of course it only applies to books PW reviewed, but that's all major books.) That gives the PW assessment tremendous clout in online sales, which now account for about a quarter of the total book market.

So I'm happy. Extremely.

I was going to just post the damn review with the news this morning, but luckily I had to run out and got to people via cellphone first, and realized I'd just draw more condolences. LOL. I hope this helps clear up confusion.

It doesn't seem to be online yet, but it will be soon. Meantime, here's the entire review (they're always this short): 

Columbine
Dave Cullen. Twelve, $26.99 (432) ISBN 978-0-446-54693-5

In this remarkable account of the April 20, 1999, Columbine High School shooting, journalist Cullen not only dispels several of the prevailing myths about the event but tackles the hardest question of all: why did it happen? Drawing on extensive interviews, police reports and his own reporting, Cullen meticulously pieces together what happened when 18-year-old Eric Harris and 17-year-old Dylan Klebold killed 13 people before turning their guns on themselves. The media spin was that specific students, namely jocks, were targeted and that Dylan and Eric were members of the Trench Coat Mafia. According to Cullen, they lived apparently normal lives, but under the surface lay “an angry, erratic depressive” (Klebold) and “a sadistic psychopath” (Harris), together forming a “combustible pair.” They planned the massacre for a year, outlining their intentions for massive carnage in extensive journals and video diaries. Cullen expertly balances the psychological analysis—enhanced by several of the nation’s leading experts on psychopathology—with an examination of the shooting’s effects on survivors, victims’ families and the Columbine community. Readers will come away from Cullen’s unflinching account with a deeper understanding of what drove these boys to kill, even if the answers aren’t easy to stomach. (Apr. 6)

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This might also be a good time to announce that Barnes & Noble selected Columbine for its "Discover Great New Writers" program.  So the book will be featured in a special section in the front of every B&N store in the country, and singled out on its web site, featured in its print flyers and emails. They have an editorial committee which only pick a handful of books a month, and it really helps launch a book.

Borders has also really gotten behind the book, so my publisher added four extra tour dates for their stores in Colorado. (I'll now do an east coast leg, a west coast leg, and a Colorado leg.) I'll have the east coast dates on my website soon.

East coast and Denver events include:

• Denver: Tattered Cover LoDo, April 7, 7:30 p.m.
• NYC: B&N at Broadway & 82nd, April 13, 7 p.m.
• DC: Politics & Prose, April 15, 7 p.m.*
• Miami: Books & Books, April 16, 7 p.m.

Please RSVP at the Facebook event page for Tattered Cover. I'll get invites up on Facebook for the others, soon.

I may be on your local radio April 14. I'll be doing a national satellite tour of 20 cities, back to back over the course of six hours. They will have the option of airing it live, or using it later, most likely on the tenth anniversary of Columbine, April 20.

National TV is getting booked and several big national mags are on board, but I can't discuss them until right before they air/publish. I'll let you know when they do, though. I'll have everything on my website, and will try to post here and lots of quickies on my facebook and twitter pages during the book tour.

I finally got my iphone last night, which will make that much easier. (Thank you all you OS Mac fanatics who pushed me over the hump. You really did. And I LOVE it BTW, even more than I expected to. Much more. It really is a little gift from God.)

Of course none of these gigs are booking themselves. The best thing I have going for me is the team at Twelve: a great editor, Jonathan Karp, and a brilliant publicist who is working his ass off, Cary Goldstein.

I finally get to meet them in person a week from Tuesday. I was invited to the Nieman Center's Aftermath conference at Harvard next weekend, and from there, I'm doing four days in NYC, for a whole lot of pre-launch publicity stuff.

I'm finally going to tour the Hachette building on Park Avenue and meet all the wonderful people who worked on this book. You would not believe how many it takes. They have been so good to me: but all by phone and a zillion emails. It will be nice to see them.

Then Jon and Cary are taking me to my first official author lunch. Just like in my dreams.

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* For anyone in DC, my Slate editor (now Editor In Chief there), David Plotz has a new book out, Good Book: The Bizarre, Hilarious, Disturbing, Marvelous, and Inspiring Things I Learned When I Read Every Single Word of the Bible and will be at Politics & Prose March 7. (Click for details on Facebook.) He's a really bright guy and a great writer.