BYE FOREVER, I GUESS
NEW BOOK NEWS! And COVER REVEAL!
Hello hello I have such good news to share with everyone. I’m so thrilled to finally be able to talk about it publicly (instead of talking around it, like I have been):
I HAVE A NEW BOOK!
It’s called BYE FOREVER, I GUESS and it comes out October 22, 2024. That’s this year! And because it’s so close, I’m ready to share everything with you. And — for today — only you. If you want to share the news and cover with a friend, forward them this email.
I won’t be posting this on social media until tomorrow. You, my beloved newsletter readers, get to see it first! (And when you do see my posts on socials tomorrow, please share those! Trust me they are cute.)
Here’s the deal announcement:
Here’s a little bit about the book:
Ingrid’s online persona is more popular than she is. IRL, she’s the quiet one—until a wrong-number text message offers her a chance at connection. Can this guarded gamer girl lower her shield for a new friend… or more-than-friend?
Thirteen-year-old Ingrid’s been living a double life. At school, she’s the Girl With Dead Parents, her popular friend Rachel’s charity case. In her online fandoms, she can be her own person: one who’s constantly talking to her long-distance BFF Lorren, crushing it at her favorite MMORPG, and geeking out over her favorite book series. But when Ingrid stands up to Rachel and “starts drama” at school, it suddenly feels like she has no life at all (and nowhere to sit at lunch).
Until she gets a wrong-number text from another gamer. . . and everything starts to go right.
Guarded, prickly Ingrid isn’t quick to trust, but spending time together playing Ancient Tomes Online as “Stitches” and “Traveler” makes Ingrid feel like she can lay down her sword of standoffishness. But when she starts to suspect that Traveler may be a student at her school, she faces a difficult choice. Can she open up when getting close to people has hurt her before? Or is making friends only fantasy after all?
A fresh, funny, and vibrant middle-grade debut from NYT bestselling author Jodi Meadows, Bye Forever, I Guess speaks to the complexity of middle-school friendships (and friend breakups) and the sense of belonging that comes from finding your people. Warm, witty, and endearingly messy, Ingrid’s quest to be herself is sure to resonate in this love letter to geek culture and the healing power of fantasy.
And here’s the cover!
Art by Libby Frame, design by Kerry Martin. Absolute rock stars, both of them.
I love this cover. The style. The characters. The colors. The way their posture changes when they’re their ATO avatars. Look how fierce they become!
I had no idea what to expect for this cover — a cell phone? a girl knitting and playing her video game at the same time?? — but never did I imagine I’d get to see all three of the main characters — Ingrid and her two best friends in the world — on the front of this book. Libby really captured everyone perfectly!
Tiny note: there will probably be a few minor adjustments to this cover as we get closer to pub — blurbs, tagline revisions, etc. So, this is final but it’s also not final final until you see it on the actual book.
And you can preorder!
Because this book is so close to releasing, (most of) the preorder links are live. I don’t know where (if anywhere) I’ll be traveling for this book — more on that when I know — but, as always, you can get a signed and personalized copy from my faves at One More Page.
And if you want to dive into the deep lore already, One More Page is a guest star in BYE FOREVER, I GUESS. So, you know. . . .
One More Page — signed and personalized
Bookshop.org (coming soon!)
Barnes and Noble (members use PREORDER25 to get 25% off right now!)
You can also add it to your Goodreads shelf.
Look, look, I know this appears to be a contemporary book because . . . it is. Trust me, no one is more surprised than me.
But this might be the most me book I've ever written. It's got knitting. It's got book fandom. It's got video games. It’s got astronomy. And it's got a real thing that happens to me all the time: wrong-number texts.1
I’m so proud of this book and I can’t believe it’s finally public. BYE FOREVER, I GUESS has been a secret book for a long, long time. I started writing it in October 2018, just a few hundred words at a time, on airplanes, mostly, in the moments between my contracted work. It was a fun break, though I honestly wasn’t sure I’d ever do anything with it. It was so different from what I normally write. But over a few years, I ended up with half a book, and in summer 2021, I had a couple of months with no other obligations. . . . So, in a glorious haze of happiness, I finished it.
My agent, for her part, knew this book was coming. I’m no good at keeping secrets from her. My editor . . . did not. So I like to imagine her face while reading this cozy story about a girl and her emotional-support knitting habit after we’d spent so much time in the terrifying NIGHTRENDER world together. But she liked it! She got it. I’m so pleased to be working with Mora and the Holiday House team on this book. <3
Writing and editing BYE FOREVER, I GUESS has been one of the most joyful writing experiences of my career. I’ve loved every stage of it. And while it feels strange for my time with my secret book to come to an end, I’m so eager to share it with you.
I know I say it a lot, but I truly hope you love reading this book as much as I loved writing it. Because I loved writing this one a lot.
So what does my U.S. publishing schedule for this year look like now?
May 7:
NIGHTRENDER paperback (One More Page, Bookshop.org, Barnes and Noble, Amazon)
July 2:
DAWNBREAKER paperback (One More Page, Bookshop.org, Barnes and Noble, Amazon)
August 20:
MY SALTY MARY hardcover (One More Page, Bookshop.org, Barnes and Noble, Amazon)
October 22:
BYE FOREVER, I GUESS (One More Page, Bookshop.org, Barnes and Noble, Amazon)
If you preorder any of these through Barnes and Noble, make sure to use PREORDER25 to get 25% off. (This deal ends 1/26 and is for members only.)
Happy reading, friends!
Seriously — some of the texts Ingrid gets in the book are based on real texts I've received. When my editor took on this book, she said we’d need to work on believability because no one gets this many wrong-number texts. So I started letting her know every time I got a new one. We never talked about believability again.
Wow, congratulations! The book blurb is so well put together and makes me want to read it!
Oh my word, I've pre-ordered on Amazon just for the front cover alone! Congratulations!!