Dear readers,
Today is St. Patrick's
Day, which feels out of place for me as I am writing this newsletter from my hotel room in Tiberias, Israel, on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Nevertheless the world around here is green, unlike my hometown of Chicago, which is a drab March gray these days. I am happy to include images of the juicy green meadows and blooming wildflowers around the Golan with this newsletter.
The ruins of the ancient town of Gamla (destroyed by the Romans in 67AD) are in the foreground, the Sea of Galilee lies hazy in the
background.
Even though I am on vacation visiting my son in Israel before heading to Venice for my mom's 80th birthday celebration, I am spending way too much time on book-related tasks. So,
fair warning up front: This newsletter is going to be mainly about what's happening with my book because the launch is imminent, and book promotion has become an all-encompassing project. I feel as if I am back in my corporate consulting life running a big project, keeping track of tasks in spreadsheets, except this time around it's a) my own project and b) unlike back then, I don't quite know what I'm doing,
which, of course, also makes it interesting.
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The big news is that amazon has released my book! Thankfully a friend alerted me by sending me amazon's notification that her preorder will arrive early next week. Again, a big thank
you to all of you who preordered my book; I can't wait to hear what you think about it!
As you read, I have the following bonus material for
you that you might find useful:
Once you've read the book, please post a review to amazon. This is the number one book favor you can do for me (aside from buying the book, enjoying it, and singing its praises...)! Your review doesn't have to be elaborate, a sentence or two suffice. The fact is that these days amazon sells more than 50% of all books, and thus reader reviews figure hugely in pushing up rankings, sales, and making extra promotions possible.
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As reviews roll in (Redbook, for example, calls Jumping Over Shadows "painfully piercing"), the book already has its own life. As my older son said, “It’s out there now, and people have a
right to their own opinion.” It is, of course, also quite interesting to see how different audiences react to the book. What they see in it, what questions they have. So, please, to repeat myself, remember to leave your reviews on amazon and also goodreads, if you're a member
there. Furthermore, if you don't have a copy of the book yet, enter the Goodreads Giveaway that's currently running and ends on March 21:
My last request for this newsletter: If you're on Facebook, please like my Facebook page. I never understood that this can be a powerful marketing tool, but I am learning that it is from other authors, and I need your support! Plus, news about the book and related events will be posted there; I don't want to dedicate my newsletters and my blog entirely to the book going forward.
Another behind-the-book moment that illustrates that a lot of things are out of my control now: As I was waiting for my
connecting flight at Newark, a tweet alerted me that my local newspaper, the Hyde Park Herald, had posted a profile of me. This was a complete surprise to me and sadly the article was also full of errors. So, while at the airport, I fired of an email to the reporter, going through all the details that needed to be corrected. The updated profile is here: Hyde Park Author to Discuss Newest Book at Congregation Rodfei Zedek.
Door to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem The church figures
in my book, and I took my son there for the first time this week. I've been a bit bummed about my updated website -- WordPress is hard to get used to (life was easy on Blogger!) but mainly I'm bummed because many of my steady blog readers have fallen off the radar. And I love my blog! If you used to subscribe, please subscribe again here. My series of "book companion" posts on my blog will begin soon; it's been fun combing through photos that go along with certain chapters and assembling them into photo essays. I hope this will provide another engaging dimension to the book. With the greatest gratitude for your indulging my book-related requests, I wish you good luck in your creative endeavors, and please do not hesitate to ask if you ever think I can be off assistance. |
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