Before Publication--Making "cold" calls.

With my publication date looming, I'm trying to do something everyday to work toward "promotion." I have a publicist I've hired part time and a publicist at my press who are both great. But I still do something every day myself.

My book is about my parents, severely burned in a gas explosion, and how the whole family coped. So Friday I took the plunge and called a Burn organization. The woman who answered from the development office, believes I have a unique perspective as the child of burn survivors. I have learned lately that the whole family is now called "burn survivors," actually a great comfort to me in understanding the pyschology of my young and now much older life.



She'd love to have me speak in September. Just like that. Of course she wants more information as I was just a disembodied voice on the phone. But she is already thinking, wheels spinning--who to invite, and this was a "cold call"--a group I found on the web. It is my first foray into the world of Burn survivors--My book will move from the "literary" work that I have honed for numerous years--changing words, point of view, making the "characters" who are my own family more complex, working on transitions. These words might move into bigger worlds, touch more people, perhaps even help someone. After all, my mother, completely facially disfigured, went back to work as an editor for the American Journal of Nursing and lived until 91. The point of this blog: when trying to get your book out into the world, make the calls--and you never know who will pick up on the other line.

Monday I'll make some more calls .