When I Came West (Part Twenty-five)
In early September my webmaster requested that I find out when the book was due to be out so that we could begin marketing it on my website.
I emailed OU Press just to ask and received this heart-easing reply: "Your book is expected sometime around March 2010."
Then we received permission from the marketing manager to use the cover art on my website and to send out a newsletter to my email list alerting my readers that the book was coming soon.
Later I heard that Advanced Reader's Copies would be going out for review in early January and that my book was scheduled to arrive from the printer at OU Press around January 26th, 2010. Next in line: catalog copy and jacket material which I approved with only a few small corrections.
Then came the development of the press kits with the OU Press publicist, Sandy See, in late October 2009. This included a Press Release, an About the Author Page, and an Interview with the Author and an Author Photo. The publicist asked for my assistance so that she could prepare the materials in time to do early promotion for the book.
This process, writing about myself, proved to be one of the most difficult steps in my book's journey. Of course I had written an entire book about my past life, but now I was on the spot to come up with interesting words. I wanted to do a good job on this but I had a lot of trouble honing in on the right approach, on how to present myself to the public.
Once again a gentle and encouraging hand took hold of mine and publicist Sandy See helped me get all the work done in a timely fashion.
The day that I received a half dozen press kits and six copies of the Advanced Reader's Edition of When I Came West was truly special.
Now the book was out of the starting gate…and my work had just begun.
