There's still time

Back in December, I wrote about the World Book Night - a worldwide effort to give away 1 million books. I'm pleased to report I've been chosen to be one of those giving books away. Hurrah!

I'm re-posting that blog because event organizers have extended the application deadline for joining the effort to February 6. There's still time. Check below for info and links. Then, act fast.

Beaverdale Books is one of the distribution sites for Des Moines. There may be others. So come along. Have some fun. Give some books away!

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Re-Post from Dec. 16, 2011

Giving Away 1 Million Books

Want to help give help away a million books? The organizers of World Book Night are looking for 50,000 passionate readers to do just that on April 23, 2012.

Anna Quindlen, novelist and honorary chairwoman of World Book Night in the USA, says "It will be like Halloween on an intellectual level." 

Volunteers choose one of 30 titles - mostly current novels and memoirs - to give out. The costs of the million paperback books have been underwritten by publishers, printers and paper companies. Authors have waived their royalties.

You make your application on the World Book Night website. If you're chosen to be one of the book givers, they'll let you know by the end of February.

I've signed up and am keeping my fingers crossed. If I am chosen, I'll be giving out books to residents of Oakridge Neighborhood, a community providing housing and services to low-income people in Des Moines.

My book choices include:

• Maya Angelou's "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," 
• Chris Cleave's "Little Bee," and 
• Rebecca Skloot's "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks."

If I'm not chosen, I may go buy the books and give them out at Oakridge anyway. I just think the whole deal is really cool.

What if it were me? Alzheimer's

Reporters say the sports world was rocked by the news that nationally known Tennessee coach Pat Summitt announced that she has early onset dementia - Alzheimer's.  I say any of us in our 50s and 60s may be rocked by that news.

When someone like Summitt has Alzheimer's, someone who is strong, resilient, used to winning? Someone like Summitt makes the disease even more real. She is on the national stage, and because she says she will continue to coach - even with more help from her assistants - we will watch as she loses to this horrible disease.

What would it be like to be her? What would it be like if it happened to me? I can't help but ask that. Maybe that's what we all ask.

I read a book that answers the question of what it would be like to have early onset Alzheimer's. "Still Alice" is written from the perspective of a university professor who learns she has the disease. Author Lisa Genova writes the book entirely from the perspective of Alice Howland, a Harvard psychology professor.

From the earliest recognizable problems of losing her Blackberry, to losing her way to her Harvard office, to losing her way around her own home. We see how Alice responds, how her family - husband and three children - respond, how her colleagues and students respond. We see her efforts to cope, to hang on.

As Alice deteriorates, I kept wondering when Genova would have to get out of Alice's head and switch to telling the story from the perspective of those who see it happen. She never does. We watch it all happen inside Alice. I felt what was happening to Alice as if it were happening to me.

"Still Alice" is real. It's raw. It's heartbreaking.

Are indy bookstores the future?

Bestselling author Ann Patchett just announced that she and her business partner will open a bookstore in Green Hills, Tennessee. The area needs a bookstore, she says. Some will no doubt wonder if Patchett is nuts. I wonder if Patchett is part of a trend that marks the future for books and bookstores.

When Borders Bookstores closed earlier this year, citing the advent of e-readers, a changing publishing industry, and bad economy, we were once again left to ponder the future of traditional print books and bricks-and-mortar bookstores.

About the same time Borders shut its doors, I talked with Steven and Michelle Pritchard. They own Pritchard's Book Cafe, a small bookstore/coffee shop in Southridge Mall in Des Moines.  The Book Cafe is an eclectic blend of sandwiches, coffee named for authors, bookmarks handmade by Michelle, and, oh, books!  It's a friendly space, unique to its owners.

The Pritchards are moving to larger space this summer where they plan to cut down on the food side of their Cafe as they add more books.  In celebration of their new space, they were lining up authors (myself included) to come in for signings.

Owning a bookstore is a long-time dream for Michelle. So she and Steven are going for it. The Prichards are doing what entrepreneurs do - they follow their dreams and put their own unique stamp on the dream in the process.

Des Moines has other independent bookstores - Beaverdale Books owned by Alice Myers and The Book Store owned by John Heitzman.  Independent bookstores dot the Iowa landscape. Each unique, each reflecting the personality and taste of its owner.

I applaud each of these Indy bookstores for their dedication to books, service, and the entrepreneurial way of life. May book lovers find you and buy books from you. May you live long and prosper!

One New Idea Every Day

When I published my memoir, Growing Up Country, my goal was to implement one new marketing idea every day.  With marketing I was finally in my comfort zone! After 30 years in marketing, I knew that even the best product in the world wouldn't sell one unit if no one knew about it.

I was reasonably successful with that lofty goal and book sales showed it.  Now that I've had books in hand for over a year, I've backed off demanding 'one new idea every day,' but the week doesn't go by that I don't think about getting in front of people with my book somehow.

My latest marketing approach is to look for opportunities to write about childhood or farm memories. As we Boomers age, nostalgia is a natural and more media are responding to this interest. My book mention comes in the descriptive author tag.  Just last week, I wrote such a piece for the Des Moines Register's fiftysomething insert.  Titled "Playing in the sky," my recollection was about Dad and Mom helping us kids build and learn to fly kites. 

Whether this piece will result directly in book sales or not remains to be seen.  But what I do know is that having my name and book title in front of my target market pays off over time.  A gentle reminder.