Invite Her to Call into Your Book Club - Kate Jacobs Checks In From the Road!

After so many late nights and long hours, it was exhilarating - but also a relief - to finish my first novel. Yup, I told myself, it's all going to be like a vacation from here on in. Not so - there was still so much left to do! Because after focusing on the writing for so long, it can be easy to forget that there are other important steps in the process of getting a book published. And one of these steps is promoting the novel, through interviews and book tours and so on. Now, I should just be upfront and admit it: I am a complete homebody. One of the things I love about writing is that I can do my work from the house. Certainly there were fun moments when I worked in New York as a magazine editor, but doing my job from a laptop on my kitchen table is pretty darn awesome. So it's an understatement to say I was a bit apprehensive about going on the road. But I was game. And you know what? I discovered that I loved meeting readers. Each and every person who comes to the various book signings brings her own unique energy, and it's a very lively time. In fact, I had the most amazing experience this summer during a stay in New York: A complete stranger came up to me in a restaurant when I was having dinner with friends and asked, "Are you Kate?" I was so shocked. Who was this person? How did she know my name? Was this a new twist on telemarketing? (One-on-one marketing, perhaps.) But she went on to tell me that she'd met me an event and how much she liked the book. What a treat! I thought it was tremendously kind of her to take the time to say hello, and I was really touched that she remembered what I even looked like. Oh, book tours are challenging in their own way, with the nonstop travel and being away from my husband and my dog, Baxter. That's true. But they are also so personally enriching and it's the readers who make it that way. So I'm really looking forward to going out on tour to promote the paperback in January 08 (and you can find my list of events at http://www.katejacobsbooks.com/).

Of course, I can't go to every city, and that's a reason why I'm calling in to book clubs around the country. Literally. If a member of the group sends me an email to kate@katejacobsbooks.com and I can fit it into my schedule, then I telephone and chat about the characters and the plot and answer all sorts of questions. The ladies from my very first call-in, which was in Minnesota, drove an hour to come and have me sign their books at an event a few weeks later, and it was such a thrill to meet them. Another time, I chatted with a group in Georgia as I rode in the back of a taxi in New York City, hanging on to the phone with one hand and a strap in the back as the cabbie tried to beat a speed record to get me to my destination. Since then, I've done several book club call-ins, and the consistent theme is laughter. We meet as author and readers...but we hang up as friends.

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Click here to view Kate's tour schedule and see if she's coming to a city near you!

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