We did it together!
A launch full of love
People in the book business are rarely in it for the money—c’mon, that just wouldn’t make sense. Launching Poster Girl this month emphasized what I already knew, that most writers, readers, narrators, editors, publicists and the like are in this business for love of story and the love of people who share that interest.
Julia and Jared Drake at Wildbound Literary PR make their living by supporting authors and books. But the way they do it feels like more than that. They took Poster Girl and me in their capable hands and made sure we had a great, meaningful experience. They read my books, they got my books, they knew the kind of people I should partner with and they helped forge those partnerships.
Our last day of launch began with Vicki Gonzalez on CapRadio’s show Insight talking about what history can tell us about the time we are currently living through. That would have been enough to make the last day grand. But then that evening I had the most lovely experience talking to Sarah Jo James, development manager at the Rosie the Riveter Trust—the nonprofit that supports the Rosie the Riveter Museum—for ROSIE PRESENTS: POSTER GIRL!
What a labor of love that evening was for all of us, Wildbound, the Rosie Trust, Hotel Mac, everybody. Through their support, I met a variety of historically minded readers and writers—a welder, a national park ranger, even a fashion historian—some of whom (the Art Deco Society) arrived in period dress. They lined up to share their own connections with the women who called themselves soldiers without guns.
Below is a link to the CapRadio interview and the ROSIE PRESENTS YouTube Live interview in case you’re interested. (The Q&A begins at minute 15.)
What a gift it is to settle now into holiday season with this really meaningful bookish time behind me and a vista of new writing to come.
Thank you for the role you play, the gifts you bring.
Looking for a gift?
If you have a bookish person on your list, the Jane Benjamin Trilogy makes a curl-up-and-lose-yourself gift, either in paperback, ebook or audiobook. (Maybe pair it with a bottle of bourbon or a moleskin notebook:)
Now let’s go out there and pour ourselves into the people and things we love.
Happy Holidays,
Shelley
Congratulations Shelley! I'm so happy for your continuing success and much-deserved celebrations!
My sister, your distant cousin, Carol Strickland, sent me a link to your Substack last week and I subscribed and started writing you, but then something interrupted me and I never found my start again.
So, HELLO, cousin! I too, am a writer, but most of my publications have been journalistic. I wrote a column in our local newspaper for 11 years (starting out at three times a week!), then another three years for another local paper, then local magazines, and a lot of freelance work; and I wrote a book about Chapel Hill, where I live, in North Carolina. I am currently working on a memoir for my two granddaughters. Oh — and I took about five years off when my husband retired, and I thought I would too. But the siren cannot be ignored when it calls! There are too many family stories to be shared and carried into whatever the future might be. So I have returned to writing, and just completed a two-week live-writing Zoom course that lit up my creativity. SO happy for that!
Later today I intend to watch the video of your big night! I know the relief you must be feeling today, and the sparkle in your heart. It is wonderful to feel rewarded, even when it is for answering the call from within to allow the words and messages to flow out — but to be celebrated, as it sounds like you were — WOW! How very special, it makes ME smile! Wrap yourself in the joy and revel in this season of lights (and take a break from news reports, if you normally partake)!
I will be ordering Tom Boy and Poster Girl today — I really enjoyed Copy Boy!
Cheers!!
Bravo, you and your team on such a successful launch! What a whirlwind of activities you've had to send Jane on her third book tour. Terrific book, marvelous you... huge congrats!