During the question and answer at my appearance at the Lawrence JCC in La Jolla on January 15, a very astute audience member asked, “how do you market your book when you publish independently?” The answer is “by any means possible.” But, one way is to approach independent bookstores and ask them to stock our book. We’ve had some success in the Twin Cities, but our first success came from a more unexpected locale—Sedona, Arizona.
At Well Red Coyote Books one would expect to find the usual Sedona material—crystals and vortex, trails and nature. But owners Bill and Kris Neri are the best kind of bookstore owners who search for books beyond the obvious. Sadly, their Sedona bookstore will close on Feb. 15. Leslie and I won’t return to Sedona until May so we won’t be able to thank them in person for taking a chance on Jewish Luck.
We will mark the loss as we remove their distinctive logo from our home page.
After emailing Bill before I arrived in Sedona last May, I showed up in his store with copies of Jewish Luck. I was nervous and rehearsed my patter. Usually, lukewarm remarks followed our spiel -- especially when we tried to promote our book at major chains. But, Bill was different. He listened. His offer was generous and fair. Bill told me if I would leave a copy for him to read, he’d make a decision about whether or not to carry the book. I agreed and returned to the Well Red Coyote a few days later, anxious about his decision. What would he say? Bill told me there were a lot of self-published books on the market—some were good, most were not. He told me that we had written a book that fell into the “good” category. I was ecstatic.
The only damper in my joy that afternoon was that Leslie wasn't with me to hear Bill’s comment and to drop off a few copies of Jewish Luck for him to sell. I’m sure I’m not the only author who feels such deep appreciation for a bookstore owner willing to champion a book he feels is deserving. Bill is neither Russian nor Jewish, so he approached the book without a strong connection to the characters and to the place. He didn’t know me or Leslie and Sedona is not a mecca (so to speak) for Jewish tourism. He just liked the book. Thank-you, Bill.
We wish Bill and Kris every success in their next venture and thanks for curating good reading in Sedona at the Well Red Coyote.