Day: October 4, 2014

 This photo of Simon was taken by our farrier, Ken Norman, the day after Simon was removed from his farm by the police and animal control. He was walking on his ankles, his hooves had not been trimmed in a very long time. It reminds me to be careful when I use the term “abuse,” it is not an argument or an opinion but a very specific crime, and it results in grievous harm or death to the animals who suffer from it. This is one of the points I hope my book will make.

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I admit to feeling small last week when it became clear to me that my new book “Saving Simon,” had been orphaned by my publisher because I was leaving to write for another publishing company. I am feeling bigger this week after seeing some of the generous reviews of the book, the latest coming this afternoon and posted on USA Today’s website. The review will also run in the paper’s print edition and most of the newspapers in the Gannett chain.

It is a wonderful review and I am especially happy to get it this week. I have decided that Simon’s story needs to be heard and my book deserves a fair shot in the marketplace, I am going to do some braying for it, a review like this in USA Today is a great help. Simon is a big hit, he is drawing some first rate media attention. It follows another wonderful starred review in the Library Journal and in Kirkus Reviews.

“If you think donkeys are dumb,  stubborn beasts of burden whose sole purpose in life is to carry mankind’s load, you’ll think again after reading Saving Simon, Jon Katz’s heart-warming, provocative animal-bonding book,” said the review. I like “heart-warming” and “provocative”, two things a book ought to be.

The review focused one of the central themes of the book: compassion and the different ways in which we experience it. Why, I ask, do we offer so much compassion to animals but so little to people? It seems that we can only be compassionate for the people we like, not for the people who often need it the most;  the people we don’t like. Simon taught me a lot about the meaning of compassion.

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If you wish to order the book through Battenkill Books, (518 677-2515) I will sign and personalize it (I reserve the write to edit the inscriptions). You can also order the book through Battenkill’s website.

Connie Brooks and Red greet each other, Maria and I went to the bookstore this morning to start signing some of the 500 copies of “Saving Simon” that have already been pre-ordered at the store (518 677-2515) and online.

Connie has plenty of books and will start shipping on Monday, she takes Paypal and ships anywhere in the world, we sent a whole bunch overseas today.

I signed several hundred this morning and will be back at the bookstore Sunday at 10 a.m. to sign more – the pub date is Tuesday, October 7. The book – the story of our rescue and healing of Simon, or beloved donkey – has taken on a different dimension, I learned this week, something brand new in my 30-year career as a writer.

Not only was Simon orphaned but my book about him was too. After I decided to leave Random House for a new publisher, the book tour was canceled,and so was the budget for promotion and publicity. This happens in the not-so-nice world of commercial publishing, I suppose I should have expected it. I think it’s kind of neat that Simon and my book share the experience of being orphaned. He meant to live and thrive, and so do I.

My publisher didn’t allow one dollar for a book tour and didn’t even send Amazon the usual pre-pub books for their early reviewers to look at. They did, however, send Connie a whole truckload of books yesterday and she was up half the night getting them ready for signing and mailing. It is one of the great mysteries of publishing, orphaned books are a nightmare for writers, and strange thing for profit-making companies to do, but it does happen. I did not really think it would happen to me – so much for hubris.

So the book tour is going to be exciting – me, Maria, Red, Connie Brooks and my blog.

A formidable line-up if you ask me, a creative challenge if there ever was one. I am not daunted, we will have fun and see what some creative thinking will do to save my book on Simon from obscurity. We are shooting for 2,000 books sold at the  book store – we are 25 per cent of the way there, every buyer will win a free signed photo postcard of Simon in his red hat, and will also be eligible for coupons for free Fromm dog and cat food, photos, notecards, potholders and free books.

Connie is amazingly well-organized, we signed tons of books in a couple of hours, every form and signature request in place. I will sign and personalize every book purchased at Battenkill, although I do edit some of the personalization requests, as some are too long and also don’t really reflect my ideas.

I’m thinking about the Christmas campaign, we are just getting started. If you want to say hi to me (or Maria) and if you order a book from Battenkill tomorrow morning, ask to say hello, if I’m free, I will be happy to talk to you. I’ll be there at 10 a.m. EDT, 518 677-2515.  I think we can top 1,000 books this week, publication week. At 7 p.m. Tuesday, I’ll be doing a talk and signing at Battenkill Books, Main St., Cambridge. Thanks for your support.