Maria and I got to the Battenkill Bookstore at 3:45 p.m. and it was a war zone in there – cartons and stacks of books everywhere, Connie, Marilyn, Kate all exhausted, trying to pretend they could smile and mean it. Within a few minutes the 500th pre-order for “Second Chance Dog” came in, they were pouring in by phone and e-mail, from just about every state in the union. The bookstore staff is unflaggingly patient and courteous, but they were definitely looking shell-shocked. The phone hasn’t stopped ringing, the e-mails haven’t stopped coming all day. This is a potent and focused community and they got a taste of it. Maria and I signed books for two hours, and Connie’s first shipment supply ran out – hundreds more are coming this week, and she set aside some for my talk and reading tomorrow night at the bookstore.

Maria and I had a blast recognizing the names on the order forms, connecting them to e-mail and Facebook posts and Open House visits. A bunch of people called me at the store to say hello.

I thank you all for pre-ordering the book, it is a wonderful launch for a book about love and second chances, it gives great strength and support to a worth independent bookstore, it supports the spirit of buying loyal and many of you will get photos, dog food or books for free. We’re looking a ways to expand the give-a-way program past tomorrow’s publication date. I am not as tired as Connie and her staff are – they were all on the phone all day – but I am tired. This is a wonderful kick-off to my new kind of book tour, conducted in some bookstores and mostly online. The pre-order offers are good until midnight and we will offer some new things to people who buy the book after it’s official publication date tomorrow. You can order the book online or e-mail Connie at [email protected].

This was the first goal of my new kind of book tour – 500 pre-orders for Connie, and it looks like that number will be up to 600 by tomorrow. I mean to keep it going, that is if people like the book (I have to remember the book in all of this marketing!). This first phase has been so successful we are thinking of ways to keep it going past tomorrow. Maria and I will continue to sign and personalize any books bought through Battenkill, we will come up with some other incentives too. Maria and I have sore hands, they will get a lot sorer – 400 additional books are headed to Battenkill from Random House.

I don’t know about you but this is so empowering for me, I feel I am taking control of my own creative destiny, making the transition from one kind of publishing to another. This is really just about me, you and the blog and Facebook pages. I am on my own here, figuring it out as I go along. There is no official manual or handbook, but I know where my readers are and I am coming after them. I mean to stay relevant as a writer. E-books did not change publishing, the future changed publishing, and I intend to be a part of the future, not the past.

We are moving head-on, tomorrow is the pub date, a whole other story. This is where I want to be, not looking back. The book tour, online and off, will run to Christmas, there will be give-a-ways, photos,  blog posts, essays, discussions, podcasts, videos and related topics on Facebook. Hang on, we are just getting started and thank you so much for helping to show the meaning of buying local, being independent, supporting individuality and showing that contrary to many published reports, reading and story-telling are alive and well in the world and booming. In times of change, the creative get moving.