Nice Things People Do

I really enjoyed giving shoutouts to wonderful things and people in yesterday's blog, so I'm gonna do it again today. Ready?

(In no particular order...)

Set.

(I've got a lot of folks to thank...)

Go!

Today my student True Crime Lover came into class and told me that she received my book in the mail last night and read it from cover to cover. She loved it, she told me, and promptly gave it a five-star review on Goodreads. How cool is that?! There was no "If I give you a five-star review, will you give me extra credit?" conversation that accompanied the good deed. True Crime Lover seemed to legitimately like my book and therefore wanted to legitimately give it a good review. I love that kid. Legitimately, I do!

Last night, after I posted my video on all the social media hotspots and requested that my fans pursue Reese Witherspoon and make her aware of The Way Back's existence, I received a text message from my friend Kathy. It was a screenshot of her recent purchase from Amazon -- The Way Back -- because she fell three chapters behind with the online posts and wanted to participate in the #thewaybackselfie thing I've been advertising. It made me so happy!

Agent B (another student) shared my #thewaybackselfie thing I've been advertising on TikTok because "I want you to get a lot of likes and followers, Ms. Meeson." So that was sweet. Admittedly, I did "fire" Agent B the other week because she hasn't actually read the book she's promoting... but I'm gonna rehire her just because she's sweet and likeable and she makes me laugh.

My marketing manager Mary bought two copies of The Way Back -- one paperback and one hardback -- and even though she's already received the paperback, she's waiting for the hardback to arrive because she wants both copies to be in her selfie!

Amber bought some copies as well! She's going to gift one to her friend and keep the other one. They'll do a friends book club and (hopefully) post selfies!

Also, when I got to work today, I received texts from my friends Brecia and Nina... and both wanted to let me know that they were ordering The Way Back! This is so exciting for me, guys! You don't even know! The fact that people are reading my book?! It's amazing. It's soooooo much more rewarding than querying agents and receiving hundreds of rejections. "I'm sorry to be writing, but I just don't feel that I'm the best agent for your novel THE WAY BACK. Please know that everyone has unique tastes and what's not right for one agent might be perfect for another. Better luck next time." Blah blah blech. I'm over it. If agents think my writing isn't marketable, so be it. I'm determined to prove 'em wrong!

Let's take a minute to talk about my former student Brooke. She serves amazing sushi and noodle bowls at Mai Noodle House on Steinwehr and she sent me a screenshot of her purchase as well! I hope when she gets her copy, she'll post a selfie!

Annie bought her copy today too! And she has at least one friend in mind who she'd like to gift a copy to. I hope they'll both take selfies with their paperbacks!

This selfie thing has to be credited to my friend Darren. You might recognize his name from my trivia posts. The man is brilliant and kind and a wonderful human. He received my book on Sunday and promptly sent a selfie... which is what gave me the idea to have others post selfies. I already knew Darren was smart -- read the blog, folks: he knows all the answers every week! -- but he was marketing smart this time around. I might need to pick his brain on Thursday to find out if he has other ideas that could benefit The Way Back's promotion.

Oh, oh, oh! Another nice thing that happened was that band I blogged about yesterday? Tophouse? Well... first they wrote to me to thank me for my blog. Then they promoted my blog on their Instagram (@tophousetheband). Then I wrote to thank them for the shoutout and encouraged them to read my book, and then they said they love to read and definitely would! I hope they do.

Actually, I hope they take a selfie with it. That would be super cool. You guys should follow them and message them and ask them to take a selfie with my book. Like, tag @tophousetheband and Reese Witherspoon. Let all the celebrities know what's up.

Alright. I have letters to write and envelopes to address and this is a topic for another day's (tomorrow's!) blog. Stay tuned, yeah? I'm on a mission...