Link to DeForest Kelley Up Close and Personal Book Launch Event Jan 8 2016
YES! I received confirmation yesterday from CBS Home Entertainment letting me know that I can use the DeForest Kelley cover that German artist Olivia Vieweg created for me earlier this year. I am over the moon!
Because Olivia’s cover incorporated the face of De as Dr. McCoy, I despaired of ever being able to afford it as a cover for the book, or the three additional studio images that I wanted to use inside the book (photos that De had inscribed to me and my dad in various funny ways) but lo and behold–the powers that be at CBS were completely amenable to letting me use all four that I wanted without cost. I am so grateful. I hope my book encourages lots of additional fans to buy CBS Home Entertainment videos with De in them. That would be a win win for all concerned!
A couple of times a week until the launch date I’m going to be publishing DeForest Kelley trivia questions that I gleaned from the manuscript. I designed them to pique Kelley fans’ interest and help build buzz and participation for the launch at Amazon on January 8th. My social media power partner Lisa Twining Taylor says that using the hashtag #DeForestKelley should start the ball rolling, so I tonight on Twitter and Facebook I launched an announcement using the hashtag that shows the new cover and mentions the upcoming trivia contest.
The response has already been pretty intense. I’m looking for internet radio venues where hosts might want to interview me in advance of the launch, or afterward during Trek’s 50th anniversary (all of 2016). I have a list of questions to make sure interviewers will have an easy time interviewing me…so I’ve done a lot of the advance work for them.
I’m also amenable to doing conventions locally (the Pacific Northwest: Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, Portland, Spokane)–or farther afield if I can get the travel money (air fare, taxi, cab or car rental fare) and a place to stay covered by the convention. I can bring books to sign; that should take care of additional expenses (meals).
I’ve written the first draft of the back cover copy for the book but am sitting on it for several days to make sure I like it as much I do today. I’m also sharing it with other marketers that I know to get their feedback on it. It’s important copy. Back cover copy is the “sales letter” for a book. Usually it’s the first thing prospective buyers read when they’re considering buying a book. I want to be sure it does the job!
The chief job it has to do it to make potential readers think and feel, “Yeah, I want to know the answer to that question, too!” and to read an explanation of how I was able to remember so well the conversations I had with the Kelley’s on the phone and in person during 30 years of sporadic (at first) and all but non-stop interactions (later on). I need readers to know that I didn’t make any of it up; that my association and friendship with DeForest and Carolyn Kelley was a real thing and that I wasn’t delusional when I wrote this book!
If you’d like to read it in advance and let me know if you think it does the job, let me know and I’ll send it along to you as long as you promise to keep it 100% confidential until it’s set in stone–then you can share it from here to eternity!
