Joe Field, author of Finding Joe Adams
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After a 60 year search, Joe Field was finally reunited with his father and fervently set about cataloging his incredible journey in his memoir. But after getting published, Joe suddenly found himself beset by a whole new array of marketing challenges.
Then he found the ALC…..
Getting published was the thrill of a lifetime. There's nothing like seeing a book you wrote on Amazon! But because I self-published, I didn't realize that there is another whole world of challenges related to marketing. I may be lawyer, but I was a Cub Scout when it came to marketing my book.
The ALC has tremendous speakers who are quite knowledgeable. I really appreciated the videos and live speaker sessions. I would soak in their teachings.
With the help of the ALC, I believe I pulled off one of the best Book Launches known to man. I had an incredible venue and about 65 friends, family and community members showed up. I gave a PowerPoint presentation on some elements of my book. I had a book signing which took 45 minutes to get everyone an autographed copy. I invited local press to attend by creating a press release (also adopted from ALC material) and was pleasantly surprised when a reporter showed up. I got a half page spread in the local paper with a photo. I was even featured on a local podcast and AM Christian radio station.
I was also fortunate to make a friend on the ALC who also self-published. His advice and assistance was a great help when I was starting out with Amazon/Kindle. I'm proud to say that process no longer intimidates me.
My advice to other authors is to prioritize your weak spots & zone in on them. I have found that the process is manageable, IF YOU LISTEN. It can be done and the process is very forgiving of minor mistakes. Don't be paralyzed by inaction. You are closer to the finish line than you realize. But DO SOMETHING EVERYDAY even if it is for 5 minutes. This particularly applies to the marketing end. Surround yourself with good mentors. And as I say in my book: "When all else fails, fail. But then build again."
I wrote this book in 30 days, so powerful were the emotions of finding my dad & seven new siblings for the first time at age 60! That was a rush of a lifetime! But then the book evolved and a couple years went by. It started out with me wanting to tell the story of how I found my dad and new family, and how they received me. Then I thought, "I need to include a little background about my life too without a dad." Well, that became an eventful project. Everyone has a story. I get that. But when my young daughters heard my stories of my youth they always came back with, "Dad, amazing! What else is there about you that we don't know?" If my own daughters didn't know how I could expect my new found dad & seven siblings to know? Or, my siblings that I did not grow up with? I had to write that story too, for their sake. And to give others hope when all seems lost. But in the course of writing this book I began to see something not noticed before and it kept bringing me to tears--God kept showing up. In those earlier years I was not paying attention to Him but He was paying attention to me. Later it life God came into my life powerfully and it would drastically change my life. So, to be fair to the Utmost Author my book includes Him too. So, there you go. A 'Pursuit of Happyness' type story with lawyer's pants, with a God element. I hope you enjoy it.
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