Adventures in Marketing – Weeks 430 – 433
My café pal F__ views me as a presence to be visited and taken in as others would a (fully dressed) holy man on a mountain top or a (non-ranting) lunatic in Sproul Plaza. So when his younger brother J__ and his wife E__ were visiting from the east, he brought them by. They were delightful people, artists of multiple modes and media. (In one performance, visible on You Tube, J__ plays a wind instrument of his own design, while suspended upside down with his head in a fish bowl he shares with a Siamese fighting fish, as E__ pedals a stationary bike from which cables extend to the platform on which the bowl sits, enabling her to revolve it and him.) We had such a good time I gave them a “Best Ride.”
A couple days later, my doctor friend B__, who, as faithful readers know, has been a great champion of IWKYA, wanted to buy a copy to give to a former associate who teaches first year med students. (B__ champions humanistic medical practice and believes the book a wonderful example of it at work.) Still feeling generous, and grateful for his past support, I sent it as a gift.
Things picked up balance-sheet-wise when M__, the activist attorney from Sacramento, and his wife arrived for their annual grandkid-sitting while the parents vacation. M__ has been a regular customer, and he picked up a “Bob.” (He also told me that his friend William T. Vollman has finally placed his mammoth novel, which spans from the 1960s to the present. His past publisher had shied away, but Vollman is a great novelist, and I can’t wait to read it.) Then K__, the science PhD with aphasia, bought (at 20% discount) a “Bob” and a “Lollipop,” both of which she’d scouted but passed on before. Finally, a psychotherapist/poet I’d met when she complimented my style (brown beret, black leather jacket, Bennie Briscoe t-shirt, snakeskin boots) purchased a café journal.
Not one of these people have commented as yet.
In other news…
Perhaps dwarfing all of the above in significance, I am pleased to announce “Messiahs, Meshuganahs…” progresses. The precipitating event may have been my submitting a proposed “author’s photo” snapped by H__, another café pal, which, while it will undoubtedly draw attention to the book, may also throttle sales in certain markets. (Maybe we can include strips of black tape to be liberally applied.)
Anyway, my publisher – courageous fellow – loved it and soon thereafter sent me a pdf to proofread to demonstrate the book my been forgotten. I scanned it and didn’t catch much to correct, though some of what I did made me wonder if anyone had looked at it before me. The big plus were photos, one of which opened each chapter. I had been indifferent to whether samples of the work of the creators I wrote about were included, but these were thrilling. Unfortunately, I must temper my excitement because they are simply “place-holders.” It is unknown if the rights-owners can be identified and, if they are, if the rights can be obtained.
So many Bob Levins on the Internet; I'm the Bob Levin who writes.