I was flipping through the channels on TV Saturday when I saw that Book TV (C-Span 2) was repeating my talk at Linden Place in Bristol, Rhode Island from January. The last time it aired (they ran it twice in January) produced the largest number of “hits” to the book’s website and blog that we’d ever had to that point, and that number wasn’t exceeded until Traces of the Trade aired on PBS/POV in June.
I don’t know what it is about Book TV but I know for certain that a lot of people watch it and they are active people when it comes to the internet. Immediately following Saturday’s broadcast traffic (“hits”) to both my website and blog shot up to double the daily average for August and the Amazon.com sales rank shot from somewhere around 145,000 to 3,551.
I’m always pleased at however the message of hope contained in our family’s journey gets spread further so the conversations about healing continue to deepen. And I’m grateful that interest in Inheriting the Trade continues to be strong. The latest review of the book–that I’m aware of–was published just yesterday in The Working Waterfront, a news monthly in the state of Maine with a print circulation of 50,000 in addition to their online presence.
Now, if anyone knows someone at Book TV that we can influence (notice I didn’t use the word “bribe”) into repeating the Linden Place talk, say, about once a month? I’m interested…;o)
Hey Tom, nice review. My Mom has connections at the Rockland paper, also in mid-coast Maine, and maybe she can get someone to review your work. Or maybe you've already thought of that…
Dave Howe
Thanks, Dave. The review in The Working Waterfront came about, as I understand it, because a friend of a distant cousin of ours passed the book along to the editor at this monthly paper. So that personal touch definitely makes a difference. If your mom wanted to pass it along it would be much appreciated.
At this point plans are for the paperback version to be published in January (it will likely be available for purchase in early December). So I'm hoping that we'll get more reviews and articles about it toward the end of the year so that more people will be introduced to our family's journey and this story about the legacy of slavery and the impact it continues to have on all of us today.