Tag Archives: launch

Long Island Book Launch

On March 24th Dr. Kusum Viswanathan arranged a book reading at Herricks Middle School under the auspices of the Young Indian cultural Group of Long Island.

I sound a little naive saying this  but being the first time travelling alone and navigating the trains of New York and New Jersey was daunting. I worried more about getting places than talking at the readings

 

I reached Mineola, Long Island, without a hitch and was so happy to meet Kusum. What can I say about her? I have never met a more amiable, dynamic, erudite, multifaceted, talented, well spoken, friendly, cultured person in my life. Kusum takes my breath away, for I have never seen one one person with so many selfless qualities. She had spoken with Rathi Raja who very kindly agreed to host the event. I went there expecting nothing which turned out to be a great thing.

When we reached the school, no one had arrived and at 2pm only 3 of us were there. Kusum had arranged tea and snacks and we were busy setting up. As we turned around almost 30 people had come for the reading. This was unbelievable!

Other than a couple, no one had read the book and the reading took on a more informative tone.I introduced the characters and read out sections pertaining to each. It was also interesting to note that we had men in the room including an 87 year old who had read the book in its entirety. I also got a chance to talk about connected topics like self publishing, getting books into a library (almost impossible if you are self published) writing style and editing, areas of publishing that have taken up all of my time this past year.

I felt very satisfied as I boarded the train for New Jersey. I had sold all the books and perhaps generated enough interest for others to pick it up and spread the word.

Its is not enough to have good book. You have to tell others about it and though marketing is a bottomless pit, out of the blue a friend helps you out and when you speak to small groups like this it fills you with a feeling of accomplishment. For me this accompanied by waves of gratitude and awe as I looked back at Kanchana 4 years ago; miserable and lost and I wondered where and how  she had disappeared