Exactly one year ago today, Magical Journey, was published. I remember taking many deep breaths, trying (mostly in vain) to quell the butterflies in my stomach.
Watching my memoir arrive in bookstores across the land, waiting for the first readers to find it, wondering if my midlife “coming-of-age” story would resonate with anyone else, I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to celebrate the birth of my new book or hide under the bedclothes and wait for it all to blow over.
What a difference a year makes!
Thanks to YOU, my dear readers — and to the heartfelt, eloquent, profoundly moving letters and comments you’ve written me over the past twelve months — I feel nothing but excitement and joy this week, as I await the first paperback copies of Magical Journey. (Official pub. date: January 21.)
These days, making the leap from hardcover original to paperback is not a given, as it once was. It requires sturdy hardcover sales, a track record, and a commitment from both author and publisher.
So, I’m not taking this moment for granted. In fact, I want to do all I can to fulfill my publisher’s faith in me, and to prove right their hope that this quiet little book of mine will now find its way in paperback.
Magical Journey owes its (admittedly) modest success in hardcover to you, and to good, old-fashioned word-of-mouth.
I didn’t go on Oprah or Good Morning America. I didn’t get reviewed in the New York Times (though receiving a rave in People was quite a thrill). There was no ad budget. But I went to lots bookstores – and I loved meeting you there. I answered every letter I received from every reader. And I kept on writing to you all here each week.
I heard from many of you that you’d not only read my book, but you’d also bought copies for others. You shared it with your friends. You gave it as a gift. You suggested it to your book group. (Some of you even sent photos of your book groups!) You took a leap and said to someone else, “Here’s a book that speaks to me. I think you’ll like it, too.”
For all of this and more, I’m deeply grateful! In fact, you’ve given me an idea.
Today, I’m boldly reaching out to ask all of you, my reading friends, to help create a buzz for Magical Journey in paperback. My hope is that with your word-of-mouth and social media assistance, we will create a ripple that moves through our own close circles of friends and beyond.
Here’s how:
1. Say yes and email me HERE to join my “team.” Please be sure to include your mailing address! ( To show my gratitude I’ll soon be sending you a special “thank-you” package in return: a signed, personalized copy of an original manuscript page from Magical Journey, a signed bookplate, and a hand-made Magical Journey bookmark, created just for you by my dear, crafty mom).
2. Once you’ve joined my team, I’ll personally e-mail you, 6 times only, with a weekly request. (Don’t worry, no heavy lifting!) I’ll send you simple, one-or two-minute suggestions, such as posts to share on Facebook and/or Twitter — book news, quotes, bits of inspiration. I may ask you to share my blog with a few friends, to rate the book on Amazon, to recommend it on Goodreads, or to suggest Magical Journey to your book group. Every single request is optional – you simply do the things that feel comfortable to you.
Of course, feel free to come up with your own ways to help spread the word, the more creative the better!
3. The final “team” email will go out on February 26th. By then, with all our shared efforts, I hope Magical Journey will be launched — with plenty of wind in its sails! To celebrate, there will be a special gift drawing for everyone who participated. (Details on this to follow.)
And now, for a bit of early good news!
The words “Book of the Month” are a thrill for any author to hear. So, it was exciting indeed to learn that Magical Journey has been chosen as the “Book of the Month” for January at BookMovement.com, THE go-to website for book groups. (35,000 book groups, to be exact.)
I love the way the folks at BookMovement came up with so many great ideas for book groups reading Magical Journey. They even feature my own beloved book group in their newsletter — complete with a photo of our our field trip to Ann Patchett’s Parnassus Bookshop in Nashville last winter. They also provide menu suggestions, activities, and a music playlist. Fun and inspiring! To read the newsletter, CLICK HERE. (And, of course, do please share it with YOUR book group.)
Thanks in advance to you all. I am blessed to have such devoted readers — real friends and fellow travelers with whom to share this journey through books and life. Together, we can make good things happen!
P.S. Want to pre-order a paperback copy today? You can do that here.
What a good idea about how to spread the word, and what a gorgeous cover! It’s such a beautiful image. Is that you holding the birdcage?
It IS me. In a photo taken by my husband at dawn, near our house, standing on a stool in the pond, holding a borrowed bird cage. (Definitely a family effort!)
I would love to be on your team! xoxo
And I am so honored to have you!
I can’t imagine a team I’d rather be on! xo
Hooray~and thank you, Kristen!! This’ll be fun!
I would love to join you in launching the paperback copy of Magical Journey Katrina! I tried to join your email group, but since I had joined for Ordinary Day the site would not allow me to join again. Do I need to join again? If so, let me know what to do. I am hosting my book group this March and will be choosing Magical Journey! I have the hardcover but have been waiting for the softcover to choose it for my club! Best wishes on your launch!
Thanks Kathy! Clearly, you are already doing MJ team-work! So glad your group is going to read Magical Journey. If you click on the contact page and just send me an email there, with your mailing address, then I’ll have everything I need to be in touch with you. (Mailing address is just so I can send your “thank you.”)
(I think you must have entered your email address in the subscribe button, which is just for subscribing to my weekly newsletter. The “click here” in the post takes you to my contact page, which is where you can write to me. k
I love this grassroots effort. It comes from the best place…the heart! I suggest every mom I talk to to read your books! GOAOD changed my view and MJ kept me looking in the right direction! So very very very thankful for your gift of the written word and all it’s meaning! I would be honored to help!
If you still are in need of team members, I’d love to participate. Magical Journey helped guide me through a difficult 2013. Spreading the word about the paperback edition would be a joy!
Thank you Jennifer. The more the merrier, I’m sure. Here’s to smoother sailing in 2014. So glad you’re here.
I would love to be on your team, Katrina! Count me in!
Done! Thanks so much Daphne. Of course, you’ve ALWAYS been on the team!
I’d be happy to be on your team, Katrina. I’ll email you with my details.
Thank you Elizabeth. Feels as if we’ve bee on “the path” together for a long time! Love it that you’re here!
I am happy to be a part of the team! I can’t tell you how much “word of mouth” press you have received from me and friends that I recommended Magical Journey to – we will continue those efforts for the paperback book. (My original copy is still out on loan, so I think I will get a paperback version so I can reread it!)
Thanks Denise. And I’m grateful to you, always, for being here! (Do hope your hardcover comes back someday. . .)
Sounds like fun!
It WILL be fun. It already is! I love “team spirit,” and we have it. More soon!
I sent an email just now, Katrina. Sign me up and I’ll give it my best shot!
Honored. Thank you Betsy!
I was so inspired when you came and shared your then newly published book to our Parent Ed group at La Canada Presbyterian Church in CA. I would love to be a part of your team and would be honored to share your grace and honesty. I already gave it as a gift to a new friend I met at a yoga/manifestation retreat in ojai, ca…
Thanks Megan! I’ll be back in La Canada (my favorite home away from home!) in March — hope our paths cross again then!
I would love to read your 2 books ` Magical journey` ( are the 2 birds on the cover your 2 sons? ) and ` The gift of an ordinary day` . Your writing is lovely and eloquent and I am delighted to be on your emailing list.
Thank you Murali, I always love hearing from you — and picturing you in Ireland!
I am absolutely willing to join your team. Your books are treasures in my life and I want as many people to read them as possible! Congratulations on your paperback achievement as well. Blessings.
Misty, I’m delighted. Assignments to follow!
Count me in! I would love to support you and Magical Journey however I can. xoxo
Thanks so much Jessica!
I would love to be on the team as well! I have cherished all of your books!
Wonderful, Wylie! I feel as if I know you, too!
Will your book be available on Kindle?
It is available on Kindle already! And on Audible, too, read by me.
I’m with you, Katrina! Please add me to your devoted throng! xo
Wonderful, Amy! (Make sure to hit the HERE button in the post, and email me there with your mailing address.)
thank you for the invitation for be part of this exquisite collective. yes. profoundly grateful for the inspiration and solace your writing has provided. xo
The gratitude flows both ways!
Katrina, just saw that you will be in CA (La Canada Presbyterian) in March. Is this an event for your book combined with other travels? It isn’t far from my stepdaughter’s home and if you are having an event for your book, I’d love to come if the dates work out. If not, no worries!
Count me in!
Hi….I joined up, but forgot to give you my address. I would love a page of the original manuscript and a bookplate to go in my book that just arrived.
So happy to join and do what I can to put this treasure into more hands.
Even before I knew about “the team,” I shared your book on my (very small) blog as my favorite read of 2013:
http://www.deirdreokeatingblog.com/2014/01/best-of-2013-books.html
Thank you for your words on our journeys.
I definitely want to be on your Magical Journey Team!
I’ll do whatever I can, via my friends in many areas of the country
and right here in my home town!
I love that song and have had the same thoughts while listening.
Thanks for sharing. I love the photos.
oh my, what great a songlist and great suggestions! On my secret list: Eva Cassidy’s version of ‘What a Wonderful World’, sung knowing how soon her life would end (Israel Kamakawiwo’le, you’re in here too!); Lou Reed, ‘Perfect Day’, and ‘Magician’, heard during a Terry Gross interview after his death; my son’s former childrens chorus, bringing all the parents to tears with ‘Never Never Land’ (from ‘Peter Pan’, of all things); Hunter Parrish singing ‘Beautiful City’, another version, another time, sung during my wedding so very long ago.
Are you still giving away Magical Journey for mothers Day? I will be buying this book either way! I was about in tears only because my middle son and I butt heads almost everyday:( I want to cry as he slowly slips away from me and my husband. He has ADHD and I too see his tenderness when he plays with our 2 labs. We limit games and his grades are still bad. Fridays have always been family night for 10 years in counting. We make memories around the dinning room table and I hold on to them until the following week. He is 15 years old and not sure how to help him because his older brother never went through this stage. We seen a psychologist for 4 months only to have him say we don’t have we are a normal family? I feel like I have lost me loving son and your the first one to describe the car ride I experience everyday, driving him to and from school. you brought tears to my eyes!