As an author in this economy, you have to come up with creative ways to market your self-published book. While book tours are a great way to connect with your readers, they aren’t the most affordable method of promotion. However, technology has made it possible for an alternative.
Take note from self-publishing Outskirts Press author, Stan Levenson, who is taking his latest book, When Brooklyn Was Heaven, on tour – a virtual book tour, that is. He will be featured on several blogs over the weeks and months ahead so keep your eyes peeled to learn more about him and his book.
Luckily for us, Stan was kind enough to answer a few questions as the tour was getting started so that we can give you a sneak peek into the mind of the creator of When Brooklyn Was Heaven.
OP: Tell us a little bit about When Brooklyn Was Heaven. What is it about?
SL: It is about those Brooklyn neighborhoods rich in culture and history and of my own rise from being a poor, fatherless kid during the Great Depression to becoming a world renowned fundraiser helping schools and school districts around the globe reap millions of dollars in grants and gifts. My early Brooklyn years were far from auspicious. I was a “goof-off” in junior and senior high school and had little aspiration other than to immerse myself in games of basketball, stickball and punch ball on the streets of Brooklyn and questionable capers at Coney Island.
With remarkable moxie, I managed to survive one of the roughest vocational high schools in New York City before embarking on a multitude of adventures that took me around the country and across the globe. In this book, I show the days of a bygone Brooklyn when neighborhoods were proudly and fiercely ethnic and cultures were bound by the rough economic times of the Depression and the concerns over World War II. I takes readers on a tour of upstate New York, as well, and acquaints them with stories of the Borscht Belt never heard before, and the small college town of Oswego, New York where I studied to become a teacher and found himself in the awkward gropes of my first encounters with the opposite sex. I ultimately earned a number of degrees including a Ph. D.; had a number of misadventures in the U.S. Navy; and ended up – to my own great surprise – as a public school fundraiser extraordinaire.
OP: Why did you decide to write this story?
SL: I decided to write this book after being encouraged by friends and family to put my stories into writing.
OP: What types of readers would be interested in this story?
SL: The book is a must read for anyone with a New York connection, those who are fascinated by this joyful place, and all others who are intrigued by all the places “in-between.”
OP: What is special about your book? What differentiates it from other books in the same category?
SL: This book is special because it includes 135 short stories never written about before. It is different than other books in the same category because of the tremendous variety of short stories available to read. The stories cover my days growing up poor and fatherless in Brooklyn; my high school and college days; summers in Coney Island and the Catskill Mountains; my encounters with the opposite sex; military duty in the United States Navy; my arrival and departure from L.A.; and, my work and travels throughout Europe and the Middle East. The book will make you laugh, it will make you cry, it will evoke a sense of nostalgia, and it will help to establish an historical perspective of the times.
OP: Have you published any other books? Do you plan to publish more?
SL: I am the author of four books on education with traditional publishers, including Big-Time Fundraising for Today’s Schools, (Corwin Press); How to Get Grants and Gifts for the Public Schools, (Allyn & Bacon); Readings in Foreign Languages for the Elementary School, (Blaisdell/Ginn); and, Exciting Bulletin Board Ideas for Reading and Language Arts. (T.S. Denison and Co.). I plan to publish more.
OP: Thanks for your time, Stan! We look forward to learning more about you as you visit other bloggers!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Fundraising guru Stan Levenson is the author of four books on education, including Big-Time Fundraising for Today’s Schools (Corwin Press, 2007), How to Get Grants and Gifts for the Public Schools (Allyn & Bacon, 2002), Readings in Foreign Languages for the Elementary School (Blaisdell/Ginn) and Exciting Bulletin Board Ideas for Reading and Language Arts (T.S. Denison and Co.). His articles have appeared in American School Board Journal, Principal Leadership, The School Administrator, TESOL Quarterly and more.
He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the State University of New York at Oswego, a Master’s degree in School Administration from U.C.L.A., and a Ph.D. in Leadership and Human Behavior from United States International University (now Alliant International University) in San Diego. Levenson lives in San Diego with his wife Kay Pantelis.
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For more information or to contact the author, visit www.outskirtspress.com/whenbrooklynwasheaven
This author purchased the Virtual Book Tour marketing option, which allows self-publishing authors to connect with bloggers and harness the power of the blogosphere by taking their book on the “virtual road”. Learn more about this service by visiting your Publishing Center and reviewing the available marketing options.
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