BABY, I’M THE BOSS OF ME: Embracing the Power and Joy of Getting Older by Ruth Yunker

With the abundance of self-published authors, you have to come up with creative ways to market a 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, Ruth Yunker, who is taking her latest book, BABY, I’M THE BOSS OF ME: Embracing the Power and Joy of Getting Older, on tour — a virtual book tour, that is. She will be featured on several blogs over the weeks and months ahead so keep your eyes peeled to learn more about her and her book.

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Luckily for us, Ruth 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 BABY, I’M THE BOSS OF ME: Embracing the Power and Joy of Getting Older.

OP: Tell us a little bit about Baby, I’m the Boss of Me: Embracing the Power and Joy of Getting Older. What is it about?

Ruth: My book shows how to use one’s sense of humor and optimism to notice and embrace the power and wisdom accrued from having lived a long life. My book tells how to see growing older as a part of life that is filled with joy, curiosity, energy, and a continuing zest for life. I am a humorist, so my book is in turn funny, warm, sensitive, and then back to funny. It is told in essay/stories. Some are memoir (how I have become the woman I am), some ‘how-to’ do this journey of getting older and loving it, and some are stories of simple everyday joys and woes, peeves and pleasures.

OP: Why did you decide to write this story?

Ruth: I decided to write this book when I could no longer ignore the fact that traffic cops were now younger than my grown son, or that I was afraid to tell my grown daughter I was considering a face-lift. I was well into middle-age, even though I could still wear short dresses and go into a handstand in yoga, so it took a while to acknowledge where I was, and then to embrace it rather than to run screaming in the other direction. I have always loved the older women in my life, and now I was rapidly catching up to them in years. At the same time, after getting over the horror of that realization, I also noticed I was happier than I ever had been in my life. That my life was opening up rather than closing down. I started writing about this amazing and unexpected situation. I started writing about it, to see where this new journey was going to go. I wanted to pay attention.

OP: How did you get your book published?

Ruth: Eleven years ago, I decided to independently publish my first book about Paris, even though I had been writing and was published, for thirty years, and had had agents in the past. The traditional publishing world was uncertain and slow, so I decided to take things into my own hands. I turned to Outskirts Press for that first Paris book. And have used them for the second Paris book, and now this, my third book.

OP: What types of readers would be interested in this story?

Ruth: All kinds of readers. But specifically, older women (and men), Baby Boomers. Their daughters will read this book too. Anyone who loves humor. Not all the stories center on aging.

My reader is educated, open, older, probably at the most free period of their lives, open to the new adventure, learning a new skill, expanding their social groups, diving into social media, making their daily lives even better.

OP: What is special about your book?

Ruth: My book is special because I’m not going into my twilight years as though they are my last years, the sad years. To me these years are a triumph. I want to share how one can look at this period of their lives as a unique and thrilling adventure, just as exciting as the first part of our lives. I am qualified to write this book because I’ve been writing about daily life for thirty-five years. Along the way I have married twice, raised four children and step-children, maintained a writing career, am well-traveled, and have arrive here, to my early sixties, my enthusiasm and curiosity for life intact.

OP: What differentiates it from other books in the same category?

Ruth: My book is not a how-to or teaching manual in any way. It is light-hearted and funny. It is joyful and confident, even though the subject is a serious, potentially frightening period of the human life.
It falls somewhere between David Sedaris and Erma Bombeck, with a lighter version of Norah Ephron thrown in.

OP: Have you published any other books?

Ruth: I have published two books: they are about traveling to Paris alone, once a year, staying for six weeks each time, becoming acclimated to this beautiful but difficult city, and learning to love it along the way. I go to Paris every year now, for two months, staying in a different apartment each time.

The Paris books are:
ME, MYSELF AND PARIS and
PARIS, I’VE GROWN ACCUSTOMED TO YOUR WAYS

OP: Do you plan to publish more?

Ruth: A third Paris book will be published after my follow-up book to BABY, I’M THE BOSS OF ME.

OP: Thanks for your time, Ruth! We look forward to learning more about you as you visit other bloggers!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Ruth Yunker is a writer and humorist, an essayist, blogger, and short story writer. She has led a peripatetic life and currently lives in Los Angeles, California. She has two grown children, is in between pets, and does the “New York Times” crossword puzzle with an erasable pen.

For more information or to contact the author, visit www.outskirtspress.com/RuthYunker

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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