More Numbers
This week Mississippi Sissy is #22 on the Booksense Best Seller List. This is the national best seller list for all the independent bookstores in the country. And it has the added honor of being designated ON THE RISE, a designation Booksense gives to the book that seems to be gaining steam and getting noticed by buyers per the numbers sold the previous week.
Also, I just found out that Sissy went up seven spaces on the New York Times Best Seller List to be published this coming Sunday. It will be #27 up from #34. I still long of it to be in the Top Ten so I’ll keep plugging away. I want to be able to see it in the New York Times Book Review itself since they only print the top fifteen sellers in each category. Thank you all out there for helping me get this far. It’s impossible for me to express fully how much I appreciate your support. Only 12 more places to go before they have to put the name of my book in the Review instead of only putting it online. It would be such poetic justice after the hatchet job they ran when reviewing it. It would be another dream come true. The ultimate dream, of course, is to be #1. Revenge - unlike the meal I just tried to eat here at O’Hare Airport while waiting for my flight to New Orleans - is a dish best served cold.
March 28th, 2007 at 9:50 pm
nobody writes like Edith Wharton but you come close
March 29th, 2007 at 8:51 am
Three things that would help get the numbers up, I think. First, if readers enjoyed Sissy and if they have a blog then they should write a quick post about the book.
Also there are many people who will not buy this book out of fear. I know when I lived in a not so accepting area and I went into a book store I was hesitant about looking at the gay friendly books. There are many readers who are not out and are afraid to pick the book up or are not gay and are afraid people will assume they are if they pick it up. Additionally, they may not buy it online because a) they live with parents or friends who do not know or b) they see it at the store and by the time they get home they forget about it and do not go online to purchase. It is sad that there are still areas of the country where people might be hesistant to pick it up, but those areas are everywhere.
So, to those that have the financial means, buy four or five copies, give them to young people or people who might be struggling with coming out or give them to your local GLBT library or you public library or HS school libraries.
Also, people who are comfortable should recommend the book for their book club, review it or have a Sissy party where people read the book and come dressed as their favorite character from the book. Take pictures and send them to Kevin and perhaps Kevin could post the pictures on his blog.
Another thing. Many bookstores have staff recs. So if you work at a bookstore put the book as a staff rec. Immediate visability that way.
March 29th, 2007 at 9:33 am
i’m diggin’ readin’ your blog. i ordered your book from amazon.co.uk and just received it this morning. (i live in barcelona)
i notice that you’ve mentioned a couple of times the use of new sayings. so let me try one on you….i’m sure you are familiar with the term “bringing home the bacon”, (as in bringing home the money, or making money)…now, as we all know, an Hermes Birkin is THE celebrity “it-bag” and impossible to get and impossibly priced (starts at $7800)….so, now that your book is kicking-ass and climbing the charts…i think it’s fair to say that you, and the book, are really Bringing Home The Birkin ! teehee. kudos!
March 29th, 2007 at 11:00 am
Kevin, I just finished your book. My partner is starting on it now. And I’m sure we’ll cry all over again!
We live here in Pontotoc, just outside of Tupelo. Interestingly, though Reed’s bookstore won’t carry your book, the Daily Journal posted a review of it. I think it’s just a reprint of an AP review. The link is here. http://www.djournal.com/pages/archive.asp?ID=239201&pub=1&div=News
Also, just last week, the Daily Journal was running a series of articles on basketball teams in the area that had won the Grand Slam. Frank Dowsing’s 1968 team was mentioned. I knew when I read your book that his name stood out. Now I know why. Link is here. http://www.djournal.com/pages/story.asp?ID=239459&pub=1
I hope that you make a return book tour through the area. It takes a while for “culture” to trickle down to us here! By the time I get through telling everyone about your book, you could fill several more readings.
If you do, I have an interesting proposition. Reed’s (the department store of which the bookstore is part) has a promotional campaign in almost every issue of the Daily Journal entitled “where have our Reed’s t-shirts been?” including photographs of locals in Reed’s t-shirts all over the world. Wouldn’t it be ironic to pose with you for a Reed’s t-shirt ad? As you say, revenge is a dish best served cold.
Sorry to ramble. But I’m just overwhelmed by the way you have brought your book to life and all of us sissies here in Mississippi along with it. Thanks,
Ken
March 29th, 2007 at 11:33 am
I’m giving these books away like gideon Bibles
March 29th, 2007 at 12:18 pm
Happy Birthday! I hope yesterday was a good day. A friend just sent me the link to your website. He’s reading your book in Jackson and identifying with a lot of what is in it.
I was just interested to see there was a bookstore in Philadelphia now. I grew up in Neshoba County, way out in the country. I visit a couple of times a year, but seldom get into town.
When I was very young, Edgar Ray Killen was pastor of the church I was raised in. I knew him all my life. I sure was glad they finally sent him to jail.
I’m bi and so is my partner. Since we are a heterosexual couple, few people in our MS families have a clue and we haven’t suffered the osteracism that is common with people who are obviously gay. I came out in college (Mississippi State) but that was a long time ago. I’m 56, a few years your senior.
Was your Steve Nelson from Neshoba County? I went to school with a Steve Nelson, but I doubt that he was the same one.
I just thought I’d give you a shout and say I hope your book makes it to #1. I’m a writer too, but I’ve about given up ideas of getting published.
I write for a living - I’m a medical editor. I just don’t have time to concentrate on fiction that I need and the years are flying by. However, yesterday I was telling my shrink about my family and he said that I should give up science fiction and write about that. Maybe I should.
I’m sure I’ll get around to your book soon. Good luck!
Joanne
March 29th, 2007 at 3:07 pm
Kevin,
I was waiting to buy your book at the signing next week here in Birmingham………but, couldn’t wait and bought it last night.
I don’t know if you would even remember me. I was in Jackson while you were at Millsaps and did some New Stage shows with Diane Wiltshire. It seems like such a lifetime ago.
It’s amazing how all of us that have left Mississippi still have this bond that brings us back……..maybe not physically, but certainly emotionally and spritually.
Looking forward to reading your book and seeing you next week. Happy belated birthday!
Ray Jordan
March 29th, 2007 at 7:01 pm
Oh, I am so glad to find your blog. I just finished your book this morning after starting it last night and as soon as I finished it I wanted to start it all over again. But i’m a librarian, and so rather than do that I brought it right back to the library so someone else could read it right away. You aren’t coming to Ohio on this book tour, but would you be interested in coming here to speak at a library event sometime??
What a wonderful book. Wonderful. Memoirs are my specialty, and you’ve just set a new standard.
Wendy Bethel
Columbus, OH
March 29th, 2007 at 10:48 pm
joanne I’d read your book