Today we celebrated the launch of my book Becoming Fearless: Finding Courage in the African Wilderness here in the community where I live in Belfast, Maine. Over forty residents attended my book sale (I sold out almost immediately!) and listened while I read a few sections of my book and answered questions about the story.
To calm my nerves, I spent yesterday baking and decorating a crocodile cake. Richard Bangs named his first expedition and then his company after the Eygyptian Crocodile, Sobek, hoping that by honoring this ancient god, good luck would accompany his wild adventures. If it worked for Richard, I figured honoring Sobek on my new adventure couldn't hurt.
With me in the picture are just a few of my wonderful neighbors, anxious to buy their own copies of my book. After the ice cream social launch, I returned to my apartment to find that my project manager had sent me the Amazon rankings for my first day promoting the book. I was gobsmacked. My book ranked #1 in five different categories: East African Travel, Survival Biographies & Memoirs, Conservation, African Travel and Environmental Issues. It also took #2 in the broad category of Travel. Many thanks to all the people who downloaded the free book today.
Lastly, MTSobek launched a beautiful post today about my book, offering their list of clients the chance to get their own copy of the free ebook. I told Heather Howard, their marketing director, that it felt like the river trip through the Tanzanian wilderness was life-changing for a second time as I start out on this new adventure as an author.
Comments