Good news for Zendoscopy. As regular readers know, Zendoscopy is my second book. It was published earlier this year and, although reviews and feedback have been encouraging, sales have been modest. Of course, walk into any bookstore or look at any bookseller online, and you’ll see that there’s a glut of books vying for your attention. That’s why personal marketing is critical for the self-published author.

OK, so what’s “personal marketing”? It’s doing book signings, readings, book club appearances, and setting up for sales at flea markets and weekend farmers’ markets. In this area, I admit to have lagged a bit, largely because of a heavy travel schedule that had me away for much of July, early August, most of September, and early October. Home now, I’m ramping up marketing for Zendoscopy.

I recently placed copies of Zendoscopy on consignment at Pasadena’s largest and best known non-chain bookseller: Vroman’s. They now have me scheduled to do a book signing and a reading from the book on Sunday, January 25th at 4 PM. More information will follow closer to the event, but if you can be there, please come. I’d love to meet you and sign a copy of Zendoscopy for you.

What’s Zendoscopy about? Well, for starters, it’s not really a book about Zen, at least in any formal way. It’s a collection of stories about growing up in the 1950’s and ’60’s in Southern California. Together, all of the stories add up to the lead character’s coming of age, with all that that implies. Some of the stories are very funny, some are quite serious, and others are, well, tragicomic. Here are a few of the story titles:

·         Effie Mae and the Bubble-Up Bottle of Fate

·         Brother Parthenia and the Fido Treasure Hunt

·         Lust, Terror, and the Praying Mantis of the Holy Grail

If you find that these pique your curiosity, pick up a copy or, even better, come to the book signing in January. It promises to be a lot of fun.