Publishing has changed since I started writing books, but change is my faith, and I’m up to my neck in it.
My new book “Talking To Animals” is locked in a fierce struggle in the the Amazon Animals book category with “Esther The Wonder Pig,” Esther is a micro piglet who was adopted by the author, Steve Jenkins. He says Esther changed his life and he wrote a book about it.
I once might have jeered at this or made a joke about it, but Esther was an instant New York Times Bestseller, just like I used to be, and Esther has dominated the Animals and Pet Care Category on Amazon for some time like Elizabeth on the throne. This morning, I bumped her to No. 3, after the hardcover and Kindle versions of “Talking To Animals.”
To some ( my publisher perhaps) this might seem like nothing to snort about, but Esther and I have been battling back and forth for the No. 1 slot for several days, and to me, this is the most heartening sign that my book has some legs and is gaining some traction.
Esther is a tough little micro piglet, and she is said to be cute. I want to be gracious, she deserves all the success there is, but there is this competitive streak in me that wants to see her end up on a Round House Cafe breakfast brunch table.
Sorry, I take that back, it was just a momentary thing, I am all too human. I used to start my book tours flying to Washington to be interviewed by Diane Rhemn on NPR, now I get up early to shovel manure out of the barn. You have to love writing to do it sometimes, and I do.
And Esther is no pushover, she has more than a million likes on Facebook, and she is huge now, in several ways.
This week began in a humbling way for me. My first hometown reading drew a small crowd, my Uncle Harry, one student in my writing class, and the UPS driver whose route I am on. I used to go head to head with James Herriot, now I am chasing a macro wonder piglet named Esther.
So I needed this takedown of Esther this morning. No. 3! Yes!
My new book got few reviews this week (Bark Magazine in San Francisco refused to even accept a galley), no publicity, few interviews, but my publisher has generously decided to send me down the road to buy a cup of coffee and talk to the cashier at Stewart’s Convenience and read from the book to the big men in trucks – that is the official book tour.
I might have been haughty about Ester a few years ago, when I published my fifth New York Times bestseller, but that was before the recession, e-books, and before NPR turned into a hip celebrity talk-a-thon. I’m proud of you, says Maria, you never quit, but when somebody says that, you know it wasn’t provoked by anything good. Nobody says that to a bestselling author.
Now, it is me and Esther and I hope to chase the adorable little thing right back into the pen she sprang from. Bring on the bacon. I’m going to put my foot on her little neck and keep it there.
Esther isn’t even a full-sized pig.
Today, my ego inflated again, my book tour resumes, Maria and I are heading with Red to the Connecticut Library Association where I will speak at 4 p.m. (this is in Mystic, Conn.). Saturday we go to the Chatham Public Library in Chatham, N.Y., I will be speaking with Red at 3:30. And thank God for Red, he has very loyal followers, and a macro piglet is no match for him. He will draw a crowd.
Every day, a new beginning.
If you want to help me keep up with Esther The Wonder Pig, you can order my new book “Talking To Animals” and I will sign and personalize it for you and Connie Brooks will send you a tote-bag that is classy. You can also call the bookstore at 528 677 2515, they take Paypal and major credit cards.
(To be honest, that won’t help with Esther, you have to buy books on Amazon to do that, but I’d rather see the business go to Connie Brooks, she runs a wonderful independent bookstore in a small upstate New York town. She needs it more than they do.)
You can order the book from Battenkill here.
Stay tuned, I will post daily updates on the struggle between me and Esther The Wonder Pig. Grace is not about living a perfect life, but how you handle a real one.