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Review of "this is not a love story"

This Is Not a Love Story by Judy Brown

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Another excellent read from the author of Hush. Again written mostly from a child's POV & again dealing with a taboo subject for the ultra-Orthodox, this time autism. Actually this is a love story; ultimately the love of a mother for her "damaged/cursed" son and her determination to cure him, not institutionalize him.



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Happy Jewish Book Month

In you need reminding, November is Jewish Book Month. I just returned from a successful, and fun, mini-book tour where I spent just over a week in Massachusetts and the SF Bay Area. Other than doing Limmud NY 2016 next Presidents’ Weekend, I’m not scheduled for any other book talks. What a change from last year, when I did 127 events in 17 states between mid-October and Mother’s Day to promote my historical fantasy novel ENCHANTRESS.

Based on my extensive experience, here’s some advice for authors who want to go on book tour:

1. Know your audience and concentrate on venues where you’ll find them. For me that means Jewish women’s groups like Hadassah chapters and synagogue sisterhoods rather than libraries and bookstores.
2. Arrange your own schedule, keeping in mind the distance between venues, to maximize the number of events in the least amount of days. For long trips, rent a car [let the hosts share this expense] so nobody has to shlep you around.
3. Offer to stay in people’s homes rather than hotels. You’ll benefit by meeting many wonderful people, not being constrained by a hotel’s check-in & check-out schedule, access at odd hours to your host’s refrigerator & pantry, and not having to pay for WiFi or parking. The nonprofit you’re speaking at will benefit by not having to pay for your lodging, which may make the difference as to whether they’ll have you speak there or not.
4. Provide copies of your books yourself for sale/signing. You will be in control of which books to order from your publisher [you do get a significant discount, don’t you?] and where they should be shipped, so if there are any problems you can deal with them yourself. If your venue wants to handle this, and they have experience doing it, by all means let them. But most Jewish women’s groups are happy to let the author handle book sales, especially since they won’t be responsible for returning unsold copies.
5. Consider hiring a freelance publicist to get you media coverage and interviews, especially if you have several events in the same geographical area.
6. Have fun.

NE book trip

Years ago I learned that November is National Novel Writing Month, which challenges would-be authors to write a novel, at least the first draft, in 30 days. While I liked the idea, it never worked for me for several reasons. 1] My stories were so long, over 150,000 words, that I would have to average over 5000 words [40 pages] a day – a nearly impossible task. 2] I was researching as I wrote, which left even less time to write each day. 3] To get my novel out in early autumn, prime time for Jewish books, my publisher needed a finished manuscript in December. So I had to do my writing and editing in spring and summer; November was for compiling front and back matter.

This year I heard about a new November challenge, National Nonfiction Writing Month I admit I already wrote several drafts of my short book in October, but I’ve decided to take the challenge to complete it in November. Which is one of the reasons I haven’t blogged since the end of October. This time the timing works for me. I’m flying back east for a short, one-week, book trip – which means I’ll have two long flights with nothing much else to do but work on my monograph.

Those of you in the Boston area, here’s where I’ll be speaking:
Nov 12 - 11 am. Dutchess Co Hadassah luncheon. Christos Restaurant,155 Wilbur Blvd, Poughkeepsie NY 12603.
Nov 13 - 10:30 am [for students] and 1 pm [for parents]. The Rashi School, 8000 Great Meadow Rd. Dedham MA 02026
Nov 13/14 - Scholar-in-Residence. Agudat Achim, 268 Washington St, Leominster MA 01453
Nov 14 - 5:15 pm. Torathon. Congregation Beth Israel 15 Jamesbury Dr, Worcester MA 01609
Nov 15 - 7 pm. Temple Emanu-El, 393 Atlantic Ave, Marblehead MA 01945
Nov 16 – 7:30 pm. Shirat HaYam. 55 Atlantic Ave, Swampscott, MA 01907