Dear JWP ‘Friends’ contributors:

Thank-you for being a part of Friends. Our editorial and reader reviews are coming in with high praise. On a more personal level, my neighbors keep yelling to me (social distancing) on my walk: “Are those stories true? Wow! The book is really great.” Those cheers have invigorated enthusiasm for my daily walk. Thanks: I’m mending from an ankle replacement surgery, and I need the exercise.

 We’ve marketed 'Friends' and are seeing sales, though we are quite a bit away from breaking even. This is expected; it’s not easy to make money in narrative nonfiction, but we are going to work hard to be able to sell books and keep the series going. We hope to market through this summer’s world Friendship Day, July 30, and we may do another round of marketing for 2022 Friendship Day.

Before Friendship Day, we plan to send books to your local library and will include shelf-sitters, naming you as a local author. If the world has opened, we will send you some suggested author events, where you can promote your other writing projects and work to build a following for your writing career as you celebrate “Friends.” You may perform a reading from friends or lead a writing workshop about writing a thank-you letter to a friend, writing a tribute essay, or—let us know your ideas. If there is interest, we will share specific guidelines about how to hold an event at a library or bookstore. I'll be in Milwaukee, so let me know if you want to partner up with me for an event.

We are beginning interviews with authors and hope to have a series of articles written to promote authors (you) and the book. One interview will yield two articles. One article will be about your story and friendship. The other article will cover a craft issue specific to your essay. Each article will appear on a different website (JackWalkerPress.com and the upcoming FirstPersonWriting.com) and will be specific to you and include a small excerpt.  It will take time to create the author specific interview questions, and we will happily to put the work in after you tell us you will participate. Expect about 10 questions, and there may be follow up requests. If you participate, we need you to promote the articles on your web presence, blogs, website, and/or social media accounts.

The first set of interview questions have gone out to Betsy Robinson, and we are preparing questions for Elan Barnehama. Do include a bio and promotional text and links for your books and projects

Send us an email (AL@JackWalkerPress.com) to say:

• I would be interested in leading a local promotional event at a library or bookstore.

And/or

• I would like to participate in author-spotlight and writing-lessons interviews.

Be well, and I hope you can use the stay-at home time to write more wonderful work.

Best Wishes, Amy Lou Jenkins

P.S. Don't forget to follow us on Facebook, and keep up with the news and next call for submissions.