Sara J. Henry's Blog, page 16

This Reader is 91. Yes, You Read That Right.

Sorry, Mom Dreissigacker, you've been supplanted as the oldest person I know who read my book - this wonderful lady, at 91, is now my oldest known reader. (The youngest is a 13-year-old girl.) (Yes, men read my book, but just not very old and very young ones, as far as I know!)



This is the large print edition, currently only available through Doubleday Large Print book club ... this one I got on eBay.



And PS, it will be out in recorded form via Audible Books - don't know when yet![image error]

Because Sometimes You Just Need to Laugh

(Recommended by David Pogue.)[image error]

I'm Loving This ...

I'm loving this cover of my novel in German, coming out from DTV this October in  paperback and e-book - and I'm loving the title: Ein Herzschlag bis zum Tod , which I'm told translates to One Heartbeat Til Death.[image error]

Two Small Mysteries: Solved

When I looked in my wallet this week, there was less cash than I remembered having. Okay, I thought, I must have bought more things in New York City last week than I'd thought. This can happen: a bag of peanuts here, a cup of coffee there.



And when I unpacked my book bag from the Edgars - hey, my friend, the wonderful A.S. (Amy) King was nominated, so I had to be there - I found a business card embossed with a lovely gold eagle, from someone in DC involved in politics, that I simply did not ...

"Peddling my work like a Viagra salesman still feels at odds with the high calling of literature"

From the New York Times:

Ad from P Ballantine & Sons
As every author knows, writing a book is the easy part these days. It's when the publication date looms that we have to roll up our sleeves and tackle the real literary labor: rabid self-promotion. ... In this era when most writers are expected to do everything but run the printing presses, self-promotion is so accepted that we hardly give it a second thought. And yet, whenever I have a new book about to come out, I have to shake...

A Fascinating Look at Amazon Sellers' Pricing Algorithms - No, I Mean It! This is Way Cool.

I've wondered about some Amazon private sellers, whose prices seem insane, and who increase or decrease their prices according to prices I set for some overstock I occasionally sell.



But how I love the story of how a book on Drosophila was priced nearly $2 million (and no seller noticed how absurd this was) and how the two seller's presumably automated pricing mechanisms squared off against each other. And I love the scientific brain of the biologist, Michael Eisen, who noted that one seller...

Looking Forward to Some Rainy Days ...

It's sad when bookstores go out of business - but, alas, someone must buy up the books when they are at rock-bottom prices. Now to just find some time to read ...



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Messages That Make It All Worthwhile

In my inbox this morning, from a friend's young teenage daughter (she's 14, I think, and in 9th grade):

Hey Sara, I just finished your book and I wanted to tell you that I loved it! I do not read. It is one of my least favorite things to do, but I read your book. It only took me three days to read it hahahaha It was by far the best book I have ever read. I'm definitely going to suggest it to some of my friends. I think that's it...

This means a lot to me - the book isn't aimed at teens but...

Wherein Sara Appears on Television

I did some TV spots years ago, in a previous incarnation as a health writer and editor (Doctors Book of Home Remedies for Children, anyone?) but this is my debut in this decade, at Mountain Lake Journal Extra on PBS in Plattburgh, New York, talking about my novel Learning to Swim. I'm in the opener at about 0:20 and then again at 15:40.





And in other bookish news, one of the most astute reviews I've seen, from the Rutland Herald. (Notice I didn't say most complimentary - I think she pegged t...

Think I've Found an Answer to Heartbreak ...

... and this is her.





She lost her elderly owner in November, and has been staying at a nearby goat farm, along with a menagerie of rescued animals, Bolivian Kahlas and Xolos and Chinese Cresteds and Great Pyrenees, one of which didn't much care for her - plus a hairless cat, and a little pug dog found wandering down the road.



I lost my beloved Bridget on March 11.



Maybe we're both just what the other one needs.