I
consider myself the luckiest kid on the coaster, having published “The Cotton Candy
Road Trip”, having sold a number of copies (not a huge number – yet. But not just a dozen or so to friends and
family, either), and having gotten the word out about vintage parks. But frankly, I know I’ve only scratched the
surface of what can be done for the parks, the people who love them, and the
ways I can market, promote, and build excitement for the book. 2012 gave me a good toe-hold into what can be
done, but I also got sidetracked by theatre and life and, well, just being
overwhelmed by the ebbs and flows of 2012, a year that rocked each and every
person I know without exception.
So,
without anymore ado, behold my goals for the book in 2013:
1.
Get “Cotton Candy” connected with
every single form of social media imaginable. A few weeks
ago, I had a meeting with my social media guru.
Yes, I have one of those, a woman who knows her way around Facebook,
Twitter, Instagram, HootSuite, Pinterest and God only knows what else with a
facility of a teen-ager who knows all the ins and outs around arcade games,
going home with seventeen extra-large stuffed toy hound dogs. She is awesome, she is smart and
creative. And, the biggest plus, she
believes in my project and it excited by the prospect of creating a huge social
network footprint for it. #soexcitedicouldplotz.
2.
Contact more Chicago media
outlets. I’ve been interviewed by local papers, a local
radio station, and was featured as part of an article in the Chicago
Tribune. That’s good. But that’s not as far as I can go with
this. More popular radio shows and TV
shows will be harder nuts to crack, but they aren’t insurmountable.
3.
More swag!
I’ll be posting more swag for people to buy on Zazzle – and an item I’ve
been toying with will be sold on Etsy.
I’ve had the “ingredients” for the Etsy items for about a year; it’s
time.
4.
Re-visit at least three parks.
Travel is not cheap, but it’s imperative that I re-visit at least a few
of the parks to keep excitement about the book building – plus, I just miss
them. I’m looking at my calendar for
2013, going, “But when do I visit the Eastern Pennsylvania parks again? When do I get to go to the Enchanted Forest
in Oregon again?” I miss them, I miss
the people and the energy and the rides and the fried dough. So I plan to visit at least a few parks – and
the ones at the top of my list are the ones affected by Hurricane Sandy:
Keansburg and Coney Island and Rye Playland.
5.
Explore avenues that will “get”
and celebrate the spiritual side of my book. Those folks
who’ve really, really enjoyed my book have all mentioned that they were moved
and inspired by the sense of the quest, the embracing of the spiritual side of
my travels. I need to share the book
with more folks who have similar sensibilities, who believe in “the spirit of
place” the way I do.
2013 feels like a celebration
just waiting to happen, much like that moment before you enter an amusement
park. I aim to make this New Year the
time that “The Cotton Candy Road Trip” becomes the catalyst for thousands of celebrations
around the country, when people plan for park visits, schedule park road trips,
and commit to making every visit to a vintage park a personal quest for that
moment of joy frozen in time. Yeah, tall order, I know., but NOT insurmountable. Just a steep hill for the coaster cars to
tackle, that’s all. And I happen to know something
about that…
Back in 2011, while sweeping through the East Coast for my book, "The Cotton Candy Road Trip", I fell in love with Rye. I hadn't known much about it prior to my visit, except that:
