The Great Abolitionist has a great team supporting it (and supporting me)!
I’ve said it often (as have many authors) – writing may be a solitary act, but “authoring” is not. Researching, writing, editing, and marketing a book requires that an author have a strong support structure, a team to call on to provide encouragement, expertise, and excitement. I was so fortunate to rely on so many talented people who helped bring you The Great Abolitionist (several of whom have been a critical part of assisting me with other books as well). I want to recognize them here – with all gratitude and humility – for the great work they’ve done and continue to do:
My friend Charlotte Hannan, shown with me at the Barnes & Noble event, is a senior at Harvard, and assisted me with the research of TGA. Her work was thorough, intuitive, and exemplary and always right on the money. I’ve known Charlotte for a long time and have always said, “she works so hard and cares so much.” Truer than ever with her work on TGA!
It’s appropriate that I’m holding open the TGA back cover flap while standing with my friend, Erin Leone! Erin, a talented photographer with her own business and a senior at George Washington University, took my new jacket photo (which I love). The photo also appears on all social media sites and TGA marketing materials (including on my website and at the top of this newsletter)! You can see more of Erin’s outstanding work at Erin Leone Photography.
My dear friends, Paula Hoyt and Ellen Keefe, have been with me on my author journey since the beginning – and have been amazing friends since long before that! How blessed I am to have their love and support in so many ways – but most specifically, as tough, talented “advance readers” of my TGA manuscript (and virtually every other manuscript too). I think I submit very clean manuscripts to my publisher, and Paula and Ellen are two big reasons why (my wife Kate is also, but more on her soon). They are smart and have become experts at spotting inconsistencies, omissions, grammar errors, typos, or saying “something just doesn’t sound right” in the manuscript. Ellen and Paula also do a great job acting as ambassadors for my books, always providing encouragement, and being there to offer suggestions and advice if I need them (and sometimes, even if I don’t – lol).
You may be noticing a trend here – It’s always a massive plus when you have great friends who are also talented! Such is also the case with Sue Hannan (shown here with me at B&N), who handles marketing and expertly manages content and navigation for my website. I’m biased, but I think it’s one of the best! Sue takes great pride in keeping content fresh and dynamic (as evidenced by her rapid implementation of the TGA section of my website), and also helps spread the word through social media. Her ideas, creativity, and excellent marketing skills help me connect with readers in the best possible way!
When I wrote her acknowledgment in The Great Abolitionist, I referred to my friend and sister-in-law, Pat Doyle, as the unsung hero in my author life. Since the beginning, she has been there for me, offering assistance and encouraging words always. She has attended a huge number of my more than 700 author appearances, and has contributed many wonderful photos to my website, social media pages, and these newsletters (including a large number in this issue!). She also provides a helping hand in ways too numerous to list – she is simply always ready to help. I am grateful for her friendship, love, enthusiasm, interest, talent, and bedrock support.
The love and friendship my wife Kate and I have shared for more than four decades is my greatest joy and most profound blessing. As I said in my TGA acknowledgment, she is the first to hear my ideas, the first to offer insights, the first to read my manuscripts, the first to know when things are going smoothly or if I’ve hit a rough patch. She is talented, inspirational, and helpful beyond words – I’m immensely proud of her – and during this TGA tour, she was always there — selling books, greeting readers, taking photos, and brightening every room she entered. She is, simply, “present on every page” of my writing and of my life. The Great Abolitionist is dedicated to Kate from the bottom of my most grateful heart.
