Dear readers,

I’m asking a favor of you that will help inspire a more positive view of schizophrenia and get this healing message into the hands of a wider audience. My target audience is mothers of adult children who have been diagnosed with a serious mental illness. How do I attract their attention? Mainly through book promotion on my part and book reviews and recommendations on your part.

The Scenic Route: A Way through Madness has been stuck at five reviews for over a year now and sales are slowing. Mind you, the five so far are great reviews –just not enough of them to attract the attention of more readers who will contribute to the virtuous cycle of greater awareness through more reviews generating greater awareness.

Here’s what reviews of my book will do for potential readers:

Lessens their time and risk: A review of my book saves the buyer time and money by decreasing the risk that my book is not their cup of tea. The more informative a review is (what you liked, what message you took away, etc. ), the more confident the reader will be in knowing whether it’s right for them. Maybe in the end they will decide not to read the book, but they will at least know about it and perhaps even recommend it to readers who are “right” for the book.

Greater chance of finding what they want through visibility and buzz: Book reviews give books greater visibility and a greater chance of getting found by more readers. More book reviews will also help amplify my book’s reach among book clubs, bookstores, blogging communities, etc.

You may protest that you are not a writer, but I disagree. I know most of you are decent writers because I’ve corresponded with you over the years and your eloquence when putting “pen to paper” (figuratively speaking) is humbling. You write well because you are experts in how schizophrenia has impacted your own life story .

Thinking abut writing a review but stuck on what to say? How about a paragraph or two on a particular treatment approach that appealed to you, or on some random event in the book that struck your funnybone, or on how your experience compares with mine.

Speaking of book clubs: I would love to see my book on your book club’s list for 2020. Contact me for information about group discounts.

Thank you,

… Rossa