Writing and Marketing a book: An Author Reveals All
A wild ride that includes taking on the corporate
giant GE, courageously defending the accusation of a public “homosexual
act”, going bankrupt, and being an author, all this purchased on a
ticket with a High School education and an “affinity for words.” A
witty and driven man, Edward Baskett uses the controversial drama of
his life as the outline for his non-fiction books.
The humble
beginnings were night school to learn the ropes of the business world,
which Baskett did for 13 years. “I heard that being a male secretary
was a step up the ladder,” recalls Baskett, “I finally burned out.”
Baskett says he decided his next venture would be in sales. He became a
successful health insurance salesman and says that over the course of
24 years he began taking in over $300,00 dollars a year selling
policies to Christian Scientists. Enter the people who like to pull
carpet from under Florscheims. “In 1995 GE capital bought out the
company,” says Baskett, “They threw me out as well 11,000 elderly
clients all over the nation. I was wiped out and thrown into
bankruptcy.”
But writing his first book came long before any of
this went down. He became embroiled with the legal system in Long
Beach, California. The case went to the Supreme Court, but they refused
to hear it. Baskett took note of the prejudices and injustices that
occurred on all levels of the system, including the jury, throughout
his trials and penned a book. Lawrence Hill and Company published his
book Entrapped: An Accused Homosexual Looks at American Justice in 1976. Baskett says his book can be found in virtually every major college and university throughout the nation.
About
five years ago Baskett says he began emailing Chris Matthews of MSNBC’s
“Hardball”. He says he admired Matthews’ ability to deliver the news in
an extremely businesslike manner and felt a connection with him. So,
Baskett began writing unreturned emails to the show. “They didn’t
respond to them, but they did so many things I suggested, such as
getting his haircut and dropping promotions for his show,” say Baskett,
“They were doing promotional pieces that were awful and I wrote a
scathing review of them and right away they dropped them.” Baskett
culled these letters into the book; I Call Him Christopher, My Letters to Chris Matthews of Hardball (Signing Stars, 2005). He found his publisher Signing Stars
through, of all things, craigslist.com. “I contacted them and was
received with open arms.” Baskett says he sent out three hundred
letters to publishers with no results, and calls that venture a “waste
of money.” He is very pleased SS and says that owner Judith A. Moose
had been “excellent” to work with. “She knows exactly what she is
doing, she is totally supportive and has a fantastic list of media
contacts.” On the SS website they say their focus “is dedicated to
offering authors an alternative to the high-priced, high-pressured
world of Vanity Publishers and Print-on-Demand houses.” To Moose’s
credit the book has been listed online hundreds of times, can be found
at amazon.com, the Forbes book club, Barnes & Noble and many other
places.
Baskett is also involved directly in the marketing of
his books. He says anytime he finds a website or blog that pertains to
humor he contacts them.
So, it’s not surprising that Baskett has
taken another struggle in his life--his firing from GE--as a book, I
Leap Over Their Heads: Straight to the Gut. “This book has to do with
my ten year battle with GE over the cancellation of the insurance
program for the Christian Scientists,” says Baskett. Though the book
has not yet been published you can check out the first three chapters
of Straight to the Gut on his website www.edwardbaskett.com.
As
to advice for others who might wish to take their life experiences and
pen them for public viewing, Baskett recites the time-tested adage,
“Editing is the key to good writing,” he is the type that doesn’t go
through several drafts but chooses instead to edit as he goes. And as
far as getting that manuscript published, Baskett has this to offer,
“Be prepared to take a lot of time and be prepared for a lot of
rejection,” but, ends with a small crack of light, “Based on the ‘law
of large numbers’ you are bound to find a publisher eventually. Hang in
there and have lots of patience.”
To learn more about the author and his work, go to:
http://www.signingstars.net/portraits_of_a_star.htm
http://theomnibus.org/baskett/chrismatthews.html |
