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How Hobo Found A Home
by Kevin Coolidge
Hobo Finds A Home Cover
If you are a writer, you know it's hard work. It takes patience, persistence, lots of time, an appreciation of the process, it's harder than it appears...and that's the easy part. What does a writer do after you've written something? Here's the background story on my book, "Hobo Finds a Home". I grew up with dogs, each a stray who found his way into our home. A few years back, I had a skinny little yellow tiger cat adopt me. I'd never been much of a cat person but, after Hobo came to live with me, he made me a convert. I've always made up funny stories about Hobo's past, and how he came to live with me. So, when I took a class on writing children's books, Hobo's story seemed a natural. Since I work in a small, eclectic bookstore in my hometown, I figured I had a great venue for selling "Hobo Finds A Home" while promoting the store at the same time. I decided to self-publish it with BookLocker. Since its publication in December 2007, it has done well. We have been able to hand sell over 700 copies just from the store over the last few months. During this time, Hobo has received laudatory reviews in several local newspapers, and a feature article (front page, with his photograph!) in a regional newspaper, The Elmira Star Gazette. Since then, Hobo -- the book, the cat, and I (as his agent and chauffeur) -- have been invited to do readings and guest lectures at all the county senior centers, at several local libraries' children's story hours, and in several classrooms. I worked hard on the marketing, but Hobo sells himself pretty well. I originally thought to market it as a children's book, but it surprised me how many copies have sold to adult cat lovers and as gifts for cat people. Hobo Finds a Home appeals to a wider demographic than I knew! That's why I was confident in approaching several presses, and found the right publisher for Hobo Finds A Home. I read that Edgecliff Press had just started a new imprint called Edgecliff Kids. I contacted the editor, and told him the story of our book, and how we had sold so many out of a little bookstore in a rural area. Ari Buchwald saw the potential in Hobo and how hard I had worked on promoting his story, as well as new ideas I had, and he offered me a publishing contract. The new edition is now available at Edgecliffpress.com Visit Kevin at Wellsboro Bookstore.
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