Martin Davis’s strategy to keep writing and building a community of readers in this pandemic
Are you inspired by our ReadTheSpirit magazine cover story this week by journalist Martin Davis, called: The Spirituality of Baseball: How a Young Pitcher’s Loss Still Inspires Generations?
In fact, right now, Martin is working on an entire book of such uplifting stories about high school coaches and players nationwide—men and women, black and white, famous and unsung heroes alike.
We are featuring Martin in our Front Edge Publishing column this week, because his development of this book includes a special effort in trying to build up a circle of Allies and Angels
around a book project. That process of welcoming Allies and Angels—also described as building a community around a book
—is a theme our publishing house team has emphasized with our authors for more than a decade. (Here’s an entire article about the importance of Allies and Angels.)
Martin has decided to use this Go Fund Me launch page as a way to build that community—and to raise development funds for the book’s nationwide launch. This is just one of many approaches to Allies and Angels authors can use, but Martin chose this option during a pandemic-forced furlough from his day job as an editor at a major, nationwide news magazine. These are scary times for all of us, but Martin did not let this high-anxiety period stop him for a moment. He set an inspiring example of waking up each morning, conducting interviews nationwide and finding the best stories for his upcoming book. A consummate professional, Martin has not even mentioned his personal status to his readers on his own website. As a friend and colleague—and writing to other writers across our connection as Editor of Front Edge Publishing—I am mentioning that underlying situation in this column I am writing about him. I am doing so because I know so many of our colleagues nationwide are facing similar dire challenges this year. If that describes you as you read this column today, please know: You are not alone.
Talk about inspiration?! How many of us, as writers and editors, have the presence of mind to launch into a no-safety-net pandemic furlough with the faith that our work is always our central calling, each day?
So, first, a very practical appeal to those interested in book marketing: Please, if you are interested in strategies authors can use to build a circle of Allies and Angels, visit Martin’s Go Fund Me page. Look around at how he has built this page. Look at the regular updates he is adding. No question: Go Fund Me is not an easy way to go! It requires lots of interaction with potential supporters—updates, social media sharing across multiple platforms, email newsletters, etc.
Martin also recently relaunched his personal website, MartinDavisAuthor.com to focus on his work as an author, as well as his background as a veteran journalist for national publications. Look around that website. Despite a limited budget, Martin set up that platform himself—and it is solid, professional work. That’s setting another practical example for lots of our other writers.
Are you an author struggling to find the inspiration to keep writing—to keep following our vocation in these perilous times? Are you thinking about options for building up a circle of Allies and Angels, despite this pandemic?
Get to know Martin as a colleague. At his personal website, you can sign up for free updates. He has a lifetime of wisdom to share. And even more than his own wisdom, he is writing a terrific book that eventually will share the wisdom of dozens of high school coaches nationwide—a notably diverse array of coaches.
AND, finally—want to do a good deed to help an author fulfill his vocation in these uncertain times? Take another good look at that Go Fund Me page.