Collecting Book Reviews

Reaching Out

I was so happy with the list I created of the people I wanted to ask to review my book! And then, I realized I needed to ask them to read my book, have an opinion and write a review. That's a lot! OMG, how will I do that?

I gathered courage and decided I'll take any "no" as "not right now," shake it off and move on. Then I reached out to everyone I hoped to get a review from.?

Responses

• The least expected people ghosted me, despite a reminder.
• Some said they would but never did.
• I got several "I wish I could, but I'm busy" (ouch, shake it off, shake it off).
• I got an "I'd love to, thanks for thinking of me!" from the least expected people.

Then I had them all. I cried, I laughed, I was excited. I called my husband to read it to him. I was all over the place.?

Just like so many things during the writing of this book, it was an emotional rollercoaster and a huge starting-from-scratch path for me as well.?

Then it was designed.?

What I learned is that not all reviewers' text can fit in. I was so upset! So we tried to shorten the text by selecting just the first line from each review, but that would edit the original version, and I didn't feel comfortable doing that.??

It took me four back-and-forth emails with the designer to understand it is what it is.?

"There's always a Praise Section! It's never all there," she reassured me.?

So, who do I have?

Chris Schembra, the author of "Gratitude and Pasta" and "Gratitude in Hard Times", is the one I learned gratitude from, and after reading his last book, I also learned more about kindness and patience.?

Lisa Gable, you can read more about our meeting?here, but she has been a supporter of mine from the get-go. I don't know how I got so lucky. She wrote an award-winning book about change, called "Turnaround", that focused on managing change in organizations.

In my dreams, we sell our books as a bundle tackling change management in organizations and careers.

Tal Ben-Shahar, is a positive-psychology guru (sorry, it's the title I gave him). He teaches positive psychology at Harvard. He is a best-selling author of several books ("Happier" and "Being Happy") and the co-founder of Happiness Studies Academy. I met Tal a couple of years ago at a friend's party and told him about my plans to write a book. He listened, asked some questions, and then said, "You should absolutely write it! It's a topic many will find useful". So I had to tell him I had listened. His review felt like a much-needed closure.?

I also turned to?Loren Greiff; she's the president of Portfoliorocket, a career coaching curriculum for executives and c-suite high performance. I never met Loren in real life (Some days, I'm not sure we haven't met, as I think we hugged once or twice :-)). Loren and I connected through the Chief club, and you should definitely hire her or at least follow her on LinkedIn. I learn and get inspired by her genuine, authentic support of people wanting to grow their careers.?

I met?Bobbi?Wegner?as she was kind enough to offer her contacts to a group of writers I am a part of. I read her post, cold contacted her, and she was so generous with her time, so I dared again and asked for her review. Bobbi is not only an author but is also a lecturer in Psychology at Harvard, and the founder/CEO of Groops, and I knew that a review from her, with her expertise, would go a long way.?

Last but not least?Draja Gutnick. I met Darja because her investor posted about the launch of Bunch, a leadership coach in an app for which Darja is the CEO. I'm a fan of Bunch as a product. After two years of being her fan, we met in NYC several months ago. She thanked me for my ongoing support and asked how she could also support me (true leader!). I asked her then and there. "Would you one day be ready to write my book review?"

Six. Six reviews for my book.?

In ancient Chinese culture, the number six stands for luck and implies that life is in perfect balance and harmony, just as I wish our lives to be.?

The previous update was about my book cover, and the next will be about Writing my Biography section.