On the Launch Pad: Getting Back to Me from girl to boy to woman

Welcome to my blog. ​Now full disclosure, I am a professional television producer, and I've been producing, creating, writing and directing television for over thirty years, as my bios read almost all genres (my favs were children’s TV, drama and sports – my “un-favs, game shows, bad reality TV and bad commercials)  -- my point is going to be... I usually "have people that promote my shows" – now, I'm an army of one.  So that’s the point of this blog. This is writer to writer. As the founding author and publisher, I will be a living experiment for you dear reader – a work-in-progress “accounter” of the fine art of spreading the word – in other words -  the words… and their journey from our heads to the reader’s heart.
 
I'll try to document my bumps and scrapes along the way here - maybe I can leave some bread crumbs on the path into the forest and make it a little easier for the next girl. From the sites I've been reading as fast as I can, I'm finding that few (if any) remember the steps "in between" the big points, and the rest have forgotten the dialect of "newbie."  Maybe we can fix that.

 
That said... here it is, this is also my very first blog, and the learning curve for all of the above is about as steep as a shuttle launch... the challenge is to keep my voice while I'm learning to use the various places where it will get heard, er, or read, (I'm bailing on the metaphor now If you don't mind. It's a bit cumbersome - cuz we're talking about books!



So, books - yes - the loyal companions that have been there more than almost anyone in our lives; they been there, longer than the blankies of our childhood; there, like our favorite dog, loyal, always ready to play, never judging us when we set them down to read another... 


 
I guess I always thought I'd right a zillion books (I do in my head, anyway) and yet I'm surprised to be staring at my very first one, at a age fifty-something... hot of the preview press (and gawd, so much more to do) BUT... it's a book! 
 
Now, the real work begins. 
Promotion. But first... (there's always a "but first").
 
Right now, I’m the pain in butt for this household as everyone “turns to" with red pen in hand, has their way with the pages I already spilled blood on, (breathe girl, just breathe) as the last corrections are made, and made, and made… as my mentor Gerhard would say, if it wasn’t for the 11th hour, nothing would get done.  I’d like to add to that, “And done, and done, and then done again… and trust, it will get done again. But, even as we’re dotting i’s and crossing t’s (or swapping them out or exchanging them for u’s and whatever that letter was suppose to be - probably a y or an r, if I had to guess) I’m also trying to create and implement a marketing plan… why the rush? Where’s the fire? Thanks for asking (get in line)  It’s holiday book buying season – 41% of ALL books bought this year will be bought in the next 75 days…
 
So, the plan from here is this: I’m printing books in two “phases” (oooh, sounds like we know what we’re doing right?)
 
The first phase will be the “ADVANCE PREVIEW/REVIEW COPY – NOT FOR RESALE version. I have added the official words and banners to the book both inside and out (not an easy task for one who is a trained graphic artist – not a programmer) BUT, one who fearlessly treads where angels dare.) the final content gets sent to the printer... 

I will print 25 copies for this phase – that’s the number of targets I’ve identified that will work for me and my budget. Wish me luck on that.
 
I will send these books to two groups – Group one is “the endorsers.” Group two is "the reviewers." The endorsers are those who are movers and shakers in the various worlds my book dances through, a blurb or nice shout-out from them will get the attention of the…
Reeee –view- er-er-er-ers…. And their word is gold for new buyers.
 
But to get their attention, I need another key piece of “promo” the Press Release.

I got turned onto PR Web. Not because I did any research, but because my friend and guide in this writing thingy uses them for her publishing company – and I gotta keep this ball rolling somehow (maybe I should do an upcoming segment on time management… hmmm…).
 
On to the press release – PR Web walks you through the various steps AND they have examples of releases in case you get stuck – but, we’re all writer’s ain’t we? I have confidence you’ll know what to say… and we’re in luck – if you start it early enough (before the day you want to send it out – I’m going out a week before my release to give the media time to do a good story… as I think this out loud, I may bump that up a notch of two, but my release date is the sweet spot between election day (talk about a packed news cycle) and Black Friday (which we’ll discuss later) SO – the point is, if you start early enough (like I already have) you’ll be able to revise it even after you save it, which I have about 10 times by now (as long as you put the post date into the future, you are with me on that, right?). I also use this press release in my “press kit.” 

Okay – so without further ado, here's what I've come up with so far...

Move over Caitlyn, adventure filmmaker went from girl to boy to woman in just fifty years.
Zuzubean Press is excited to announce the Nov. 10th, 2015 release of "Getting Back to Me” from girl to boy to woman in just fifty years. The real-time account of the coming out and transition of an alpha-dog.
In the wake of the Caitlyn Jenner’s privileged transition in the public eye comes the real world transition of a down-to-earth trans woman in real-time. Scottie Madden uses her journal entries to shed fresh light on the trans experience as she leaves behind fear and “white male privilege” to embrace truth, grace and womanhood. Her gut-wrenching journey of love, acceptance and honesty becomes the ultimate survival show.
Scottie didn’t make it easy on herself. Like many late-stage trans women, Scottie had made one helluva guy; succeeding as husband of 28 years, the only son, the big brother to three sisters and the legendary adventurer uncle to their children. Everything in her life screamed “alpha male,” but no one could guess that Scottie, a top survival showrunner for Discovery Channel and the History Channel, known for leading übermale productions into the world’s most dangerous and remote locations was losing a lifelong battle for her soul. It takes true love from her wife of 26 years for Scottie to shake off fifty years of expectations from her family, society and herself. But first she had to face the denial that she had embraced to shield herself from the heartache of a life that would go on unlived.
Scottie shines her laser sharp instincts for the truth (finally) on herself, and reveals the inner workings of the human soul as it strives to reconcile fear, love happiness and the truth of who we all are. Her ability to articulate the deepest murmurs of the heart translates to anyone who has ever tried to deal with the insidious malady that goes by the name of denial.
Formidable, fearless, lively, and, above all, charmingly fun, Scottie brings you along with her to the outer edges of the showdown with dangerous private truths... “Getting Back to Me” shows that love does conquer all, Scotties unshakable faith in love and her family, friends and community to be the best that they can be pays off in inspiring ways.
~ Sally Park Rubin, author of The Overfunctioning Woman's Handbook: Uncommon Sense to Deal With Impossible Jobs and Impossible People, says, “Riveting Tragic hero turns triumphant heroine. If you believe love conquers all, this book will inspire you to go for more of THAT. Formidable, fearless, lively, and, above all, charmingly fun, Scottie, a Hollywood "survival show" show runner, brings you safely along with her to the outer edges of anyone's ability to confront dangerous private truths...takes you on a wild ride overlooking the breathtaking canyons of the soul of a woman."
Read an excerpt at http://www.zuzubean.com/excerpts.html
Scottie Madden is a showrunner of adventure reality TV with recent shows on Discovery Channel (“Land Rush,” “Dude, You’re Screwed”) and The History Channel (“The Ark”). She has written for children’s television, (Pug and Zero’s Field Trip) games shows (“Duel,” “Do you trust me?” “Last to Survive”) and feature film (“the kiss”). She lives in Woodland Hills with her wife, her dog Aria and her beloved oak trees in the shadow of “dirt Mulholland”.
Zuzubean Press http://www.zuzubean.com - is an independent publisher of fiction, material that engages, entertains, illumines and inspires, based in Los Angeles.
Contact: Marcy Madden 818.489.7330 mascott4u@me.com 
 
If you’re on my blog, you’re on my website and you can see that I lifted the copy I had written for the back cover to create the press release.  The rest is academic…

But this works because I've identified my market - The general audience that wants to satisfy it's curiosity (for real) about a one of the most talked about subjects in the past year (thank you, Cait) . So I referenced the subject in playful, intriguing way. I was able to restate the subject of my book (my subtitle) in the headline to start to create it's "brand."

I have included all the info that the reader of a press release (the press - who may lift all of parts as the date they may choose to report in their media) needs. And, Include the details that will help differentiate this book in the marketplace. 

So... will it be effective?  I let you know.
Next steps:: I will send out another press release on Black Friday to draw attention to a special one-day only sale. And one more during Christmas week. Stay tuned... 
 
Okay – that’s blog one, whew!  Now back to writing…
 
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