Major at Williams: American Civilization

How to get published—and how to get read

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More than 45 publishers turned me down—some with one-sentence form letters, and others with thinly disguised glee and a penchant for oversharing. Two houses relented and one seemed compatible. My mistake was thinking writing the book was the hard part.

More than a million books are published each year and another 3 million are self-published. My publisher had neither budget nor intention to market my book with other than absolute minimum effort. Finding the audience was my job.

This part of the journey is the direct opposite of the solitary work of writing. It is entirely about finding some connection—a day-by-day hustle of soliciting airtime, doing whatever possible to share the story.

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At first I hated it—the no’s vastly outnumbered the affirmatives. But slowly came traction.

Over time I came to enjoy this quest more than the thousands of solo hours of research and composition. Perhaps I’m not a real writer after all.

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American Mojo, Chapter 14: Homage to the women of Williams ’75

The women of our class have been a key ingredient in Williams' enduring success. No school in our nation has grown to such prominence the way Williams has, after shifting from a single gender to a more open enrollment.

Then there is the critical role these women played in shaping me. 

My freshman days were the first time in my life I had ever been at school with women. After a lifetime of all-male education, I was unsure and unsteady in a coed classroom. The women of ’75 were welcoming and understanding by nature and I am certain that I tested even the most patient of you.

So I share this chapter describing the extraordinary narrative arc of women in our nation with  gratitude and appreciation to the women of ‘75 who taught me more than all the faculty of this fine college put together. Bless you for straightening me out. Or trying to

Website: peterdkiernan.com