That burst of excitement TV brings

A burst of excitement thanks to Nick Moore

 We planned the launch of Abigail Massey at McAdam Station, Volume 1, for Sunday, December 5, 2012.

We had no idea what to expect.

I drafted a press release that I sent to every media outlet in New Brunswick that I could identify, no matter where in the province they were located. I sent it on a hope and a prayer, desperate to garner even the briefest mention on a radio station, on a TV news broadcast, in a newspaper.

We booked the Formal Dining Room at the Station. The McAdam Historic Restoration Commission prepared refreshments, the MHRC President Gail Swan prepared remarks and Patti and I talked through what I would say as well.

We were ready to go.

Problem was: the books weren't. The printed copies of the first collection of short stories got caught up in the postal outlet in Moncton, New Brunswick.

We had to go to the launch event WITH NO BOOKS to sell.

We had the seven advanced copies we had printed (well, we had six since one copy had somehow gone missing) to show to people willing to place orders, but the expected 500 copies of the book to sell did not get to us in time.

Sensing a building disaster, Patti and I made our way out to McAdam on the assigned day. When we got there, we found a small but excited group waiting for us. Mary O'Keefe attended with her husband and some friends. The Carroll family of McAdam was well represented.

And, to my great joy, about 20 other people from the local community turned out.

Still, 35 people? With 500 books to sell?

I sensed we were in serious trouble. The show would go on, to be sure. We would do our very best, absolutely. But how the heck are we going to spin a 35-person launch event with no books into the effective marketing and sale of 500 copies of a virtually unknown book by a virtually anonymous author?

Me on CTV

Just as I was girding myself to ask Gail to start the proceedings, my attention was attracted by a bustle at the doorway to the Formal Dining Room.

Are those professional quality film lights? Is that a television camera? Is that Nick Moore from CTV Atlantic, strolling into the room with a microphone, a camera crew and a buzz of electricity?

It was like Nick and his crew touched off a rocketship that carried our project for the next ten years. His wonderful three-minute piece on the books and the Station played that evening on the six o'clock news and, I am told, across the country.

And it splashed our project into the public imagination and the attention of the other media. 

By Wednesday, we had been featured in newspapers and interviewed on popular radio shows. 

By Saturday, we had sold out the original 500-copy print run -- the copies having been received so helpfully on the Monday after the launch event -- and were ordering more.

And the rest, as they say, is history.