Scoring A Homerun With Readers with Guest Blogger Gary Morgenstein

Today we have radio host and author Guest Blogger Gary Morgenstein who joins us from his current Pump Up Your Book Blog Tour!

Let's hear what Gary has to say about Scoring a Homerun with Readers and
then we'll learn more about Gary and his book!


IT IS A BRAVE NEW WORLD

Once upon a time, it was all about telling a story. Long before the Gutenberg Press, writers would sit around a campfire, telling tales. In a way, our world of writing has returned to its most basic roots thanks to the proliferation of multi-media platforms. Not so long ago, writers had no alternative but to go through an agent who went through an editor who went through the marketing and sales teams, forcing you to wait a year or more for the cherished words to hit the Universe.

Not anymore. While I celebrate the foundations of traditional publishing (my first two novels were with mainstream houses) writers now have more options. Recently I’ve published through Amazon, who’ve been terrific and supportive.

I think at the end of the day for all writers, it’s about reaching your readers. Telling them your story. Opening your heart and your mind. How you go about it, whether you get a big advance or no advance, the size of the royalty, those things are nice, but bottom line: we are artists. Whether we’re talking to two people in some forest or thousands (or millions), the basics of writing doesn’t change. You imagine a world. You create it. You want to share it and you want to move people.

Heck, even one person. So don’t get bogged down on who your agent is or publisher or which online publishing platform you’re using. Any way you bring your story to your public is all that matters. What’s important is not to let anyone say you can’t publish. Who are they to judge? If you have to set up a blog and publish the whole bloody book that way, it is your right as an artist. It is up to the public to decide. That is the beauty of our new world, that middlemen don’t interfere between writer and reader. That is the true meaning of artist.


A Note from the Book Boost: Wow, thanks Gary! That puts a great perspective on things... particularly for those folks who are considering the route of self-publication. Now, can you tell us more about your political baseball thriller, Take Me Out to the Ballgame?



Blurb:

Baseball and bailouts, as American as apple pie. Weaving today’s economic malaise with the powerful magic of a Cinderella baseball team, Take Me Out to the Ballgame is a political baseball novel for our times.

The Buffalo Matadors haven’t won a world championship in 37 years, a dying franchise. Until flamboyant Harry Witowsky, a 21st Century George Steinbrenner, buys them, vowing to do whatever is necessary to change the fortunes of the “Door Mats.”

Victories and attendance climb as Witowsky creates an Us versus Them mentality at the Stadium. The rally cry of “Where’s My Bailout” replaces “Let’s Go Mats.” Buffalo’s surprising surge resonates with a nation afraid of losing jobs and homes, shaken by terrorist threats, frightened for the future.

The Matadors become America’s Team.


Book Excerpt:

“Single and we win, that so much to ask?” Cal Fleisher pleaded, half-rising off the bar stool at Kellogg’s Bar in East Lackawanna.

“We’ve loaded the bases, none out in the last of the ninth, trailing Philly by one run,” Buffalo Matadors announcer Hal McCoy said somberly. “The Phillies have brought in the lefty Lerch to face the lefty Nate Jackson, a percentage move. Cy Trattora is going to leave the youngster in, oh brother, the wheels are spinning here in War Memorial Stadium against the defending world champions and we’re only in the season opener.”

“Come on Nate, get a piece of it.” Cal shoved his legs under his flabby rear, elevating himself sphinx-like.

“And so this broad comes in, biggest pair you’ve ever seen, and she says…” At a table several feet away beneath a Willie Nelson poster, stocky Mickey O’Brien paused theatrically, spreading his hands a little wider. “Nothin.’ Nothin’ at all.” His two friends laughted. Cal tossed them a shy glare.

“…popped up in foul territory. Perez moving over, looking for a play, near the stands, reaches in and…makes the catch,” McCoy groaned. “One down, big big out of Lerch. He jammed Jackson with a fastball on the…”

“Get outta here, Mickey.” The olive-skinned Nino jokingly pushed Mickey on the shoulder. “like I’d ever lie?” That drew skeptical chuckles. “She kind of sauntered a little here and there.” Mickey swayed in his seat.

Tossing another brief scowl at the noise, Cal leaned forward. “Please turn it up, Tim.”

The bartender grinned sympathetically, upping the sound on the small color set above the bar. “Stop torturing yourself, Cal. Why should this year be any different than any other?


Author Bio:

Gary Morgenstein is co-host of the Purple Haze radio show, Thursdays at 9PM/ET at blogtalkradio.com/mediablvd. In addition to his dating and relationship book How to Find a Woman…Or Not, Morgenstein’s novels include Loving Rabbi Thalia Kleinman, about a divorced man who falls in love with a beautiful woman rabbi; Jesse’s Girl, a powerful story about a father’s search for his adopted teenage son, and Take Me Out to the Ballgame, a political baseball thriller, as well as the baseball Rocky The Man Who Wanted to Play Center Field for the New York Yankees. His prophetic play Ponzi Man played to sell-out crowds at the New York Fringe Festival. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, surrounded by lots of books and rock and roll CDs. He is Director, Communications, for the Syfy Channel.

Want more Gary?

Visit his website here: gary.garymorgenstein.com

Want to pick up your copy of Take Me Out to the Ballgame today?
Click here!