Dear Supporter of "An Effort to Understand"—

It's been a good week for morale here at Writing Boots headquarters. Thanks to your gracious pre-order and all the others (we're up to 232 after one week of the campaign!), things are really jumping around here.

Various Writing Boots employees who haven't so much has made eye contact with me in years—bureau chiefs, rewrite men, fact-checkers, proofreaders, pressmen and the ghostwriting team of Harry Kleekonk and Torlaminda Nudol—are suddenly falling all over themselves asking what they can do to help get the word out about the big book. It's Mr. Murray this, and Mr. Murray that.

I've even noticed a change of tone in the upstairs living quarters. "Great Scott," I overheard my teenage daughter whispering to my wife and one of our cooks on Tuesday, "maybe Dad isn't the nincompoop he appears to be." (I appeared in the doorway before my wife could answer.)

The only people not energized by the week's developments, it seems to me, are the people who put me up to this! These Publishizer goons, goddamn them, sound a lot like publishers! "Two thirty? Huh, nice start," my agent says to me, somehow spilling his cigar ashes on the email. I'd like to see HIM get 127 professionally discerning souls to buy 231 copies of a book he merely says he's written! 

And all the shared social media posts you've done! And the encouraging words I've received, like the writer I've known for a quarter century, who said, "Cheering you on from the bleachers is a privilege, believe me. How you have nurtured our profession so smartly and so long is remarkable."

My agent doesn't want to hear about any of that. It's all about quantity with these bastards! And odd quantities, at that!

"If An Effort to Understand hits 1000 pre-orders by Saturday 31 August 2019 noon CDT, then it will be pitched to 129 publishers when the campaign ends. ... If not reached, then it gets pitched to non-traditional publishers."

What if it gets 999 pre-orders? Maybe then, it will be pitched 128 traditional publishers? Or to one traditional publisher, who dresses funny and wears a monocle.

How would I know? As my adman dad used to say, "I'm just the dumb writer."

So if you know anyone else who might like to have an autographed copy of this book—(which IS off to a good start, as four publishers have already expressed interest in it, behind Publishizer's locked scenes)—I'd very much appreciate your passing on this link.

https://publishizer.com/an-eff... 

And if you have any social media networks you'd like to share it with, I'd appreciate that too.

Mostly, dear colleagues and correspondents, muses and sometime combatants (that's you, family and friends)—I appreciate you, for your belief in me and your stated and demonstrated support of my writing. No matter what happens, I'm looking forward to finishing this book, for you.

And for my agent, who will repossess my 2007 Subaru Outback, if I don't.

David Murray