Friends,
I’m back home now after finishing the first half of my book tour for Coming Up Short (which you can find at your local bookstore or order here).
I’m glad that the book is doing well.
To be honest, until now I’ve been embarrassed to ask you to read it. It felt too much like shameless self-promotion.
Yes, of course, we live in an era of shameless self-promotion — Trump’s constant bloviation, social media “influencers,” self-advertisers and self-marketers.
Which is exactly why I didn’t want to indulge in it. Doing so felt crassly egotistical. Cringeworthy.
So for several weeks I’ve been visiting bookstores and meeting with groups to talk about the book but haven’t felt comfortable asking people to get it and read it.
Not until late last week did I come to realize that promoting the book is different from promoting myself.
The realization happened when an interviewer asked me, “Why should people read your book?” No one had asked me that point-blank question. It was as if a bolt of lightning struck me.
The answer burst out of me. And as it did, I understood how strongly I felt that people should read Coming Up Short. It didn’t come from an egotistical need. Self-promotion had nothing to do with it. My wish that people read it came from a deep conviction that it was important for them to read it.
I want you to read Coming Up Short because I believe in what I wrote.
I believe you will enjoy the book. It will explain how we got to this agonizing point in our nation’s (and the world’s) history. It will point a direction forward. Hopefully, it will inspire you.
I want you to read it because I believe it’s important.
If you’ve benefited from this daily letter from me to you, you’ll benefit even more from Coming up Short.
So, please read it. Ideally, find it at your local bookstore. Or order it here, a site the supports local bookstores. (And you can get the audiobook, here.)
(If you’ve already read it, or when you do, I look forward to your comments and thoughts about it.)
This post has been syndicated from Robert Reich, where it was published under this address.