After a year of research, writing, revising, and proofreading the release date for my new book is fast approaching. Discovery House Publishers (DHP) will release Different Dream Parenting: A Practical Guide to Raising a Child with Special Needs on November 1.

Blog Tour in the Works

Therefore, the publicist at DHP and I are busy developing ways to get word about the book out to parents who need the resources and support it provides. One effective method is to recruit other bloggers to participate in an online book tour, otherwise known as a blog tour. Blog tour participants write a review of the book, post an interview with the author, or feature an article about her. They can also conduct a book give-away with free copies contributed by the publisher. If you’re a blogger interested in being part of the Different Dream Parenting blog tour, please contact me, either by commenting on this post or via my email address.

Other Ways to Get the Word Out

If you’re not a blogger, but would like to spread the word about Different Dream Parenting’s release, here are a few other things to do:

• Go to the Different Dream Parenting’s Amazon page and like the book. Or go one step further and pre-order it. Doing so will boost it’s ranking on release day.
• To increase visibility on FaceBook, go to the Different Dream fan page and like it.
• Go to the DifferentDream.com home page and sign up to receive blog posts via email.
• Let your local book store, children’s hospital, pediatrician, therapists, friends, and pastor know about the book.
• After the book is released, write a review and post in on Amazon’s Different Dream Parenting book page. Positive reviews tip the balance in favor of ordering the book for many, many readers.

Thanks for Your Help

Believe me, my desire is not to make big bucks, but to get resources into the hands of struggling parents. Maybe you have other ideas about how to get word out about the new book. If so, please leave your idea as a comment.

Thanks for your help in advance!
Jolene

Just a quick FYI about a June 7 interview with radio host, Brenda Nixon, on the Parent Plate. We talked for an hour about issues pertinent to parents of kids with special needs. You can download a podcast of the interview at www.theparentsplate.com.

Have a listen and leave a comment about what you heard. What did you like? What do you wish we’d talked about? What can you add to the conversation? I’ll pass your feedback on to Brenda for the next time we get together on the Parents Plate.

Thanks,
Jolene

Here’s a heads up to parents of kids with special needs. Karen Ehman is giving away a free copy of A Different Dream for My Child: Meditations for Parents of Critically or Chronically Ill Children at her website this week.

Who Is Karen Ehman?

That’s the same question I asked after the publicist at Discovery House Publishers mentioned the link. Her name sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place it. One look at her website, and the fog cleared. Karen writes organizational books and speaks for Proverbs 31 Ministries.

So Why Is She Giving Away a Copy of Different Dream?

That’s what I was wondering, too. Well, it turns out she has some extended family members with special needs and wanted to address the topic. So in her May 20 blog post she interviewed a cyber friend, Connie Hughey, whose son John Mark has special needs. And Connie recommended Different Dream as a great resource to Karen, so Karen is sponsoring the give away.

Who Is Connie Hughey?

This is amazing! We keep asking the same questions. Connie is a mom, pastor’s wife, and a blogger in the Chicago area. You can learn more about her at www.inthewaitingroom.net. Just reading her blog, I’m dying to meet her. Too bad there’s no trip to Chicago in the immediate future.

Visit Karen’s Site

To enter the give away visit Karen’s site and leave a comment. That’s all there is to it. (I didn’t see an end date for the drawing, but assume it’s pretty soon.) If you don’t win the free copy, the book is available at Amazon and at the Discovery House Publisher’s website for less than ten bucks.

Thanks Karen and Connie,
Jolene

For those of you who followed the Readers’ Choice Awards at about.com, the official results are in. Actually, when the voting ending on March 8, the winning nominee in the special needs memoir category was obvious. But about.com’s contest rules require a week to verify the results before announcing the winner. Then it took me a week to write the post, so two weeks late, the winner is…

My Baby Rides the Short Bus

Ahhh shucks, you might be saying. I was hoping the winner would be A Different Dream for My Child. Well, so was I. But Different Dream came in at third place out of five, which was a very satisfying finish. Especially behind My Baby Rides the Short Bus and the first runner up, The Braided Cord. Both are excellent books, as are the fourth and fifth place nominees Gravity Pulls You In and Shuyler’s Monster.

In a way, I feel as though A Different Dream won the Miss Congeniality competition, which was always my favorite part of the Miss America competition each year. I always identified with those gals. They were so darn spunky!

The Real Winners

The real winner in the special needs memoir category (and the other three special needs categories at about.com) are the parents, kids and professionals in the special needs community. Why? Because the visibility of the 20 finalists (5 in each of the 4 categories = 20, for those of you wondering about the math) has been raised significantly.

Which has already led to more traffic at the nominated blogs and mores sales for the nominated books.
Which means more parents looking for support are finding it.
Which means they don’t feel so isolated or alone.
Which is why the blogs were created and the books were written in the first place.

Thanks to Terri Mauro

The person who made all this happen is Terri Mauro at about.com. She advocated for the inclusion of special needs categories in the Readers’ Choice Awards, and she did all the organizing, posting, counting, and such. So thank you, Terri, for all your hard work. You can thank her yourself, check out the Readers’ Choice Awards, finalists, and nominees in all categories at www.about.com

Write a Review

If you want to make A Different Dream for My Child more visible, please consider writing a review of the book at about.com. Just go to the finalists page and scroll down to the link for A Different Dream for My Child. Then click on “tell us why you like it” to get to the electronic review form. Your reviews mean a great deal to me personally. But more importantly, they make a big difference in whether or not potential readers buy the book.

Your Comments Welcome

If you’ve read any of the other special needs books nominated, please leave a comment about them here at DifferentDream.com and perhaps at about.com, too. I’d love to hear what you think!

Your Miss Congeniality,
Jolene

Whew! The race is on in the special needs memoir category of the Readers’ Choice Awards. Thanks to your votes, A Different Dream for My Child has moved from fifth place to third. Thanks so much!

Visit About.com

This morning, Terri Mauro sent word that she’s posted articles about all five finalists at her website. This link will take you directly to the Different Dream for My Child article. From there, you can navigate to the articles about the other finalists. You’ll also find a link that will take you directly to the voting.

Vote, Vote, Vote!

Remember, you can vote once a day, every day through March 8. Here’s the link that takes you directly to the voting. The books in first and second place just traded the lead, and there’s a big gap between the second place contestant and A Different Dream for My Child. If you can get the word out to your friends and family, maybe we can bridge the gap.

Winning Isn’t Everything

No matter where my book ranks by the end of the contest, this contest has been a winner. Sales of A Different Dream are up. That means it’s message of hope and comfort is reaching many families who need to hear it. And that’s why I wrote the book in the first place. To reach families. Not to win contests. Thanks for helping A Different Dream accomplish its true purpose.

Gratefully,
Jolene

Please forgive me for posting twice in one day. But this is breaking news!

About.com Readers’ Choice Awards Finalist

Terri Mauro announced the finalists for about.com’s Readers’ Choice Awards Finalists. And A Different Dream for My Child is a finalist in the best special-needs memoir category!

Can you imagine the little happy dance I’m doing right now?

The competition is tough. A Different Dream for My Child is up against several great books including Braided Cord, Gravity Pulls You In, My Baby Rides the Short Bus, and Schuyler’s Monster.

Cast Your Ballot

Voting in all categories (the others are Favorite Special-Needs Parenting Blog, Best Special-Needs Online Community, and Favorite Special-Needs Children’s Book) begins today. So please go to about.com to vote for your favorite special needs memoir. Once there, you’ll find links to the other categories and be able to cast ballots for them, too.

Vote Every Day

You can vote every day, once a day, from now through March 8. Winners will be announced on March 15. The voting is a great way to raise awareness of special needs, so pass the information along to others.

Ready to vote,
Jolene

Katie Wetherbee of Key Ministries is celebrating her birthday by giving away two books. You could win a copy of either Unexpected Journey by Cindi Ferrini or A Different Dream for Your Child: Meditations for Parents of Critically or Chronically Ill Children by me.

Truck on over to Katie’s blog, Diving for Pearls, for the full scoop.

Happy Birthday, Katie!
Jolene

FYI – Words to Live By, an international radio program produced by RBC Ministries, is airing our family’s story this weekend. To find the station in your area, go to www.words.net, scroll down and click on the station finder to locate the station nearest you and for air time. The broadcast will also be featured at www.words.net from Friday, September 24 – Thursday, September 30. From the looks of things, in a week or two, you’ll be able to download a free podcast of the show through itunes, too.

Have a listen and see what you think. If you have some feedback, please leave a comment.

Jolene

How many books about kids with special needs have you read? Probably more than you realize! Terri Mauro, at about.com, wants you to share your faves with others in the special needs community. She’s posted over 200 reviews, but knows she can’t read them all. So she provides four ways for other readers to add to her resource list. Here’s what she says to do.

Add Your Review to One Terri Mauro’s Written

Check the alphabetical listing to see if she’s already reviewed the book you’ve read. If the book is in the listing, click on its link, read the review, and then click on the “Write a Review” button to add your opinion.

Write a Review of a Book Terri Missed

A new form is available so you can review a book Terri hasn’t had time to read yet. This feature is a great way to expand the list of resources available for parents, so give it a try.

Join the Book Chat

Terri has a forum category that’s all about books. You can go there to chat about what you’ve read, and you can read posts about Terri’s recent reviews. She’s even got a post about my book, A Different Dream for My Child: Meditations for Parents of Critically or Chronically Ill Children.

Read an Excerpt

If you don’t have time for a whole book, you can sample several by reading excerpts Terri has posted.  (You can even read a Different Dream excerpt called “Stay in the Day” there.) Maybe one of the excerpts will whet your appetite, and you’ll make time for the whole book. If you do, be sure to post a review when you’re done!

Happy reading,
Jolene Philo

One of the hardest things about being the parent of a child with special needs is the sense of being alone. Even though you know there are other families out there dealing with struggles similar to yours, it’s hard to find them when your child requires extensive care.

Twitter to the Rescue

Well, thanks to a Twitter group called The Coffee Klatch, you can hang out with parents of kids with special needs and talk to experts Monday through Friday. Marianne Russo and several friends introduce the discussions at 9:00 EST on weekdays (and occasionally on the weekends) and moderate the discussions.

How to Get Involved

Becoming part of the Coffee Klatch discussion is easy. Here’s how:

• If you aren’t signed up for Twitter, go to twitter.com and set up an account.
• Then go to www.thecoffeeklatch.com and click on the “Upcoming Events” link and check out their calendar to find a discussion you want to enter.
• A few minutes before the event is scheduled to start, click on “The Forum” link at www.thecoffeeklatch.com. Click on the “Sign In” button and when the discussion begins, start making comments and asking questions.
• Don’t be intimidated! I though it would be confusing, but I caught on pretty quickly.

After you’ve joined in a few discussions, come back and leave a comment about how it went.

Off to Twitterland,
Jolene