You may be thinking this will be one of those heart wrenching stories of a mother’s love for her daughter. And in a way, it is. I not only love my daughter, I respect her. I spent my working career in sales and marketing. I can say without reservation that she is much smarter than I was or am when it comes to marketing, identifying a target market, and serving up products that meet the customer’s needs.

That’s why, a couple months ago, I made a promise to her. She had been telling me for MONTHS (maybe years) that I was not expanding my audience enough to capture their interest for book #2. She condescendingly admitted I had a small, loyal following. But she also pointed out my following was the same 400 people week in and week out.

I love my following. But unless those 400 people are willing to buy ten books apiece, my book #2 is not going to be a commercial success. And even though I am “retired” and I don’t “need” big sales, I do want to be a commercial success.

So, my promise to my daughter was really a commitment to working towards that commercial success. Book #2 is a coming of age story, a love story under extenuating circumstances. Tom and Emmy (Book #2) is about falling in love during WW2 and being a Japanese American sent to internment camps. It appeals to my generation (old people) but I want to reach young people who may be on the cusp of falling in love and embarking on a life journey with a partner.

Young people aren’t reading my blog. Young people are more apt to be watching videos. My daughter made me promise to post TikTok and/or Instagram Reels for one year!! I can’t stop. I have to be diligent. Another young person, a young man, told me to intersperse excerpts from my book, LET ME IN, throughout the reels.

So that’s my promise. I am going to work on a final draft of Tom and Emmy this summer, and spend the next 12 months posting TikTok videos–advice, observations and excerpts.

Tell me that you’ll miss my blog writing!!!! Of course I might post here and there. But more importantly, follow me on TikTok and IG Reels (Instagram Reels)! My name is @elainekoyamawrites for both sites.

Years from now, when I write that book about writing books, this will be part of the chapter on marketing. I’ll have to give my daughter credit for pushing me beyond my comfort zone.