By: Mary Kathleen Mehuron

I have never been comfortable wasting money and the earth’s environmental resources on trinkets that people will just throw away. Sure I will make business cards and bookmarks with the name of my new novel, The Belonger, on them but I will not purchase swag. Cups, pins, water bottles, hats, bags and the one I hate the most—beer koozies. How many water bottles does one person require? And if you don’t drink beer, that koozie is going right in the garbage. I am aware that only 21% of waste plastic is recycled or burned, the 79% that remains ends up in landfills or out there in the environment. The worst part is, it stays there forever in one form or another, because plastic doesn’t decompose. So no plastic promotional items for me and my books.

Let’s open our minds wider. Why not give your potential readers something they actually need and want. Something that is heartfelt and, the best part is, it’s free. You can give them your time.

Long ago I found a study by Goodreads that said the #1 reason people buy books is because they know the author. Upon further examination I realized they may not personally know the writer but may know of them or have seen their name before. So I decided to get my name out there by providing content in Vermont that benefits our community. I started writing articles called Take Me Back in which I celebrated locals who share a favorite living memory; I helped them get it down on paper and then ran around looking for photographs to support their story.

The articles were immediately popular in our local paper and became a column. Thanks, in part, to the Vermont Arts Council the column became a fundraising book which will launch the same day as The Belonger. It’s a beautiful keepsake edition. Part coffee table book and part a story of how the Take Me Back articles came about. The 27 chapters have a full story arc that weaves through the gorgeous photographs. It is a story about stories with lots of cool photos. 

Yes, I had to go out pitching like crazy, but all contributors donated their work and local businesses paid for the graphic design and printing. Therefore, 100% of the profits will go to history projects for The Mad River Valley in Vermont. After a lot of work, our fundraising became a 501 (c)(3) non- profit called Take Me Back Inc. 

In June the column will grow into a podcast and local television show. I am giving my time away, but it is rewarding how much people enjoy my work. They send me emails thanking me. I print them out, and if I have a blue day, I pull them out of the drawer to read again. One said, “We are so grateful that you hold up our history and celebrate us. But it’s also a chance to realize what a good writer you are.” An email like that is so heartwarming. And it makes my point doesn’t it? 

All the while my name is out there. The articles conclude with Mary Kathleen Mehuron writes books and lives in Waitsfield. You can pre-order her new novel, The Belonger, now. 

By doing good work for our larger community, more and more people feel they know me. I have noticed that my first two novels’ book sales have gone up and you know what? I feel that I am making a difference too.

Maybe you don’t have the time to start a non-profit, but you can help out someone with the skills you have developed by writing. And it will be noticed. Be a voice for others that don’t have your confidence. For example, you could work with the very young or the very old to tell their stories. It has never been easier to publish across so many venues. Or go to your school district and say, “I want to pilot a project. I know I could coach middle school kids to construct a story arc and create a hand made book. Your budget is tight. Let me volunteer to do it.”

You could post a free workshop online and let your readers know about it. Or offer your talent as a volunteer editor and coach to organizations that need help. I know one woman who created a workshop for women in prison and just made sure people knew about it. There are so many needs and possibilities. The best part is as people come to know you more and more, their feeling about you will be positive. That, and the products you create will not wind up in a landfill.  

Mary Kathleen Mehuron is a career educator who made a splash with her first book, Fading Past, an autobiographical novel whose protagonist, like Mary Kathleen, grew up Irish-Catholic in New Jersey. The Opposite of Never is Mary Kathleen’s second book, and to finish it, she traveled alone to Havana in January 2015 in order to experience the city before it became Americanized. Mary Kathleen lives and teaches in a ski town in Vermont where they call her Kathy. This is where she and her husband raised three sons,  and she is an occasional columnist and writes curriculum daily for private math and science students. She takes extended time to work on her novels on Grand Turk Island and in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom.