Some may wonder how we plan to market this book? Glad you asked!

Little Red Tree Publishing in Mystic doesn't have a marketing budget; we take turns with the publisher treating each other to lunch or dinner! So that pretty much leaves the marketing up to word of mouth, assisted by internet chat.

We've looking for suggestions for good reviewers, reviewers who have some sense of nautical poetry as practiced by Masefield and Fox Smith in the early 20th century and who might be intrigued with the story of a young woman who rose to prominence in a "man's field."

I'm also planning a couple of tours, Chicago and Virginia/Maryland, this summer. The Chicago foray will be from August 4 to August 12. The venture south will begin September 28 with Getaway Weekend (Annapolis area), shift to Richmond, and then to Newport News/Norfolk with Bob Zentz, through October 7th. I'm looking for bookstores, nautical music sessions, and other special events that I can tie in with while demonstrating how the poems have been adapted for singing and describing how Cicely went about her work.

Jim Saville in England will be looking for similar opportunities to promote the book.

On a related front, Bob Zentz will soon be publishing his own songbook of the two dozen or so Cicely Fox Smith poems he has adapted for singing and recorded. That added to my own songbook will cover more than 50 poems. We'll continue to encourage folks in the UK to pull together a 3rd volume, which would bring the number to more than 80 poems so adapted and recorded, some with multiple settings.

We're happy to follow up new leads with regard to any of the above. The book is solid, and we'd love it to reach far beyond out nautical folk music community.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble