Extra Hands for Jack Orchard
By Sherry Tyree
SPECIAL TO THE POST-DISPATCH

Calling all Civil Religion readers:

Self-described atheist Jack Orchard, St. Louis author of Extra Hands, has written an engrossing account of his battle against Lou Gehrig’s disease — formally amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

I’d first heard about Extra Hands while listening to KFUO-FM last autumn when Jack’s dad, Bob Orchard, introduced the book to the radio audience and described his son’s life and his recent medical travails. (Click onto the Bob Orchard link above and scroll down to Dec. 13, ‘07 to hear the interview.)

As engrossing as Bob’s description was, I did nothing then beyond checking to see if Amazon sold the book and promising myself to look into it.

Then a few weeks ago, a neighbor who knew of my interest gave me a copy. Once I began I couldn’t put the book down.

So I e-mailed Jack to tell him how much I enjoyed his writing — so fluid, insightful, funny and poignant.

Not bad for someone with ALS. Not bad for someone who “writes” with a specialized computer he controls with his eye movements. Not bad for someone who cannot move the rest of his body. more here
http://videos.stltoday.com/p/video?id=1600898
Within a day Jack wrote me back:

…..My agent had a tough time finding a publisher for my book since that industry relies so heavily on authors making the rounds at talk shows to promote their books.

The many houses he contacted had plenty of praise for the book but worried about its commercial value given my limitations.

In the end my agent, who represents Stephen Hawking among many other big names, said that if I could sell 5,000 copies it would give him the evidence he needs to demonstrate that it can sell without my participation in the marketing process.

So far I’m at about 1,100 and I’ve just designed a new campaign to boost that number. It’s called
the Chain Campaign….

So, reader, here’s your challenge. Buy or borrow the book for yourself and see if you don’t think — as I do — that it’s worth a wider audience than it now enjoys.

Next, go to the EXTRA HANDS website and check out this NBC news story.
http://www.extrahands.org/jacksbook.asp

While you’re there, see the instructions on how to do your part in increasing sales. It’s neither expensive nor time-consuming.

We can be extra hands for Jack.


http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/civ...-jack-orchard/