Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Lisa Barrickman’s book inspires kindness
Lisa Barrickman’s first book is meant to inspire others to perform acts of kindness
Of all the industries affected by social media and the meteoric rise of online marketing, perhaps none has been as transformed as book publishing.
That’s what Cat Hoort will tell you, anyway.
Director of publicity and marketing at Worthy Inspired, a Nashville, Tenn.-based book publisher, Hoort is in charge of marketing “A Case for Kindness: 40 Ways to Love and Inspire Others,” a new book about intentional kindness by first-time Chester County book author Lisa Barrickman.
Barrickman lives in Birmingham Township with husband Josh, a Vanguard principal and head of bond indexing for the Americas, and their three children.
Inspiration for the book came before her 40th birthday three years ago. She and her husband bandied about taking their family on a vacation or a mission trip but embarked instead on 40 consecutive days of kindness leading up to her March 28th birthday. A few examples: Anonymously dragging a neighbor’s empty trash cans to the garage. Paying for the groceries of the person behind her at the Giant. Giving an umbrella to an elderly man walking as rain started to pelt him.
Barrickman kept a journal and developed Kindness Cards – business cards with inspirational sayings – that she, her family and others often left behind after doing something kind. Fellow congregants at Calvary Lutheran Church in West Chester performed kind acts and passed out cards also, as did members of Barrickman’s mother’s church outside Cleveland and people from other organizations.
After attending several writers’ conferences, Barrickman and Worthy struck a deal and she started writing – at the West Chester University library, restaurants and the Radley Run Country Club near her home while her kids were at school.
These were grueling seven- or eight-hour days for the novice writer.
“I’m not very focused at my house,” Barrickman said with a laugh.
She paired each chapter with Bible verses, something that came easily since she is a licensed counselor whose private practice sometimes had a spiritual focus. She stopped working when she became pregnant with her third child nine years ago
Once “A Case for Kindness” came out, it was time for Hoort’s marketing and public relations
plan to kick into gear.
A Christian publishing industry veteran, Hoort said that Worthy and its authors now routinely use Facebook, Amazon, Good Reads, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and other social media platforms to sell their books.
When Hoort first started in the business, “Social media was not part of our marketing plan. It was all about publicity, TV and radio shows and placing ads. It wasn’t until 2010 that we started to see the growth of Facebook and Instagram. We realized we can reach our customers directly through these platforms and more traditional methods.”
Worthy typically also
uses a “Street Team” – a group of people connected to the author through work, family, friends, church and other means – who use their own social media connections to pump up the volume about a book.
The Street Team for “A Case for Kindness” numbers 65 people from 20 states and Canada. Barrickman sends out an email every week, suggesting what members
can do to broaden the book’s reach.
Barrickman is relieved that the job of promoting and selling her book didn’t fall largely to her.
“I’m not that tech-savvy,” she admitted during a recent interview.
The book has a public Facebook page, Kindness Works, with 700 members, and a website, acaseforkindness.com.
As for the appeal of being kind, Hoort had a ready answer. “Politics, war and bullying behavior all create an environment of negativity today,” she said. “If we can read something showing us how easy it is to be kind, that’s refreshing.”
Added Barrickman, “A lot of people are losing hope and this book and movement are strong reminders that good things are still happening.”
To contact correspondent Sarah E. Moran, send an e-mail to semoran219@ gmail.com.
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