The Weird Accordion to Al And YOU — It Turns Out the Naming Rights! Membership Option Was For Real and Someone Is Now Five Hundred Bucks Poorer Presents Nat

It’s been a little under two months since the release of the Weird Accordion to Al book. I have to say that I am overwhelmingly happy with the reception it has received. I’ve sold about 1500 copies, which is not bad for a self-published book from a self-published website with a promotional budget of zero dollars.

Other than one cranky contrarian dude and people complaining about Kindle formatting issues that have long since been resolved, the book has consistently snagged five star reviews on Amazon, and there are over 40 overwhelmingly positive reviews less than two months into release.

I was lucky enough to get reviews in places like The New York Times, The Washington Post and Rolling Stone for previous books. As far as I know, no one outside of Amazon has done a proper review of The Weird Accordion to Al although it has attracted some really nice attention so far.

Rolling Stone referred to the book as “monumental”, Fast Company was kind enough to cover the book and I was interviewed for a terrific Slate podcast on the charts that very fortuitously happened to do an article about novelty music and Al right around the time I released the book.

During a trip to Los Angeles I was lucky enough to do Dumb People Town and Linoleum Knife as well as several podcasts that have not dropped yet, and might not for a while, like a repeat visit to Paul Gilmartin and Dumb People Town to discuss, what else, the unfortunately central role paralyzing, overwhelming debt plays in my life, and far too many others as well.

Also in Los Angeles I met Eric Martin, the seasoned professional who will be turning The Weird Accordion to Al into an audio book. An audio book! Me! How crazy is that!?! Now all the people who LOVE books and LOVE my writing but do not know how to read will be able to experience my work as I have always perversely always intended: in a purely audio form. The only downside to a Weird Accordion to Al audio book is that it can’t preserve one of my favorite elements—Felipe Sobreiro’s amazing illustrations—but who knows, maybe Eric can describe all the illustrations!!!

I’ve done a fair share of “Weird Al” Yankovic’s podcasts—but not all of them—and would be very open to doing a whole lot more press for the book.

I’m the author, publisher as well as the publicist for The Weird Accordion to Al. As a publicist, I am a total neophyte who could benefit tremendously from your help. If you would like to review a copy of The Weird Accordion to Al, or would like to interview me about it, or have me come to your college to discuss the book please email me at nathanrabinauthor@gmail.com

I’ve done in an event in LA and am doing Fest of Al in late June in Denver, along with a bunch of cool other people But I would love to do more events, in my home town of Atlanta, for example, and could benefit from y’alls help in setting that up.

If you know someone who might want to write about the book, don’t hesitate to let a brother know. And if you have the name and mailing address of someone who might love the book, and spread the gospel, then so much better! I’d love to get the book to Mojo and Nerdist, for example, but do not know how to go about getting review copies in the right peoples’ hands.

These first two months have been amazing but I want to keep the momentum going strong both because I believe passionately in the book and think people will love it and also because my family’s well-being is very directly connected to this being a book that has staying power, like my other books and Al’s music, rather than enjoying a few months in the sun and then fading completely.

God willing, there’ll be big bumps in attention and sales when the expanded edition comes out in a few months, and then again at Christmas time but I don’t want to leave anything to chance.

So please don’t hesitate to reach out if you think you can help me get the word out about this labor of love. Because books need friends just like everyone else does, especially when they are plucky independent endeavors like the Weird Accordion to Al and not, like my first few tomes, from the powerful, connected folks at Scribner and Abrams Image.

Help ensure a future for the Happy Place by pledging over at https://www.patreon.com/nathanrabinshappyplace

And of course y’all CAN and SHOULD #BuyMyBook over at https://www.amazon.com/Weird-Accordion-Al-Obsessively-Co-Author/dp/1658788478/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=weird+accordion&qid=1580693427&sr=8-1#customerReviews