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Using Tech for Book Marketing

Kate Gingold from Sprocket WebsitesKate has been building websites with her husband Don since 1996 for all sorts of clients, including authors.

Kate regularly writes about online marketing for Sprocket Websites and provides tips and techniques for entrepreneurs and small-business owners. Since being an author today is not really different from being an entrepreneur with a small business, most of those tips are just as useful to authors.

Kate is an author herself. She writes books on local history, including the award-winning "Ruth by Lake and Prairie," a fictionalized account of the true story of Great Lake pioneering to the shores of Chicago and beyond to found Naperville, Illinois. 

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Kate Gingold Host
/ Categories: Brief History

Naperville 50 Years Ago -- The Barn



1966 was a remarkable time — even in our little town. At the beginning of a development explosion,  Naperville’s population grew 75% during that decade, from 12,933 to 22,617.

One of the remarkable things Naperville did was build The Barn. Technically, the project was finished in December of 1965 but it was highlighted in the 1966 high school yearbook, “Arrowhead.”

Today we think of
it as a location for Park District programs, but The Barn was actually developed by “youths of the community” with an adult advisory board.

Instead of tax money, 300 students went door-to-door  to sell $48,000 in general obligation bonds, “the largest sum ever raised in Naperville.”

There were some hiccups during the project, including a couple of location changes when residents protested the barn look and the anticipated loud rock ‘n roll music. At one point, a disgusted Mayor Zaininger walked out of a City Council meeting when he couldn’t get support for The Barn’s lease petition.

Eventually an agreement was reached and Naperville Youth Organization, Inc. was given a 20-year lease at $10 a year.

Teens, both male and “muscle-bound suffragettes,” joined adult volunteers to haul brick and boards and do “anything they can” to raise the shell and finish the inside in time to have their first dance on December 4,1965. It was extremely well-attended.

Teen centers like this were popular in the ‘60s and ‘70s and many towns had a similar venue for kids to hear local bands. The Barn sold memberships, special event tickets and refreshments to pay ongoing expenses.

In 2010, “Barnstock” brought back a bunch of bands from 1965 to 1973 to relive The Barn’s glory days. Perhaps something similar will happen once more before The Barn is torn down after this year’s Last Fling is over.

Throughout this year we’ll look back on how remarkable 1966 was in Naperville’s history.




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Full disclosure:  Writing for Sprocket Websites is my day job, so if you have questions about digital marketing, I'm happy to help!

 

Marketing Author Interview

Following a presentation for In Print Professional Writers Group, Kate's husband (and publisher!) Don was interviewed by author Louise Brass for WBOM Radio. During the conversation, Don shared many of the marketing tips from his presentation. You can listen to it online here.

The Sprocket Report

The Sprocket Report is published every other week with Internet marketing tips, tools and techniques. The archive features articles from 2011 up to the present. You are welcome to read how business owners are using technology to market themselves and apply those tips to your author business.


 

 

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