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Inviting you to 

The Happy Experience That is, Tom Gnagey

Writer, Speaker, Teacher, Ham 

Author, Tom Gnagey, is a jolly old elf – oh, no, that’s Santa. Well, they are both known to be jolly and OLD! Tom would like to think that his nearly 100 novels and self-help books, and many hundreds of short stories could fill a Santa-size bag – except they are now all e-books and he knows of no e-bag into which he might try to e-stuff them (and then there is the added conundrum of e-Comet and e-Cupid, et al. (Tom thinks in off-the-wall-ways like that – and that’s only in his more lucid moments!)  

Tom writes under several pen names – one for each genre: Garrison Flint (Mystery), David Drake (children, teens), Marc Miller (Ozark Mountain ghost stories/mysteries), Grampa Gray (foolishness for seniors), Bonnie Brewster (family romance - and, yes, it’s hard to explain the full, white beard at Bonnie’s book signings! The pill box hat and veil seem to fool very few.). 

Santa, that is Tom, writes at his modest Arkansas Ozarks home every day, having been quoted as saying, “I would write every day whether anybody else ever read a word of it or not; writing is my passion, my sustenance, as necessary to me as the air I breathe. I make no claim to be a Hemingway or Clancy or London. I write what interests me in ways I have found many folks enjoy. That seems like the quintessential Win-Win to me.” 

Tom is an unabashed ‘ham’. He enjoys speaking to groups of all ages and occasionally ‘performs’ (some would say ‘teaches’) creative writing classes. He bases his writing, like his life, on positive social values (not to be confused with any genre of religious teachings) and believes man’s bottom-line social purpose is to take really, really good care of each other.  

After receiving four, university degrees, Tom’s early adult life was shared among several endeavors: A child and family clinical psychologist in private practice, a special educator, a parent and foster parent, a developer of tests and teaching material for special needs youngsters, and a writer. Now that he has reached middle age (76 according to Tom) he also spends some time painting, sculpting, and volunteering in child-help programs (and, of course, playing Santa in late December). 

Tom is eager to speak with your group – large or small, young or old, readers or writers (even to those who just show up for the cookies and punch!). He will choose a topic to present, talk to a topic you suggest, or – his favorite thing – will respond to questions the folks in attendance have always wanted to ask a captive writer. He never charges a fee, but does require transportation to and from (and lodging and meals if required). He enjoys appearing as a fund raising event for worthy causes – schools, libraries, save the reindeer promotions.  

An annotated list (with cover photos) of Tom’s nearly 100 current e-books can and may be perused at TomsBookNook.com/e-books.html. [By the way, his last name is pronounced Neigh (as in horse sound) gēē (as in geese). He understands that is sometimes remembered as horse feathers, but he responds to that as well!]

Contact Tom at: tom.gnagey@att.net. Please put PROGRAM on the subject line (unless you are from Publisher’s Clearing House and then a few dollar signs will suffice!).


A Note From Tom
Hurray for Hyperactivity!

I am often asked what my secret is to being such a prolific writer – 100+ novels, many hundreds of short stories and over a thousand inane verses for seniors. When I was a boy, hyperactivity and attention deficit disorder – like cholesterol and hypertension – were things that had not yet been invented. So, it was just said that I was “all boy” and I’m sure my nickname, “Tom the Atom Bomb”, in no way reflected on my activity level. (I was always pleased that on field trips my teachers chose to hold MY hand rather than anybody else’s!) Associated with those endearing qualities came poor spelling, atrocious handwriting, lousy short term memory and nearly hopeless typing skills – three really great attributes for a writer! (And somebody who acquired four University degrees.) 

As I matured, my unremitting physical activity subsided and took up residence in my brain. I have never been able to sit and be entertained – TV, movies, sports events – I have always needed to be doing or thinking something constructive and creative. And so it is that I sometimes complete a 40,000 to 50,000 word novel in ten to fourteen days. My passion is writing and I feel privileged to be able to pursue it for 12 to 14 hours a day when I want to (or, perhaps, need to).

These days I am surrounded by technology that renders many of my earlier problems moot: voice recognition typing, spell check, an on-line thesaurus, and word search through a document, along with instantaneous Bing and Google searches for any topic man has ever proposed, probably head that list. 

And then there is my wonderfully dependable alarm clock, which I set to tell me when me when it’s time to go to bed – I’ve always been a very early riser. Each morning it is an interesting contest to see which occurs first: my eyes being completely open or my feet hitting the floor. This morning the feet won! As a result, I ran into the door, but then at my age I’m always looking for an interesting personal foible to relate. (By the way, do goose bumps require heat packs or cold packs?)  

I talk about these kinds of things and writing, in general, in my new free program, ‘Talking About Writing’, available to groups of all sizes and most ages. (It can also make some money for the sponsoring organization if it wants to.)  

So, now you know! (Hmm! “The Boy with the Hyperactive Brain” – there’s bound to be a novel in that!)   tom.gnagey@att.net

A LITTLE FUND RAISER    

TOM GNAGEY, AUTHOR, SPEAKER, FUN OLD GUY                                                                tom.gnagey@att.net

Nearly 100 of Tom’s books are available as e-books on Nook, Kindle, and Kobo – all for the low price of $2.99 each. There are books for all ages: mysteries, romance, ghost stories, fantasy, humor, general fiction, self-help, short story collections and more. Many are parts of series, which are often ordered as a unit.
Here are the three fund raising concepts.

FUND RAISER # ONE: Program plus book sales commission. 

The Method: Tom presents his program at your facility (no fee), which encourages those who attend to want to read things he has written. They are provided with the URL link to his books on their e-book reader site and are encouraged to order books, knowing each one purchased on that day earns your organization one dollar. They are reminded not to forget to order gift books for friends and family.  
The Compensation: The reader site provides a daily accounting of sales. For each book purchased on the designated date (from all sources), the organization receives one dollar. 100 books purchased equal $100. 1,000 books purchased equal $1,000. And so on. (Just 500 contributors each spending about $12 – four books – earns your group $2,000. In a family of four, between four and eight sales are typical.)

FUND RAISER # TWO: Book Sale promotion only

The Method: Over a designated period of a week or so, the members of the organization contact supporters (alumni, friends, whoever) giving them the opportunity to make a contribution while at the same time obtaining quality, low cost, books and novels for their e-readers – the kind of purchases e-reader owners will be making anyway. They are instructed to order on a given date so the sales will be allocated to your organization.
The Compensation: The reader site provides a daily accounting of sales. For each book purchased on the designated date (from all sources), the organization receives one dollar. 100 books purchased equal $100. 1,000 books purchased equal $1,000. And so on. (Just 500 contributors each spending about $12 – four books – earns your group $2,000. In a family of four, between four and eight sales are typical.)

FUND RAISER # THREE:  COMBINATION

Quite simply, the organization does both One and Two simultaneously. This catches lots of folks who will not attend the program.

THE STRATEGY:
Why not just ask the contacts for that $12? Experience shows that the vast majority of people are more willing to contribute when they are getting something worthwhile and lasting in return and they feel more positively about the organization. Also, this method encourages and preserves the art of reading and it’s hard to argue against the value of that idea. Finally, it is found that once a person begins scanning the list of books, more purchases are generally made than the person figured he or she would make ahead of time.  

PREVIEW THE BOOKS: (the URLs can be previewed on any computer or web-connected digital device) 

Kindle:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=node%3D154606011&field-keywords=Tom+Gnagey
Nook:     http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/tom-gnagey?store=allproducts&keyword=tom+gnagey 
Kobo:    http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/Search?Query=tom+gnagey 

ORTom’s website:  TomsBookNook.com/e-books.html