You’re a boomer with a book? Here’s a can’t-miss approach!

Garret Mathews already is a published author. But with more ingenious ideas flowing through his noggin’, he’s not done yet. After beginning his story in late March on BoomerCafé with, “Allow me to brag. I can juggle a 16-pound shot put,” the retired newspaper columnist in Carmel, Indiana, wants to make an even bigger splash. And while he doesn’t have to inflate his background, maybe if you have a book that’s waiting to make a million, you can use his letter to make it happen.

Dear Mr/Ms. High-Powered Publisher,

I’m retired from writing the metro column for the Evansville, Indiana, Courier & Press.

But never mind that right now. My oh my, do I have an opportunity for you. I’m pitching a can’t-miss book proposal that will net millions the world over.

And I promise to give most of my share to our grandchildren. After I buy a villa in Cannes.

And, Garret can juggle.

My challenge to readers is so simple, yet so compelling, that they will bust their humps to play along. And when it’s all said and done, our book will be in more homes than ceiling fans.

The hook? There are around 7 billion people in the world. Come up with seven factoids about yourself that, when considered cumulatively, sets you apart from every other soul on the planet.

Garret’s review from the New York Times.

Here are mine:

1. I can juggle a 16-pound bowling ball and two bean bags. Note that I practice safe shot put by juggling over the bed. Better to have a dent in the mattress than my foot. Shot-put juggling is a great way to entertain little boys. I almost always fart.
2. I have never tasted coffee.
3. I can do 100 pushups in five minutes.
4. I have interviewed members of a snake-handling church in West Virginia.
5. One of my books got a nice review in The New York Times.
6. I once jumped out of an airplane.
7. I produced a 17-minute video on an old-timer from rural Kentucky who may be the best backwards-speller on Earth. (Go to YouTube and search Norris McElmurry)

I invite you to play along, Mr./Ms. High-Powered Publisher. Review your life’s experiences. The good. The bad. The stupid. Now pick seven that will separate you from everyone else in the world.

Maybe you traveled to Antarctica.
Or managed a base hit off Greg Maddux.
Maybe you’ve put a liplock on a Galapagos Island sea turtle.
Or cashed a check from Justin Timberlake.
Maybe you gargled alongside Tom Jones.
Or wrapped a python around your neck to scare the mailman.

Trust me. The list craze will spread like wildfire. Celebrities will send me their seven. Twenty-years-to-life inmates will send me their seven. Shopkeepers, sushi-eaters and sky-divers. Jackhammer operators, jacks-of-all-trades and Jack Paar lookalikes.

They’ll compare lists on subways, at airports, at bus stops.

Dennis Rodman… also a baby boomer.

No kidding. Dennis Rodman really spilled beer on you at a wrap party. Is that a fact?

You crossed the country on a skateboard. You don’t mean it.

You once borrowed Lenny Bruce’s biology notes.

I ask you, Mr./Ms. High-Powered Publisher. Is this not the best book proposal you’ve ever received? Please show your appreciation by sending a max contract at your earliest convenience. The sooner the word gets out on the lists, the sooner we’ll be rolling in the dough.

Yours in best-selling prose.

Garret Mathews

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Garret’s most popular book — at least until he sells Mr./Mrs. High-Powered Publisher on this newest idea— is Swing, Batta!