“Taking Heart” in Responses to Deciding on Trails

“Whoever imagined a conservation-marketing-outreach book could be a page-turner?!
Well done!”

NYC Amazon reviewer

The final section of Deciding on Trails is titled, “Taking Heart in Trails.” A little over a month since publishing, I can say that I have taken heart in the positive response to the book.

I knew that a book on the history of Trail Towns and how communities can adopt best practices to better connect to their trails would be of interest to some. What I didn’t realize was that people who simply love trails – not just those who are actively working to leverage them – would buy and enjoy the book.

As I close in on my first 100 sales of a title that has claimed #1 New Release in Amazon’s Regional Politics Planning and Landscape Architecture* categories I am personally moved by the response.

Perhaps the most meaningful occurrences have been:

• A trailside business deciding to start a book club and make Deciding on Trails the first book (thank you, Rachel!). If you, too, want to lead a discussion about the book, I would be happy to provide some questions for your group.
• Learning that people are buying multiple copies so that their colleagues, friends, and collaborators might be influenced by the notion of better connecting to trails. I wrote the book to make a difference in the realm of trails and community development, so this means a whole lot to me!
• Reading positive reviews, whether on Amazon, Facebook, or any other place. Here’s a portion of a favorite review thus far: “I had only planned to skim a few chapters before meeting with my stewardship group, but each chapter was so short and interesting that I ended up staying awake and finishing the whole thing! Whoever imagined a conservation-marketing-outreach book could be a page-turner?! Well done!” If you read and enjoy Deciding on Trails please consider leaving a review on Amazon, Goodreads, or wherever else you write reviews.

I’ll close by sharing that over the weekend I sorted through my “book box,” a bankers box that I had used to store book-related information over the years: resources, old PowerPoint notes, and ideas scribbled on paper. Also in the book box were yearly reflections about my business. Nearly every year from 2014 to 2020, I set an intention to write a book about Trail Towns. As I noted on my book page, the reality is I probably wasn’t ready to write the book before 2020. It was written and published at the right time, and I am both thrilled and moved by your early response to it. Thank you!

*Landscape architects, please take note: this is not a technical book, but it does speak to the importance of physically connecting communities to their trails to make getting to and from safer and more appealing.

Deciding on Trails is available on Amazon (print and Kindle) and can also be ordered from your local bookshop.