All Student Success Letters

Jon Paul Buchmeyer

Dear Gotham,

Just before leaving on a 20-city book tour for my independently published humorous memoir Alphabet City: My So-Called Sitcom Life, I wanted to write and thank you for the wonderful advice and encouragement I received in the Advanced Memoir classes with Ana Maria Spagna and Kyle Minor. Both instructors and fellow students were crucial to my success with Alphabet City, a story about my life as a gay Mary Tyler Moore working as a publicist for Tyra, Whoopi and publishing giant Conde Nast.

While I shopped the book around to agents, I launched ABCityblog.com to release chapters and test the waters of critical feedback. The blog became immediately successful with a dedicated following. I realized that I could capitalize on that momentum and publish the book myself rather than wait years for a mainstream publisher. And boy, what an amazing decision! The book has been written about by New York Post's PageSix, Fox News National, New York magazine, Dallas Observer, Boyculture.com, Jezebel and numerous celebrity gossip sites.

My book tour is being sponsored by Kimpton Hotels and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. As part of Gay Pride, I will be appearing at Kimpton Hotel guest wine hours and then at a reception for Task Force members. Kimpton is also distributing a special 32-page excerpt of the book to guests this summer. In addition, stories about Alphabet City will appear at the beginning of the tour on Advocate.com, Edgeonthenet.com, Gay.com, Dallas Voice, and more.

I happily recommend the classes at Gotham to anyone who will listen. And even included Ana Maria and Kyle in my acknowledgements.

Best,
Jon Paul Buchmeyer
abcityblog.com