Altared

• Launching author website for “Altared” in mid-April 2020. • Ask prominent Italian and Italophile Instagram users to publicize book via posts, i.e. Kathy McCabe of “Dream of Italy,” Elizabeth Minchilli, Faith Willinger, Judy Witts Francini, Maurizio Seracini, Dario Castagno. • Ad in The Florentine, an online newsletter with an audience of expatriates and Italophiles about Florence, Italy. • Ad in Dream of Italy newsletter. • Submit to Writer’s Digest and other outlets for ebook awards. • Target online book blogs that review non-fiction and women’s magazines. • Target book clubs throughout the U.S. • Research British, Scottish and Irish outlets. • Advertise thru LOL and PHENA newsletters, organizations author belongs to in Atlanta. • Request interview with local newspapers and magazines in Atlanta and Vero Beach, FL. • Ads or story in Italia, Italy Magazine.

Kyle Tackwell Ball’s light-hearted memoir about transforming an ancient church in Italy that once served as a way station for Crusaders and religious pilgrims into a livable space—unearthing skeletons in the backyard, encountering mysterious biting bugs, and hosting occasional visitations from a ghostly presence who smoked Marlboro Lights along the way.When Kyle Tackwell Ball’s search for a quaint country home near Florence, Italy, in move-in condition somehow led to the purchase of an abandoned church in a small borgo near Greve-in-Chianti called Le Convertoie, she ended up with much more than a project to overcome her newly contracted “empty nest syndrome.”

Ball soon found herself starring in a “Stones and Bones Classic”; the ruin she’d purchased would require years of renovation and an endless amount of money before it would become habitable. But her journey had unexpected rewards, too: she reconnected with some wonderful friends, made new ones, learned the language of her newly adopted home country, and became experienced in the Italian knack of getting around the system. Most importantly, she learned to appreciate Italian culture, food and wine, and how rewarding it is to give new life to a beautiful old building. 

Ball’s renovation was featured in the March 2010 “Before & After” issue of Architectural Digest, beautifully documented by Kim Sargent of Sargent Architectural Photography.