Plenty of authors support their novels with signings and appearances, but how many stage a group wedding to dramatize the themes of their work? Maryann Reid is doing just that to raise the visibility of her third novel, Marry Your Baby Daddy, while at the same time promoting marriage within the African-American community. On September 29, which Reid and St. Martin's are calling Marry Your Baby Daddy Day, 10 New York—area couples whom Reid found while researching the book will walk down the aisle together in Brooklyn.
While Reid's prior work has been described as an African-American answer to Sex and the City, her latest takes on what she sees as an important community issue. The plot revolves around the story of three sisters who will miss out on a $3-million inheritance unless they marry the fathers of their children. The September release from St. Martin's will have a first printing of 50,000.
Reid, a former publicity assistant at Penguin Putnam and news desk assistant at CNN, came up with the idea of a group wedding after talking to more than 100 unmarried couples who were living together and raising children. "I wanted to do something to extend the dialogue [about the issue of unmarried couples with children] beyond the book," Reid said.
After the New York Daily News ran an item in January 2005 about her search for couples who were willing to get married and her plan to line up local sponsors for the ceremony, many clamored at the opportunity. Later this summer, the Daily News will follow up with a series of stories on the event and the 10 couples who will participate in the catered ceremony at no cost.
At Barnes & Noble, buyer Sessalee Hensley said the book will be in all of the chain's stores and will be featured on its African-American endcap. Reid will also appear at various independent bookstores on the East Coast, including the Howard University Bookstore in Washington, D.C., where marketing manager Monique Mozee expects a good turnout on October 25. She said the store has ordered 50 copies of the book and is helping to publicize it to the community. She added that Reid already has a following among 25- to 35-year-old black women: "Her books are an answer to single black women who want to see their stories being told."
