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Have you ever been to an ivory tower? I've been to a few. Some are so tall and disconnected from reality it's frightening. Others are shorter, closer to the ground, freshly painted with well-tended gardens. And some simply don't know you exist.
Last fall, I spent a fair amount of time writing cover letters, packaging up ARCs (Advance Review Copies) of my just-off-the-presses novel about chocolate, and standing in line at the only officially recognized black hole of time (the Post Office) to send up to the ivory towers of book review publications.
The most respected of these publications, the ones that really matter, number fewer than ten, vs. hundreds of thousands of authors. No math necessary here, is there.
I've done this before, with zero results. Not a word, not even a no-thank-you slip. In a way it's worse than pitching publishers and agents because you receive no response. No rejection you can throw darts at, just a big, yawing void of silence. It's understandable though. Everyone, and I mean every author who wants to get anywhere, sends his and her books to these lone and few publications. They're overwhelmed. I imagine teetering towers of packages in their mailrooms, bleary-eyed interns buried somewhere under, or in, them.
** Bleary-eyed intern: Umm, hello? Yeah. I really am buried in these piles of books and I haven't had a bathroom break so do you guys mind taking the conversation back to the blog? I know you want a nice rosy ending to the story but you'll just have to read it for yourself. I've got a list that's miles long.
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Alright, ready? I'm too excited to hold it in any longer.
We finally have the JCT image galleries up! Good heavens. How long can it possibly take to download photos, select them, optimize them, caption and upload them? Oh and build the actually gallery too. I have someone to do that, but it still takes a darned long time.
(If you're new to The Muse, JCT is the affectionate acronym for The Jaguar and the Cacao Tree.)
If you've been to one of the Chocolate Quest events, here are the direct links:
• Dandelion Chocolate
• Sprouts Cooking Club
• Full Circle Farm
• CJ Olson Cherries
In the Sprouts Cooking Club and the Full Circle Farm galleries, you can also see Jonas Ketterle of Firefly Chocolates, who joined me and taught the kids about the process of making chocolate, and then let them get their hands literally into it. Yes, we really made chocolate from scratch! He had hand-selected the beans too, all direct trade.
We also put up photos from my recent trip to the FCIA event in New York, which was non stop chocolate fun. Shouldn't all "business conferences" be like this? Overflowing with the finest quality chocolate you can find?
I know, I know, I spend way too much time talking to people. I need to take more pictures of chocolate...
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Too much going on this month to devote a section to each item, so I've condensed everything in one place:
JCT COLORING BOOK
We continue work on The Jaguar and the Cacao Tree coloring book — every illustration takes at least a week and that's not including the research we have to do for some of them. (You didn't think we'd do just any old regular coloring book did you?)
The preview coloring pages have been making the rounds at our events, but now you can actually pre-order the book. If you click the "Start reading now" button to the left of the cover image, you'll see a preview PDF of some of the illustrations.
We're looking at a spring 2017 release date now (still reviewing printers and paper quality) but we are working on a special limited edition for the holidays. I hope to have photos of it soon.
MESOAMERICA GAME
We've also been working on an interactive game for the tablet that's all about MesoAmerica. It's beautiful and we can't wait to release it. I'm excited to share that we're getting ready to do our first beta test with the public!
Wanna be a beta tester?? Shoot me an email! And please feel free to forward this eLetter to friends who love games that blend fun, discovery and learning.
SELL JCT IN YOUR SHOP!
If you have an online or physical bookstore, cafe, or chocolate shop, and you'd like to expand your inventory with a new product you don't actually have to make, you can stock The Jaguar and the Cacao Tree. Firefly Chocolate is carrying the book, as is Mayan Majix and a few other storefronts are coming online soon.
You get the books wholesale of course, and you also get help from my team and me to spread the word about your shop. This is a wonderful way for us all to be a part of a greater community.
SURVEY. SURVEY. SURVEY.
Finally, big thanks to everyone who has sacrificed seven point five minutes of their day and filled out the eLetter survey we put out so we can improve it. I've read your replies and am already planning some tweaks to the eLetter.
But I'd still love a few more responses... here it is again! It takes less time than navigating your TV set!
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Live with Brien Shamp
12:00pm PST/3:00pm EST, Tuesday, July 12 (TODAY!)
To join us, please visit the call online or dial in via telephone:
US Toll Number: (701) 801-1220
Meeting ID: 574-348-040
Sprouts Cooking Club
July 2016
Later this month, Jonas Ketterle of Firefly Chocolate and I will do another pro bono session of the Chocolate Quest for Sprouts Cooking Club. Here are photos from our first session.
The Speculative Fiction Cantina podcast
Friday, August 5
I don't have a time for the show yet. Will post more details when they come in.
School fundraiser
Sunday, August 28
I'm donating my "Chocolate Quest" event for a local elementary school here in the Bay Area. All proceeds go to the school.
If you'd like to do a Chocolate Quest fundraiser for your school, please contact me for more details.
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