My new cover model (and other book news)
I
accumulated so much book news that I have to take a break from my usual
garden geekery and goat obsession to share. I hope you don't mind this
commercial break....
The first piece of book
news is a freebie today only, so I hope you'll consider snapping it up!
My father has been writing poetry for roughly half a century, and I've
spent a lot of the winter and now part of the spring sorting huge boxes
of his poems. The result was five themes that threaded through his
works, and Hunting Pennies showcases the first of those themes --- growing up poor in Appalachia in the 40s and 50s.
I generally figure that
Appalachia is at least a decade behind the rest of the nation
culturally, and Daddy's poems definitely showcase things most of us
probably don't remember, like an era when housewives saved their rags to
sell to the ragman and when boys ran nearly wild in the hills and
rivers. I could write a lot more, but the book is free, so I'll only add
--- I don't even like poetry and I thoroughly enjoyed this book, so
give it a try!
In other news, the paper version of Trailersteading is up for preorder on Amazon...and, look, Artemesia made the front cover!
The interior is also looking good, and I'm very excited to get my hands on a copy of my third print book. Trailersteading
isn't due to ship until the winter, but Amazon gives a preorder price
guarantee. So if the book goes on sale anytime between now and when it
ships, you'll get the lowest price available. I hope you'll consider
taking a chance on a book that has inspired hundreds of homesteaders in
ebook form already!
Finally, I have to close
by begging for a few reviews. Most of all, I hope you'll consider
leaving a review of my father's poetry book if you take a look and like
what you read. Those early reviews make or break a book, and since
poetry is already a very hard sell, I figure Hunting Pennies needs all of the momentum it can get.
Second, I've been a grumpy guss all week because my efforts to reach a wider audience by setting Farmstead Feast: Winter
free last week backfired badly. Sure, I reached tens of thousands of
new readers, but many seemed offended by the very idea of homesteading 
(and
of eating meat), with the result that I received a flurry of negative
reviews. So if you read and enjoyed the cookbook but didn't think it was
worth taking the time to leave a review on Amazon, you'll improve my
mood markedly if you take a minute to rate the book. Plus, Mark would
like to thank you in advance for improving his standard of living since
he's always the one in charge of talking me down off the
the-world-hates-me ledge....
Or explore more posts by date or by subject.
About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
Want to be notified when new comments are posted on this page? Click on the RSS button after you add a comment to subscribe to the comment feed, or simply check the box beside "email replies to me" while writing your comment.
I looked at the reviews you got and found 38 reviews altogether, 19 five star reviews, 11 four star reviews, 2 two star reviews and 1 one star review, which means altogether you got 4-1/2 stars. So don't feel badly. You did good!
BTW, I loved your father's book of short stories. I left a review and those stories remind me of Sharyn McCrumb's work. She's well known in this area for her novels based on incidents in this area as well.
Na Yan --- I suspect you're looking at someone else's books. I wouldn't be grumpy at just two 2-star reviews and one 1-star review! But I'm glad you enjoyed Daddy's previous book. He and I both read Sharyn McCrumb years ago, and it's quite possible she impacted his writing in the process. A good author to be compared to!
Justus and W. --- Thank you so much! Your words mean a lot, cheer me up, and remind me that readers like you are why I write. I never pretended to be part of the mainstream, so I shouldn't be surprised when people who aren't members of my tribe squint and look at me with confusion.
I'd leave a second review on the winter one if they'd let me!
But that reminds me, I need to leave a very positive review on the spring volume yet. Sorry for the delay!