Many of you are familiar with the annual She project that Author/Artist Lauren Ohlgren manages. Well, time is creeping towards this years event. If you need to sign up, head on over to her She Project site and get that name in!
Also! The She Project Book is on sale at 50% off. The book will bring the inspiration found in the inaugural year of the project to your home where you can use it as a constant reminder of what people are capable of.
Asher
Last week Growing Art Press author Sandi Washburn had a book reading/signing event at the North Albany Elementary school. Sandi’s girls, (Chloe, Hanna and Ahni) helped with the reading, singing the Elephant Song during the reading. While the crowd who attended was small, they were quite appreciative of both the book, the participation of the girls, and the cookies provided by Tamara Mullen, our Vice President of Marketing.
As an added bonus, a representative from the Albany Democrat Herald also attended. That resulted in a front page story today, complete with pictures.
Our thanks to everyone who participated in the event. The welcome has been amazing!
Asher
I’ve had several people ask what Growing Art Press was going to do next. Well, we’ve finally got some new things doing on.
1. We’ve published a second book! Same high quality in story, implementation, and idea as our first book, The She Project. It’s called Good Night, Grandma, and information about it can be found at either our books page or on the author’s blog.
2. Tamara Mullen joined me as a marketing speciallist. She is actually running many of the daily operations while I’m occupied with school and job hunting.
3. A big sale on The She Project is coming soon. Keep your eyes open!
We’d love it if you’d take some time and wander through the site, send us comments.
Asher
When I decided to start Growing Art Press, I knew the first book had to be The She Project: how she inspired a community. It was destined to be a winner in so many ways.
This last week that destiny started showing up. The book won two awards for independent publications: a 100% hit-rate for the contests we entered: The Nautilus and the IPPY.
Both of these awards are associated with The Jenkins Group, a business that helps independent publishers and authors break in to the more corporate realms of book publishing. And, yes, they are a business. Each year, independent publishers submit titles to the competitions in categories associated with their new title subject matter. A magic judging happens, and the winners are announced just prior to the Book Expo America. This is set up so that the award-winning authors have time to arrange trips to the Expo - for the public awards ceremonies. Really good publicity!
So, we won the Gold in the IPPY (Independent Publishers Book Award) category of Women’s Issues. And we won the Silver in the Nautilus category of Art/Specialty/Gift.
All in all, The She Project: how she inspired a community has proven itself to be EXACTLY the type of book I wanted to have for a first publication. It’s a book that sets a very high standard for Growing Art Press. And it is additional proof to me that the ‘giggle factor’ works.
Links to the award sites are in the link list.
Hello All. Welcome to the newly-formed Growing Art Press Blog.
I’m Asher Simmons, and I’m the President of Growing Art Press, for those of you are not already aware of that. I’ve started this blog as a way to share the happenings at Growing Art Press (and it’s step-child, the Growing Art Organization) with people who are interested in what we’re doing. We’re currently at the stage in the life of a new business where we are struggling to become known - not just the “Oh, I’ve heard of them” type-of-known, but the “They publish really cool books!” type. ‘Cause we do publish cool books - unique stories, very high quality, inspirational, and all with a connection to Art.
I’m just now learning the blog technology, although it seems to make it pretty easy for me to interact with you, each at our own pace. I hope you’ll find this blog useful and entertaining enough that you want to tell your friends about it.
While we still only have the one book for sale, we are continuing to develop other titles. I plan to use this forum for updates regarding our projects, and let the web site itself hold most of the static descriptions of our authors, projects, and core values. Oh - and sales, of course.
So, on to the blogging adventure!
Asher
