Hello friends of Jelly Roll Dog Park! It has been a while since I provided an update so I wanted to write to let you know how things have been going with the release of "Monday." Overall, the project has been received with great enthusiasm regarding the quality of the book and illustrations and the classic charm of characters and theme. The Illustrator, John LaFree, and I had a great signing event in Orlando and mailed books to all of the backers. Hopefully you received your copies and have already shared it with friends and family.
I will be in New Orleans for a signing event & reading at the Maple Street Book Shop on Saturday, October 24th from 11:30-1. Please stop in if you are in the area and share with any family and friends who live in the vicinity. I am excited to be able to sign the book in the same city that provided the setting for our magical little dog park!
Also, I need a huge favor from you. The future of tomorrow ("Tuesday") is dependent upon the success of today ("Monday")! I have incredible story lines and themes mapped out for the next two books and John is eager to begin drawing our favorite pups again. Please help us get some more exposure and momentum behind the current book by providing a review on Amazon and Goodreads. I will personally donate $3 to Pacer's National Bullying Prevention Center for every unique review placed on these sites during the month of October, which is National Bullying Prevention month!
Thanks again for all of the continued support and encouragement. The park is only successful with readers like you to maintain it. Hope to see you in New Orleans on the 24th or on the review page!
High Five, Jen
Dear Readers,
A brief update for you Monday inbox, with a few pieces of good news to welcome the harvest:
1) Back in July I was longlisted for the Crook's Corner Book Prize in Chapel Hill, NC. Crook's Corner is a staple of Southern cuisine in North Carolina (Chez Moi, the fictional restaurant in Slim and The Beast, was inspired by the spot), and it is an honor to be among the candidates for the debut novelist prize. Lee Smith, a literary legend down south, will choose the short list in the coming weeks. Regardless of whether I'm selected (it's a long shot, indeed), I'm honored to be considered and wanted to share it with you all:
http://crookscornerbookprize.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/CROOKSBOOKS_release16_fourthtake.pdf
2) I have finished the manuscript for my third novel, which is a historical fiction based in a Polish ghetto (Lodz) during the Nazi occupation. I spent my academic career (BA + MA) studying ethics during the Nazi era and the psychology of genocide, and this novel serves as a culmination of those studies. It will take some time before I move towards publishing, but after three years of writing, I am confident I have something now.
3) I have been accepted to the Vermont Studio Center artist residency program in Johnson, Vermont for February, 2016. Quite frankly, I didn't expect to get in. It's a huge honor. I will spend one month living with fifty international artists (visual artists as well as writers) and during this time, I hope to begin my fourth novel. I don't know where it will lead me, but I have an idea where to start ... as Andre Gide says, "One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time."
NB: For all of you artists out there, you should DEFINITELY apply to these types of programs. You never know which reviewer may take a liking to your work--if I can make it, so can you. Multiple rejection letters only increase your odds (that might be flawed logic/a cognitive bias, but I'm running with it. DON'T TRY AND STOP ME).
Finally, Slim and The Beast is still selling a few copies per week, which is more than I expected. I'm lucky to have jumped on-board the Inkshares train when I did, and that comes with a HUGE thanks to the 232 original backers-- Stars of the Year, you know who you are--for being the main reason for any of this. You believed in me when Inkshares didn't have any previously published novels or well-known writers, and that makes you especially awesome.
The Astronaut Instruction Manual IS ARRIVING
The AIM hits shelves in bookstaores nationwide next week. Of course, our backers are already posting photos of themselves with their copies arriving directly from Inkshares!
The Astronaut Instruction Manual shipped out this past week and you our backers are posting photos with the book. What a great idea!
If you are posting on Facebook, our FB page is:
facebook.com/AstronautInstructionManualforPreTeens
If you are posting to Twitter, my twitter page is:
twitter.com/MikeMongo
(Hashtags I use are #TheAIM and #STEM.)
Seeing these books with the happy faces of their new owners being posted is an unexpected treat. Thank you, supporters and backers! It has been a year since we started this process, and I and the entire team at Inkshares–hello, Thad, Adam, Emma, Jeremy, Tess, Kim, Avalon, & Matt (not to forget the team members at book designers MacFadden & Thorpe)–and the amount of blood sweat and tears…plus loads of smiles and laughter…has been monumental. That is, The Astronaut Instruction Manual stands as a testament to the very words I share everyday with young students in classrooms: "Team Work makes the Dream Work."
Check your mailbox. The AIM is arriving. And thanks for posting the photos of books and smiling faces. We put our hearts and soul in this. Seeing the smiles makes it all worthwhile!
Mike Mongo
astronaut teacher
It's time to launch Wailing Wall! If you are around Ypsi/Ann Arbor, Michigan, I hope you will join me for the Michigan book launch on November 13, 2015 at Beezy's Cafe. Details are on the Facebook Event. Please RSVP so that we can plan for food & drinks.
THIS EMAIL CONTAINS A FREE COLORING BOOK. CLEAR YOUR MOTHER-LOVING SCHEDULE.
And now, something exciting and strange - a present for you on this gray Friday. Something that we all secretly crave, gazing at it longingly in the supermarket, but feel ourselves too proper, too adult to just purchase and face the wrinkled nose and skeptical questions of the checkout clerk. Yes, my friends. A coloring book.
I would like to take credit and say that I created this for you all by myself with my secret art abilities, but that is not remotely the truth. Inkshares is becoming a wonderful eco-system of amazing, talented people - and I was fortunate enough to be invited to participate in this project, the Inkshares Authors Showcase Coloring Book and Activity Pages, Nerdist Contest Edition. This book features art and activities to draw you into the worlds of:
Blood Dawn, by John Robin.
Prophecy of the Stars, by Melissa Berg (also an illustrator for the book, and the creator of our cover)
Asteroid Made of Dragons, by some dude.
A Beast Requires, by Jay Lockwood
Witches Undercover, by Rochelle Germano
Tournament of the Stars: Arbitration, by Victor Powell
Ageless (also winner of the Swords and Lasers contest) andMotor City Chronicles: Transgressions, by Paul Inman [This campaign is running a CONTEST around the book, check it!]
Rune of the Apprentice, by Jamison Stone
Shadow of the Owl, by Amanda Orneck
The Seventh Age, by Rick Heinz,
She Is the End, by A.C. Weston [[This campaign is running a CONTEST around the book, check it!]
You'll get to travel through mazes, challenge yourself withcrosswords and word searches, search and find hidden things,create a tournament patch that might be used in Victor's book, and color characters whose adventures you'll definitely want to read. So, if you haven't already, go pre-order these books!
Now - Serious Time.
This is a plea for all of you that have been sitting quietly on the sidelines of the Nerdist Contest to get in the game. I've had two conference calls this week - one with my editor from Girl Friday, another with the entire marketing team from Inkshares, my production editor from Girl Friday and a dedicated designer for the cover of AMOD. As someone who's self-published two previous novels, this experience has been beyond astonishing, beyond important, beyond meaningful. It's the opportunity of a lifetime.
There are so many deserving campaigns in this contest - take some time today, between bouts of coloring, and really look at the field, really consider the contestants. This contest ends on the 30th, but I know dozens and dozens of writers that are settling in for the long haul - they need your support, they need your attention, they need your MONEY.
This is a very unique place - a very unique confluence of events and people. You can directly influence art, you can directly promote the type of books you want to see more of out there in the world. It's kind of amazing - but it only works with more readers, more backers, more people and more eyeballs. Get in here and click some buttons and throw down some cabfare. The risk is low, but the reward - ah. Being able to reach into the belly of the beast and pull out the kind of stories you want. No focus group, no demographic research, no publishing house in your way -- just reach in and give a new writer the opportunity to amaze you.
I'll have more updates about AMOD over the next few days - but I want you to keep your focus on the campaigns still funding right now. You've given me a shot - that means you like the weird, the strange, the other. I'm telling you now - there's a whole lot more of that stuff waiting for you right now to click on it.
