Hello. My name is Dinah Sanders. I've been blogging for over twenty years. I'm a web geek and writer. I like it that way.
Matt Conway at @brasstacksbar with #artoftheshim. His 'Spanish Prisoner' is the first drink on my list for the sequel.
"It's Kelly's book!!" came the exclamation beside me as I presented Matt with his copy.
What a delightful surprise to run into the @ArtfulGent's Nate and Jake and get to give them their photoshoot location thank you copy.
Brian MacGregor on the roof at @wingtip showing SF pride in#artoftheshim! #CoitTower #TransamericaPyramid
Hooray! My second book, The Art of the Shim: Low-Alcohol Cocktails to Keep You Level, is now out in hardcover and ebook.
Building this book has been a fun time and—due to an aggressive sub-one-year production schedule—a challenge, but the results are beautiful. Kelly Puleio's photography is even better than my high hopes and the production quality on this, the first offset printed title from Sanders & Gratz, is excellent. I'm very happy that the book has the sturdiness to serve its readers many years on their bar shelves.
Along the way I've been expanding my skills even further into the publisher realm. (Discardia: More Life, Less Stuff is print-on-demand in its paperback form, so inventory management and distribution is a new adventure.)
Some of the lessons have been painful. I've now learned the hard way that Amazon's record of a book can apparently get messed up if the release date is before Ingram has their copies on hand—or at least that's the only explanation I can find for Amazon suddenly switching the book's status to "Out of Print–Limited Availability" sometime between midday Saturday and midday Sunday last weekend. We're now on day four of no order button for the hardcover, which is enough to make anyone trying to launch a book tear their hair out.
In the meantime, I'm keeping fans of Bibulo.us and the book updated on Twitter and Facebook. Also taking deep breaths and saying "calm blue ocean" a lot.
Copies of the book are now in stock at Ingram's Oregon distribution center and lots more will be arriving at their Tennessee one today or tomorrow. Perhaps that will help kick the Amazon status back to normal (though I fear that if their techs don't identify and eliminate the bug, the problem would just come back the next time Ingram or their on hand count hits zero).
Next Tuesday (9/17) will be the New York launch at Pouring Ribbons bar and a week from Monday (9/23) will be the San Francisco celebration at The Booksmith bookstore. Looking forward to those events very much!
Even with bumps on the road, I'm having a great time as an author and a publisher!
So much fun at Comstock Saloon tonight dropping off thank you books to beloved bartenders! Extra pleasure of running into other bartenders from the book on the non-working side of the bar too. (Bonus shout-out to the Netherlands; hooray for San Francisco visitors!)
Here's a happy Lindsey Baird (of Comstock Saloon and Brass Tacks) with her copy. Hooray!
More Comstock hijinks (or is that high kicks?)
That's Michael Bacon and Jeff Hollinger.
Irked to report that @amazonbooks is *still* working on getting#artoftheshim back on sale (& not falsely "out of print").
Please stand by (or buy from an indie bookstore) and I apologize for the inconvenience!
At the moment (just after midnight PST Tue/Wed) the Kindle version is orderable through Amazon and the hardcover is still, as the Germans might say, upgefucht. I am being patient. Deep breaths. Calm blue ocean.
Maddening to an author, but soon to be fixed, Amazon.com is showing the book as unavailable at the moment. They're just confused because it's been released but their copies haven't reached them yet. I've reported the issue and that order button should be back soon. *sigh*
That's Michael Cecconi below, and Mikha Diaz here, of Two Sisters Bar & Books. Their drinks The Iggy and the Port of SF are in the book, along with some great photos of Michael.
Lance Arthur, founder of Tipple Tuesday, has been a great supporter of the book and my sanity.
San Franciscans, rejoice, for you can get a book into your hot, little hands right away: copies are in stock for you at The Booksmith, Cask, and Nosa Ria Market.
And now at The Green Arcade too!
The first book from Bibulo.us is out!
It's been a busy week. Thanks perhaps to favorable winds over the ocean, we got the surprise call from our shipper to coordinate delivery of 2000 copies of The Art of the Shim: Low-Alcohol Cocktails to Keep You Level a week early. Whee!
Due to a series of mishaps denying us expected resources, Dinah unloaded all 101 boxes before assistance arrived. Yes, cocktail nerd, author, stevedore; the complete Renaissance woman.
By this afternoon, books are scattering toward their future homes. Those of you ordering from bookstores or Amazon will be gratified to learn that your copies are already making their way to the distributor and thence to you. Ebooks will soon be available through multiple sources.
The most fun has been delivering thank you copies to the folks who have supported the project along the way: bartenders, advisors, beta readers, cheerleaders.
MetaGrrrl 