Day: November 26, 2013

I was surprised and humbled to go to my Post Office Box 205 yesterday and find a pile of letters from very different places with different ideas but one common theme that ran through all of them was that they gave thanks for my blog. So this post is about my giving thanks to the blog, about you giving thanks to the blog, and about me giving thanks for you. Sounds a bit sappy, but my Post Office Box is helping me finally understand what the blog means to so many people out there, in so many different places. The people who write me at my PO box (it is Post Office Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816) seem to be individualists to me, people who care about communicating and who do not wish the Internet to be their only means of communicating with people. They care about living their lives, and  they follow my life and Maria’s, and those of the animals here.

People like Jan Mitchell, a photographer and card maker from St. George, Utah. She says she was very pleased when I got a post office box, “sending an e-mail to a stranger seems like an invasion of privacy. We haven’t been properly introduced. Sending a letter or card through the mail seems to me to be a proper introduction. It takes time to prepare, time to send it and be delivered, time to sit in the mailbox waiting. It is not so presumptuous as to demand your immediate attention.”

This sense of boundaries and appropriateness has been largely obliterated by the Internet, where complete strangers offer advice and criticism as if you had known them for years. They also offer love and support and connection. It is different.

Jan wrote to thank me for the blog, which she has been reading for years. She has watched my growth as a photographer, and especially loves the landscape photos I’m doing. “It must also be said,” she added, “that a good part of the charm is the ongoing story of the animals. The way you present them it is easy to see their individual personalities and develop and affection for each of them. I shed a few tears when Rose and  Izzy died.”

“Last but not least,” Jan added,” Maria is such a wonderful part of the story and it has been a pleasure to watch her blossom as a person and an artist. She deserves the success.” Amen to that. Jan enclosed a beautiful photo card of a cabin in Montana that she made.

It is hard to describe the impact of graceful and heartfelt letters like this, they are all treasures, gifts, shafts of light. They help me see my work through the eyes of others, help me understand why I am  here, what I am doing with my life, what the purpose is. So many people tell me they have been following the bog for years, they have seen so much, they grasp Maria’s great heart and hard-won blossoming. It is rare to get a letter these days without a mention of Maria, and the P.O. Box almost always has some beautiful handkerchief or piece of fabric, it is part of the river of life, the flow of energy and connection that seems to swirl around the farm and especially, the blog.

Nancy Todd, also of Utah, sent me a $3 check because she had to  cancel her Paypal, she wanted to pay me for my work on the blog. She thanked me for the blog, and added “I am replacing my own ideas of an unhappy relationship with the possibilities of the Jon & Maria mode. Thank you so much!”

Thanks back, Jan and Nancy and the other letter writers,  I am grateful to you, I give thanks for you, I love the letters I get in my Post Office Box, Jan is right, there is something especially meaning about them and the work and time it takes for them to get to me. I am thankful to all of the people reading this.

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George Forss called me this morning, excited about a slew of orders he got of the New York skyline I posted her the other day. George returned to New York City last week to shoot some new urban landscape photos here, the kind of photos that made him famous and put him in Time Magazine and on the Today Show. George is selling these new masterpieces for $65 dollars, and a photo from a master like George for $65 is by far the greatest holiday shopping bargain you will find anywhere, including Amazon, any mall or Best Buy. George’s legendary photographs of New York City before 9/11 range from $750 to $1,000.

I love this dual shot George took of the Brooklyn and New York skyline, he took four or five photographs and used a computer stitching program to put them together as one shot, George is a technical and artistic genius. This shot would be a wonderful gift for anyone who lives cities, or the new New York landscape, you can see George’s work and purchase it on his blog. Trust me, a George Forss photo will only grow in value, a distinctive gift from one of the premiere photographers in the world. Just don’t ask about aliens unless you have the time or the interest. How nice that so many of you bought some of George’s wonderful new works, this community just shines.

I’m happy to share the good news that “Second Chance Dog: A Love Story,” has just gone into it’s third printing, an affirmation of the book and also of the possibilities inherent in the new kind of book tour. I don’t have the exact figures, but I believe we are closing in on 20,000 books, that is a lot, especially just a few weeks after publication and heading right into Christmas. I gave up a traditional book tour to create a different kind of tour, and I think it is beginning to work.

Doing the farm chores this morning in the first snow, I looked at Red, dug in and purposeful, and I was reminded to be focused, to be clear, to stand in my truth, do my work, stay with it. I am not backing off “Second Chance Dog.”

I believe the blog and it’s followers are a huge – dominant –  factor in the book’s success, so are the Facebook contests, promotions and topics. As a writer, I can now reach many more people using new technology than I could ever reach flying around the country going to bookstores, many of whom no longer know how to bring people into their stores. Technology is not my enemy, it is my friend. I think most of these sales have been e-books, the rest paper books, I suspect it is close to 50-50. At the same time, one old-fashioned relationship – me and Battenkill Books – has been remarkably successful, we are closing in on 1,000 books sold there (Maria and I will personalize and sign them, we are giving away dog food, photos, potholders, books.)

Publishing is different for me, publicity is harder to come by, there are fewer reviewers, fewer bookstores,  the competition is ferocious. I am competing with Danielle Steel and her mouse dog, Cesar Millan, 101 Dog Tricks and Cute Dog Calendars and about a million free books on all possible subjects, including dogs and animals. I am butting heads with books that sell for $1.99 and $3.00. Even though my books are not only about dogs – they are never just about dogs – it is harder to reach that wider audience, publishing likes to tag books in genres, and although many people think I am famous, I know quite well that most people have never heard of me.

Although the marketing and new marketing ideas are fascinating and important, I believe that the most powerful element in selling the book is the book itself, something that never ought to be forgotten in all of the hype. I wrote my heart out on this book, the subject matter is my heart. I am touched by the heartfelt reviews of the book that have been appearing and one in particular, from Myrna, in Texas, on Amazon, caught my eye and reflected what I hope was the spirit of “Second Chance Dog.” Myrna wrote that she thought “Second Chance Dog” was a story of triumph over the earthly demons “who try to destroy our peace and try to make us believe what we are of no value. Katz’s triumph – Frieda and Maria –  “gives us all hope that our demons and second chance dogs can truly be mastered with patience and love.”

Everyone in publishing knows what really sells books is word of mouth – someone telling someone else they read a book and recommending it. I suspect that is beginning to happen here, we are getting it started, the rest is up to the fates.

I like that review (I like all good reviews) it captured the spirit of the book for me, it is a true Christmas story of hope and promise. Maria and Frieda and I were lost, we got our second chance, we fought for it with love and patience and commitment. I am going to keep this book tour going, right into Christmas, I hope you will all consider buying it from Battenkill Books, another way to buy a book and do good. You can order it on her website, or call the store at 518 677-2515. There are lots of other places to buy the book as well, you can find them here.

I thank you all for getting this book tour off to such a dazzling start, we are moving into the new world together, with open eyes and open hearts and minds, learning together and from each other. Somehow, miraculously, a community has formed around bedlamfarm.com and I suspect it will have an impact far beyond this place. An editor at Random House asked me how long I was going to keep this book tour going, I told them I was just getting started. Stay tuned.