Well here I am in New York City...my second day and already have had awesome Italian food and eaten the best Reuben ever at the famous Carnegie Deli. Dude, the potato pancakes rocked, too!
Thought I would send a short video post to tell you what we are working on...and, if you get a chance, go to the new book selling website they are creating and give me some feedback about it. It is called GardenBookStore.net . They want it to be more interactive, more engaging...if you leave a comment on my blog in response, you will get a chance to win one of my Growing Food: A Guide for Beginners books! I will put everyone's name in my orange garden hat and draw.
Here's the video:
**Update: we have a winner folks! K Youell, come on down! Thanks for all of your comments...Cool Springs Press has given us a special discount as a thank you. From now until June 7, when you purchase something from http://www.gardenbookstore.net you will get 20% off. Use JA09 as the discount code.
Interesting site especially with the books being local. Wish my area had more garden related books, oh yeah I could write one...lol!
Keep up the good work!
Posted by: Kiva, Farmstead Lady | May 28, 2009 at 02:29 PM
Looks good over all. One thing I caught is in Texas section is not all the books shown matched with the titles given underneath them. But overall a very cool site.
Posted by: Paula | May 28, 2009 at 02:36 PM
The site could include blogs for authors that are published by the press as a way to help encourage the readers to interact with the writers.
Posted by: Michael Nolan | May 28, 2009 at 02:38 PM
Cool site! I just purchased "Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades" and it makes me a lot more confident to know I can put all of this information into practice without having to worry about whether it really pertains to this wet climate.
Posted by: Emily | May 28, 2009 at 02:40 PM
ooo, I like Michael's blog idea!
Posted by: Emily | May 28, 2009 at 02:41 PM
I can't hear the video (need to reboot again, totally my prob not yours), but I'll forget to come back if I do that! I wanted to say that I love the inspiration you give to help newbies like me willing to even try to grow food. I've always had a black thumb, but now I have hope!
Posted by: KYouell | May 28, 2009 at 02:44 PM
Right before you posted this blog, I had followed your Facebook suggestion to check out the GardenBookStore site. I happen to be in the market for some vegetable gardening books, but don't know what I want so this timing is perfect!
I love the front page of the site... it had everything that has piqued my interest lately (Squarefoot Gardening feature, all the best gardening books on slideshow, gardening tips). But the thing that really drew me in was the "books for where I live" feature at the top.
Since I'm a new gardener, I'm easily overwhelmed by all there is to know, try, and discover. Filtering first by where I live is a great start. I'm also a condo dweller with a 5x7 balcony on which to "garden" so am particularly interested in container vegetable gardening, as well as seed germination, vermicomposting and uber-creative space utilization.
If I had to come up with a suggestion for the site, it might be to expand the selection beyond books published by traditional publishing houses (i.e. Lulu, websites, forums, blogs, podcasts). Perhaps that would be beyond the scope of a traditional "bookstore" but then that's what happened with Amazon, no?
Hope this helps. Thanks for you do, Jean Ann, for we fledgling gardeners!
Posted by: DeDe | May 28, 2009 at 03:01 PM
Great idea for a site. Love that it's broken down by state! Really helpful. My state only had a handful of books, but it's a good beginning. I love the idea about having blogs by gardening authors or adding some kind of feature where a newbie like me can connect with/get advice/more info from the experts would be helpful too.
Posted by: Alicia Ghio | May 28, 2009 at 03:06 PM
Good job! That new site looks cool. Florida dirt needs all the help it can get!
Posted by: electric_goldfish | May 28, 2009 at 03:16 PM
Oh snap, sorry for the double post (pretend it's 1)but in addition to your social networking idea, I'd really be interested in a link list of gardening clubs and/or public (or shared) gardens in each area. I am having a heck of a time finding local ones!
Posted by: electric_goldfish | May 28, 2009 at 03:21 PM
I was unable to find "Can't Miss Container Gardening" by Felder Rushing. Even after clicking its icon on the Home page. It took me to the "Garden Shed" page. I entered "Can't Miss Container Gardening" in the search box and it brought up "Small Space Gardening." A completely different book. So, for now, I'm giving the site a D-. All it takes is one frustrating experience trying to find a particular item, and I do my shopping elsewhere.
Posted by: TC | May 28, 2009 at 05:05 PM
Cool website!
Posted by: Brandi Alexander | May 28, 2009 at 07:25 PM
I know quite a bit about gardening but still found info here that was a learning experience.
I really like the site. Good for you!!
Posted by: Donna Meinze | May 28, 2009 at 07:31 PM
It would be great to see the option to buy the book in an email or more instant format. Also to have a psot for reviews for each book.
Posted by: Jessica | May 28, 2009 at 07:31 PM
Great site! Loved the books for Texas all in one place. The clay in which we garden needs lots of help and instruction for us newbies. The thumbnails didn't always match the titles listed and probably need to be proofed.
Posted by: gdert9 | May 28, 2009 at 07:39 PM
Love this idea! I will sign up for the tip of the week for sure. I would take out the movement of changing pictures in the center of the front page, any movement makes me want to get out of the page asap. great work!
Posted by: Julia | May 28, 2009 at 07:46 PM
What a colorful book site, I was immediately drawn in by the bright colors and the changing pictures.
I am not a new gardener, with 25 years or so under my belt, so I have several of the books and have read many more, and you present them invitingly.
I think one of the trends of the future, is the concept of edible landscaping, and there are a few good books about that. With Michelle Obama doing her organic vegetable garden in view of the street, I think this will become a little more popular. Rosalind Creasy has a few books about it, which are Really beautiful.
Being in zone 10B, I am in a tiny subsection of the country, so I appreciate your dividing the books into where we live. There are always books on cold zones, but here we deal with heat, rain, humidity and hurricanes, so need specialized advice.
Good luck with the blog and the garden bookstore.
Posted by: Christina Avati | May 28, 2009 at 07:47 PM
I do like the site but the prices for Texas books are a little high I think, (anywhere from about $5 to over $100.00)but that's just me. Will be interesting to visit back and see how it develops.
Hilda >^..^<
Posted by: Hilda | May 28, 2009 at 07:47 PM
I think the site looks pretty good - the biggest piece missing is a space for reader reviews. I know that I rely heavily on readers feedback when I'm buying any book, and gardening books are no exception. Perhaps I missed the ability to rate/review a book?
Keep up the great work!
Posted by: Metroknow | May 28, 2009 at 08:07 PM
I think interactive is the way to go. Example, show video of a beautiful garden, focus on one aspect per video and then break it down so it could be duplicated using video segments with the individuals own tastes added in to personalize the end results. Show viewers/beginners the fun is in the trying and if they truly are beginners, to not to let fear stop them from the experience. Especially in these times, it would also benifit all to get back to the lost art of growing your own.
Posted by: D Koch | May 28, 2009 at 08:35 PM
Perhaps you could make the Kindle versions of the gardening books available?
Also--since you have individual state pages for the books, how about posting bios of the authors? Perhaps you could allow readers to submit photos of their gardens for uploading to the different state pages? Or maybe create Flickr wallpaper for them..?
Posted by: Carla Axtman | May 28, 2009 at 08:37 PM
Hi Jean!
What a neat site! It's so much more helpful to find all the gardening books you need in one place, and neatly categorized.
A place to leave comments/reviews on each book would be great! I really get alot of help and useful information from product reviews.
I think a gardening forum that is accessible right from the site would be great. It would probably be great to not only discuss gardening tips and things but also have an area to discuss the books as well.
This may be a stretch but it would be nice to be able to see inside some of the books, like on Amazon. (I know bad word!) LOL!
Also what about books that incorporate gardening AND farming? If you weren't wanting to stretch too far into farming that makes sense but maybe just some books that deal with how certain animals can be beneficial to gardening as well as ad too your home grown grocery list. I know Chickens would be a big one, manure, if allowed to free roam (Even if only occasionally) they control pests, Can be fed with left over items from your own garden as well, and then you are rewarded with beautiful EGGS! :) And well meat if you want! HEHE! Sorry to go on a diatribe...but you get my idea....
Posted by: Emilee N. | May 28, 2009 at 08:37 PM
Interesting site. Ant reason it has a 'net' instead on 'com' extension?
The regional listing are quite nice, and the titles in my state's listing are all pertinent. The books listed are all worth reading, and many, if not most, appear in the local botanic garden's bookstore.
There many pages of results listed for California, and an optional sub-grouping (with tags like vegetable, native plant, propagation, trees, etc.) would be a nice touch. Additionally, a search function within the current selection would be really helpful (although that may go against the intent to create a browsing audience).
Customer reviews would be a welcome feature, and it could be a feature of the call for social media reader/author interactions.
The one comment regarding expanding the selection to Lulu and other publishers is interesting. I imagine you would like to see your own title listed, as well. Inclusion with main stream publishers would be a boon to the self-published and might prompt more people to try their hand at creating e-books. Being listed in a gardening catalog would certainly reduce the need to do a lot of web promotion to reach readers.
BTW - How's your new title doing?
Posted by: Mike Taylor | May 28, 2009 at 10:22 PM
Thanks for the link. This is a good resource for garden book-hoarders like me. I need to consult 2 books before planting, pruning, watering anything it seems. I will pass this on to our Facebook garden swap group.
cheers, b
Posted by: Becca B. | May 28, 2009 at 11:12 PM
I would like to see more interaction with other gardening sites. It seems to me that both you and other gardening websites could benefit from some shared guest features...shall we call it cross pollination?
Posted by: Nicholas | May 28, 2009 at 11:17 PM