The old roots of wine

I was lucky enough to attend the Kakheti Traditional Winemaking winetasting event here in Prague last week, where they were showcasing their wines in their push to start new export markets in Europe. Watch here and have a glimpse at the winetasting and learn something new about the history of wine.

The group singing there was Georgian Voices, a folk singing group from Tbilisi. Also present was Shvid Kaci from Ozurgeti and the local Czech-Georgian group, Haeri.

#Prague #festivals

8 lessons learned from a book launch

I never had time to talk about how the book release for Hunger went.

It was, I think, a success. These are small starts that I'm doing, with an intense focus, and I'm still figuring out the foundation for advancing the career of a modern writer, trying to figure out how to juggle all the social media networks between real-life meet-and-greets, and actually come to terms with the new reality that social media is part of real-life, it's an extension of it of sorts. What is done well on a small scale can certainly be escalated and go large, but I'm not quite ready for that. Ideally that will be when I've got a lot more time on my hands, back in Tbilisi, after my next book has been written...

reading "Frozen"

The book launch saw at least thirty books sold, and everyone having a good time. We served trays of Georgian food, and I had several musicians playing through the night, keeping people entertained in-between readings and while I was busy selling books and signing them.

The venue was at a place called A Maze In Tchaiovna, which is a fun little underground bar/community center in Prague 6, full of nice and comfortable places to sit, so it was still good in that people were able to relax while they listened to the readings.

Lots of comfy places to sit

Checking out the book

Things that went well:

• Musicians. This captivates the audience, keeps them there and interested, and allows you to chat with different people, sign books, and so on. Absolute necessity for any successful launch party. Though it might be more useful if I don't play at my own launch so that I could talk to more people...

• Readings. People really, really enjoyed the readings. I've included on at the bottom of this post.

• Food. We ordered tons of Georgian food. It was thematic too, since two of the short stories actually take place in Georgia.

food and merchandise

Things I wish I had thought of better:

• Book ordering. Because CreateSpace changed their shipper from DHL to UPS iParcel, the packages came a lot later than I expected. Where I had got used to DHL sending things ASAP, I didn't realize iParcel would only send things at the last moment allowed. This ruined my original promotional activities, and many people got confused in this regard about ordering the book too.

• Marketing. I had just gone on a week long trip before the event. I should have planned it out so I was here the week before so I could do a lot more blanket marketing, handing out flyers everywhere I went to everyone I talked to. Parties, coffee shops, bars, etc.

• Social media marketing. I'm just now getting wind of the entirety of the social media world, so now understand the usefulness of using Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and so on for promoting events too, and not just Facebook.

• Venue. It was perfect this time around, but next time I might think about a place where there's more room to stand up. A standing audience tends to be more engaged, or at least free to roam around and peruse books, meet others, and so on. This was an advantage when we held the How It Ends release at Zizkovsiska.

• Raffle. The raffle for promotional items (t-shirts and beer mugs) has been a mixed review and I'm not sure yet if it's worth the trouble. In Georgia it was a hit and we made at least one hundred dollars off of it, well off-setting its cost, but it only garnered a mediocre response here in Prague. We'll see about doing this again next time, especially as I get more merchandise for sale at RedBubble and experiment with various product designs.

reading "Broken Furniture"

I plan on doing a couple of more parties for Hunger. One in Tbilisi in August and one again in Prague in the winter. Stay tuned and order your copy of Hunger today!

#book #Prague

Deserving misery

Sitting on the 16th Street Mall in Denver with my parents at Ink Coffee, drinking the otherwise fine coffee out of a paper cup, while watching the rain patter on a newspaper a homeless guy was holding over his head, gave me a great deal of mixed feelings about America. Looking down, I watched the white steam float up while the heat of the coffee burned through the paper and into my hand.

Everything was clean and disposable, from the cups to the coffee to the people. That is the American way. Speed, service, rotation, and bottom line, no matter how many lives are lost and left on the wayside.

But it’s okay. They deserve it.

a begger and his dog

Those who lost their parents to cancer, or murder, they deserve it.

Those whose lives were lost in mountains of debt, balancing some family tragedy or another, they deserve it. They didn’t work hard enough. Dumb luck can always be overcome by a firm foundation and strong planning. Anyone who lacks in these things are snowflakes with fragile masculine egos. Let them suffer, let them die, because I’ve got a point to prove.

We all have points to prove.

Meanwhile that cardboard sign that fellow is holding wilts, the ink runs, the writing barely legible.

But we’ve got a point to prove.

An ideology to flash at people, so that we can feel comfortable. We can feel fine.

“Don’t make me feel sorry,” said someone to my mother, when she called for compassion. “To make me feel for them.”

It’s a horrible thing to be uncomfortable. To be called from this life. To turn away the temptation of an easy life, of an easy way.

Inside, where we sat, everything was dry, frequently swept, people in clean clothes come in and out, shuffling along, a part of some great system that devours souls and means nothing.

And that man stares inside, into the warmth, unable to even use the restroom since he hasn’t made a dime, the bad weather cutting into his earnings generating by those who want to do at least a minimum, who at least have a little discomfort.

Nobody said it was easy to be a good person.

In fact, that’s among the most difficult things. To turn down the indifference of modern society.

The writing on the cardboard, the ink runs and washes it away.

“God bless you,” it reads.

“But he hasn’t bothered with me.”

#rantsandraves #Denver