Tuesday, September 27, 2011

La Casa Azul Bookstore hosts Esmeralda Santiago

3 years ago I walked into El Museo del Barrio to introduce the recently launched bookstore website and to speak of possible collaboration with El Museo. Within an hour of meeting with the Director of Education and Public Programs – we had established IN OUR LINGO. This book club was unlike any other book club because the author would be present! It was a great opportunity for book lovers to meet their favorite authors, and to learn about up and coming writers. We began with one author a month, and eventually invited 2 authors a month because we want to feature as many Latino writers as possible. On average the meetings drew 12-20 people, an intimate gathering with an author – it was always a monthly highlight for me.

Tomorrow we celebrate the IN OUR LINGO’s 3 year anniversary with Esmeralda Santiago. It is truly an honor to host her, and I invite you to join us for the last IN OUR LINGO of the season.  (http://www.elmuseo.org/en/event/our-lingo-esmeralda-santiago)


El Museo del Barrio was the first organization that La Casa Azul Bookstore partnered with, and it had been a remarkable collaboration. THANK YOU Gonzalo for giving La Casa Azul Bookstore the opportunity it was looking for – here’s to many more years of partnership.


* * * *  * * * * 

80 people have contributed to the 40K in 40 days campaign! 

Mil gracias a tod@s! 


Newest Founder’s Circle members: 
M. Lucero Ortiz
Rafael Morales
Janet Geddis
Danny Martinez
Sarah Garza
Veronica Lui
Francisco Aragon
Jazmon Chavez
Rosanna Tirrito
Rebecca Doherty
Jennifer Becerra
Tran Templeton
Matthew Miller
James Estrella
Magdalena Saucedo
Cly Johnson
Dionisia Garcia
Gonzalo Casals
Lixel Marroquin
Cemile Guldal
Fabiola Carrion
Jennifer Kuida
Carmen Iniguez
Jose Stevenson
Arlene Davila
Nancy Ruffin
Martin Kaplan
Dawn Reshen-Doty
Denisse Andrade

Thursday, September 22, 2011

'40K in 40 days' on IndieGogo's home page!


40K in 40 days is featured on IndieGogo's home page!

GREAT NEWS!


I just got an email from the IndieGogo team and I could not believe what I was reading!

The 40K in 40 days campaign is on the site’s HOME PAGE!!
Our campaign site has gotten so many hits that it brought our numbers up high enough for the IndiGogo team to notice – nice!!

This again shows the power in numbers, thank you for forwarding the campaign link to fellow book lovers — let’s try to stay on the home page as much as possible. Home page = more exposure!

Si se puede!

Aurora Anaya-Cerda
Lady Libros

40K in 40 days campaign information:
Website: lacasaazulbookstore.com
Twitter: @lacasaazulbooks
Blog: luchalibrosnyc.blogspot.com

Thank you for your contribution to the 40K in 40 days campaign!

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Day 5 of the '40K in 40 days' campaign


Wow! The ‘40K in 40 days’ campaign is off to a great start!

It has been a VERY hectic time, between launching the campaign and preparing for the Brooklyn Book Festival, I had no time to post an update – until now. The Brooklyn Book Festival was amazing! Las Comadres and La Casa Azul Bookstore hosted 17 authors and many more stopped by to say hello. 
We were definitely a popular tent! 


Here are some images from Sunday’s book festival.

 Las Comadres and La Casa Azul Bookstore with authors and friends

Yuyi Morales, Dahlma Llanos Figueroa, Sergio Troncoso, Torrey Maldonado, Toni Plummer, Ana Galan, Alicia Anabel Santos




The '40K in 40 days' campaign also got some press coverage this week!

1. A post on Shelf Awareness on Thursday September 15

2. The New York Daily News ran a story about the campaign on Friday September 16

3. NY Remezcla posted an article on September 19



Newest Founder’s Circle members: 

Angelica Marin
Katharine Freeman
Kay Connelly
Luke Patterson
Karla Salazar
Luz Aguirre
Glendaliz Camacho
Irene Lara
Elizabeth Hamby
Hatuey M. Ramon Fermin
Jean Feiwel
Sergio Troncoso
Elizabeth Rincon
Isabel Martinez
Gabriela Arias
Laura Luna
William Santiago
Charlotte Schell
Betty Shamas
Natasha Bannan
Gil Fagiani
Marissa Billowitz
Eileen Gray
Laurie Ignacio
Jessica Stockton
Ana Orozco
Alicia Anabel Santos
Mia Hernandez
Richard Buthod


Thank you, 
Lady Libros

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

DAY 1 -- 40K in 40 Days campaign


DAY 1 -- 40K in 40 Days campaign


I thought it would be up all night thinking about the campaign launch, ‘did I proof read the website text, blog text, newsletter text and media release text enough?’, ‘did I miss anything?’, ‘what if something goes wrong and the blog/website/newsletter don’t work?’ – in the end I knew that I had done all I could to make sure that the launch would go off without a hitch.


I woke up to my first pledge – I couldn’t help but smile, I knew then that all had gone well – and that we were live.

Today’s grand total: $714!


Founder’s Circle members: 
Mary Ellen Sanger

Veronica Comstock
Julie Pycior
Cati de los Rios
Mercedes Lebron
Anjanette Delgado
Karina Robles
Barbara Alpert
Emmanuel Vonarx
Edwin Mayorga

Thank you, 
Lady Libros

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Welcome to Lucha Libros! 
If you are reading this, you know about the '40K in 40 days' campaign. If we raise 40K by October 24th, a generous supporter and strong believer in the bookstore's mission will match the amount - dollar for dollar! 
Isn't it awesome?! That means we will be one step closer to opening a real, physical, storefront in El Barrio! 
  
I want to take advantage of my very first post (ever!) to thank everyone who has supported me and La Casa Azul since it launched as an online store in 2008:  authors who have participated in festivals, book clubs and signings, customers who have purchased books online and at events, schools and organizations who have hosted me as I traveled the city with books in tow. 

To friends, family and fellow book lovers who has encouraged me, cheered me on and told me to keep going - I would not be here now, in this moment, with this amazing opportunity if it weren't for your support.


LET'S DO THIS!
Let's raise the 40K!   
Let's open La Casa Azul Bookstore in East Harlem!  

P'alante!
Aurora Anaya-Cerda
Lady Libros