My new book, Wicked Bugs, will be out in May 2011. No, this isn't the cover--this is the graphic design for a traveling exhibit that will be going around the country after the book comes out. If you happen to be affiliated with a botanical garden, science museum, zoo, etc., read all about the outdoor version of the exhibit here. There's also an indoor version, complete with (optional) live bugs--more news about that as I have it.
This is all coming about because I met the people at Outhouse Exhibit Services at a garden show in Kansas City. You never know what might happen in Kansas City.
More about the book in the fall, when I have a cover design and other details to share. Meanwhile, if your garden club, bookstore, botanical garden, Master Gardener group, etc would like to be a stop on the book tour in May/June 2011, shoot an email my way at amy at amystewart dot com. I'm putting a list of cities together for book tour consideration.
And now I'm back to proofreading bug names...
Some of you may remember that a few months ago, we posted an online survey to gauge the interest in a new website called GreatGardenSpeakers.com. The idea was to make it easier for garden clubs, botanical gardens, flower shows, conferences, and other such venues to find speakers with expertise in gardening, nature, horticulture, ecology, landscape design, and floral design.
Well, guess what? After a few hectic months of consultation and design, we're live and ready to start signing up speakers. Feel free to visit the site and check it out.
In particular, here are a few things you might want to do:
On a personal level, I've thought for a long time that a speakers bureau dedicated just to garden, nature, and design speakers would be a wonderful thing. Garden clubs and master gardener groups all over the country host speakers every month, but the program chair duties rotate annually, making it hard to stay in touch with them. Even the botanical gardens, flower and garden shows, conferences, etc. may have staff devoted to scheduling events, but they are often juggling so many things at once that it's hard to spend hours on the Internet searching for speakers.
Great Garden Speakers has some nifty features that I hope will make life easier for these groups. The ability to post Audience Reviews is a big deal as they rely on word-of-mouth recommendations. We also created a Coming to a City Near You feature that lets speakers post the cities they may be traveling to. That lets groups take advantage of speakers who are already coming through town, potentially saving on travel costs and fees.
Anyway, go check it out, and let us know what you think. Oh, and in case you were wondering--the geniuses responsible for getting this off the ground are:
Mary Ann Newcomer Amy Stewart
Change is good
