Details: Author Christa Avampato will be in conversation with Matt Misetich, Senior Executive and Partner at Pipeline Media Group, in a reserved space to start the party. There will be delicious food-to-order, 2-for-1 drink specials until 8pm, cake with a bit of magic, raffle prizes, and free giveaways for all guests. Then enjoy the cozy and relaxed bar with a hidden outdoor patio, pool table, and Caribbean vibe.
Emerson and I send you love. Photo by Christa Avampato
Hello all – I’m popping in here to say a big thank you. Last week 1,202 people downloaded and bought my first novel, Emerson Page and Where the Light Enters! World Book Night was the first special promotion I’ve ever done, and I had no expectation of how it would go. I’m so grateful to every one of you who downloaded and purchased the book.
It means so much to me, and I hope Emerson’s story brings you joy. If you feel inclined to write a review, you can do so here. Reviews help new readers discover the book.
Thank you again for all your wonderful support. I can’t wait to share the launch of my second book, Emerson Page and Where the Light Leads, in just two weeks on May 14th!
Me getting my recent Zometa infusion at Perlmutter Cancer Center
This is me at Perlmutter Cancer Center this week getting an infusion of Zometa, my own version of the Harry Potter Skele-Gro potion. The medications I take to prevent cancer recurrence have the unfortunate side-effect of decreasing my bone density. Zometa has the dual benefit of regrowing bone and reducing the risk of breast cancer recurrence. Isn’t that cool? The hope is I’ll only need 4 infusions (once every 6 months) so I’m halfway there! I also got all my annual bloodwork done and it’s perfect.
I get this infusion once every 6 months in the same chemo ward I went to during those dark days of active treatment in the midst of the pandemic before vaccines. I remember how sick and scared I was, how my dreams were on hold, and maybe out of reach. I’d flip through pictures of University of Cambridge and University of Oxford having put my graduate school applications to study environmental sustainability on hold, hoping I’d live to pursue those dreams.
Now I’m 3 months from finishing my degree at Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership. The dream came true. It was a dream delayed but not a dream denied, thanks to the incredible care I received and the many people who made it possible for me to heal. Science and medicine are incredible. Better living through chemistry.
Managing through ongoing care can be exhausting. I’m also extraordinarily lucky to have access to the best medical care in the world. There are so many who don’t. And if this is what it takes to maintain my health and live the life I imagine, that’s fine with me. There is so much I’m learning on the journey, and I’m grateful to be able to use it to help others.
Get yourself a friend like this: Ashley painted my soul dog, not once but twice, and then on her day off from her intense job went with me to Central Park to commemorate him by taking photos under his favorite cherry trees in full bloom of the paintings she painted and the felt likeness of him given to me by another sweet friend.
The locket I’m wearing has a lock of Phin’s hair in it. Phinny was certainly with us as we saw 5 dachshunds on our visit. His way of saying, “Hi, Mom! Hi, Ashley! I love you.” A pair of them, Otto and Oliver, were just 7 months old. Their dads had lost their 13-year-old dachshund, Arthur, a year before getting Otto and Oliver. “Nothing can bring the joy of your dog back as much as another dog.”
It’s been 3 months since Phinny passed away in my arms. This visit to his favorite part of the park during his favorite time of year with my dear friend did my broken heart so much good. I realize now this grief will never leave me. I’m learning how to carry it while also finding joy every day. We contain multitudes. Phinny is still teaching me. He’s always teaching me. Our love story continues.
It’s World Book Night and the eBook for my first novel, Emerson Page and Where the Light Enters, is FREE on Amazon all over the world TODAY ONLY! Click this link to go right to the Amazon page for the eBook and download it.
I’m so happy to be able to offer the first book of Emerson’s story to everyone to support this wonderful cause. Happy reading!
To support World Book Night, the eBook for my first novel, Emerson Page and Where the Light Enters, will be free on Amazon all over the world on Tuesday, April 23rd. World Book Night is an annual program created by The Reading Agency to encourage people to read a book for an hour every evening. I’m grateful for all the love readers have shown Emerson over the years, and I’m so happy to give back and support this wonderful cause.
Flowering trees in my Brooklyn neighborhood. Photo by Christa Avampato.
Yesterday I should have been inside working but the warmth and sun kept me outside most of the day. I was walking around gobsmacked by my beautiful Brooklyn neighborhood bursting with flowering trees. Cherry, apple, pink dogwood, lilac, redbud.
I’ve been thinking of buying a small home outside the city. On my walk yesterday I realized my neighborhood has everything I want and then some. Walkable, friendly neighborhood feel, plenty of green space, good public transit, 20 minutes by train to the beach and 20 minutes by train into Manhattan, delicious food, local shops. And unlike most other New York City neighborhoods, it’s mostly single-family homes. I ended up in exactly the right place, exactly where I wanted to be. So now I’m thinking about buying a home right here.
Sometimes, I wish I’d already done certain things. I wish I’d already met the love of my life, owned a home, had or created my dream job. And then I remember how important it is to trust the timing of our lives. Maybe I haven’t been ready for any of those things until now. And because none of that has materialized yet, I did lots of other things that have been wonderful in their own right. Maybe there were certain things I needed to learn first.
It may have taken longer than I would have liked to reach this point in life, but we arrive when we arrive. Maybe I had to travel through many other lives first to fully appreciate this moment, when anything and everything feels possible. I see my dog, Phineas, in all of it. He led me right to where I needed to be, and only then did he know it was okay to go. I just wish he was still here to see own home in springtime.
(Below are photos I took in my Brooklyn neighborhood. I can’t believe I live here!)
Eastern Redbud. Brooklyn, NY. Photo by Christa Avampato.
My Brooklyn neighborhood is in full bloom with flowering trees putting on a colorful show for all of us. One of the trees that always catches my eyes this time of year is the Eastern Redbud. They grow bright pink, purple, and red buds directly from their trunks. Known as cauliflory and found mostly in the tropics in species such as cacao, jackfruit, and papaya, the evolutionary purpose of this adaptation has a few hypotheses.
1.) Foster as many partnerships as possible With the ability to grow flowers on the trunk, the Eastern Redbud can produce more flowers, allowing for more seed dispersal and pollination opportunities. Additionally, more animals can act as pollinators. For example, small mammals climbing onto the tree trunks wouldn’t normally play a role in pollination when the flowers are on delicate branches that cannot support the weight of these mammals. However, with flowers growing on the main trunk that can support them, they act as pollinators for the redbuds just as much as birds and small insects.
For us, emulating a redbud means considering all of the potential partnerships we have around us. How can we change what we’re doing to help them help us? Even if someone doesn’t normally play a certain role, could they fill that role if we altered the system in a way that allows them to participate?
Eastern Redbud. Brooklyn, NY. Photo by Christa Avampato.
2.) Energy and resource savings Without the need to grow a network on many delicate branches, flowering directly on the trunk saves the tree energy, water, and food. These resources can be poured into creating more flowers and therefore greater pollination and seed dispersal. The redbud certainly takes advantage of this, and in full bloom appears to explode with flowers.
There is nothing worse in nature than waste. Wasted energy can and often does mean the difference between life and death. Are we using all the resources we have in the most optimal way? Can we change how we operate to make better use of the resources we have to meet our ends goals?
3.) A matter of physics In the case of trees such as cacao, jackfruit, and papaya, the fruit is too heavy for small delicate branches to bear. The weight of the fruit requires a sturdier structure so they grow directly from the trunk. This also allows the fruit to grow to a larger side, and again, allows for greater seed dispersal.
Sometimes we’re forced to do things a certain way for the sake of practicality and to best meet our end goal. Necessity may be the mother of invention, but practicality is the agent of adaptation, moving us along to do exactly what needs to be done.
Eastern Redbud. Brooklyn, NY. Photo by Christa Avampato.
Closing out the week on a high! I just found out that my upcoming novel, Emerson Page and Where the Light Leads, is an official selection for the 2024 New Media Film Festival in Los Angeles in June. One of my big goals for Emerson is to have her story made into a film or series so bumps like this within the film industry mean a lot. I’m grateful for this honor and I’m hoping I can get to LA for the festival in June.
On Coverfly, a platform that curates film, book, and media awards, my book is ranked in the top 34% of over 135,000 projects in all genres and formats, and top 19% of books and manuscripts.
Thank you to everyone who continues to champion Emerson and support me in my creative work. Your encouragement means everything to us.
On May 14th, the book will be available everywhere books and eBooks are sold. Pre-orders can be placed now on Amazon, Bookshop, and Barnes & Noble. The first book in the series, Emerson Page and Where the Light Enters, is available now in paperback and as an eBook everywhere books are sold.
My second novel, Emerson Page and Where the Light Leads, will be released everywhere books are sold in less than a month on May 14th. This week I’m focused on pitching the book to individual book reviewers. These are reviewers with popular websites and social media accounts who primarily focus on reviewing books. I wanted to share some top tips for authors who are pitching these reviewers:
Review their websites There are sites like BookSirens.com that make it easy to find book reviewers. It may be tempting for authors to just contact all reviewers on platforms like this and let the chips fall where they may. This hurts you and it hurts all other authors, too. Use these platforms to go to the individual websites. What does a reviewer care about? What’s their style and brand? Would your book be appealing to them, and if so, what you can you highlight about your book to get their interest?
Respect the reviewer’s guidelines By going to their websites, you will almost always find review guidelines. Please follow these to the letter. What do they want in the pitch? What do they not want in the pitch? What types of books and authors interest them? If they are not a match for you, don’t contact them. Again, they are flooded with requests. If they aren’t a match for your book, save your time and theirs, and move on.
Respect the reviewer’s genre and format preferences Within their guidelines, they will often define the genres and formats (paperback, ePub, PDF, etc.) they prefer. They may also define what they don’t want. Again, if they aren’t a match for you and your book, move on. I started out sending my PDF as an attachment in my pitches. Then I decided it was best to send the pitch without any attachment because the PDF is a big file and may clog their inboxes. So just send the pitch as an email with no attachment and include a link to your book or author website instead.
Personalize the pitch Now that you have all this information from the reviewer’s website, personalize your pitch. Give them everything they ask for and give them a reason to be interested in your book. Is there something on their website, social platforms, or in their bio that you love? Do they have a personal interest that matches with a unique aspect of your book? Touches like that show your care and generate connection.
Respect the reviewer’s time Authors are strapped for time whether or not they have an agent, and whether or not they have a publisher or have chosen to self-publish. (FYI — I don’t have an agent and I have a publisher.) Having a book published is launching a business. You, the author, need to do a lot of marketing and promotion of your book. There’s a temptation to save time and send mass emails to reviewers or take a “spray and pray” mentality. I get it. But please don’t do that. You are asking a reviewer to give hours of their time reading and reviewing your book. Make it easy for them to say yes by following their guidelines, preferences, and personalizing your pitch.
Have you successfully pitched book reviewers? What are some other top tips you would share?
Christa Avampato 