2011 was quite a year - personally and professionally. I started working as a graphic designer at Dalhousie University in January, a little over a month before I launched my book twentythree. I'm thrilled that almost 300 people have a copy of twentythree either on their bookshelf or coffee table. I didn't really have specific goals set, or a communications plan or a marketing plan. It all kind of unfolded. Looking back on 2011, these are the top 5 missbrenna highlights.
1. The arrival of twentythree
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| 100 copies of the book arrived a few days before the launch. They sold out in 2 weeks. |
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| Pretty, pretty, pretty happy... |
Seeing twentythree for the first time - This is a video of me opening the box. I forgot it existed.
2. Launch at the Hub & Inverness County Centre for the Arts
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| The Hub, Barrington Street, Halifax (February 25, 2011) |
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| This wall was the inspiration for printing the pages of the book as posters. I wanted to see the entire book on one wall. Also, I wanted people to be able to interact with the images, questions and answers. |
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| The poster wall. It turns out the posters are extremely popular. People have spent up to 15 minutes looking through the posters deciding which one they want to buy. |
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| Launch in my hometown (Inverness, Cape Breton). I'm very proud of where I come from and was so happy to have this event in Inverness at the Arts Centre. It was truly the only other thing I wanted to do after publishing twentythree. The best parts were having both sides of my family present, my favourite teacher, and Frank MacDonald (yes, the author, Frank MacDonald introduced me). |
3. Lumiere
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| Lumiere was held, for the first time, in Sydney, Cape Breton in October. Lumiere is an "Art at Night" event, very similar to Nocturne in Halifax. It was a terribly rainy night but people came out by the dozens. This was an incredible event. People were really into answering the questions and reading the answers from twentythree. Now, to figure out what to do with all of these responses. |
4. Shoptalk in the Coast
My all-time favourite column in the Coast is Shoptalk. It is a sweet little column that gives snippets of information about local shops, restaurants, artists, etc. twentythree was included in the December 3, 2011 column of Shoptalk.
twentythree in Shoptalk
5. Carbonstok
Just recently, I contacted Carbonstok to see if they'd be interested in carrying the suite of twentythree products. They said YES! So now, twentythree - the book, posters, prints, cards and conversation cards - are available at Carbonstok on Barrington Street in Halifax!! I love Carbonstok - it's a cool store that supports local. twentythree is also available at the Bearpaw in Inverness, Atlantic News on Queen Street in Halifax and online: http://missbrenna.bigcartel.com/.
2011 has been an awesome year. I'm so appreciative to my family, friends, co-workers and the contributors who have supported me and gave me the confidence to "go for it!" Because of those first 100 books I sold, I was able to order 150 more and then another 100. People have shared the book with family and friends and slowly the word is getting out about twentythree.
Someone from British Columbia told me they heard about twentythree on CBC radio. A girl stopped and took a photo of my logo - missbrenna because her sister's name is Brenna. A woman told me she was going to share the book with her family on Christmas morning. Teachers have bought the book to use in their classroom. I've witnessed people cry and laugh while reading twentythree. Someone told me, "This is like Post Secret but much cooler." Wow, what a compliment.
I'm excited for 2012...
To stay up-to-date:
www.missbrenna.ca
missbrenna on Facebook
missbrenna23 - twitter
missbrenna23 channel - YouTube videos related to twentythree
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