Thursday, September 17 2009
Shameless Self-Promotion
It's not the cover of the Rolling Stone, but it is a whole darn magazine, all-Tim, all-the-time.
The story of how I came to write for Winemaker Magazine is a funny one. A dozen years ago a very nice publisher sent my company (at the time I worked for one of Winexpert's competitors, doing much the same thing I do today) a copy of their brand-new Magazine, and asked if we'd be interested in distributing it in Canada to our retailers. The marketing honcho tossed it on my desk and asked if I thought it was a good bet.
I reviewed it, and although the folks were earnest, in many cases the stories were full of misinformation about kit winemaking, denigrating it as 'cheating' or 'full of chemicals', and in spots the quality of writing was pretty rough. I told the marketing department this, and wrote a polite note to the publisher declining their request.
A couple of weeks later I got another letter from them, mildly indignant, asking what I meant by, 'Does not meet the standards of the home winemaking industry at this time'. Feeling a little uncomfortable (who wants to tell someone their baby is ugly, even if it looks like Clint Howard?) I wrote a line-by-line review of the magazine, noting factual errors, errant or unfounded opinion, and a bit of copy issues with editing and spelling, about four pages worth, and sent it off. This was really a generous gesture on my part, but I did feel genuinely sorry about turning them down--we needed a good magazine in the industry, but this just wasn't it.
I won't describe the letter I got back. Whoo! They did not like being told their baby was ugly, at all. I put it out of my mind and went back to whatever it is I do during the day. Can't make everybody happy all the time.
Fast-forward a couple of years and I got a very strange phone call from a lady named Kathleen, who described herself as the new co-owner and editor of Winemaker. She told me she had been cleaning up the office and had found my letter on a dartboard, so completely full of holes she could barely make out my address. She asked me if I had any ideas that would help improve the magazine, and she was so nice (and I loved the idea that someone was mad enough at me to put my work up on a dartboard) that I sat down and wrote a couple of pages on editorial direction, departments, stories, and tone.
A couple of weeks later she called me back, telling she'd gotten my letter. "So when can you start?"
I had no idea what she meant. "I have no idea what you mean" I told her, helpful as usual.
"These are great ideas, sure. But somebody has to write the articles and if you want to have a clear message like you say in your letter, then hadn't you better be the one doing it?"
She had a point, but at that time I'd actually published very few things: a dozen poems (really, really bad poems), a three-act play, and three seasons of a local cable TV music/comedy show that I also produced (think Wayne's World, but with a lower budget and no Garth). I gulped and promised to try.
The rest is (literally by now) history, and I graduated from contributor to Columnist and Feature Writer, along with sidelines in blogging and presenter at Winemaker's conferences.
The opportunity arose to make up a special issue for the Winemaker, the Kit Issue. The sister publication, Brew Your Own had done a beginner's brewing issue that worked out really well, and they thought it was time to put something together for all of our consumer winemakers who use kits. With a bit of juggling and re-writing on my end, and massive work by my editor Betsy and the art department it all came together. Cue the shameless promo:
If you have ever wished there was a place you could go where they had all the answers for your wine kit-related questions, a place where the guy who was responsible for giving you the right information had taken the time to write it all down, it's here!
Here's what you get:
- Getting Started:
- Gear Guide
- Kit making 1-2-3
- Picking the right kit
- Inside the box
- Keys to Great Winemaking
- Making Your Kit Wine Shine
- Warming Up to Ferment
- Water in Kit Wines
- Degassing
- Troubleshooting
- Storing and Ageing
. . . and so much more! The compiled wisdom of me, with ten years of insight and information. It's available at your local fine home winemaking supply store, through Winemaker Magazine at 802-362-3981, or over the internet from Winemaker's Website.
And just for the Loyal Readers of Tim's Blog, if you ship me your copy with a self-addressed envelope, I'll autograph it with a personal inscription, free*! Impress your friends, wow your family, decipher my penmanship! How can you lose?
Edited 20/09/09: Whoops, fixed the phone number and weblink. What can I say, I'm a poet, not a blogger.
Oh, no, wait. Shoot.
* Offer void where prohibited by law or common sense, decency or taste. Free offer may not be worth stated value. Limit to ten thousand copies per person. May cause the following symptoms: bloating, malaise, existential dread and a general feeling of uneasiness about clowns, mimes and Morris Dancers. Please do not combine with any other offers, drugs, or spiritual disciplines. Actual winemaking improvements will vary by user, but typically a really good read ensues.
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