Cecil the Lion. 2002-2015.

It is August 1, 2015 and the collective conscious of the world has been awakened and heard the roar of Cecil the Lion this week. His needless brutal suffering and illegal death by the hands of a dentist from Minnesota has transcended time and space. The human population seems to have reached a sudden new level of existence and understanding about animal welfare and we all take some solace for that one aspect of this tragedy. All the artists in the book and I want everyone to know our outrage and sadness over this needless and illegal murder of Cecil the Lion.

Out of respect for the life of Cecil the Lion, I have decided to select several book artists of the month that focus on large African wildlife art ("hunted" trophy animals in Africa). One of the measures of a great wildlife artist is that one feels their love, respect, and personal connection to the animal. And, as of next weekend, the artists in the book will be sharing recent African wildlife themed art works (not in the book) and discussing and commenting on wildlife issues. We invite all the artists in the world to join in this tribute and discussion at www.facebook.com/contemporarywildlifeart  . ‪#‎cecilthelion‬ ‪#‎wildlife‬ ‪#‎artists‬

Cecil the Lion 2002-2015.

Book artist of the month Chris Wilson

Chris Wilson from Marietta, Georgia has been selected as the Contemporary Wildlife Art book artist of the month at  www.facebook.com/contemporarywildlifeart

His website is at Wilsonwildlifesculpture.com

Below is a sneak peak of one of his sculptures in the book.

Free Book Contest Today on the Facebook Page for the Book

Book Contest Details and Rules.

I have randomly selected one number (from a random number generator website) between 1 and 2500. Each person may guess one time only between the hours of 2-4 PM EST on Sunday May 24, 2015. A new post will be on the page on Sunday to identify where to post your guess. The person with the closest guess (in the 2 hour time frame) without going over, will win a free book signed by me and shipped free. The winner will be PM'd on Facebook and must respond within 24 hours with their name and mailing address. If the winner does not respond, the second closest guesser (without going over) will be notified and become the new winner. The book will be mailed out the following Saturday morning. Good luck to all!

Enter a guess at https://www.facebook.com/contemporarywildlifeart

Press Release for the book from Schiffer Publishing

Two more weeks until the release of the book and Free book contest.

The book is scheduled to be released on April 28, 2015. It may take a week or so to be fully in stock at the retailers.

Some additional retailers include:

Warwicks  This is a book retailer in LaJolla, California.

Waterstones The last remaining chain of specialist bookshops on the High Street.


The countdown is on!!!

I will also be doing a free book contest in late May.  Stay tuned to the Contemporary Wildlife Art book page on Facebook.  Be sure to like the page to keep up on upcoming contest details.

More retailers for the book and don't click on e-links!

WARNING: There are numerous links popping up which claim to be e-links for the book. Please do not click on them. Most collector type books are not sold in e-format yet since purchasers want to display an actual copy of the book.

And some new retailers include the following:
 
This is a Minneapolis, MN bookstore.    Magers & Quin

Founded in 2012, Wordery is one of the world's fastest growing independent book sellers.  Wordery

Another Austrralian bookshop.  QBD.com

I am now on Instagram.

https://instagram.com/cindy_ann_coldiron/

Follow me for updates to all my books and art.

The book will be sold at major retailers.

Both Target (Click here) and Walmart (Click here) are now taking orders for the book. 

Thank you Target and Walmart!

Here is the book dedication.

This book is dedicated to all the beautiful and interesting wildlife that make us reflect both on their value in our world and on our moral and social responsibilities as caretakers for such wildlife.

As Mahatma Gandhi stated," the greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated."

Legitimate Publishers vs. Vanity Publishers

If you are an artist with a website, you probably receive an email now and then from vanity book publishers who tell you they have pre-selected "You!" to be in their great future art book. And all you have to do is pay a huge "entry" fee and buy two to ten overpriced books.

Several years ago, I was curious as to how the vanity publishing book process actually compared to a legitimate publisher so I decided to conduct a little experiment. I found a vanity publisher who had recently emailed me with an entry fee that was on the lower end and required me to purchase two $70 paperback books. And wonders of wonders, I was formally "accepted" for the book as soon as I paid the entry fee. They had not even received my images at this point. The email claimed online multiple art professionals were "jurying " the book yet I could find no background or art resume information on these jurors.

In comparison, a sizable number of artists submitted images for the book but unfortunately were not accepted. Typically, it was because the artist was more at an entry or beginning level in their career. In other circumstances, even if I loved the work, the images were not of acceptable quality. An artist could have a 20 page resume but if their images were not professionally photographed, they could not be selected for the book. In some cases, even the selected artists had to go the extra mile and take additional detail shots of their accepted works.

Once I submitted the images of my art work and a "cut and paste" artist statement from my website, more than a year elapsed with no contact from them. At one point they did mail (snail mail) a proof of my pages but there was no response when I asked questions. Even more importantly, they never asked me any questions to clarify anything. For every artist in my book, there were always multiple occasions where I needed to ask clarifying questions to assist in both educating the future reader and having the reader understand the content.

The vanity publisher never explained the process or the status of the book. It was clear that they had little interest in creating original content or having me adapt my artist statement to address the selected images. They never asked for a signed release from me and the photographer of my work which is the standard in the publishing industry. There was no explanation of any process and no personal interaction in terms of creating an unique product.

I continued to email them almost every month with no response from anyone. After a year and a half I received what looked like some sort of computer generated statement that "the book will be out soon." Finally a low end overpriced paperback was printed and also pre-released online (the entire book was online!).

The book had not been through the numerous quality control processes that we use from the author and multiple editors at various stages in the book process. The book had many typos and errors and looked like a junior high collage product. The book was not a true juried and curated selection of art. And what annoyed me to no end was that they listed my name as "Cynthia!" I had never submitted any information stating this was my first name. I emailed them about their errors and of course no response. The book was simple canned statements from artist websites into a pre-determined book template.

The book was not for sale anywhere online, not even on Amazon and almost anyone can sell on Amazon. The experience was disappointing but not surprising. It also verified and completely supported what I had read about vanity publishers.

Amazon sells all over the world.

 The book is also being sold through various Amazon sites including Amazon Japan, France, the UK, and Germany
 
Click here to see the book on Amazon Japan .

Click here to see the book on Amazon France.

Click here to see the book on Amazon UK.

Click her to see the book on Amazon Germany.

Ranked #2 on Amazon's hot new releases (plant and animal category)

The book is currently listed at #2 in the plant and animal category on Amazon's hot releases. http://www.amazon.com/gp/new-releases/books/5824917011/ref=zg_bs_tab_t_bsnr

Free book contest in May 2015!!!

Just like https://www.facebook.com/contemporarywildlifeart!  More details in May 2015!

The Book is doing very well in early sales!

 Here is a recent ranking below from Amazon. A big thank you for all the early orders!!!

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #50,503 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

• • #31 in Books > Arts & Photography > History & Criticism > Themes > Plants & Animals

Just a few places where the book will be sold.

Although we still have about 10 weeks until the book release, here are a few places where it will be sold:

http://www.hive.co.uk/book/contemporary-wildlife-art/20505055/
This is a UK book retailer.

Rakuten.com
"Rakuten.com Shopping engages nearly 12 million educated, savvy, and influential shoppers each month. Since 1997, Rakuten.com Shopping (formerly Buy.com) has been a trusted advertising destination for high-impact campaigns that build brand awareness and drive direct response goals."

http://www.emka.si/contemporary-wildlife-art/PR/1792888

"More than a million Slovenian and foreign books and richest selection of school supplies in Slovenia."

http://www.uread.com/book/flowers-in-art-cindy-ann/9780764342394
"uRead is an endeavour which was kick-started to provide its customers a valued and absorbing experience with a strategic marriage of the old school bookstore warmth with the new age technological convenience.
To nurture this dream and reach out to users, not only in India, but to a Global audience of Book lovers, uRead has constantly evolved its processing systems, technology and support functions.
uRead has a network of over 10,000 Publishers across the Globe and an exhaustive collection of over 11 million Indian and International titles, across hundreds of categories and sub-categories."

http://cdon.no/b%C3%B8ker/coldiron,_cindy_ann/contemporary_wildlife_art-31699222
"CDON.COM is part of Qliro Group, a leading e-commerce group in the Nordic region. Since its launch in 1999, the group has expanded its product portfolio its that today being a leading E-commerce player in the consumer goods and lifestyle products through CDON.COM, Lekmer, Nelly (Nelly.com, NLYman.com, Members.com) Gymgrossisten (Gymgrossisten.com/ Gymsector.com, Bodystore.com, Milebreaker.com) and Thirty."

Release Date April 28, 2015 for "Contemporary Wildlife Art"

At long last, my third book titled "Contemporary Wildlife Art" from Schiffer Publishing has a release date set for late April 2015. This book was a two year process that entailed researching and curating for original wildlife art across all mediums. I greatly appreciated the patience of the selected and very talented artists while we went through a rewrite and a slight change in the direction of the book which is a rather common occurrence in the publishing world. While most books on wildlife art tend to focus on one medium, I felt it was important to do a comprehensive survey. As an artist, one of my major goals is always to inspire future artists and have them realize the wide range of artistic mediums available if they have an interest in a specific subject.

The book description is as follows:

"Over 360 spectacular art pieces are accompanied by personal statements from 74 artists in this curated selection of contemporary works. The artists, who come from across the United States, and from places such as New Zealand, Australia, and the United Kingdom, all convey their respect, enthusiasm, and personal connections to wildlife. A wide range of styles and media is covered including photography, glass, relief woodcarving, mosaics, pastels, oil, watercolor and acrylic painting, bronzes, stoneware, terracotta and porcelains, ink, graphite and colored pencil, digital illustration, felted sculpture and fabric collage, and more. Examples of wildlife presented are bears, birds, elephants, monkeys, pandas, tigers, foxes, wolves, owls, seals, and even insects. This book is a great gift for wildlife and nature enthusiasts, interior designers, museums, art collectors, art educators, and artists."

Click here to see the book on Amazon

Schiffer Publishing has a wonderful array of books including art, military history, crafts, pop culture topics, and more. "A family-owned, independent publisher of high- quality, nonfiction books since 1974, Schiffer has published thousands of titles on the diverse subjects that fuel our readers' passion. From our traditional subjects of antiques and collectibles, arts and crafts, and military history, Schiffer has expanded its catalog to publish books on contemporary art and artists; architecture and design; food and entertaining; the metaphysical, paranormal and folklore; and pop and fringe culture, as well as books for children."  Visit their website and learn more at: Schifferbooks.com

The book can also be seen in the Spring 2015 catalog (page 9) from Schiffer Publishing at http://www.schifferbooks.com/newcatalogs/aa/index.html

Early Publicity on the Upcoming Book

I wanted to send a big thanks to artist Lora Mercado who took the time to mention the upcoming book in an article by the Northwestern Indiana Times (Lake Michigan Shore Style and Culture Section) on her art work.  Lora is one of the artists juried into the upcoming book.

Click here to read the article on Lora's art work.

Author Update/Note: The book went through a rewrite and a slight change in direction which often happens in the publishing world.  But all is well and the book will be released soon.