Feast update & cookbook holiday gift ordering info!
I think at this point we have shipped almost all the Kickstarter orders that are just books. There are some exceptions — some order sheets are inexplicably missing information (like, oh, an address), and so we have to go back to the original orders and figure out what’s up. And there’s talking to locals to see who wants pickup instead of delivery. And international orders are a little complicated because they require the post office and a customs form (we think). So some bits still to figure out.
But still, we have sent out a LOT of books this week, and now we’ve started packing up the more complicated orders, the ones that come with curry powder or sweets or bath indulgences. Which, honestly, is kind of fun to pack. Not that it wasn’t also a pleasure gently sliding hundreds of beautiful hardcover books into padded envelopes… 
We’re hoping to get all those out next week; my informal personal deadline is to have Kickstarter physical items shipped by Friday December 6, fingers crossed. (The gluten-free digital cookbook and the cooking videos will take a little longer, but I’m hoping to get them done by the end of the year. They’re in progress, and finishing them will be nice holiday projects for me once the semester ends.)
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Here is the timeline if you haven’t ordered copies yet and want to, or if you want to tell all your friends they need this book:
RIGHT NOW: You can order hardcovers, paperbacks, ebooks, and curry powder on the Serendib Kitchen website shop (www.serendibkitchen.com), and we should ship them within two weeks of ordering, so barring disaster, in plenty of time for holiday gifting. I’m happy to sign and/or personalize these if desired. If you want to add sweets or bath indulgences, that may be possible, mostly depending on how much I have on hand — at this point, it’s best to just message me and ask if you’re interested in something, and I’ll let you know what the price would be.
RIGHT NOW: You can also order the hardcover from the Mascot Books website, and while they say it’s a pre-order, in actuality, they will likely start shipping those out as soon as they get books in warehouse, which they expect by mid-December if not sooner. https://mascotbooks.com/…/coo…/regional/a-feast-of-serendib/ (We, and they, would LOVE it if you would post a review on Amazon and/or GoodReads…)
RIGHT NOW: Locals can also walk over to support a small LGBT-owned indie bookstore, Jake’s Place Books, in the Harrison Street Arts District. It’s the only bookstore carrying it right now! They have both hardcovers and paperbacks in stock. (I can’t remember if they’re signed, but if you’d like a signed copy, just call and let them know, and they’ll let me know, and I’ll stop by and sign them. )
RIGHT NOW: You can join the Sri Lankan cooking club: To get the full set of recipes tested in the last few years, subscribe to my Patreon cookbook club for $2 / month. I’m continuing to develop and post recipes regularly. https://www.patreon.com/mohanraj
EARLY DECEMBER: We’ll be pitching to corporate buyers in early December, so please cross all your fingers and toes for me. If Costco picks it up, for example, I can breathe a huge sigh of financial relief.
BY MID-LATE DECEMBER: We hope to have listings available online at major booksellers like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books A Million, for both hardcover and ebook (Kindle and ePub. (The paperback and PDF will still only be available from me directly at Serendib Kitchen; neither of those have photos, but will have a link to a full online photo archive.)
MARCH 2020: Formal ‘launch,’ which mostly means that’s when all the real publicity will be pointing towards, and which gives bookstores time to get it ordered and shipped to them. So Jan / Feb will be quiet, and we’ll be trying to schedule events and publicity after that.
JULY 2020: Benjamin and Mary Anne go on book tour, starting at ReaderCon and ending with a SLF writing festival thingie on Saturday July 25th. Details TBD, but will probably involve a reading, maybe some writing workshops, etc.
July 26, 2020: My 49th birthday. Right now, I’m thinking I may spend it sleeping. (Unless Oprah calls…)