Category Archives: The Eden Alternative

The Real TRIBES of EDEN

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Here is the funny thing about “Tribes of Eden,” the book. The story it tells is actually inspired by the REAL tribes of Eden, by us. When you stop to think about it, what could be crazier and more hair raising than a small band of like-minded people deciding to change the very nature of a major component of the American health care system?

That’s us and we are doing it. A few years ago it became clear to me that not only would the real tribes of Eden need to work as hard as we could INSIDE the field of long-term care, we would have to work outside the field as well. Changing the way America views aging is going to help us change the way America cares for elders.

But how do we get “outside the field?”

My thoughts returned to the thing that has, more than anything else, helped Eden to grow… Stories. The book “Tribes of Eden” takes the story of the real tribes of Eden (that’s us!) and moves it to the biggest stage. The book presents a future where our entire society has been “institutionalized.” Except. Of course. A small band of people who believe in the power of relationship, of dignity, of truth, of age — we are them and they are us.

I won’t give much more of the plot away but I can say that the “Tribes of Eden” won’t be able to do its job of changing social attitudes toward age and elders unless and until, the real tribes of Eden take up the cause and help bring this book to the wider audience of our friends, our families and our neighbors.

All of the money from the sales of the book go to The Eden Alternative in support of our shared work so this is a pleasing triple win; the book is a fun and exciting read, the money goes to Eden and it can help us challenge and overcome our society’s pervasive ageism.

What do you say REAL tribes— are you ready to ride?

TRIBES of EDEN To Publish April 2 — How We Did It

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Tribes of Eden Reviewers Copies

Advanced Review Copies of TRIBES of EDEN

I have good and bad news for fans eagerly awaiting the print edition of Dr. Bill Thomas’ new novel TRIBES of EDEN. The good news is last week we received a shipment of the “advance review copies” (ARCs) for media and book reviewers and we set the official date for publication. The bad news — you still have to wait a couple more months to purchase TRIBES, which will be released April 2, 2012.

Check out the official Press Release at www.PitchEngine.com/TribesofEden.

Why the long wait? Actually, in book publishing time we’re managing to bring TRIBES to print faster than the speed of light. Working with a small team of dedicated professionals we were able to do in two months what most New York publishing houses take a year or more to accomplish. And it we didn’t do it by cutting corners.

With financial backing from The Eden Alternative non-profit (who will receive 100 percent of the proceeds from TRIBES) Bill launched an independent publishing company called SANA Publications. I was tasked with assembling an editorial, artistic and marketing team capable of producing a  finished novel of the highest caliber and executing a grass-roots social media-based marketing campaign to rival any publishing house. I enlisted the help of Right Livelihood, LLC, a book publishing consulting firm headed by Melissa Brumer.

As a start-up publishing house, our production team was able to focus exclusively on TRIBES, which is something you never get working with a larger publisher. In just weeks graphic designer extraordinaire Jonas LaRance produced more than a dozen concepts for the cover art, which we were able to vet through focus groups and market testing. Melissa, our lead editor, book designer and an expert in sustainable publishing practices, took what was already an excellent manuscript and hammered, scraped, sanded and polished it into a beautifully laid out finished book. We also brought in an eBook designer, Natalie Goudry and a small team of copy editors (who are still picking tenaciously through the final paperback manuscript before we send to the publisher at the end of the month).

In fact, the marketing aspect of publishing a novel is turning out to be more time consuming than the actual production. We can match (and in my opinion exceed) the production expertise of the publishing industry, but we cannot compete with their clout when it comes to distribution and marketing. Typically, the big New York publishing houses publish a few thousand new novels per year. But only a small handful those — a few dozen at most — are actually touted as potential bestsellers and given full marketing and distribution support. That means printing tens of thousands of copies sent out to all the major book chains and getting prime access to national media and book reviewers. Even with all that support fewer than five on average attain bestseller status.

Now, you should know that Bill worked with one of the best literary agents in New York — Lane Zachary of Zachary Shuster and Harmsworth – for three years in an attempt to get that kind of support for TRIBES. It was through this process that we learned that as a first-time novelist, Bill had virtually zero percent chance of getting the bestseller treatment, even if he landed a big publisher. (With nonfiction it’s a completely different story — as readers know, Lane easily sold Bill’s upcoming nonfiction book, The Second Crucible, to Simon and Schuster last summer. But they wouldn’t even look at the novel.)

It was a no-brainer when Bill finally told Lane to quit pushing the novel and decided to publish it independently. Why give the publishers 90 percent of the profits when they’re not even going to work very hard to promote your book? Instead, we can deliver it directly to our audience and 100 percent of the profits will go to supporting elders through The Eden Alternative, the inspiration for TRIBES.

So how do plan to compete with the big publishing houses in terms of marketing? One word — relationships. We have the message, the tools and the network at our finger tips to foster and grow the kinds of relationships it takes to make a book a bestseller. The publishing game has fundamentally changed and bestsellers are no longer determined by big shot newspaper book reviewers and the chain book stores. The number one driver of book sales is Word of Mouth, and that is something we know how to generate.

Working closely with Jonas (also an experienced expert on marketing and branding) and Melissa, I’ve laid out a three month campaign focused on building word of mouth support for TRIBES. Rather than focus on mainstream media book reviewers, we’re reaching out to Amazon’s Top 100 Reviewers, real life readers whose book reviews have potential to carry more weight than the New York Times. Already we’ve got Amazon’s No. 2 reviewer “Scott” and No. 6 “C.F. Hill” committed to reviewing TRIBES, and we’re reaching out to dozens more.

Rather than depending on Oprah or the morning talk shows to give Bill airtime (although we wouldn’t say no!) we’re coordinating a massive virtual Blog Book Tour through the ChangingAging Blogstream and influential book blogs to help us reach millions of viewers when TRIBES launches.

And rather than depending on massive book distributors dumping thousands of copies on chain bookstores, we’re calling on the REAL tribes of Eden, the entire global Eden Alternative community, in all 50 states and more than a dozen countries worldwide, to help get the word out.

The clock is ticking and we’re making the final push. If you’d like to get involved, don’t hesitate contacting me at editor@changingaging.org.

 

Without a Past, There is No Future

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For Eron, the GRID provides everything he yearns for, everything he lost in the Fall — comfort, security, diversion, privilege, power, and… revenge.

For Emma, healer and post-rider of the Eden Underground, the GRID represents a menacing threat to her family and the sanctuary that took them in. Despite flourishing “off-the-GRID,” Emma and the community of the Shire recognize that humanity’s only hope lies in the hands of its elders. Without guns or technology they must fight back with the only weapons they possess — stories, memories and wisdom. For without a past, there is no future.

This is the Tribes of Eden.

Introducing Tribes of Eden

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Message from the author

In the mid-1990′s I decided to write a book about aging. It was going to be a serious, deeply researched non-fiction book that would update the state of knowledge regarding aging. In the evenings, when I sat down to write this book — I had trouble concentrating.

Instead of working on the book, I spent hours thinking about, dreaming about and writing stories about a magical place that seemed to be calling to me.

I called that place “Kallimos” and I imagined it to be “the heart of the world,” a place where elders were woven into the fabric of the community. I began experimenting with a literary form called the “fictionalized memoir.” These stories were first published in 1996, the book was titled, “Open Hearts Open Minds” and it outlined the values embodied in The Eden Alternative. I did all the illustrations myself and, if you can find one, snap it up because it has become a collectors item. Jude and I only have two copies.

In 1999 a revised and expanded version of the story of Kallimos was published as a hardcover under the title “Learnging from Hannah.” Jude and I organized a 27 city bus tour for a stage play that I adapted from the book. It was during this tour that I first started to imagine the “Eden” with a clean sheet of paper that became “The Green House Project.”

In 2004, “Learning from Hannah” came out in paperback, retitled as “In the Arms of Elders.” It was at this time that I started thinking about a sequel to the story of Kallimos. I began by telling stories to my wife, Jude. She deserves, at the very least, a Medal of Honor for the many hours she spent listening to me as I haltingly brought this new story to life.

Those stories coalesced into a new novel, a sequel to the earlier books. This new book is called “Tribes of Eden.” It picks up the story about a dozen years after the end of the last book. Bill and Jude are living at Summer Hill among people who have believed in and practiced the Eden Alternative. Working together, they have constructed a string of villages along the unpaved Turnpike Road.

Outside of this “Edenized” settlement, the world is starting to come apart. We meet a family in Chicago who struggles to make sense of and remain safe from the collapse of society. Fleeing the chaos and ruin, fate seems to deliver the woman and her twins to Summer Hill, where they are welcomed into the community by Bill and Jude and the Council of Elders.

After that… well, lets just say complications ensue. Continue reading →