It’s been released from the nebulous realm of “pre-order,” and now you can just plain order it:
from Audible.com, the full text of the Sinner’s Guide to Natural Family Planning, read by me. The perfect gift for a really weird commute!
Tag: audiobook
Homemade pasta, FREE Fr. Barron DVD set . . . UPDATED
UPDATE: The $50 prize is now gone!
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I posted last week about Arista Pasta’s kickstarter. A lovely Catholic homeschooling family of seven (the co-founder, Benjamin Herreid, is the brother of John Herreid, who designed my book’s cover, and the other brother of Bill Herreid, who is married to my sister!) is selling delectable handmade pasta products made from local, sustainable ingredients at their farmer’s market.
They want very much to expand their production, become more self-reliant, and bring their exquisite food to a bigger audience. But there are only 12 days to go, and they have a long ways to go to meet their goal.
So of course you’d throw a few bucks their way, right?
NO? It’s okay, I understand. It sounds like a worthy cause, but you just don’t have the money to spare, unless you get something back for it.
Of course they offer some of their wonderful products and other gifts to thank donors — and they now offer to ship their amazing food. Last night, my husband and I feasted on their incredibly flavorful mushroom ravioli, which was bursting with juicy chunks of savory mushrooms and seasonings. I’m serious, the whole house was filled with a fragrance that would bring a tear to the eye of the most hardened ascetic. So with added shipping, now non-local donors can also enjoy their choice of extruded pasta or ravioli or homemade pestos.
Here’s my part:
I have three audiobooks of The Sinner’s Guide to NFP to give away.
Just donate $25 or more to Arista Pasta, and note on your Kickstarter donation form that you would like the audiobook. No raffle this time — just the first three donors of $25 or more get an audiobook (and, for extra shipping, Arista Pasta will also send you some of their lovely pasta products). The audiobook is going for $17.46 on Amazon before shipping, so this is a nice deal.
For a larger donation, I have something really magnificent: Catholicism: The New Evangelization by Fr. Robert Barron.
This is the four-disc set and the spiral bound study guide. Going on Amazon for $41.00. I only have one of these, so I will give it the first Kickstarter donor of $50 or more. Again, that is in addition to the Kickstarter thank-you gift. Remember to note that you want the DVD set when you donate.
So if you were thinking of maybe giving the audiobook or Fr. Barron’s DVDs as a Christmas gift, this is a great chance to get these items plus help out a lovely family business.
When these prizes are claimed, they are gone, so act fast! I expect the Fr. Barron DVD set to go like *that.* I will update this post at the top when the prizes start to be claimed.
Even if you have $5, please consider supporting Arista Pasta!
Mother of Nine Accidentally Launches NFP Bestseller; Needle Buried on Irony Meter
MARLBOROUGH — Popular blogger Simcha Fisher’s first book, The Sinner’s Guide to Natural Family Planning, became a bestseller overnight after Fisher accidentally published the e-book a month early.
“I freaked out when I realized it was live, but I couldn’t figure out how to take it down. The next morning it was a number one bestseller on Kindle,” Fisher said. “Apparently there was an option to set the release date, but I sort of glossed over that part, and now here we are. Great news, obviously, and the whole family is very happy. But we are scrambling with the logistics, because the timing was a little . . . unexpected. Good thing we had already picked out a name. For the book.”
Fisher added, “Yes, yes, book about NFP, accidental launch, irony, I get it. I get it!”
Fisher planned to launch the e-book in November, to coincide with the audio version of her book produced by Audible.com. Fisher thought she was setting up her Kindle publishing account in advance, but instead published the book. Within 24 hours it was the top selling Catholic e-book, and the top selling Catholic book in all published categories on Amazon.
“I didn’t even have time to think about it,” Fisher said. “I still had to drive the kids to a birthday party and go grocery shopping. It really hasn’t sunk in yet that I’m beating out the Pope. And St. Augustine. And the Bible. Oh gosh, when does the dump close today? I told you boys to sort that recycling!”
Fisher, a popular writer and speaker whose work appears in the National Catholic Register, Our Sunday Visitor, Catholic Digest, and other publications, offers her frank and funny take on Catholic sex, marriage, and family planning in The Sinner’s Guide to Natural Family Planning.
“If you’ve tried natural family planning and have discovered that your life is now awful – or if you feel judged or judgey, or if you trust NFP but your doctor doesn’t, or if just you’re trying to figure out how the heck to have a sex life that is holy but still human – you’ll find comfort, encouragement, honesty, wit, and, most importantly, practical advice in my book,” Fisher said.
The Sinners Guide to Natural Family Planning is already being hailed as a turning point in how Catholics can deal with this sometimes-difficult subject. There are 26 reviews on Amazon, with an average rating of five stars.
“I’m pretty sure that one three-star rating is a joke,” Fisher said. “My readers are real wise asses. But seriously, if you think that taking bread out of the mouths of my children is a joking matter, by all means, continue.”
Simcha Fisher lives in Marlborough, NH, with her husband and nine children. She is available for interviews and can be contacted at simchafisher@gmail.com.
Her book is available now on Amazon, Smashwords, and Nook. The Audible.com version will be available for pre-order very soon, and a print version is in the works.