Vegan On the Cheap Giveaway and Facebook Like Buttons

Hello again—

Just a quick note to let you know that on Friday, May seventh I'll be drawing five winners of Robin Robertson's great new cookbook, Vegan On the Cheap. Details and a link to enter here:

http://www.vegan.com/blog/2010/05/03/win-a-copy-of-vegan-on-the-cheap/

If you haven't checked out my Vegan.com blog in a while, please give it a look. I'm constantly hearing from people who tell me that it's a big help to keeping them engaged in all things vegan.

Finally, I've just added a feature that makes a Facebook "Like" button appear beneath each Vegan.com blog entry. This is the perfect way to share with your friends and family the stories that most interest you, without ever coming across as pushy. The best part is clicking the Like button takes less than a second, and doing so publicizes the story to all your Facebook friends. And speaking of Facebook, be sure to check out the Vegan.com fan page:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Vegancom/75326546871?ref=ts

I've got more stuff in the works at Vegan.com that I look forward to announcing soon. Thanks so much for being part of this notification list.

-Erik Marcus

The Year in Meat: 2009

As 2009 drew to a close, I decided to write an article summarizing my entire year of blogging. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. After two weeks of nonstop work, I present "The Year in Meat: 2009." Since it's more than 5000 words long, I've created a typeset PDF for easy printing, and I've also coded an HTML version.

Reading this article is likely the best way to quickly get up to speed on everything that's happened in 2009 related to animal agribusiness and vegetarianism. I think this piece makes clear that, amazingly enough, the animal protection movement is actually moving us somewhere; and quickly.

While I think this document will prove uniquely helpful to many, this project was such a large undertaking there's no way I can contemplate doing it again next year unless this piece gets widely read. So please: post this to your Facebook page, tweet a link to it, and email a link to friends and family who might find it of interest. If you're able to promote it in some small or large way, please let me know so I can thank you. I really need your help in getting this piece out there and seen by many; I think it has the potential to get a ton of people inspired and engaged.

A heartfelt thanks to Paul Shapiro and Josh Balk for closely reading a draft, and offering numerous suggestions that greatly improved the finished piece. Plus a big shout-out to Princess Rachel for final copyedits. Link.

Vegan.com Facelift and Jonathan Safran Foer Podcast

I've got a couple exciting Vegan.com updates. First, earlier this month, the site got a long-overdue facelift. I hope you enjoy the clean, clutter-free look, and the improved typography.

Second, Jonathan Safran Foer, author of the must-have book Eating Animals, was kind enough to do a 42 minute podcast with me. Jonathan's appearance on my podcast gave me the opportunity to ask him questions he doesn't face when talking to mainstream media. The bulk of our conversation was devoted to discussing approaches for engaging people in reexamining their food choices. If you're somebody who wants to be a more persuasive advocate, I think you'll find this interview of great interest.

Finally, if you aren't yet a reader of my daily blog on Vegan.com, I hope you'll give it a look, and consider subscribing by RSS or email. And, if you haven't done so yet, please consider joining our community at the Vegan.com Facebook Fan Page.

Robin Robertson's Vegan.com 2009 Thanksgiving Feast and Book Giveaway

Vegan.com has something really special for you this Thanksgiving, a complete set of vegan Thanksgiving recipes from bestselling cookbook author Robin Robertson.

Most of these recipes are sourced from Robin's brand new 1,000 Vegan Recipes cookbook. To celebrate the release of this exciting book, we're giving away five copies to Vegan.com readers. This is a beautiful 600-page hardcover edition, and it's sure to become one of your very favorite cookbooks. To enter, just visit this page. Drawing is open to USA residents only and will be held at noon Pacific on Tuesday November 17, 2009.

Since my last announcement to this list almost a year ago, I've started a Vegan.com Facebook Fan Page, as well as a Vegan.com twitter account. Please join the fan page and follow me on Twitter.

I'm working constantly to improve Vegan.com, so if you haven't checked it out lately please give my daily blog a look. I'll be rolling out some great new stuff later this month, so stay tuned!

The Ultimate Vegan Guide

Just in time for the holidays, my new book, The Ultimate Vegan Guide: Compassionate Living Without Sacrifice, has hit Amazon.com, and it's available now for immediate shipping.

I wrote this book because it's almost 2009 and our literature still didn't have a breezy, fun, yet thorough introduction to how to go vegan. I think this book's best quality is that it digs into the stuff that's truly important and offers real help in every key area of making the transition.

Plus, it's got two introductory chapters about the advantages of a vegan diet, as well as a concluding chapter and an appendix on basic and advanced activism. If you're already vegan, I hope you'll pick up some copies to keep at home or at the office for when you meet a potential vegan. And, of course, this book's intended audience is anyone who wants to learn the whys and hows of compassionate eating.

I'm really proud of The Ultimate Vegan Guide -- it's some of my best work and I am confident it'll mint a number of new vegans. I hope you'll check it out.

Announcing Robin Robertson's Vegan Thanksgiving Feast

Thanks for subscribing to Vegan.com's announcement list.  Here's our very first announcement.  I'm pleased to tell you that this year, we've got all your Thanksgiving cooking needs covered.  In partnership with bestselling vegan cookbook author Robin Robertson, Vegan.com has published Robin's ultimate Thanksgiving feast.  You'll have your choice of two different main courses, plus recipes for six different side dishes capped with a sensational vegan pumpkin cheesecake dessert.

If you end up taking photos of these wonderful dishes, please consider adding them to our special Vegan Thanksgiving Flickr photo group.

Here's to a delicious vegan Thanksgiving with all your loved ones!

-Erik

Test Post #1

Would you be kind enough to email me that you received this?  And, if you signed up to this list through multiple accounts, could you verify that you received this email at each of them -- and let me know either way?

I'll send one more test email tomorrow.  After that, I expect to enable public signup for this list at Vegan.com.

Thanks,

Erik