Dear friend, 

 

I’ve been sitting at my dining room table for half an hour trying to find my way into this email. The thing is: I am terrible at marketing. I always forget this about myself until I have something to “sell” (ick) or “promote” (double ick), at which point I sit down to a blank page and … crickets. 

 

I forget how to write. I forget how to type. I try to recall every inkling of advice I’ve heard over the years about how to write snazzy emails that people actually open. Be captivating! Be concise! Be clear and catchy! Trying to be all of those things is making me feel frazzled, so I am going to try something simple instead: I am going to be honest. 

 

Next July will mark a full decade since I launched Coffee + Crumbs. I’m going to save all my mushy sentiments for when we actually hit ten years, but as we have creeped closer and closer to that date, I have felt a pressing desire to memorialize the moment in some way. To celebrate our work. To honor the art we’ve poured so much of ourselves into. To preserve our stories in a way that feels special, and sacred, and representative of the slow art we believe in making.

 

After contemplating what this might look like, I kept envisioning something women could hold in their hands. Something that could be savored, not scrolled. Something tangible you could keep on your nightstand, or tuck into care packages.

 

Something like … a magazine.

A couple weeks ago, I had a conversation with a friend about artificial intelligence, which could best be summed up as both of us asking in a dozen different ways: seriously, what is happening?! When I think about the “why” behind this print magazine, I guess you could also say a tiny sliver of it stems from my desire to fight robots. 

 

 

With the rise of ChatGPT and all its competitors, it’s important to me that you know: every single story in this magazine was written by a real mother with breath in her lungs and love in her heart. 

I know you’ve probably received something like 400 emails over the past weekend from every company you’ve never subscribed to, all screaming some rendition of BUY THIS, BUY THIS, BUY THIS NOW! IT’S ON SALE! LIMITED QUANTITIES ARE GOING FAST! 

 

If I had planned this better, I would have had our magazine pre-orders ready before the Black Friday chaos, but I am terrible at marketing, remember?* So I come to you today humbly, knowing you’re probably exhausted by your inbox and sick of people selling you stuff. I get it.
 

At the same time, I’ve got to shoot my shot. So here it goes:

 

We made a magazine. The pages are beautiful. The stories are heartfelt. We made this for us—to commemorate ten years of storytelling—but we also made it for you, in hopes that this offering will make you feel safe, known, encouraged, and loved. 

 

Pre-orders are open now through midnight on December 7th. Our goal is for printed magazines to land on doorsteps before Christmas (although we are at the mercy of the USPS, so thank you in advance for your grace and patience).

Coffee + Crumbs has changed me as a mother, and changed me as an artist. You—the people who read our work—have contributed greatly to that impact. Thank you for being here, for supporting our work, and for allowing me to dream, and dream, and dream again.

P.S. Fun fact: that cover image was shot by Jenny's son, Charles, age 9. ❤️