Interview w/ Raven Brooks of YearlyKos' UnConventional

For the Kossacks among my readers

If you had the misfortune of missing last year's YearlyKos Convention, words alone cannot describe the magic of the experience: the extraordinary panels, wonderful people, political and blogging celebrities, eye-opening workshops, inspiring speeches, lavish parties, and just all-around fun. Describing the experience would take an amalgam of words, photographs, personal stories, recountings of the events day by day, and insights from some of your favorite Kossacks. It would take, in a nutshell, exactly what has been done in UnConventional, the official and unparalleled chronicle of the first of what promises to be a long series of exciting gatherings of bloggers and political activists. UnConventional first came out in e-book form last year, but has just become available in print form: you can either have it shipped to you sometime in late July, or simply pick it up at the YearlyKos 2007 Convention in Chicago if you are coming (and I hope you are--if not, register today!).

Best of all, any and all proceeds from the sale of the book go to help fund the YearlyKos convention--so not only do you get a great book, you also get to contribute to a good cause (I myself purchased two e-book copies and two physical copies!) As it says on the UnConventional website:

YearlyKos: Citizens, Focus and Action, an in-depth book covering the first YearlyKos convention is available NOW. A team of four brilliant photographers led by Mona Brooks along with an editorial staff led by Hunter of Daily Kos fame, documented every aspect of the convention, from caucuses to keynote speeches, from volunteers to political heavy-hitters, so many Kos bloggers, and more.

The 292 page book combines complete convention coverage with personal essays about why so many of you are here--Kossack personal stories about what being a progressive means (with beautiful portraits to boot, so you can finally see how fabulous the people you communicate with on dKos look in the reality-based world!).

All proceeds from the sale of this book will go to funding future YearlyKos conventions, so buy this gorgeous book today and secure the future of this (UnConventionally) important movement! (Also available in ebook format.)

UnConventional was put together with the help of several photographers and editors--Hunter had chief editorial duties, and Raven Brooks, former president and founder of the now-defunct BuyBlue.org, had the job of photographing (with help from four other great professional photographers, including chief photographer Mona Brooks) the Kossacks included in the book and putting those photos into book form. clammyc and I had the good fortune of talking to Raven at the convention during our photo sessions for the book--and now that Unconventional is available in print format, we had the opportunity to interview him about the book on our blogtalkradio show Political Nexus.

Some of the issues we discussed:

• What makes UnConventional so special


• Discount, pickup and shipping options


• The self-publishing process for the book (including help from Jane Hamsher's and Markos' Vaster Books


• The experience of photographing the Kossacks and politicians at the convention, and putting the book together


• What's in the works for a chronicle of YK2007

Check out the interview online at Political Nexus--and more importantly, please consider buying this fantastic book and helping out a good cause at the same time.

Hope to see all of you in Chicago!!!