Belt isn’t even one year old, but we feel pretty precocious. We’ve published two amazing new books in 2014, won a “Best of Cleveland” gong from Scene, hosted the most popular hot-dog-and-beer-fueled lecture series in town, and partnered with the coolest local businesses to bring our members great discounts. But we are just getting started. In addition to the steady supply of great writing by, for, and about the Rust Belt right here, we’re putting together a slate of new books for our second year.
[blocktext align=”left”]To celebrate, we’re kicking off an Anniversary Sale, starting today.[/blocktext]We’ll be marking our first anniversary with a greatest hits collection: Dispatches from the Rust Belt: The Best of Belt will arrive this fall, highlighting a selection of the fabulous work our contributors have done since we launched last fall, edited by our own Angela Bilancini. And in 2015, we’ll be publishing three brand-new books: a Cleveland sports anthology, with Pete Beatty editing (spring 2015), and two new city anthologies to join Cleveland, Cincy, and Detroit on the Belt bookshelf: Buffalo and Pittsburgh (coming summer 2015). Stay tuned for more details very soon about all of these projects.
To celebrate (and fund) all the big plans, we’re kicking off an Anniversary Sale, starting today. We’re selling 200 lifetime memberships to Belt. Lifetime members lock in a 50 percent discount on everything we ever sell. Party tickets, books, t-shirts, snow globes, literally everything. You can become a lifetime member for just $50, or just $30 if you’re already an annual member.
[blocktext align=”right”]Think about the retail price of that many hugs.[/blocktext]We’re also offering lifetime sponsoring memberships: Receive 50 percent off anything we ever sell—plus your name on our site and a free copy of our Fall 2014 title, Dispatches for the Rust Belt: The Belt of Belt. Lifetime sponsoring memberships are $200; if you’re already a sponsoring member, you can upgrade to lifetime status for $50.
Is that not strong enough to express how much you love Belt? Consider a lifetime patron membership. Receive anything we ever sell for FREE—including party tickets, books, t-shirts and merch to come, plus your or your organization’s name on our site, for $500. Also comes with a lifetime supply of hugs from the entire Belt editorial staff, or sedate high-fives, if hugs aren’t your thing. Think about the retail price of that many hugs. You can’t beat the $500 price—or just $250 if you’re already a sponsoring member.
But the biggest news of all is still (as always) YOU. We couldn’t and wouldn’t exist without the support of our readers. Thanks so much for reading, writing, and supporting us. We can’t wait to see what Year 2 and beyond brings.
