******UPDATE: Both books have been won.******

I’m doing a new contest this week to give away two copies of City Maps: A Coloring Book for Adults!

Last week’s contest was a trial, and I apparently set the odds too low (1 in 100) and nobody won. So this time the odds are set at 1 in 10 and there are two books to give away. That means you have a really good shot to win one! All you have to do is click the link and then click the bouncing box icon to see if you’ve won.

As per last time I am only publicizing this on the blog for now. If there are no winners by the end of the business day I might publicize it on twitter too. The contest runs for 24 hours.

Please click the link below to enter the contest. Also please consider reviewing the book on Amazon (positive or negative) because every single review helps me out enormously.

LINK TO ENTER CONTEST

*contest over–thanks everyone!*

Over 1,000 copies of City Maps: a coloring book for adults have sold in three weeks. This is pretty amazing for a self-published book and it is all due to my fantastic following on twitter, all you savvy Facebook users who have been sharing it around, and these articles from CityLab, GISLounge, and Curbed.

To celebrate, I’m trying out Amazon’s newish feature called Giveaways. Please be my guinea pigs for a chance to win a copy of City Maps!

I am only publicizing this contest right here on this blog. If I tweeted about it, all 100 entries would probably be taken in the first few minutes. This contest runs for 1 day only, there are a maximum number of 100 entrants, and 1 book to give away randomly among those entrants. In the future I will probably do bigger giveways with more books to win but for now we’ll start small and see how it goes.

Here is the contest link, click it to enter. (link removed, contest over)

By the way, Amazon is not the only place where you can get City Maps! You can buy it at several other online retailers, linked to below. You can also ask your local bookstore to order it for you.

Buy City Maps at Barnes and Noble online
Buy City Maps at Powell’s online

Regardless of where you get the book, I would really love it if you could help me out by writing a review–positive or negative–on the Amazon page. This book is self-published, so the book is in desperate need of this kind of word-of-mouth to keep things going. Thank you in advance and thank you to everyone who has already commented!

My latest endeavor is City Maps: A coloring book for adults. I’m excited about this because normally I make maps that are more scientific, regulatory, or otherwise government oriented but this is a collection of maps for everyone. And what’s more, everyone can color them just the way they want to! (I can hear some colleagues wishing they could just get their clients to color their own maps so they don’t have to hear the color criticisms like, “could you make it a bit more orangish?”)

This has been a labor of love. I know that it didn’t take me long from my twitter lamentation about there being a dearth of adult coloring books featuring maps, but I was helped along by the fact that I already know a bit about publishing and I happened to have a lot of time off my regular work for spring break. So naturally I spent it working on maps 24/7.

I’m not going to say it wasn’t fun to have a “map coloring lab” in the dining room either. You know, because the designs had to be tested.

Amazon doesn’t have the look inside feature populated yet so here’s a preview:

A subset of maps from the book, in thumbnail form.

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Announcing: City Maps: A coloring book for adults. https://t.co/DPMhd8UY5m Please help me spread the news!

— Gretchen Peterson (@PetersonGIS) March 25, 2016

Oh, early Christmas shopping! https://t.co/VYxAwvvvQd

— Rene Rubalcava (@odoenet) March 25, 2016

@PetersonGIS i knew it. Nice!

— Cory Eicher (@eichercory) March 25, 2016

@PetersonGIS this is awesome. I just started coloring some of these and was looking for a mapcentric one.

— Matt Wood (@mapdx) March 25, 2016

You too can be a cartographer. A city map coloring book for adults! https://t.co/gMNLJCRtiv

— Matt Wood (@mapdx) March 25, 2016

Great stuff! https://t.co/lvEtRzFqD5

— James Fee (@cageyjames) March 25, 2016

@PetersonGIS awhile back my wife received an adult coloring book, architectural theme. Glad you filled the niche.

— Cory Eicher (@eichercory) March 25, 2016

@alejandrof94, para que sigas coloreando SIEMPRE https://t.co/p2kEN1H7Ty

— wurmler (@amoaloskiwis) March 25, 2016

I love maps and I love colouring in 😍 https://t.co/RkpirDzJ1F

— Vanessa (@VeeMac4) March 25, 2016

Guess I’m getting on the Adult Coloring Book Train after all https://t.co/xB06LcU5TL

— Keir DuBois (@keirdubois) March 25, 2016

Me time! https://t.co/nfZELNVN6N

— David Puckett (@BrightRain) March 25, 2016

Such fun! https://t.co/Ru999Muhnh

— Claire Brill (@brillocale) March 25, 2016

@PetersonGIS “Books › Health, Fitness & Dieting › Alternative Medicine”??? I love the idea, though

— Víctor Olaya (@volayaf) March 25, 2016

@volayaf Hahaha. I’m pretty sure that will get fixed soon.

— Gretchen Peterson (@PetersonGIS) March 25, 2016

The only good adult colouring book https://t.co/8QlrdEdfU9

— Rem Zelaya (@Rem_Zel) March 25, 2016

@PetersonGIS Now I have a reason to go up to the Fort, so I can get my copy signed!

— Christopher Rice (@colocarto) March 26, 2016

The only reason I haven’t already bought https://t.co/GYH2mdTk4P is that I basically do the same thing for a living. pic.twitter.com/1XynKjn4CU

— Eldan Goldenberg (@eldang) March 26, 2016

I need one of these! https://t.co/pHZ93Sni4C

— Anne Payne (@annewpayne) March 26, 2016

@PetersonGIS Great idea! I love it.

— Beth Carpenter (@CaptBeth) March 26, 2016

I feel like this might be too close to work for me … But I know many who would appreciate the map love ❤️ https://t.co/xMM4mE3cQe

— Little Freedia (@little_freedia) March 26, 2016

@PetersonGIS do you think the colored results can be sent in to help create machine learning datasets? e.g. https://t.co/7rToJU0hr1

— Avram Golbert (@AvramGolbert) March 26, 2016

@PetersonGIS Woot Woot!!

— Lee Sanders (@Lees_Sandbox) March 27, 2016

my daughter is looking forward to getting @PetersonGIS's new City Maps: Coloring Book https://t.co/EhxYBQJeLX #maps pic.twitter.com/V2LlnaNmB7

— GIS and Geomatics (@CanadianGIS) March 28, 2016

Map coloring book for adults. Via @PetersonGIS https://t.co/H6uSAtuLpB
Love these coloring books. Fun & relaxing! #GIS #gistribe

— Chad Smith (@MapGeek_Chad) March 28, 2016

Best part of #coworking is watching a member take a thing from idea to market in 9 days. Love you @PetersonGIS !! https://t.co/khXq1M66kI

— Angel Kwiatkowski (@CohereLLC) March 28, 2016

@PetersonGIS @mizmay I've always thought colouring in books silly but OMG I SO WANT THIS ONE

— Nathanael Coyne (@NathanaelB) March 29, 2016

@PetersonGIS @burritojustice @amazon no way! That's awesome

— Simon Fung (@Simon08says) March 29, 2016

@PetersonGIS @amazonbooks what a great idea! Any Aussie cities in the book?

— Emma Davidson (@emmadavidsonACT) March 29, 2016

@emmadavidsonACT @amazonbooks Sydney: The Rocks and Centennial Park.

— Gretchen Peterson (@PetersonGIS) March 29, 2016

For fellow map and GIS nerds out there…looking at you @yaminapressler https://t.co/hucY6brjD7

— Aaron Sidder (@sidquan) March 29, 2016

I'm thinking of other things that don't exist yet but @PetersonGIS can create in 9 days.

— Andrew Lightfoot (@andrew_maps) March 29, 2016

O. M. G. – RT @PetersonGIS: Announcing: City Maps: A coloring book for adults. https://t.co/QVNExIQr7T Please help me spread the news!

— mactavish (@mactavish) March 29, 2016

@PetersonGIS @amazonbooks thanks! Ordering now

— Emma Davidson (@emmadavidsonACT) March 29, 2016

This looks like a really cool option for mapping friends and coloring-book friends alike! https://t.co/pi1vsYD89S

— Ian Dees (@iandees) March 30, 2016

Sounds awesome! https://t.co/vdUmsqpL1G

— Michal Migurski (@michalmigurski) March 30, 2016

@PetersonGIS @CohereLLC IK, JK. 1 4 me and another adult. what age do you think? was thinking of gifting several kids age 7-10

— Patrick Wild (@pwildcard) March 30, 2016

@PetersonGIS @CohereLLC also, an rec on pencils or pens?

— Patrick Wild (@pwildcard) March 30, 2016

Nice one… https://t.co/kU9q5ooD7A

— Winza (@winza1985) March 30, 2016

@pwildcard @PetersonGIS I like Prismacolor brand.

— Angel Kwiatkowski (@CohereLLC) March 30, 2016

Yes I want to color my own maps! @PetersonGIS can read my mind! https://t.co/eS0e3eMRG1 pic.twitter.com/meuVwb4KcS

— Map of the Week (@MapOfTheWeek) March 30, 2016

@pwildcard @CohereLLC Officially we're saying age 8+. It really depends on how focused a child is at that age though.

— Gretchen Peterson (@PetersonGIS) March 30, 2016

@m4isarah It's not yet. But we're working on it! At the least your bookstore will order it for you starting April 1.

— Gretchen Peterson (@PetersonGIS) March 30, 2016

This is super cool. I just got bought one! https://t.co/BflXThNI0D

— Stephen Smith (@TheMapSmith) March 30, 2016

@PetersonGIS Do you have a list of cities featured in the book?

— Brad Weikel (@bradweikel) March 31, 2016

@bradweikel Here it is. And Amazon will have the look inside feature up in the next week or 2 I hope. pic.twitter.com/XzDDJ72xKz

— Gretchen Peterson (@PetersonGIS) March 31, 2016

I haven’t posted this anywhere else yet, and won’t do so until next week. But I’m so excited about this I had to share with my small group of faithful blog readers…





It’ll be available soon. Very soon. Maybe next week even!

I haven’t even tweeted this thing yet. Shhhhhhhh.

Probably the most fun project I’ve done in years.