Embracing the Local
Extension Cords and All
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Pub Date Nov 10 2026 | Archive Date Nov 11 2026
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Description
In this debut memoir, Glen Cantrell recounts an accidental decision to volunteer and the year that followed leading a small, all-volunteer Chamber of Commerce in California's Sierra Nevada foothills. What starts as an effort to help struggling businesses becomes a firsthand education in the invisible systems, relationships, and people that allow a community to function.
A longtime organizational strategy and technology consultant, Cantrell arrives at community leadership with a professional instinct for systems, strategy, measurement, and organizational change. Small-town civic life quickly complicates those instincts. Through local political disputes, economic-development efforts, volunteer exhaustion, public events, community traditions, and the ordinary absurdities of running an organization with limited resources, he discovers that communities cannot be understood only as organizations to be fixed or problems to be solved. Along the way, he examines the role local businesses and civic organizations play in sustaining rural communities, the limits of volunteer capacity, and the difference between loving a community and serving it well.
The memoir also follows a more personal transformation. Cantrell begins as an outsider eager to help and gradually confronts the limits of his own expertise, authority, and usefulness. Leadership becomes less about having the answer and more about building trust, creating systems that can survive without you, recognizing the people already doing the work, and eventually knowing when to step aside.
Funny, candid, and ultimately reflective, Embracing the Local is less about running a Chamber of Commerce than about stewardship: who does the work that makes a place worth loving, what that work costs, what communities owe the people who quietly hold them together, and how helping a place sometimes requires learning not to make yourself the center of it.
Advance Praise
“His humor is never simply decorative; it’s part of his narrative control, allowing him to move between the ridiculous and the meaningful without losing either.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“An absorbing, powerful, and at times moving reading experience.”
—Craig Jones for IndieReader, 4.7/5, IR Approved
“Cantrell builds a compelling story for all readers, whether or not they have any prior interest in government, leadership roles, or volunteer efforts.”
—D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review
“...a quick, funny, occasionally profound, and ultimately affecting read.”
—Maria Ashford, Bookshelfie
“Overall, Embracing the Local is a book that doesn’t pretend to fix humanity’s issues but advocates for genuine human connections and interactions. It encourages readers to deepen their bonds with their communities by remaining connected and supportive.”
—Kennedy Odindo, Reedsy Discovery
“This book should be required reading for every small town chamber director, board member and volunteer. You’ll laugh and cry as you read and see yourself reflected in his words.”
—Deb Brown, former Chamber of Commerce director and co-founder of SaveYour.Town
“Cantrell makes civic memoir distinctive by turning volunteer decisions into a model for distributing responsibility, so organizations can continue beyond one leader.”
—Asher Syed, Readers’ Favorite
Marketing Plan
Publication: November 10, 2026
Embracing the Local: Extension Cords and All is supported by a coordinated prepublication and launch campaign targeting readers of memoir, narrative nonfiction, civic and community leadership, rural affairs, nonprofit leadership, and place-based writing.
Review & Trade Outreach: Advance review campaign includes NetGalley, Edelweiss+, Kirkus Reviews, Reedsy Discovery, Bookshelfie, Readers’ Favorite, and additional independent review and discovery channels. Embracing the Local has received advance recommendations from Midwest Book Review and Readers’ Favorite, with Midwest Book Review coverage scheduled for October 2026.
Library & Bookseller Outreach: Advance digital review copies are being distributed through NetGalley and Edelweiss+, with outreach to librarians, independent booksellers, and regional library systems. The title is being positioned for both general nonfiction readers and professional audiences interested in community leadership, nonprofit organizations, rural communities, and civic life. U.S. public-library staff who read and recommend the book are invited to nominate it for the November 2026 LibraryReads list by the October 1 deadline.
Awards & Recognition: The book is being submitted to a targeted slate of national, regional, independent, memoir, and nonfiction awards through the 2026–27 awards cycle.
Author Platform & Content: Author Glen Cantrell writes at More Taste Than Fortune, with essays and field notes exploring community, leadership, place, books, and the occasionally ridiculous machinery of civic life. Prepublication content and excerpts support discovery without reproducing substantial portions of the book.
Regional & Community Outreach: Outreach will leverage the author’s established relationships with civic organizations, chambers of commerce, community leaders, nonprofit professionals, regional media, and rural-community networks, particularly in California and the western United States.
Bookstore Launch: A featured launch event is planned for Small Business Saturday (11/28/2026) at Pixie’s Books, an independent bookstore in the community featured in the memoir. The event connects the book’s themes of local business, community, and place directly to its launch strategy.
Other Launch & Ongoing Promotion: Publication will be supported by author website content, email and social media promotion, reader/reviewer outreach, regional publicity, speaking and discussion opportunities, and continued post-publication review and award activity.
Available Editions
| EDITION | Ebook |
| ISBN | 9798996901050 |
| PRICE | $8.99 (USD) |
| PAGES | 154 |
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Average rating from 1 member
Featured Reviews
Hank W, Reviewer
I received an advanced reader copy of this book and am voluntarily providing an honest review.
Premise
Chronicles primarily the first year of a transplant’s experience running the local chamber of commerce in a rural Northern California community.
Liked
* A very process-oriented look at the inner workings of a small-community chamber of commerce
* Reminds the reader of the importance of having experienced advisors and building and maintaining relationships
* Describes real tradeoffs at work and at home
* Honest self-assessments that examine triumphs and failures without lionizing or demonizing anyone
* Full of often wryly humorous anecdotes from his tenure; I especially enjoyed the forum and the Christmas tree
* Very short and quick read
Not for Me
* I wish some parts had more details about the exact conversations, but I understand that their inclusion might betray confidentiality
* Would feel more complete if it covered a longer period of time
Closing Comment
I’ve often wondered about the commercial aspect of small mountain communities during my various road trips. This book has opened my eyes to the significant struggles and hard work behind creating a vibrant, successful business community. Speaking as someone with experience in work processes at both startups and large companies, I can relate to many of his experiences and applaud his eventual success. A fun and quick glimpse into business development writ small.