Maybe you already knew, since you’re reading here, but it’s official: book blogs are a great way to market books. So asserts L.A. Times book editor David Ullen, speaking recently on a panel debating the role of “gatekeepers” in publishing. “There has never been a better time to market books,” Ullin said. “The entrepreneurial model now really works.” Publisher’s Weekly has a nice piece summing up the debate.
Speaking of our very own working entrepreneurial model at here 49 Writers (wait: isn’t a working entrepreneurial model supposed to involve cash flow???), the toughest part of one of our favorite features, the monthly author, is saying a (temporary) goodbye at the end of the month. David Vann zapped us some amazing posts all the way from New Zealand in April, and we’re looking forward to having him closer this summer. Thankfully, on the heels of every great monthly featured author comes another, and for May, that’s Brett Dillingham, pre-eminent Alaskan storyteller. Watch for Brett’s first post next week.
Dana Stabenow suggests that if you’re at cruising altitude over flyover country on May 21st, you could bail out near Omaha, where she is the guest of honor at Mayhem in the Midlands, a “select little crime fiction convention” that’s limited to 200 attendees. And speaking of Dana, the Homer News recently ran a great article by Michael Armstrong celebrating her latest book.
A nice opportunity for writers whose work addresses contemporary visual art: grants ranging from $3,000 to $50,000 through The Creative Capital/Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant Program. For details, visit www.artswriters.org; the application deadline is Monday, June 8. Also, the Arts Writers Grant Program is announces a new writing workshop offered in partnership with the International Association of Art Critics/USA Chapter.
And finally, my favorite tidbit of the week: Charlotte Glover, Ketchikan’s librarian extraordinaire, reports from her travels in Southeast that she tried to visit Old Harbor in Sitka but they closed “for sun” the one day she was there. She did get to Sing Lee Alley books in Petersburg and confirmed that they are going strong. Also, she notes that Sitka had just finished a “Sitka Reads” series of events with Leslie Leyland Fields, and Seth Kantner will be headed that way on June 14 to work with Parnassus Books on a paperback signing of his latest. And she spotted a nice mention of Caribou Crossing: Animals of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge by Andrea Helman in the Alaska Airlines inflight magazine. I’ll be saying more about the book in an upcoming post.
I really appreciate getting Charlotte Glover’s notes from the road, and I beseech all other Alaskans to keep us updated on how bookstores are doing, which new authors are showing up in interesting places, who has a new book out, and so on. Our best recent features have come from reader tips — thanks to all of you!