49 writers weekly roundup

An Alaskan author makes the New York Times bestseller list. How cool is that? Dana Stabenow reports that Whisper to the Blood will be on the list next week.

“It’s pretty far down,” says Dana, “but it’s there, an almost unheard of appearance for the 16th book in a series that has never made the list before.” If you’ve been following Dana’s release of this new book, you know how beautifully she has used the Internet to create fantastic exposure. Well done, Dana.

On to another great Alaskan title. Remember that we’ll be discussing Ordinary Wolves next weekend, March 7 and 8. We’ll be posting a great interview with Seth Kantner next week, along with a review of his latest book, Shopping for Porcupine. Remember that if you leave a comment at 49 Writers between February 23 and March 8, you’ll be entered in a drawing for a $50 gift certificate to Bear Tooth. Yum! Plus blog comments get noticed. Check out this recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle, quoting an author who commented on agent Nathan Bransford’s blog.

I received a box of author copies a couple of days ago, so it’s official: my latest, Picture This, Alaska, is now on the market. This was an amazing project – I got to pour over 25,000 archival photographs plus a huge number of primary sources, and the designer beautifully pulled it all together. Plus my publisher came up with a very cool marketing gig that I’ll say more about as details unfold.

Alaskan author Michael Engelhard has added two more events to his promotion schedule for Wild Moments. On March 12, 2009 from 5:30-6:30 p.m., he’ll be at an Alaska Geographic event at the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitor Center Theater, 101 Dunkel St., Fairbanks, Alaska. On March 27, 2009 at 7 p.m., he’ll feature the book as part of the Midnight Sun Visiting Writers Series at the University of Alaska Museum of the North, Fairbanks.

Curated by Jeremy Pataky, the Still North Reading and Performance Series launches with a live poetry reading by Alaska Native poets dg nanouk okpik and Cathy Tagnak Rexford celebrating Effigies: Poems of the Inupiaq North. The reading marks the dual launch of Still North Reading & Performance Series, curated by Jeremy Pataky, and the forthcoming book, Effigies: An Anthology of New Indigenous Writing, Pacific Rim, 2009, edited by Allison Adelle Hedge Coke and published by Salt Publishing.

Effigies compiles four chapbooks by four exceptional emerging poets: Alaska Natives dg nanouk okpik and Cathy Tagnak Rexford; and Native Hawaiians Brandy Nalani McDougall and Mahealani Perez-Wendt. Their Pacific Rim relationship invited the opportunity to publish their four chapbooks in one collected volume. Released in Australia and the United Kingdom in February 2009, it will launch in the United States in April. The reading will be April 9th at 7:30 p.m. at the International Gallery of Contemporary Art, 427 D Street in Anchorage.

Hopefully you noticed in yesterday’s Movie Week post that experienced screenwriter Dave Hunsaker, mentioned already in posts this week, will be offering a free workshop to committed writers at APU on Saturday, April 25 at 2 PM. No rsvp or registration required.

Also, Mary Katzke’s documentary “About Face,” which was five years in the making, will get a courtesy community screening at Bear Tooth Theater before the documentary goes out into the world. The Bear Tooth event, on Monday April 27 at 5:30, will also be a “festival fundraiser.”

Two self-pubbed authors are soliciting blurbs for forthcoming books. Mike Kincaid, a retired Alaska FWP Trooper, is in the final stages of his sequel to Alaska Justice , Alaska and Beyond, a high-adventure novel set in the Alaska Bush and are based on an actual state trooper case. If you’re interested in blurbing the book, contact Mike at seaplanes@roadrunner.com, and he’ll forward an electronic copy for your review.

Also, Merle Savage, author of Silence in the Sound, has written Miracles for the Asking, a memoir. Merle writes, “A girl grows up in rural Georgia– suffering under ignorant traditions, narrow-minded stigma and rigid religious doctrine – finds herself at age five, subjected to sexual molestation from a family member. Every day her only thoughts were to elude the tormentor with the valor of a determined child, in devising survival tactics . . . Miracles for the Asking will be as inspiring to the reader, as it is true to the writer. The collection of stories is condensed and precise, so the miracles are seen for what they are – a Divine Revelation from God woven in normal everyday occurrences.” Email Merle at msavage12@cox.net (put “Miracles” in the subject line) if you’d like an electronic copy to review.

Have a short story you’d like to see in print? Publisher’s Weekly reports that with six new short story collections on its summer and fall lists, Harper Perennial has decided to celebrate the form. Its 2009: Summer of the Short Story campaign will officially launch in May, but it got an early start in January with a new blog, Fifty-Two Stories. “Each week in 2009 Harper is posting a new short story,” according to the article. “Some are new stories from Harper Perennial’s original collections or from upcoming hardcovers; some are original contributions never before published anywhere; and some are backlist classics. The publisher is also accepting submissions for new stories from readers, professional or amateur, published or not.
Harper Perennial and Harper Paperbacks director of publicity Alberto G. Rojas is encouraging viral marketing, suggesting visitors to Fifty-Two Stories link to it on their own blogs, their MySpace and Facebook pages, and on Twitter”

Finally, have you filed your claim in the $125 million settlement in Authors Guild v. Google? The Author’s Guild reports that at least $45 million will be paid to authors and publishers to release claims for books that are scanned by Google by May 5th of this year. In addition, the licensing activated through this settlement would enable far more revenues for authors over the coming years, particularly with regard to out-of-print books.

The settlement covers essentially all in-copyright books of all types that were published by January 5, 2009. Go to www.googlebooksettlement.com to claim your books. If you file your claim by January 5, 2010, and a book in which you have a copyright interest is scanned by Google before May 5, 2009, you will be entitled to a small share (at least $60 per book, but up to $300, depending on the number of claims) in a pool of at least $45 million that Google is paying to release claims for works that were scanned without rightsholder permission.

Also, by registering you’ll be able to share in potential revenues for uses of your works under several new licensing programs that the settlement enables. You’ll automatically enroll in the new Book Rights Registry, which will give you a considerable amount of control over the rights to your works, including your right to withdraw your work from the licensing progams. Thanks to author Betty Monthei for passing on this information from the Author’s Guild.