Good News From Fellow Writers

Three fellow writers have recently sent word about the publication of their books, the type of fantastic news I'd like to pass on:

Full Cycle: A Family's Ride Across Spain

Martha E. Kendall has just published her nonfiction book telling all about her family's fascinating adventure.

Martha is also the author of a number of other nonfiction books, including The Erie Canal and Alive in the Killing Fields: Surviving the Khmer Rouge Genocide, both published by National Geographic Children's Books.




The Peacock Throne

Daphne Olivier of South Africa wrote to say her young adult novel, The Peacock Throne, has just been published as an e-book by Wild Child Publishing.

The blurb reads:

A gift from a dying man holds the key to a jewel-studded throne that disappeared two hundred years ago, when the Grosvenor went aground off the South African Wild Coast. Greg Harvey sets out to recover the treasure, unaware that his quest will expose a terrible secret, or that once he retraces his grandfather's footsteps, there will be no turning back.

Daphne included the following note:

If anyone would like to write a review I wil be happy to send a PDF copy in a week or two's time (dafol@mtnloaded.co.za)

Running Without Lights

Dixon Long, author of Markets of Paris and A Very Rich Man

The back cover blurb reads:

Arthur Hirschman is a talented and ambitious young professor of politics at Mead College in New England, specializing in Japanese government. His graduate school colleague, Victor Malinowski, now an analyst at the National Security Council, persuades Arthur to go to Tokyo to find out who may be collaborating with Sewall Travers, the U.S. Secretary of Defense, to secretly provide advanced aircraft and tactical nuclear weapons to the Japanese self-defense forces. Travers in convinced this step will ultimately lead to the destruction of the network of military alliances around the world, freeing the United States to establish a secure conservative culture in Fortress America. The President is dying, the Vice President resigns under a cloud, and Travers believes he will succeed to the highest office in the land. All the elements of an international and constitutional crisis are present as the story hurtles forward in Tokyo and Washington.

Congratulations to all three.

If you have good news, let me know!

Happy writing!

The Espresso Book Machine: Yet Another Boost for Self-Publishers and Small Presses

Are those of you who have self-published your books, or had them published by small publishers, tired of getting dissed by bookstores? Forget about them!

In the Dec. 5 Publishers Weekly daily newsletter there's a short article about a company called On Demand Books that's so far installed 53 Espresso Book Machines in libraries, bookstores and cafes such as the Flintridge Bookstore and Coffeehouse in La Cañada Flintridge, CA, and the American Book Center in Amsterdam.

Ordering books via the machine is apparently similar to looking up books at the library, by title, author, subject, etc. Instead of going to the shelf to find what you want, however, you specify the language you want the book to be printed in and punch the print button, so to speak. In about four minutes you'll get the book you requested in paperback format.

ODB, founded by Jason Epstein and Dane Neller, works in partnership with Xerox to sell and service the machines, which according to the ODB website was invented by Jeff Marsh of St. Louis.

The first machine was installed in Washington, D.C., in 2006.


Other tidbits from the ODB website

• "A single machine operating 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, can produce over 60,000 books per year with minimum supervision."

• The machine runs on EspressNet software that connects the machine to books that are digitally stored, which means those publishers and self-publishers can make their titles accessible for download to the machines, thus cutting out the need to plead with bookstore owners for inclusion on the shelves. The software also tracks sales and pays publishers or those who own the content.

• The EBM’s growing digital library (its “catalogue of catalogues”) will include nearly 800,000 in-copyright titles from 8,000 publishers through Lightning Source, Inc.™ and millions of public-domain titles through other content aggregators," such as Google Books and Internet Archive.

Lightning Source, Inc.™ is the print-on-demand distribution arm of the Ingram Book Group, the biggest wholesale book distributor in the world.

• Authors who have their books available digitally, but would like a certain number of hard copies made, can also use the EBM.

Publishers who want to participate — both those who already have their book title files with Lightning Source, Inc., and those that don't — can check out the ODB FAQ page for contact information.

Has anyone used one of these machines?

Happy writing!