To All Authors: Support Your Independent Bookstore with Indie First!!!
One of my favorite authors, Sherman Alexie, has started Indies First. I IMPLORE ALL AUTHORS TO PARTICIPATE! Here’s the letter where he explains it:
Hello, hello, you gorgeous book nerds,Now is the time to be a superhero for independent bookstores. I want all of us (you and you and especially you) to spend an amazing day hand-selling books at your local independent bookstore on Small Business Saturday (that’s the Saturday after Thanksgiving, November 30 this year, so you know it’s a huge weekend for everyone who, you know, wants to make a living).
Here’s the plan: We book nerds will become booksellers. We will make recommendations. We will practice nepotism and urge readers to buy multiple copies of our friends’ books. Maybe you’ll sign and sell books of your own in the process. I think the collective results could be mind-boggling (maybe even world-changing).
I was a bookseller-for-a-day at Seattle’s Queen Anne Book Company when it reopened this past April. Janis Segress, one of the new co-owners, came up with this brilliant idea. What could be better than spending a day hanging out in your favorite hometown indie, hand- selling books you love to people who will love them too and signing a stack of your own? Why not give it a try? Let’s call it Indies First.
Grassroots is my favorite kind of movement, and anyway there’s not a lot of work involved in this one. Just pick a bookstore, talk to the owner (or answer the phone when they call you) and reach an agreement about how to spend your time that day. You’d also need to agree to place that store’s buy button in a prominent place on your website, above the Amazon button if you have one. After all, this is Indies First, not Indies Only, and it’s designed to include Indies in our world but not to exclude anyone else.
This is a great way to fight for independents—one that will actually help them. It’ll help you as well; the Indies I’ve talked to have told me that last year Small Business Saturday was one of their biggest days of the year, in some cases the biggest after the Saturday before Christmas—and that means your books will get a huge boost, wherever you choose to be.
The most important thing is that we’ll all be helping Independent bookstores, and God knows they’ve helped us over the years. So join the Indie First Movement and help your favorite independent bookstore. Help all indie bookstores. Reach out to them and join the movement. Indies First!
Yours in Independence,
Sherman Alexie, An Absolutely True Part-Time Indie
To but a copy of The Essenetial Guide to Getting Your Book Published, go to your nearest Indy, or to buy online, click here.
The Book Doctors & Pitchapalooza in Washington Post
Washington Post with a lovely piece about David Henry Sterry, Arielle Eckstut, P0litics & Prose, The Book Doctors & Pitchapalooza
Dan Blank of We Grow Media Interviews Arielle, Part 1
To learn more about Dan and We Grow Media, click here.
Dan Blank of We Grow Media Interviews Arielle, Part 2
To learn more about Dan and We Grow Media, click here.
Dan Blank of We Grow Media Interviews Arielle, Part 3
To learn more about Dan and We Grow Media, click here.
Pitchapalooza Rock the Bay Area Corte Madera to Santa Cruz to Berkeley to San Francisco
The Book Doctors, aka, Arielle Eckstut and David Henry Sterry, authors of The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published, will be making house calls all over the Bay Area. They want YOU to pitch your book at Pitchapalooza, which was recently featured in The New York Times, and in mini-documentaries for Newsday and NBC. Pitchapalooza is like American Idol for books–only without the Simon. 20-25 writers get one minute to pitch their book ideas to an all-star panel of publishing experts. The winner receives an introduction to an appropriate agent or publisher for his/her book. Plus, anyone who buys a book gets a free consultation worth $100. In the last month THREE Pitchapalooza participants have signed book deals with great publishers. Two of them are from the Bay Area.
July 23, Mystery Writers Conference, Book Passage, Corte Madera, California
July 24, 1 PM, Green Apple Books, (Rock-It Room) San Francisco, California w/ Publishers Group West superstar Elise Cannon
July 25, 7pm, Books Inc, Berkeley, California w/ Soft Skull top dog Laura Mazer
July 28, 7 PM, Bookshop Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California
July 30, 10 AM, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California (workshop)
Arielle Eckstut has been a literary agent for 18 years. She is also the author of seven books and the co-founder of the iconic brand, LittleMissMatched. David Henry Sterry is the best-selling author of 12 books, on a wide variety of subject including memoir, sports, YA fiction and reference. His last book appeared on the cover of the Sunday New York Times Book Review. Together, they’ve helped dozens and dozens of talented amateur writers become published authors. They’ve appeared everywhere from NPR’s Morning Edition to USA Today, and have taught publishing workshops everywhere from the Miami Book Fair to Stanford University. Find more at www.thebookdoctors.com.
Stanford Workshop: How To Get Your Book Published
It is the greatest time in history to be a writer. The barrier to publishing has been torn down and now anyone can get published. But to get published successfully is a whole other matter. Eckstut and Sterry take you through the entire publishing process, from choosing the right idea, to writing a door-opening proposal or manuscript, to finding the right agent and/or publisher (or going right to self-publishing), to promoting and marketing your work, to effectively using social media. This all-in-one, soups-to-nuts workshop will leave attendees with a compass and map to a successfully published book.
Here’s what people are saying about The Essential Guide To Getting Your Book Published:
“I started with nothing but an idea, and then I bought this book. Soon I had an A-list agent, a near six-figure advance, and multiple TV deals in the works. Buy it and memorize it. This little tome is the quiet secret of rockstar authors.”—New York Times best-selling author Timothy Ferris, The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich,
“It is a must-have for every aspiring writer… thorough, forthright quite entertaining.”—Khaled Hosseini, New York Times bestselling author of the Kite Runner
“Before you write your own book, read this one first.”—Jonathan Karp, editor-in-chief, Simon and Schuster
Bookends Ridgewood Pitchapalooza ROCKS HARD!
Awesome Pitchapalooza at Bookends in Ridgewood New Jersey, amazing pitches, great people, fun-omenal owners/staff. Co-winners pictured, one is 12 years old. Workshop on May 15, the mysteries of publishing will be unraveled, secrets revealed, doors unlocked.
The Book Doctors Pitchapalooza on NBC Television!
We were lucky enough to be interviewed by a truly funny and gracious human being who works for NBC. Contradiction in terms? Apparently not. His name is Ben Aaron, and he was very very good to us.
“A must-have for every aspiring writer.” – Khaled Hosseini, New York Times bestselling author of The Kite Runner
The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published
http://thebookdoctors.com/
www.davidhenrysterry.com
@sterryhead 4 twttification
http://www.facebook.com/TheBookDoctors 4 facebookization
Book Doctors Meet Script Frenzy on Huffington Post
Our new piece on Huffington Post. Can u write a script in a month?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-henry-sterry/nanowrimo-script-frenzy-chris-baty_b_842895.html
How To Get Successfully Published Workshop, Brooklyn
This workshop, developed at Stanford University, is a step-by-step, information-packed, interactive workshop that removes the smoke and mirrors from the publishing process. We cover all the publishing bases, large and small, including: choosing the right idea; coming up with a blockbuster title; crafting an attention-getting pitch; creating a sellable proposal; finding the best agent/publisher for you; developing sales, marketing, and publicity savvy; building a following through social media; and self-publishing effectively with ebooks, print-on-demand or traditional printing. This workshop is for fiction and nonfiction writers of every ilk. Here’s a unique opportunity to have your idea evaluated by industry professionals and get concrete suggestions on how to improve your chances of getting published. Dozens of workshop attendees have received book contracts from major and independent publishers.
SUNDAY, April 17, 2-5pm
$100 for pre-registration by April 11th, $125 at the door
YWCA 30 Third Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11217
Please call or email more information: 310.463.2068, sterryhead@gmail.com