May 2010 Three great tips that will sell your book Our whole staff gathered around the television recently to watch Bill Davis when he was interviewed on KDKA TV in Pittsburgh. Just a local station, you say? The reality is that all book marketing, like all politics—is local. In addition, many big time, nationally known authors come to Pittsburgh and are thrilled to land an interview on KDKA or any of the stations in town. That’s how book marketing is done—one town at a time. Yes, some do end up on Larry King and Oprah but only some and only after a whole lot of local publicity. It is so exciting to see our authors succeed at marketing their books. We released Bill Davis’ third thriller mystery novel, The Ticket Master: Return of The Foreverman and he has hit the ground running, doing everything just right. He has once again written a beautifully compelling nail-biter as the third in his popular Sheriff Çlive Aliston mystery series. Next, he’s putting our little corner of Western PA on the map because his chilling tales are rooted in our very own back yards, as he has made our rolling landscape, high bridges and little river towns the backdrop for his mystery series. And if you know the folks of the Steeler Nation, you will recognize the booming personality of Aliston as a true native son. As we have said before, this kind of regional recognition gets the attention of the local media, which doesn’t often cover authors of fiction. Finally, Bill has become a great public speaker. He joined an organization called Toast Masters and learned the art of public speaking. He is now not only a sought-after speaker and president of the organization, but the experience has made him a great interview subject. While none of it happened over night and all of it requires a lot of time and tenacity, Bill Davis proves that writing a great book that highlights your local region, and grooming yourself to sell what you’ve created is indeed a winning combination. For the third straight year Bill accepted an invitation to appear at the Mystery Lover’s Bookstore’s annual Festival of Mystery on May 3, in Oakmont, PA. This event, now in its 15th year, is attended by some of the best and most popular mystery writers from all over the U.S. April 2010 Do the right thing. That’s what Douglas J. Gladstone wants from Major League Baseball. Doug Gladstone’s “A Bitter Cup of Coffee” examines the plight of 874 Major League Baseball players who played between 1947 and 1979, all with brief trials in the majors, careers figuratively “just long enough to drink a cup of coffee.” Since 1980, Major League Baseball players have needed one day of service credit for health benefits and 43 days of service credit to be eligible for a retirement allowance, but those former ballplayers who played during the 1947-1979 seasons were not included retroactively in the amended vesting requirement, and so receive no pensions for the time they gave to our national pastime. These men, the author suggests, have gulped bitter cups of coffee. In his careful examination of this issue, which includes many interviews with former players and some poignant stories of their plight, Gladstone asks his readers to examine our national relationship to sports and its heroes, as well as our relationships with those who precede us in the game of life. A lifelong baseball fan, DOUGLAS J. GLADSTONE is a journalist by training, whose published articles have appeared in the Chicago Sun Times, Baseball Digest and the San Diego Jewish World, among others. This is his first book. DAVE MARASH (Foreword) has been a working journalist for more than 50 years. Best known for his 16 years as a correspondent for ABC News Nightline, Marash won Emmy Awards for his coverage of the wars in Nicaragua and Bosnia, the Oklahoma City bombing, and the explosion that downed TWA Flight 800. He anchored the opening season of Baseball Tonight on ESPN and did play-by-play coverage of the New York Knicks and Rangers. “Gladstone serves up far more than a ‘bitter cup of coffee.’ In fact, it’s a must read for any baseball fan who really wants to understand baseball history, baseball finances, and just good old-fashioned modern day greed!”- David Sinow, J.D., Ph.D, Clinical Professor of Finance University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign “Mr. Gladstone does an excellent job of weaving these players’ individual stories into a book that is also a social cause. He should be commended for continuing to look out for these men.” -Edward F. Coyle, Executive Director of the Alliance for Retired Americans March 2010 WHY WE HAVE A LOVE/HATE RELATIONSHIP WITH OPRAH Can you imagine a world without The Oprah Show? Of course, we realize it’s just a television program and Oprah is just another super-rich celebrity. But to everyone in the book business, Oprah has been a God-send. No one—not Larry King, not the New York Times Book Review, not Publishers Weekly—has ever wielded the power over book sales like the mighty and benevolent Oprah. Oprah’s love of books—certain books—made celebrities out of her hand-picked, often first-time authors. That meant big profits for the authors, the publishers and for booksellers worldwide. All of this naturally inspired more people to write and have their book published. Okay, so that’s the love part of our Oprah relationship. Now here’s the other side. Can you get me on Oprah? Will you send my book to Oprah? What do we have to do to get on Oprah? And the worst: You can only publish my book if you can get me on Oprah. We’ve heard it a million times from our authors and the answer is that even high-flying, over-priced publicists who represent famous, best-selling authors know that getting on Oprah is a long, long, long shot. A book sent to Oprah (and the number of books the show receives each day is staggering) goes through many layers of producers before it reaches any serious decision-makers. That’s if it even makes it past the lowest level and, honestly, few do. In many cases, an Oprah book selection is a title she discovered personally. So it’s no fun having to tell our authors the terrible, no good, very bad truth—that they are more likely to win a million dollar lottery than get on Oprah. It’s true—nothing is impossible. But we advise our authors not to hope and dream so much that they fail to put their energy into grass roots publicity, because that is what really works. An author should begin with the local newspaper, church bulletin, home-town radio station, public access TV station, speaking at the local Rotary or Kiwanis Clubs, the library, high schools and college alma maters. We urge our authors to fill their communities with excitement about their book. And certainly, we encourage getting on Facebook, Twitter, and building a web site. It may not be as exciting as being on Oprah but we can tell you that plenty of successful authors have launched their books and careers in just this way and now the big time talk shows go chasing after them—folks like Dr. Phil, Rachel Ray, Martha Stewart, and Suzie Orman to name a few. February 2010 Baseball devotee, John Valerino of Lakeland, Florida is back with his second baseball book, Ted and Joe, Players' Memories of Two Icons with a special introduction by none other than the great Yogi Berra. In his book, Valerino puts it all out there for fans—the behind-the-scenes stuff, the stats, the many photos and the opinions of their teammates and their rivals—everything you always wanted to know about Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio. If you love the Williams/DiMaggio era or if you just love baseball, this book is for you. It’s as rich and atmospheric as those afternoon double-headers. In the words of the oft-quoted Berra, “this book is the next-best-thing to knowing them…” Although Berra does concede that “Ted was Ted and Joe was Joe.” Western Pennsylvania sports fans are lining up for sportswriter, George Guido’s Alle-Kiski Sports History, A Century of Sports in the AK Valley Region. Guido’s book boasts hundreds of classic photos, stories, stats, and reminiscences gathered from sources scattered far and wide. Guido, the region’s most knowledgeable sports historian, has created an epic volume that secures for all time, the amazing athletic accomplishments of athletes from the small, mostly blue collar towns clustered along the shores of the Allegheny and Kiskiminetas Rivers. This amazing collection of stories, stats and memories recalls heart-stopping feats, proud victories and a whole lot of blood, sweat, and tears. Billie Remson, aka Mama B, is back with her fifth feel-good book about life on a farm just for the fun of it. This one is called A Mississippi Morning on Bluebird Hill or Chickens, Chickens and More Chickens! This lovely hardcover book is rich with delightful true-life tales of Billie’s ever-growing flock and enhanced by her colorful photographs. Readers will fall in love with the “girls” in Billie’s hen house, their romances with their dashing roosters, and the irresistible little biddies who get Mama B into so much trouble with husband, Papa Doc who insists they do not need any more chickens on Bluebird Hill. January 2010 We are pleased to report that our title, My Dad’s a Hero, was recently selected for distribution by Scholastic Book Club. The book had previously won the 2007 Golden Quill Award from the American Authors Association and the 2007 Don Hanson Award for Creativity from the Military Writers Society of America. My Dad’s a Hero has become extremely popular on military bases throughout the country. Here are some of the things our readers have written: “This book is a wonderful resource for families with a deployed father, and it's fun to read too. This book focuses on the positive aspects of dad's deployment - what he eats, where he sleeps, what dad is doing for others, how to keep in touch, etc... And I also love that it emphasizes the child's role in the sacrifice - they are heroes too! The story and the illustrations will captivate children of all ages and help them feel better about being away from their dad. Highly recommended!” Posted by an amazon mom. “Thank you so very much for the book you sent to Venable Village Elementary School at Ft. Hood, Texas.  We appreciate it so very much – we have a high percentage (almost 50% ) of our parents who are deployed which, naturally, has a major effect on our students and their families.  We love the book and we are using it in our counseling department.  Our counselor will use it in EVERY classroom – so over 600 students will be hearing the story. EVERY family will face a deployment issue at one time or another at our campus – it is truly a revolving door when it comes to deployment.  Some soldiers are even on their 4th tour now and we can certainly see a difference.” Cynthia Potwin, Principal Venable Village Elementary School Rebecca Christiansen, Jewel Armstrong, and Jen O. Robertson, co-authors of My Dad's Hero. December 2009 We congratulate author Brian Weakland who has had a busy Fall and pre-Christmas season of successful book signings featuring Woods on Fire, book two in his chilling mystery trilogy. Brian’s first book in the series, Tonight in the Rivers of Pittsburgh, is still selling well and it looks like he’s going to have throngs of readers awaiting Zelienople Road, the third and final book in the series. Besides being a fine writer and a gifted story-teller, Brian has done something else that makes sense in the publishing world. He has placed his riveting tales in a real place, Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania. For those of us who live in the region, we’ll never look at the Allegheny River in quite the same way. And if you think Zelienople is a made-up name, just ask the folks who live in that quaint little borough just twenty-eight miles north of Pittsburgh. Giving a novel a real place setting gives it a tremendous launch pad. Residents and local media will have an immediate interest in a story that takes them down roads they travel, past landmarks, and into restaurants, stores, and parks they frequent. The more an author allows the setting to become an intricate part of the story, the more not only residents of the region but those familiar with it, will be drawn to the book. Even the media, so often resistant to writing and talking about fiction, can find a hook on which to hang a feature story when the setting is not only real but germane to the novel. To those about to begin their great fiction writing adventure, bring your story home and make location a compelling character. November 2009 I am pleased to report that the November 2009 issue of Midwest Book Review features one of our recent titles: “Sketches of Invalids is a collection of short stories from novelist Randall DeVallance, focusing on the lives of simple characters when something out of the ordinary strikes them. Calling for a new evaluation of the term normal, Sketches of Invalids is a fascinating read which should not be ignored.” Here is the back cover blurb on this book: An aging tennis player tries to come to grips with life outside the spotlight. A would-be writer finds himself a media celebrity when his one-word opus becomes an instant sensation. A penitent schoolteacher endlessly punishes himself for the sins of the modern world. These are just three of the stories found in Sketches of Invalids, the first short story collection by novelist Randall DeVallance. Compiling some of his best published works along with new, never-before-seen stories, Sketches of Invalids explores the thin line separating the average person from the outcast, and shows that to be “normal” often means being anything but.” Randall DeVallance is a 2002 graduate of Edinboro University. His stories have appeared in the New Yinzer's anthology Dirt, McSweeney's Online, Eyeshot, Facsimilation, and many other publications in print and online. His first novel, Dive, which takes place in Pittsburgh, was published by Word Association in 2007. A Pittsburghs native, Mr. Devallance recently moved to New York City.