Epicenter's Palin Biography A Bestseller

BPNW member Epicenter Press published the first and currently only biography of Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin.

The book turned into a runaway bestseller on Friday, with 40,000 orders pouring in, after Repulican presidential candidate John McCain announced Palin would be his pick for a running mate.

As reported in the Seattle Times, Epicenter has immediately geared up to produce a paperback version of Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned Alaska's Political Establishment Upside Down.

No Meeting in August, Preparing for PNBA

Book Publishers Northwest's next meeting will be September 18 at Good Shepherd Center, 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Join Gail Sexton, our 2008 Pub U Scholar, for a publisher's roundtable for good advice on starting, growing, or just having fun with your publishing business.


PNBA Fall Trade Show: Free Display for BPNW Members

Book Publishers Northwest will have a joint display with NWABP and IBPA. Every 2008 BPNW member can display one title for free at this regional trade show.

Join Today To Display Your Book At PNBA
Free display of one book at the PNBA Fall Trade Show is restricted to 2008 members who joined before July 30 or 2008/09 members who join by Sept. 1.

Join BPNW today for this and other benefits!

Site seeking articles on publishing

Sellingbooks.com is looking for articles on any aspect of writing, publishing and marketing books, including publicity, speaking, internet marketing, copyright, or design.

Articles should be 300+ words, and informational not promotional. All articles may include a short (2 - 3 sentences) author bio with promotional copy and links.

Articles may be submitted at the site
Sellingbooks.com

Amazon buys Shelfari

Amazon is moving into the reading/social networking field with the acquisition of Shelfari:

Shelfari Joins Amazon.com Family

Struggling Independents in Seattle

The closure of Couth Buzzard and All for Kids Books this summer made headlines in Sunday's Seattle Times.

Tough times for some independent bookstores...

Rosemary Jones's Book Signing

Rosemary Jones will be signing Crypt of the Moaning Diamond, Dungeons Book IV, on Saturday, August 30 from 3 p.m to 4 p.m., at the Wizards of the Coast booth at Penny Arcade Expo 2008 (PAX 10, www.pennyarcadeexpo.com) in Seattle. This will be a combined signing two other Dungeons authors: Erik Scott de Bie, who wrote Depths of Madness and Bruce R. Cordell, who wrote Stardeep.

PAX 10 is one of the largest gaming conventions in the US and is expected to draw 50,000 gamers to Seattle.

Internet Review of Books

The book review website Internet Review of Books is looking for books in the fields of science, social science, history, art, music, biographies, and current affairs. The site also reviews literary fiction.

A query about non-fiction manuscripts, should be e-mailed to Carter Jefferson at editor@internetreviewofbooks.com. Julie McGuire at jmcguire@internetreviewofbooks.com reviews literary fiction.


Site editors suggest keeping e-mails brief and including the press release in the body of the message.

New Look, New Features

The BPNW News Blog decided to update its look -- it was something to do during NBC Olympic broadcast's commercials!

New features include RSS subscription button (see right) and a new Kaboodle list of members' books. Click on Kaboodle link to find a sampling of books published by BPNW members, including links to order forms on the publishers' websites or other online booksellers.

Enjoy the new features and let us know what we can do to make this an even better blog!

Inside the Distributor's Mind

Ever wonder what goes on at a distributor? Well, you can get the idea at Partners West's blog that they spend a lot of time reading the latest bestsellers and surfing the web: http://www.partners-west.com/blog/

Drop in if you want to read some amusing commentary.

Carlson Article Featured in Independent

Linda Carlson's article "How Well Do Downloadables Sell?" was featured on the cover of the Independent, the magazine of the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA).

According to Carlson, the challenges facing publishers entering into the downloadable market include finding proper technical support to supply the most customer-friendy downloadable files (e-books are but one type of downloadable), finding sales channels for downloadables, and pricing downloadables.

BPNW is an affiliate of IBPA (formerly known as PMA). BPNW members receive a discount for membership in IBPA.

Display Your Books at Florida Show

FAME (Florida Association for Media in Education, www.FloridaMedia.org) is set for September 24–26, at the Gaylord Palms Resort in Orlando. Attendees are school librarians.

The Florida Publishers Association is once again offering to display the books of affiliate members, such as BPNW members, at their booth.


Display of each product in the Florida Publishers Association booth costs $60 for publishers that are not members of FPA. (A booth of your own costs $800.) To learn more about how to display with FPA at FAME, visit http://www.flbookpub.org/fame.html.

40 Topics for Corporate Bloggers

40+ Topics for Corporate Bloggers

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Author's Den Recommended

I'd like to inform my fellow members of another opportunity to get their names and titles known in the writers/publishers community. It's called AuthorsDen (www.authorsden.com) and, along with an extensive amount of information about you as an author and samples from your books, cover, and other pertinent info, the writing of articles to be published on the site is encouraged.

I urge BPNW members to check it out. With the help of my internet-savvy husband, I am now listed on the site, and you can check my listing out as an example of how you and your works will be displayed. More good news: there was no charge to do this.

Regards,

Chris Salditt
Mother Love Publishing

A Modest Proposal, or A Little Summer Fun

Noting that Book Publishers Northwest (BPNW)'s shared display with the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) and the Northwest Association of Book Publishers (NWABP) at the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association (PNBA) Trade Show would be the BPNW/IBPA/NWABP display at PNBA, member David Ash of Basho Press made the following modest proposal:

I propose that we should all merge and change our name to the Society of Western Educational, Entertainment, and Trade Book Independent Progressive Publishing Yahoos, or SWEET BIPPY for short. It would make walking into an industry cocktail party much more interesting if that were on our name tags!

However, IBPA member Mary Shafer of Word Forge Books responded:

I agree that it would be interesting — but wouldn’t this be the cause for much unauthorized gambling? Because I can just see it now: everyone wanting to “bet their SWEET BIPPY” on something. And what kind of consternation might it cause if a member were to win one of the Independent Publishing awards? Can you just hear it? “We’re proud to present this year’s IPPY to someone from SWEET BIPPY!” And God help us if that winner just happened to be from Mississippi...

Dogwise Expands List

Dogwise Publishing recently announced that the company will be the new wholesale distributor for Pat Hastings and Dogfolk Enterprises.

Oregon dog trainer and author Hasting is currently an AKC Judge of the Herding, Non-Sporting, and Working Groups, Junior Showmanship, and Best in Show. Her titles distributed by Dogwise include Puppy Puzzle: The Hastings Approach to Evaluating the Structural Quality of Puppies, Tricks of the Trade: From Best Intentions to Best In Show Revised Ed, and Another Piece of the Puzzle: Puppy Development.

Seattle Storm Promotes Reading at SAM

The Seattle Storm and the Seattle Art Museum are teaming up to promote reading at a special event August 13.

Seattle Storm star players Sheryl Swoopes and Katie Gearlds read works about the Impressionist art movement during this afternoon event for kids age 5 to 19.

Adults must accompany all groups of teens and children. Please call 206.654.3238 for more information.

Date: 8/13/2008
Time: 3:30-5 p.m.
Location: Seattle Art Museum, 1st Ave. and University St.