Tattered Essence

As of December 20, National Book Network is distributing the following publishers:

• Oldcastle Publications, Escondido, Calif., which publishes children’s picture books and has one self-help title.
• Woodland Press, which publishes books on grief, especially children’s issues, family and relationships.
• Open Texture, Albuquerque, N.M., which publishes audio CDs on language, philosophy and history.

If you are a small publishing house or are a self publisher then you are probably looking for non-traditional ways to sell books. Books festivals are a great way to sell books.

You can get a listing of book festivals at http://www.loc.gov/loc/cfbook/bookfair.html. This listing includes not just the US but the entire world.

The important thing is to choose wisely. You do not want to spend more than you make on selling the books!

Aan interesting excerpt from Publisher’s Weekly. 

In the movie Evan Almighty, the character played by Steve Carell sets out to build an ark. What book does he consult for this endeavor? Ark Building for Dummies, of course. Late night comedian Jay Leno made audiences howl by featuring Divorce for Dummies by Hillary Clinton, Third Reich for Dummies by Pat Buchanan and Killing Your Parents for Dummies by the Menendez Brothers. And one Facebook user’s page features Do It Yourself Colorectal Exams for Dummies. But you won’t find any of these books on Amazon. They don’t exist.

Since its launch in 1991 with DOS for Dummies, the Dummies brand has become a cultural touchstone. From the mundane—Bond Investing for Dummies—to the arcane—Beekeeping for Dummies—the books are universally recognized, with their black-and-yellow covers featuring a triangular-faced character holding up his finger as if to say, “Even dummies can learn French verbs!” But what happens when universal recognition turns to parody, unauthorized use, copyright and trademark infringement?

That’s where the legal department of John Wiley and Sons (which owns the Dummies series) comes in. The company lets a lot of it slide. Ark Building, Third Reich, Divorce by Hillary Clinton and Killing Your Parents doesn’t upset Wiley. Neither does the Facebook application that lets users generate their own Dummies book covers. Deirdre Silver, legal director of Wiley’s professional and trade division, says, “That’s not a use that we would see sparking any consumer confusion. We certainly don’t see it as trademark infringement. Quite the contrary. It’s an acknowledgement of the strength of the brand and its place in the culture.”

Are you are a small publisher? If you are, then you are probably a pretty familiar with SPAN.

Well if you need to join SPAN or renew your membership you want to do that ASAP as they dues are going up on January 1, 2008.

Here is the dues schedule starting in 2008:

New Members $115

Renewing Members $95

Partner Memberships (Members of Partner Organizations) $80
You can see a partner list here: www.spannet.org/partners.htm

Associate Memberships $150 (Companies that provide services to SPAN members)

Dues will not increase until January.

To join or renew at the old rate, you can go to the membership sign-up page at www.spannet.org/join.htm or give them a call at 719-475-1726.

Note that they are closed between Christmas and New Year’s Day, so act fast!

Essence magazine announced the finalists in all nine categories of its first annual Essence Literary Awards this morning.

Essence readers may vote on Essence.com among the top five finalists in the Storyteller of the Year category. However the winners in the other eight categories will be selected by a panel of publishing experts and announced at an awards ceremony, emceed by Hoda Kotb and Dr. Ian Smith, to be held in New York City on February 7, 2008. Author Terry McMillan will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award that evening, and the Countee Cullen Regional Library in Harlem, a branch of the New York City Public Library system, will be the first recipient of the Save Our Libraries campaign.

Nominees are:

FICTION

Red River, Lalita Tademy (Grand Central)
Casanegra, Blair Underwood, Steven Barnes, and Tananarive (Atria)
The Pirate’s Daughter, Margaret Cezair-Thompson (Unbridled)
New England White, Stephen L. Carter (Knopf)
Knots, Nuruddin Farah (Riverhead)

MEMOIR

Brother, I’m Dying, Edwidge Danticat (Knopf)
The Women Who Raised Me, Victoria Rowell (Morrow)
Alek, Alek Wek (Amistad)
One Drop, Bliss Broyard (Little, Brown)
A Long Way Gone, Ishmael Beah (FSG)

INSPIRATION

Reposition Yourself, TD Jakes (Atria)
From the Heart, Robin Roberts (Hyperion)
Quiet Strength, Tony Dungy (Tyndale)
Do You!, Russell Simmons (Penguin)
How Strong Women Pray, Bonnie St. John (Faith Words)

NON-FICTION

The Bond, Sampson Davis, George Jenkins and Rameck Hunt (Riverhead)
Friends: A Love Story, Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance (Harlequin)
I Got Your Back, Eddie and Gerald Levert (Harlem Moon)
Foreigners, Caryl Phillips (Knopf)
Supreme Discomfort, Michael Fletcher and Kevin Merida (Doubleday)

CURRENT AFFAIRS

Come on People, Bill Cosby (Thomas Nelson)
The Covenant in Action, Tavis Smiley (Smiley Books)
An Unbroken Agony, Randall Robinson (Basic Civitas)
Know What I Mean?, Michael Eric Dyson (Perseus)
Twice As Good, Marcus Mabry (Modern Times)

PHOTOGRAPHY

Daufuskie Island, Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe (Univ. of South Carolina Press)
Pop, Carol Ross (Stewart, Tabori & Chang)
Jimi Hendrix, Janie Hendrix (Atria)
Let Your Motto Be Resistance, Deborah Willis, ed. (Smithsonian)
Jewels, Michael Cunningham and Connie Briscoe (Little, Brown)

CHILDREN’S BOOKS

Henry’s Freedom Box, Ellen Levine, illustrated by Kadir Nelson (Scholastic )
Sugar Cane: A Caribbean Rapunzel, Patricia Storace and Raul Colon (Jump at the Sun)
Marvelous World, Troy Cle (S&S Children’s)
The Shadow Speaker, Nnedi Okorafor-mbachu (Jump at the Sun)
Salli Gal and the Wall-a-Kee Man, Sheila P. Moses (Scholastic)

POETRY

Duende by Tracy K. Smith (Graywolf)
Acolytes by Nikki Giovanni (Morrow)
Totem by Gregory Pardlo (American Poetry Review)

STORYTELLER OF THE YEAR

(voted on by Essence readers at Essence.com)

Eric Jerome Dickey
Lori Bryant-Woolridge
Trisha R. Thomas
L.A. Banks
Tananarive Due