Apple Seeds – May, 2006
Celebrating 15 Years in Business!
Since May, 1991.
If we could just write a bestselling novel like those on the shelves, we could really celebrate! Oh, and don’t forget all those movie options on our yet-to-be-written novel!
Danielle Steel is dealing with TV or DVD movie options on 30 (yeah—30) of her novels. She’ll be able to pay someone to come in and brush her teeth—if she doesn’t already.
Meg Cabot (Princess Diaries, Teen Idol, All-American Girl, and 1-800-Where-R-U) is another novel-to-movie author.
Sue Grafton (a former TV writer) refuses to let film producers touch her P.I. Kinsey Millhone Series.
I’ve seen the “Bones” series on TV a couple of times, and even though author Kathy Reichs works on the show, the main character is just not what I pictured her to be. I think the actress is too young. (My imagination and theirs: ka-boom!)
Our Area Authors are making news in the Barns & Nobles’ Website:
Nathan Jorgenson has several 5 Star reviews, and Tom Chapin now has both his books among their selections. You’ll also find Terry Oliver Mejdrich, Ernest Francis Schanilec, Laura Hanson, Mary Clare Lockman, Dr. Duane Lund, Ted Lundrigan and Dan Prusi. Cecelia McKeig’s “Last Indian Battle” is being used by students studying past Native history, and Walker’s Dr. Otto F. Ringle has a new book “The Paperboy” with a wonderful list of 1940s “old-timers” along his paper-route tale. (I wonder if he had as hard a time collecting then as I did in the 1950s.)
Barnes & Noble and Court TV and American Crime Writers: Murder They Wrote. With each promoting the other on TV and in book stores, watch for the new series with authors such as James Ellroy, Faye & Jonathan Kellerman, Lisa Scottoline and Michael Connelly.
Did you know:
The Oprah Book “Night” by Elie Wiesel was a winner of the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize.
Based on 2005 sales, “The Secret Life of Bees” by Sue Monk Kidd had a sales record of 940,046.
James Frey sold over 3 million of his “A Million Little Pieces” in 2005—with the bad publicity following in 2006.
Publishers Weekly listed Mass Market Paperback Sales as being led by John Grisham (his “The Broker” sold 3 million books), and Nora Roberts—PW said of her 15 bestsellers, eleven were over the million mark, but I counted 10 books, with two each over 2 million and 8 each over 1 million, with a combined sale of all 10 at 15,762,523 books. Keep in mind that 6 of those books were reissues, containing two books in each reissue, and that doesn’t count all the other titles that each sold over 100,000.
Janet Evanovich had 6 books on the list, with Dan Brown and Dean Koontz at 3 each.
Just a thought: Which publicity-training guru decided that touching your fingertips together (like holding a ball between your hands) was the perfect thing to do while giving a speech? Sorry, but all I do is watch their stupid hands, and don’t hear a word they say.
Kaavya Viswanathan of Harvard: Plagiarism. Her book was pulled after printing. Oops.
The Romantic Times BookClub Magazine, (RT) is the magazine to keep up on, especially if you’re a hopeful romance writer. Author interviews, the how-to-write columns, author/bookstore/reader conventions—all emphasize networking, networking and networking—as does Walker writer Lois Templin.
As a “Bookstore That Cares” member of RT, I receive a LOT of promotional material—bookmarks, etc. A couple of years ago, I was sent a mini disc containing a portion of a novel. I recently received two promotional discs with parts of six new novels. Great idea!
Minnesota Book Awards: You can find all the winners (and finalists) just by doing a “Google” search. Our Will Weaver was nominated twice, and this year there were at least a handful of other familiar names.
Roxanne Henke: A Christian author who lives in the small town of Wishek (every 2nd Wednesday in October they celebrate their “national holiday” Sauerkraut Day), Roxy has a five-book series set in the fictional town of Brewster.
Tim O’Brien: Born in Austin, Minn., O’Brien began writing after serving in Vietnam. A versatile author, his first book was “If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home”.
Robert Jordan: Producing “thicker-than-ever” science fiction novels, Jordan also served (two tours) in Viet Nam.
By the way, I looked up Vietnam/View Nam and found a controversy. However, the country’s legend gives it the two-word name: View Nam.
David Halberstam: A multitalented author, he pens political and sports fiction and non-fiction.
Ken Follett: His latest, the 2004 “Whiteout” is doing quite well. However, anyone who has read Follett claims “The Pillars of the Earth” to be his best novel—a read-it-again book.
Susan Isaacs: From 1978 to 2004, Isaacs published 10 novels.
Richard Paul Evans: His first novel “The Christmas Box” (written for his daughter) has been followed by 10 more books, the latest in 2005 and a hardcover in January, 2006. Nice interview on Barnes & Noble website—Evans self-published his first book after being rejected by nearly every publisher, and discovered “…self-published authors are not afforded a great deal of respect…” And, look where he is now!
Barbara Delinsky: One of our most popular romance authors, Delinsky also wrote (as a breast cancer survivor) “Uplift: Secrets from the Sisterhood of Breast Cancer Survivors”.
Prof. Bill has been in with books for us, critiques on each, and a “word of the day”—which leaves me pondering after each visit. He even found a glaring misspelling in a popular author’s novel. (Spell-check??)
Renee & Cec report that the Longville Centennial Book is being printed and boxed. This really thick book is also being shrink-wrapped, because they want to make sure everyone hears that special, brand-new “crack” when they open the book for the first time.
Sharon called from CA. She also sent pictures of an Outdoor Bookstore. Imagine that. (However, everything was wrapped in plastic—a little bit of rain, you know.) Sorry, Sharon, I just had to mention that! She’ll soon be in Minnesota, but is really retiring this time.
Celebrating 15 Years in Business!
Since May, 1991
To Nina & Sharon, Prof. Bill, our “Illinois Couple” and the Bemidji “S family from Mr. P and me—thank you to each of you for making the last 15 years a success. We thank our special customers, our new-found friends and each of you for making all this possible.
Gotta go……….Hugs!
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