Dismantle My Bed

Some people self-publish their own books. And they are even successful. Most notably is Christopher Paolini’s Eragon. Publisher’s Weekly recently covered a few of these successes. Here are other self-published successes.

• On the Night You Were Born by Nancy Tillman
• The Hoopster by Alan Lawrence Sitomer
• The Land of Elyon: The Dark Hills Divide by Patrick Carman
• Beowulf by Gareth Hinds
• Erec Rex: The Dragon’s Eye by Kaza Kingsley, illus. by Melvyn Grant
• The Unusual Mind of Vincent Shadow by Tim Kehoe, illus. by Mike Wohnoutka
• Meanwhile by Jason Shiga

When you print your books, you will think one thing.

You will think that bookstores are the best place to sell your book. You will likely be incorrect.

In fact, I sell more books on eBay each month than I ever have to bookstores. And the bonus is that I make more profit selling on eBay since I do not have to give the standard 55% discount like you do to bookstores.

So, for every great pick up you hear about in the literary world (or in screenplays, plays, whatever), there are several misses. For instance, publishing the first Harry Potter book was undoubtedly one of the greatest business decisions ever made at Bloomsbury. Someone read it and saw potential. But what about those publishing companies who passed on J.K. Rowling’s manuscript? There were several. What happens when this kind of event occurs, where someone passes on a novel that goes on to become the 3rd best-selling non-religious or political work of fiction of all time? You think someone gets fired?

The nominees for the 2008 Borders Original Voices Awards were announced. These awards recognize “fresh, compelling and ambitious works from the new and emerging talents.” Nominees were selected by the bookseller’s corporate and store employees. A committee of corporate staff members will select the winners in each of the four categories. Winners receive $5,000, and their books will be featured in Borders’ superstores.

The nominees:

Fiction

• Dear American Airlines by Jonathan Miles (Houghton Mifflin)
• The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway (Riverhead)
• The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti (Dial Press)
• The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry (Morrow)
• The Somnambulist by Jonathan Barnes (Morrow)
• The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga (Free Press)

Nonfiction

• The Alchemy of Air: A Jewish Genius, a Doomed Tycoon, and the Scientific Discovery That Fed the World but Fueled the Rise of Hitler by Thomas Hager (Harmony)
• The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food by Jennifer 8 Lee (Twelve)
• The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World by Eric Weiner (Twelve)
• The House at Sugar Beach: In Search of a Lost African Childhood by Helene Cooper (Simon & Schuster)
• The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective by Kate Summerscale (Walker)
• We Bought a Zoo: The Amazing True Story of a Young Family, a Broken Down Zoo, and the 200 Wild Animals That Change Their Lives Forever by Benjamin Mee (Weinstein Books)

Young Adult/Independent Reader

• Heck: Where the Bad Kids Go by Dale Basye (Random House Books for Young Readers)
• I Am Apache by Tanya Landman (Candlewick)
• The Patron Saint of Butterflies by Cecilia Galante (Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books)
• Tunnels by Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams (Chicken House)
• Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines by Nic Sheff (Ginee Seo Books)
• Wake by Lisa McMann (Simon Pulse)

Children’s Picture Books

• Do You Do a Didgeridoo? written by Nick Page and illustrated by Sara Baker (Make Believe Ideas)
• Ladybug Girl written by Jacky Davis and illustrated by David Soman (Dial)
• Little Bunny Kung Fu written and illustrated by Regan Johnson (Blooming Tree Press)
• Those Darn Squirrels! written by Adam Rubin and illustrated by Daniel Salmieri (Clarion Books)
• Wave written and illustrated by Suzy Lee (Chronicle Books)
• What’s Under the Bed? written and illustrated by Joe Fenton (Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing)

So Twilight took the top spot at the box office this weekend. Many had predicted this. They didn’t, however, predict quite the fox office success that it turned out to be. They didn’t predict the 4th best November opening of all time. They did, however, predict that it would be a success, which is why the other novels in Stephenie Meyers’ series are already in the pre-production stages. Wow to the drawing power of vampires and romance.