NCBPMA is on YouTube!

Cynthia Shannon made a little video from the October Panel – the camera is a little shaky, but otherwise it’s quite nice! Great job!

Be sure to attend our next panel on November 17…

November Event: Publishing Then, Now, and Later – A Conversation

Please note: this is our final event of the year … well, except the Holiday Party, but you know what I mean.

November 17, 2009

12:30 – 2:30 pm

Hotel Rex, 568 Sutter Street

San Francisco, CA

Remember when authors had tours, agents held three martini lunches, and editors edited manuscripts with a pen…on paper? The industry has changed dramatically in the course of one year, with new products, marketing tactics, and publishing opportunities. Join a group of distinguished publishing veterans who will discuss the thrills of working in this day and age, how it compares to “back then,” and what exciting trends might continue to play out in the future.

Litquake 2009: A Book Lover’s Dream

By Tanicia Bell, Features Reporter

Consisting of readings, discussions, and themed events held at different Bay Area venues, this year’s Litquake will be a nine-day long event featuring over 500 mostly-local authors.

San Francisco’s annual literary festival opened on October 9^th with Black, White and Read: Litquake’s Book Ball to celebrate its 10th anniversary. The ball, loosely based on Truman Capote’s famous Black and White Ball, will be a place for writerly and readerly types to connect for a reasonable $19.99. Attendees are encouraged to dress the part and, if inclined, bring along their own custom Mardi Gras harlequin-type stick masks inspired by favorite books or writers. The night will feature performances from the worlds of opera, jazz, classical music and… the circus.

Behind the Scenes: Frankfurt Book Fair

Our intrepid reporter Katie Sheehan chats with Maria Jesus Aguilo, Director of International Rights for Berrett-Koheler, about what it’s really like to attend the Frankfurt Book Fair (October 14 – 18). 

How do you prepare for Frankfurt book fair? What is your objective?

Around July we start soliciting appointments and scheduling our time there. Usually by September our schedule is all full. Our objective is to make as many appointments as possible and to expose our upcoming list to as many foreign publishers as possible.

October Poll — Vote Now!

October Event: Publishing in a Digital Age: Renaissance or Revolution?

What might the future of publishing look like? Join a panel of local technophiles who remains connected to the world of print in one way or another as they discuss the challenges and opportunities book publishers may face in this technology driven world. 

Join the conversation on Twitter via #ncbpma 

Dom Sagolla helped create Twitter.com. With 140 Characters: A Style Guide to the Short Form, Sagolla aims to do for Twitter and other social networking sites what Strunk & White’s The Elements of Style did for good writing via lessons in grammar and composition. A handbook for an emerging class of writers and journalists, this book is written to include readers in the evolution of Twitter and the short format. 

Matt Stewart made headlines worldwide when he released his debut novel, The French Revolution, on Twitter. He has since sold the novel to a traditional publisher, but you can still follow along at @thefrenchrev. At his day job, Matt leads marketing for an environmental nonprofit which recently released the world’s first personalizable music video. He previously directed PR and social media campaigns for leading technology companies, including the Wikimedia Foundation, SanDisk, Ricoh and Adobe. 

Kul Wadhwa is the Wikimedia Foundations Head of Business Development. He has more than a decade of management and business development experience, including senior roles at a variety of high-tech start-ups such as CyberTrust Japan, B.U.G., and Pangea2, where he worked on deals throughout Asia, Europe and the Americas. Kul has an M.A. in international policy studies and a B.A. in political science, both from Stanford. He speaks Japanese, as well as some Portuguese and Spanish.

Moderator — Tech Journalist and SFWeekly Web Editor Alexia Tsotsis attended the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, CA where she majored in Writing and Art. She moved to New York City shortly after graduating to work in the Entertainment/Media industry. After four years of living in New York City and attending New Media Business courses at New York University she moved to San Francisco in order to continue her career in new media — exploring the relationship between the technology industry and culture through her reporting for the SFWeekly.

October Poll: Feedback Greatly Appreciated.

How Book Publicists Become Trust Agents

Wanted to make sure you saw this brilliant guest post by Chris Brogan on The Book Publicity Blog about how book publicists become Trust Agents

http://yodiwan.wordpress.com/2009/09/23/how-book-publicists-can-be-trust-agents/

A Biggs Eye Review – “Beauty Salon”

By Adrienne Biggs

“Most fish have no idea of what’s happening outside their tanks.”

Beauty Salon by Mexican novelist Mario Bellatin is a very disturbing book. Although pithy in size (a mere 63 pages), its subject matter is decidedly not: a mysterious and deadly plague has descended upon an unnamed city, whose infected inhabitants come to the Terminal, a former beauty salon, “where people who have nowhere to die end their days”. The proprietor, a male transvestite who remains unnamed, ruminates on the transient nature of beauty with repeated references to his collection of colorful, exotic fish which swim obliviously in several aquariums, providing much-needed distraction for the guests, and himself.

The protagonist admits, “the aquariums make me feel as if there’s still something fresh in the beauty salon”. An expert in death, and therefore in life, he admits, “With just a quick glance I can predict how much time each one has left to live” and describes the state of most of his guests as “something like a total lethargy in which even the possibility of their inquiring about their own health no longer exists.” His detached, nonchalant attitude—“I can almost never identify the guests…they are nothing more to me than bodies on the verge of disappearing”–devolves as he wrestles with “who will take charge of the beauty salon when the disease spreads inside me.”  He considers his work “a duty I can’t avoid.”

Infinite Celebration — The End of Infinite Summer

The challenge: Join endurance bibliophiles from around the world in reading “Infinite Jest” by David Foster Wallace over the summer of 2009, June 21st to September 22nd. A thousand pages1 ÷ 92 days = 75 pages a week. No sweat.

I was standing in line at the Dave Eggers signing of “Zeitoun” when I noticed a woman carrying a copy of “Infinite Jest.” I admired her not only because I knew how heavy the tome was (I had vowed early on only to read it at home, in bed, where I’d have the least amount of weight lifting to do), but also because her bookmark seemed further than mine. The book was also in much better shape than my second hand copy that had broken apart after 300 pages.

I asked her if she was partaking in Infinite Summer, and indeed she was. We started talking, and the two boys behind us joined in. They had read the book twice already but thought the book club sounded fun. Before we knew it, we were comparing notes on all the books over 800 pages we had read, not in a boasting way, but the kind of conversation that just naturally flows on a higher intellectual level.

We went from complete strangers at a book signing to friends on Facebook, all because of some epic novel. While still on my Eggers’ high I thought about how there must be more of us out there. In my typical fashion I thought what better way to meet these people than to put them in a room with some free alcohol and lots of books?

I contacted the good folks at Booksmith, who immediately jumped on board, validating my idea while bringing it to a whole new level. Now it wasn’t just an idea, but an actual event I needed to plan and deliver. And I was falling behind on my reading.

But since my social life must commence again, I’m multi-tasking like a pro. While wine sponsors and special guests of sorts have fallen through (though Stephen Elliott agreed to attend, and I’m still holding out for Eggers!), I believe the basic idea – collecting folks in a room around a shared interest in a novel – will hold up. Especially when friends in New York call me to ask about this party they heard about, and they didn’t hear it from me!

Join other IJ readers – face-to-face, this time — to discuss the intricate complexities of a novel that has changed your perception of light reading.

Monday, September 28 at 7:30 p.m.

Booksmith

1644 Haight Street

San Francisco

Bring your beaten and battered copy of “Infinite Jest” to enter a contest to see whose copy has been most abused.

Suggested $5 donation covers wine and food.