Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    

From: ParisPoet@aol.com
Date: Wed, 10 Mar 1999 14:43:20 EST
To: inkwell-hosts@well.com

Hi, I'm a well member and a writer. My novel just got some acclaim.I
was wondering if you'd like to add my book to your bookstore, do an
interview with me... or anything else...  Here's the last press release
that went out



Making Literary History, Independently Published Novel Chosen by
 Doubleday and Literary Guild Book Clubs

GREENWICH, CT: How often do the publishing giants notice a self
published novelwand a hard-to-classify work of women's erotic fiction,
at that?

Remarkably, MJ Rose, who published her first novel, Lip Service, just
months ago, has bucked the odds. Roger Cooper, Vice President and
Editorial Director of Doubleday Direct, purchased book club rights to
the novel. Cooper noted that publishing history was being made.  "This
is the first time we've bought an independently published novel. It's a
win-win for everybody." Lip Service will be an Alternate Selection for
both Doubleday Book Club and The Literary Guild. The acclaimed
erotic-yet-intelligent novel will be featured in the clubs' July
mailings.

And all just in time for Small Press Month (March, 1999)

This accomplishment is even sweeter for Rose, because her novel made
the rounds of the New York houses, garnering rejection after rejection,
before she decided to publish the work on her own. It was too hard to
classify, she was told: too smart for the erotica market, too much a
psychological thriller to be traditional women's fiction, and with too
subtle a love interest.

Julia Sterling, the book's main character, is an uptown Manhattanite
with a seemingly perfect life.  When a writing job exposes Julia to
phone sex, she glimpses a world that stirs her erotic fantasies but
threatens her carefully constructed reality.  As she probes her
emotional and sexual connections to men she knows and several she will
never meet, she confronts evil, perversity and her own passions. This
uninhibited narrative builds to a crescendo that takes the reader by
surprise.

Lip Service has received over 25 glowing reviewsw, including a rave
from Marcy Sheiner, editor of several volumes in the Herotica series
and author of the forthcoming Sex for the Clueless. Rose has used her
background in advertising to parley these notices into commercial
success outside the mainstream book distribution channels. She has sold
over 1000 copies at full price, entirely through contacts developed
over the Internet.

Lip Service can be ordered at (800- 431-1579), online at
http://www.ReadLipService.com or at amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com. Price
is $12.95 plus $3.50 for shipping to the U.S.
###
Journalists: To arrange an interview with Rose and/or obtain a review
copy of Lip Service, call Jane Gardner at (203) 861-2799 OR email her
at ParisPoet@aol.com.
  

    
Sorry. I have been unfaithful to this conference.

I have this book out in England, widely reviewed, though without
uncontrollable enthusiasm, called the Darwin Wars. It's a vulgar history
of sociobiology. As reviewers have observed, it has a distinct English
bias becasue I coudn't afford to travel round America for three months 
though I have dealt as farily and extensively as possible with American 
ideas. Since one of the main protagonists in these struggles is Stephen 
Jay Gould, I could hardly do otherwise. 
But it's nicely written and has been reviewed so far in thee Financial
Times, the Independent, the Guardian (which also published a longish
extract), the Evening Standard, the Sunday Telegraph; and possibly others
which I may have missed. More publicity should be coming, which is nice. 
Last time I looked, it was at #39 in amazon.co.uk, which is even nicer, 
though I have no idea how this translates into sales.

More information, jokes, samples etc, are available at 
http://www.darwinwars.com
  

    

wowza, that is strangely fascinating to me, Andrew.  Where do you stand on
these Darwin wars?
  

    
I stand, uncomfortably, on both sides. I think philosophy matters as much
as science and possibly more, so to that extent I am a gouldian, believing
that bad philosophy, as peddled by Dawkins, does more harm than good
science. ON the other hand, I think that the core of the science is
incredibly stimulating and exciting, and that there are some real
discoveries in evolutionary psychology, though not as many as the boosters
claim; and to that extent I am a Dawkinsian. 
  

    
Sounds like an interesting book.  Would you like to be "interviewd" in the
inkwell?
  

    
That's what I told my probation officer. 


I'd love it
  

    
I shall take it up with my colleagues.
  

    

This is gonna happen!

I just know it.
  

    

Toot!

<realfun> has two:
Crumbs Don't Count - The Rationalization Diet (a humorous anti-diet book)
and
The Everything Bed Time Story Book - due in May.
  

    
Crumbs Don't Count is a great title. Neither do broken pieces, leftovers, or
stuff you eat standing up and/or with the refrigerator door open.
  

    

Or anything with a toothpick in it, because all the calories fall out
through the hole the toothpick makes.
  

    
Or anything transparent.
  

    

The pieces, leftovers, and standing up are in the book. May I have your
permission to add refrigerators, toothpicks (a variant on the Homer Simson)
and transparent???
  

    
Just thank us effusively in the acknowledgements!
  

    

What reva said!
  

    
And a signed copy to add to my collection ...
  

    

I'll be happy to acknowledge, and if I'm in town I'll sign a copy for you.
Q: Do you want "real names" or WELL names.
  

    
See you in Brussels! :-)

In my case : both names.
  

    
Reva, I thought I'd say hello! Look forward to nattering with you and
everyone here.
  

    
Welcome, Indra!

Indra Sinha is the author of _Cybergypsies_, and will be the subject of our
Inkwell interview starting October 22nd.
  

    

This topic has been quiet for a little while, but if you read back, you find
an eclectic gallery of WELL authors.  What interesting company.

Mostly there are links to their bios, which can't be read without a WELL 
password.  They may seem rather mysterious if you read from outside the 
passworded community area...  but to demystify the WELL authors here,
check out the Bookstore.  

The WELL Bookstore has got author names, links to Amazon to find more
author info, and the special discount WELL Gift Certificate.  This is 
a fine gift for an author or reader you feel would enjoy being part 
of the WELL community, offering hundreds of fascinating members-only, 
no-advertising WELL conferences.  

That's a shameless commericial plug in and of itself, of course.
As well as helpful navigational info, I hope.

         http://www.well.com/bookstore/
  

    
Well bookstore? There's a Well bookstore? Are MY books at the Well
bookstore?  I reckon I'll go and look.
  

    
Oh I see it's a sort of shortcut to Amazon, actually?
  

    
Yeah...  warehouses and a shipping staff are out of our specialty, so
Amazon does the heavy lifting...
  

    
Well that's cool. It's great you've got some place to organize
information about books by Well authors. Bully, as Theodore Roosevelt
was wont to say.