Amazon announced six more new titles to be published this summer under their AmazonEncore imprint. The six books will be published in print and Kindle editions. I have stated here before that while Amazon may at times give us reason to question their influence on the publishing industry and dominance and tactics as a retailer, AmazonEncore has proved to a tremendous PR success for them and a worthy channel for the lesser known voices in fiction. This batch of six soon-to-be published titles and one just-published title are particularly eclectic.
Lyla Blake Ward’s How to Succeed at Aging Without Really Dying is a collection of essays on (in the 82-year-old author’s words) "living in a world of bubble packs you can’t open, electronics you can’t turn on, and expiration dates you can only hope don’t apply to you." Lyla Blake Ward is a former newspaper and magazine columnist who lives in Connecticut. How to Succeed at Aging Without Really Dying was published April 6.
Laurie Fabiano’s Elizabeth Street is a novel based on the true-life story of the abduction of Fabiano’s grandmother by the Black Hand, the precursor to the mafia, and her great-grandmother’s fight to get her daughter back. Tom Brokaw calls the book "a fascinating account of the Italian immigrant experience at the turn of the century that is at once inspiring and terrifying." Fabiano lives in Hoboken, N.J., where she is the president of Fab Tool, a marketing and events company that advises non-profits. Elizabeth Street will be published on May 4.
Originally published in 1988, Eric Kraft’s Herb ‘n’ Lorna is a novel about a young man who discovers after his grandparents’ death that they had a bawdy love affair predicated on their founding of the erotic jewelry industry. In a front page review in the New York Times Book Review, reviewer Cathleen Schine writes: "The novel is all about sex, and sex, in Herb ‘n’ Lorna, means everything in life that is good–craft and art and imagination and hard work and humor and friendship and skill and curiosity and loyalty and love." Kraft lives in New Rochelle, N.Y. and is the author of over 10 books, including his most recent novel Flying. Herb ‘n’ Lorna will be published on May 11.
AmazonEncore published Nick Nolan’s first novel Strings Attached in March 2010. In the sequel, Double Bound, protagonist Jeremy and his boyfriend Carlo are sent to Jeremy’s wealthy aunt to oversee the family business in Brazil, where they are accompanied by Arthur, the family’s butler. Double Bound is Arthur’s story: his heartbreaking youth, his days as a gay U.S. Marine, and his journey of self-discovery while in Brazil. Nolan lives in Los Angeles. Double Bound will be published on June 1.
In The Berry Bible, James Beard award-winning cookbook author Janie Hibler gets to the heart of berries, from their health benefits to how they are best put to use in the kitchen. In her research, Hibler traveled the world, visiting the Canadian prairie to search out Saskatoon berries; Alaska to pick wild blueberries; and Europe to peruse the markets for the best strawberries. The Berry Bible contains 175 recipes, as well as instructions on how to properly wash berries, freeze them, measure them correctly, and more. Hibler is a contributing writer to Food & Wine and Bon Appétit magazines and was a contributing writer to Gourmet. She lives in Portland, Ore.. The Berry Bible will be published on June 22.
A King of Infinite Space, a mystery novel by Tyler Dilts, follows detective Danny Beckett as he hunts for the murderer of a local high school teacher. The son of a policeman, Dilts grew up fascinated with the work of homicide detectives. Currently an instructor at California State University in Long Beach, Dilts’ writing has appeared in publications such as the Los Angeles Times, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and The Best American Mystery Stories. A King of Infinite Space will be published on June 29.
The Last Block in Harlem by Christopher Herz is a novel about a young man trying to fight the gentrification of his Harlem neighborhood. A former copywriter, Herz left his job upon finishing the manuscript of his book and began hand selling it in New York City. He walked the streets until he sold 10 copies a day, and his hand selling caught the eye of Publishers Weekly, which featured him in an August 2009 article. Herz still lives in New York City. The Last Block in Harlem will be published on July 13.
I am particularly delighted to see Christopher Herz getting well-deserved attention and this wider opportunity. Last year we ran one of our Self-Publishing Success features on Herz and Canal Publishing, the self-publishing imprint he used to publish The Last Block in Harlem.
This is a cross-posting from Mick Rooney’s POD, Self-Publishing and Independent Publishing blog.