A low-fat snack

Yes, I am still on vacation. And no, I am still not checking my mail. I'm sure I've won at least 27 foreign lotteries, but they'll just have to wait until I return.

In the meantime, I wanted to pass on a few juicy morsels for you to chomp on:

Over at the Publishing Contrarian, there is a super post about what makes a book take off (the hook) and why THE MEMORY KEEPER'S DAUGHTER has done so well. A good read for all self-pubbing (and commercially pubbing!) authors.

And PubGuy (Dan from iUniverse) has an interesting interview with Brian Wiprud you should check out. Wiprud originally published with iUniverse (and Xlibris before that!) before landing a sweet deal with Bantam/Dell. Feel bad about being rejected from the folks in NY? Brian had 660 rejections for six novels before he finally signed a contract.

Also, N. Frank Daniels, author of the mind-blowing FUTUREPROOF, is self-financing his fall book tour by selling a ton of cool items on Ebay. Check it out and buy something (it's good stuff, seriously--like a signed, hardcover copy of SACRAMENT (You Shall Know Our Velocity) by Dave Eggers and a signed copy of THE PORTABLE HENRY ROLLINS.) What better way to help out an indie author and get something cool out of it. Check out his items for auction.

Over at Lee Goldberg's blog, he gives the details from his latest iUniverse royalty statement for a few books that had been previously published (thus using iUniverse's Back in Print program for free. )

And lastly and certainly not least--and certainly not POD-related--Lauren Baratz-Logsted has not one, not two, but three books being released this month. All should be purchased and read:

(1) Lauren edited (and contributed to) THIS IS CHICK-LIT, a book of short-stories in direct response to the condescending and foolish THIS IS NOT CHICK LIT released last year by Random House. Check it out on Amazon and preview it. This is super stuff.

(2) HOW NANCY DREW SAVED MY LIFE has just been released by Red Dress Ink, a catchy, clever little Chick Lit diddy that will appeal to all of us with 20 or 30 Nancy Drew books tucked away from our childhood.

(3) VERTIGO, a turn-of-the-century (nineteenth, that is) erotic suspense-filled novel, will be released by Delta (Bantam) on September 26th.

There is a little something here for everyone. And if all else fails, start your holiday shopping now!