ForeWord This Week Newsletter

ForeWord this Week is a weekly email news service covering independent publishing of interest to booksellers, librarians, and other trade professionals.

Everyone knows that the young adult fiction market is huge these days. Harry Potter readers have turned to the Inheritance trilogy and the Twilight Saga, as well as to graphic novels, fantasy, and chick lit. So doesn’t it follow that this generation of readers would crave nonfiction as well?

This is what Orange Avenue Books, a San Francisco-based book packaging company, gambled on when they turned to publishing young adult advice books in 2006. Zest Books now has fifteen books in print and has received attention from popular teen magazines including Seventeen, Justine, and J-14. FTW spoke with Hallie Warshaw, Zest’s publisher and creative director, about their books and success with the young adult market, some of which surely comes from the fact that they have real teenagers working for them.

“We have a teen advisory board made up of teens from the Bay area,” Warshaw said. “The kids on our teen advisory board are very avid readers who are interested in publishing. They come up with ideas and bring proposals to us. They are very funny. They come in every two weeks and we have a meeting. They eat a lot and sit on the couch and don’t want to leave. But it’s a very serious program. They have to sign contracts and their parents have to sign contracts.”

The books they and Zest’s editorial staff come up with are written by authors with experience writing for teens. They cover topics including dating, fashion, friends, organization, and the awkwardness and agony that comes with being a teen. The books are designed after magazines, so the information is presented in a colorful package and an entertaining style.

“They’re very accessible,” Warshaw said. “You don’t have to read the whole thing; you can come in and out of the books. And I think that’s what teens’ lives are like. They also give solid advice, but it’s like advice from a big sister, rather than from a parent.”

For the drama queen (and what high school girl doesn’t have her moments?), there’s Girl in a Funk: Quick Stress Busters by Tanya Napier and Jen Kollmer (978-0-9772660-9-8), which includes tips like listening to music or walking the dog to relieve tension or anger. Girl in a Fix: Quick Beauty Solutions (978-0-9772660-2-9) by Somer Flaherty and Jen Kollmer recommends using shampoo when the shaving gel runs out or applying sliced potato to sooth puffy eyes.

Budding fashionistas will enjoy learning the terminology and the history of style and clothing in Fashion 101: A Crash Course in Clothing by Erika Stalder, illustrated by Ariel Krietzman (978-0-9790173-4-6). For creative types who want to design their own looks, there’s Jeaneology: Crafty Ways to Reinvent Your Old Blues by Nancy Flynn (978-0-9772660-3-6).

Crush: A Girl’s Guide to Being Crazy in Love

Three small books by Erin Elisabeth Conley address the biggest social issues faced in junior high and high school. Crush: A Girl’s Guide to Being Crazy in Love (978-0-9772660-0-5) will help Juliet decode Romeo’s body language, keep from embarrassing herself, and snag him with her wiles. Dumped: A Girl’s Guide to Happiness After Heartbreak (978-0-9772660-1-2) will help her move on. Uncool: A Girl’s Guide to Misfitting In (978-0-9772660-7-4) assures readers that everyone has bad days and nobody’s perfect, but girls who are really different should just run with it--”Imagine what a snooze life would be if people were all the same,” Conley writes.

Been There, Survived That: Getting Through Freshman Year of High School, edited by Karen Macklin (978-0-9790173-7-7) will soothe readers nervous about entering high school. The book is broken down into sections on “Social Advice,” “Academic Advice,” and “Practical Advice.” The book was written by the members of Zest’s current teen advisory board and includes tips like, “Don’t ditch your friends for a new GF/BF” and “If you respect your teachers, they’ll start to respect you.”

Goal-oriented teens will enjoy 97 Things To Do Before You Finish High School by Steven Jenkins and Erika Stalder (978-0-9790173-0-8). Warshaw said this is the company’s most popular title. It has been written up in Justine, J-14, GUMBO Teen, and Nashville Parent and the tips include “paint your room,” “reach out to a long-lost relative,” and “confess a crush.”

Perfect for school libraries or gift giving, these clever books are informative, while still looking cool--because no teenager wants to be caught reading an ugly book.

“Cover designs and titles are the absolute most difficult thing,” Warshaw said. “We test them on our kids and our advisory board. The book has to be appealing to teens, but also to adults who might be buying the books as gifts. It is a constant ongoing challenge.”

Zest Books are distributed by IPG and are doing well with public and school libraries. They are partnering with the American Library Association for Teen Read Week in October.

“Libraries are a great market for us,” Warshaw said. “ALA has been extremely enthusiastic and very open. Some of our content is a little edgy, and the ALA is very progressive. We’re excited to be part of Teen Read Week.”

Warshaw said the books have gotten interest from publishers abroad as well, due to their universal subject matter.

If you plan to have advance reading copies to give away at BEA, ForeWord can help you promote them! ForeWord is working with the organizers at BEA to showcase independent presses and their forthcoming works of fiction, poetry and nonfiction through a galleys2grab program for visiting booksellers, librarians and agents. In order to participate, please REGISTER ONLINE by May 14th. There is no charge for this service. We will create a downloadable PDF file of the list.

The Boy From the Sun by Duncan Weller (Simply Read Books, 978-1-894965-33-0) has been awarded the 2008 Ruth & Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Book Award for best picture book. The awards were established by Sylvia Schwartz to honor her sister Ruth Schwartz, a prominent Toronto bookseller. In 2002 the awards were renamed to honor both sisters. The awards are administered by the Ontario Arts Foundation, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Canadian Booksellers Association.

for Children’s Literature in the illustration category. It is an allegory that teaches children about the beauty of the natural world.

The American Booksellers Association has partnered with Ingram Book Group and Ingram Publisher Services to underwrite bookseller education for the next three years. The ABA provides free education to its members through articles, white papers, and sessions at events throughout the year, including BookExpo America, ABA Winter Institute, regional trade shows, and bookseller forums.

ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz said the partnership is “a boon to both ABA and Ingram,” and will help ABA keep bookseller education free.

PMA, the Independent Book Publishers Association, will host the Midsize Publishers Technology Forum seminar on May 29 in Los Angeles. The theme of the seminar will be “Maximizing Your Bottom Line Online: Doing Business On the Internet.” Speakers including Mike Shatzkin, CEO of the Idea Logical Company, and Andrew Savikas, general manager of O’Reilly’s Tools of Change, will discuss ways for the experienced publisher to grow online sales.

The seminar is limited to fifty people in order to provide midsize publishers the opportunity to learn and network personally with proven leaders in the publishing industry.

From staff reports. Share your news and information with Whitney Hallberg, Managing Editor.

Biography & Autobiography. DOLPH BRISCOE: MY LIFE IN TEXAS RANCHING AND POLITICS (Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin, 40+ b/w photographs, 284 pages, hardcover, $29.95, 978-0-976-66972-2): Texas governor from 1973-1979 who is currently the largest individual landowner and rancher in the state modestly tells of his experiences, accomplishments, and philanthropy; topics touched upon include his personal observations of Lyndon B. Johnson, the infamous “Chicken Ranch” in La Grange, and the Sharpstown scandal involving bankers and state legislators in multiple incidents of stock fraud in 1971 including stock sold to Strake Jesuit College Preparatory.

Body, Mind & Spirit. SECRET SOCIETIES AND THE HERMETIC CODE: THE ROSICRUCIAN, MASONIC, AND ESOTERIC TRANSMISSION IN THE ARTS by Ernesto Frers, translated by Ariel Godwin (Inner Traditions, 100+ color and b/w illustrations, 240 pages, softcover, $16.95, 978-1-59477-208-5): medieval history specialist and occult investigator looks into the secrets hidden in sculpture, architecture, and painting; pieces discussed include The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch (ca. 1504), Sacred and Profane Love by Titian (1515-16), and Death of Procris by the lunatic painter Piero di Cosimo (ca. 1500), where the dead nymph is mortally wounded by Cephalus’ arrow and her blood acts as an elegy to alchemy.

Health. 8 WEEKS TO MAXIMIZING DIABETES CONTROL: HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR BLOOD SUGAR AND STAY HEALTHY WITH TYPE 2 DIABETES by Laura Hieronymus and Christine Tobin (American Diabetes Association, 173 pages, softcover, $16.95, 978-1-58040-279-8): certified diabetes educators combine current research with forty years of shared experience in keeping blood glucose under control; chapters include “Being Active,” “Successful Risk Reduction,” and “Healthy Eating,” which notes “two out of three people with type 2 diabetes are overweight.”

History. HARPOON: INTO THE HEART OF WHALING by Andrew Darby (Da Capo Press, 320 pages, hardcover, $25.00, 978-0-306-81629-1): environmental reporter and contributor to the Sydney Morning Herald details the evolution of the commercial whaling industry and signals ecological destruction; whales described include Blue, Humpback and Sperm, which was prized for its fine oil, spermaceti, dark meat, occasional “mystical intestinal nugget called ambergris,” and for inspiring a great American novel.

History. A POCKETFUL OF HISTORY: FOUR HUNDRED YEARS OF AMERICA – ONE STATE QUARTER AT A TIME by Jim Noles (Da Capo Press, b/w illustrations, 324 pages, hardcover, $25.00, 978-0-306-81578-2): attorney and contributor to the New York Times and Smithsonian Air & Space complements the 50 State Quarters Program with discussions of the significance behind each state’s choice of numismatic feature; included are Kentucky’s horse, Alaska’s bear, Georgia’s peach, Massachusetts’ minuteman, and New Hampshire’s granite profile of the Old Man of the Mountain rendered on its 2000 coin, which collapsed in 2003.

House & Home. IKEBANA: THE ART OF ARRANGING FLOWERS by Shozo Sato (Tuttle Publishing, 460 color illustrations, 9 x 12, 208 pages, Hardcover, $49.95, 978-4-8053-0943-8): founding director of Japan House at the University of Illinois and a Zen master presents a comprehensive introduction to Japanese flower arrangement; includes history, tools, techniques, and styles such as Rikka, Seika and Moribana, e.g., “piling up the flowers” to create volume that can be appreciated from all viewpoints.

House & Home. YOUR HOME: A LIVING CANVAS by Curtis L. Heuser (F+W Publications, 100+ color photographs, 10 x 10, 144 pages, Hardcover, $29.99, 978-1-58180-783-7): decorative artisan whose craftsmanship has been featured on HGTV’s Before & After Show instructs on ways to create tromp l’oeil finishes and murals with paint; included are embossed wainscoting with faux bronze patina, antiqued crown molding, and a Chinoiserie-inspired garden mural for a guest bedroom.

Literary Criticism. RHETORICS OF FANTASY by Farah Mendlesohn (Wesleyan University Press, 344 pages, softcover, $27.95, 978-0-8195-6868-7): Hugo award (Science Fiction Achievement) winner and teacher discusses the definition of fantasy literature and introduces a new system of classification; 200 examples are noted and divided into four categories: portal-quest, immersive, intrusion, and liminal; for example, the unicorn on the Armitage family’s lawn (“Yes, But Today Is Tuesday” by Joan Aiken) is surprising because the reader’s amazement is reinforced by the naturalization of the fantastic.

Social Science. MORE: POPULATION, NATURE, AND WHAT WOMEN WANT by Robert Engelman (Island Press, 303 pages, hardcover, $24.95, 978-1-59726-019-0): former Yale University faculty member and contributor to the Washington Post discusses whether the world’s population will outgrow the planet’s resources; topics include history of population, demographic and environmental change, and a chapter entitled “Punishing Eve,” noting how unmarried females that “swelled with child” were treated in Magdalene asylums, the Irish laundries in the mid-nineteenth century.

Social Science. WHEN THE PRISONERS RAN WALPOLE: A TRUE STORY IN THE MOVEMENT FOR PRISON ABOLITION by Jamie Bissonette (South End Press, 258 pages, softcover, $20.00, 978-0-89608-770-5): Criminal Justice Program for the American Service Committee coordinator for New England and activist delineates three years of Massachusetts prison unrest in the state’s maximum security facility in the 1970’s; includes violence, protest, scandal, labor strife, and prison tales such as the wrapping of magazines around torsos as armor against knife attacks.

by Alex Moore, Book Review Editor

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