Why We Publish Books

Recently, a letter arrived at Scarletta for two of our authors—James Peter Taylor and Kathleen Murphy-Taylor. They co-wrote the book Willow in a Storm. Willow in a Storm is a raw, unflinching memoir about the events in James Peter Taylor's unusual life, over forty years of which were spent incarcerated.
This letter was sent from a man in the Alexander Correctional Institute who had received the Taylor's book through a books to prisoners program. His story was so moving and his words were so kind that our authors asked us to share some of his letter.

This book has changed my life. I no longer wish for death since reading Willow in a Storm because I now know it is possible to survive the rapes, beatings and psychological torture that I have been forced to endure these last three years...I feel compelled to write so that you will know how much you have helped me through your book and to know also that you have very likely saved my life as well.

Where I will be tomorrow is as unclear as where I will be ten years from now, but I wanted you to know that your book has given me something, that until now I have lacked during this horrible experience. Hope. And for that I thank you.

These words are enough to fill a publisher's heart with joy. We are incredibly sorry for the unfairness of life that has led to this man's incarceration, but at the same are glad that we were able to publish a novel that could give him such comfort. At the end of the day, sure, a book on the New York Times' Best Seller's list would be great, but it's even more rewarding to personally hear from the those whose lives have been touched by our books.If you want help change a prisoner's life through literature, here are some great books to prisoners programs: Women's Prison Book Project (located in Minneapolis), Internationalist Prison Books Collective and Midwest Pages to Prisoners Project.

Hilarity Ensues Because Book Titles Cannot Be Copyrighted

Perhaps you've heard of a recent New York Times' Best Seller: The Litigators? Ask anyone who the author is, and they'll tell you John Grisham. But what some of these same people are doing unaware is going online and purchasing a different book with the same name.
You see, six years ago in 2005, Scarletta Press published its very first book, a fiction/legal thriller by lawyer/author Lindsay Arthur, and the title? You guessed it...The Litigators. Now we here at Scarletta are proud of our first book, in fact, we think it's a darn good book, but time passes and publishers are forced to focus on current and upcoming books, and less is done with backlist books. However, November hit and suddenly The Litigators saw a pretty big spike in ebook sales. We couldn't account for it, but sales kept increasing. And then the book received a new review on Amazon...it began, "I have read everything written by Mr Grisham." Wait...Mr. Grisham?

Exciting changes at Scarletta Press

MINNEAPOLIS (December 2, 2011)—Scarletta press accepts the resignation of Ian Graham Leask as publisher and minority stockholder to pursue other publishing opportunities effective immediately. Scarletta Press thanks Ian for his writing and publishing expertise over the years. His vision and dedication has been greatly valued. We wish him the best in his new endeavors.

December marks an interim period of transition, with a new beginning for January 2012. This change has been in discussion for some time. The publishing industry continues to experience drastic transformations. Scarletta Press is in the process of reinventing itself with new ideas and new goals in order to best serve and address author’s needs and maintain the most collaborative, productive, and successful relationships with its authors, publishing partners, service providers, and media relations.

The most intriguing part of this transformation is the stronger emphasis Scarletta Press has decided to place on their children’s imprint, Scarletta JR (Junior Readers). There will also be more collaboration on foreign rights and partnering publishing opportunities, larger pushes on marketing and social media outreach, and more room for advanced ebooks and interactive ancillary product development related to Scarletta’s books.

All publicity correspondence will remain the same, and can be directed to Desiree Bussiere [desiree@scarlettapress.com]. All official business correspondence can be directed to Nancy Tuminelly, President of Scarletta Press [nancy@mightymedia.com]. All editorial correspondence, including submissions, should be directed according to information listed on the Scarletta Press website.

There are many new plans and new books in the works for the near future, so stay tuned for more news to come as the New Year approaches.

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Spend your holidays in style with Pamela Cory & Hassie Calhoun

Book Details TITLE   Hassie Calhoun: A Las Vegas Novel of Innocence AUTHOR Pamela Cory ISBN  978-0-9824584-7-1 eISBN 978-0-9824584-8-8 SPECS 368 pages, $15.95 For More Info Pamela Cory Scarletta Press Twitter NOTE: proof of purchases will be verified through sales tracking prior to sending music links.

It's not too late to... Buy Hassie Calhoun: A Las Vegas Novel of Innocence this holiday season and receive a free musical download! Snuggle up during the 2011 holiday months with a perfect cocktail of passion, hope, devastation, and nostalgia in Pamela Cory's Hassie Calhoun. And this season, you can wind down while listening to the book's feature song, I Just Can't Figure It Out, performed by author & songwriter, Pamela Cory. PROMOTION DETAILS 1.  Buy Hassie Calhoun from an independent bookstore, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or any wholesaler during November or December.  2.  Find your code (where'd you hear about the promotion?): Scarletta Blog -  HCspB Scarletta Twitter -  HCspT Pamela Cory Twitter -  HCpcT Scarletta Facebook -  HCspF Pamela Cory Facebook -  HCpcF 3.  Email desiree@scarlettapress.com with the following information: subject line: Hassie Promo email body: promo code, date of purchase, price paid, name of store & city where purchased, and reply-to email address  4.  Receive your free music download link via email within one to two weeks. 5. Enjoy your holidays! With her innocence and identity on the line, the road to stardom puts young and talented Hassie in several compromising situations. Pamela Cory offers a deceptively sophisticated look into the life of an ambitious young woman during the era of the Rat Pack, whose very passions impede her dreams in a way that many women could secretly relate to. In this coming of age novel, "...the imagery is vivid. The lights are bright, the music is romantic, and the people are larger than life. To Hassie, Las Vegas is full of possibility, hope, prosperity, excitement, and to the reader the dangers of all of this loom on every page." (The Nevada Review)

Minneapolis Rocked NaNoWriMo!

Everyone knows that NaNoWriMo ended last week, but have you seen the stats about this year's participants? It's amazing! Stats for NaNoWriMo are split into two categories: Main and the Young Writers Program. For NaNoWriMo Main, there were 256,618 participants in 2011! Up from 2010's 200,530 participants. And 36,744 of those writers completed their goal of 50,000 words! Everyone wrote a total of 3,074,068,466 words!!!

Moving on to the NaNoWriMo's Young Writers Program, there were 81,040 participants in 2011, up from 2010's 68,710! There were 16,334 writers who completed their goals and everyone wrote a total of 368,143,078 words!
These numbers are absolutely astounding and we couldn't be more thrilled for the writing community. We're looking forward to reading some of these masterpieces in the years to come!
But to be honest, the stats that I love most are for the Top 50 NaNoWriMo Cities (according to Google Analytics, based on number of November visits from these fine places). And the reason? Out of ALL the cities in the WORLD, Minneapolis made the list at #12. We couldn't be more proud.

Tergiversate?

I love a good word of the year as much as the next person, but tergiversate? That was the word chosen by Dictionary.com for 2011. Tergiversate, meaning “to change repeatedly one’s attitude or opinions with respect to a cause, subject, etc.; equivocate.”
And while yes, I agree, this word aptly describes 2011, I'm still of the mindset that I'd like the word of the year to be a word that's in use. Yes, tergiversate was used on August 20th, 2011 in The Times of London when Oliver Kamm said, “The tergiversations of stock markets are often puzzling from the outside. They’re no less puzzling from within.” But that's not enough for me. Especially for a year when words like "jobs" and "occupy" were on everyone's lips constantly. I want to hear the word of the year and be able to say, "Yes! I used that word all the time this year." I can't say I've ever used the word tergiversate.
This year's runner-up was insidious. Originally from the Latin word “insidere” which meant “to sit on, occupy,” and that now means “proceeding in a seemingly harmless way but actually with grave effect.” And with the movie that came out this year with the same name, I would even have preferred this over tergiversate. Yet, it was decided that, "Ultimately, though, insidious is too negative to represent the mood of change and transformation that has marked this year as well."
At the end of the day, I can't be too upset. I love that we have a word of the year. I love that we care that much about words. And maybe this word will expand our personal dictionaries, who knows, maybe I'll even find myself saying it next week.
To read more about why tergiversate was chosen, you can check out Dictionary.com's blog here.