Four Bay Area Authors Crack the Big Time

Publishers’ Weekly has just released its assessment of the 2009 publishing season, which wasn’t nearly as successful as the 2008 season.

But there are lots of fascinating nuggets in the list, including information about which Bay Area authors sell the most books in the U.S.

It’s quite a small list, which means not many local authors are selling hundreds of thousands of copies of their books. But I am quite sure the quality of the writing in the Bay Area is higher than many of the bestsellers, such as Dan Brown’s latest thriller, The Lost Symbol, which sold more books than any other: 5,543,643.

In the fiction category, San Francisco author Christopher Moore sold 146,098 copies of Fool, his eleventh book.

Annie Barrows, who lives in the East Bay, sold 104,284 copies of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

 For non-fiction, that Danville hero, Chesley Sullenberger, sold 306,413 copies of Highest Duty.

And former FDA Commissioner David Kessler (I think he lives in the Bay Area) sold 155,000 copies of The End of Overeating.

In other news, congratulations go out to Linda Himelstein, whose book The King of Vodka: The Story of Pyotr Smirnov and the Upheaval of an Empire, was nominated for a James Beard Award for best book in the beverage category. She is up against  Been Doon So Long: A Randall Grahm Vinthology by Randall Grahm, which was published by UC Press.

Oretta Zanini de Vita’s Encyclopedia of Pasta, also published by UC Press, was nominated in the reference category.

The spring edition of Lapham's Quarterly has a run down of what writers from previous centuries earned at their day jobs and what that salary would look like today if adjusted for inflation.

Anthony Trollope was a postal surveyor and earned )in today's dollars) $35,000-$50,000. Charlotte Bronte, a governess, only earned $1,838. T.S. Eliot, a clerk for Lloyd's Bank of London, earned between $18-$31,000.

Bay Area Literary Tidbits

Linda Himelstein, whose book The King of Vodka: The Story of Pytor Smirov and the Upheaval of an Empire, was released this week, has written an absorbing tale about how she came to write the book. It deals with a Russian peasant turned mogul, Tolstoy, the czar, and many interesting aspects of Russian life. Yet Linda wrote the book without speaking Russian, without living in Russia, and shortly after having two children. Here is a taste of some of her challenges:

"I believe I encountered every obstacle possible along the way. The Imperial archives closed in 2005, making it extremely difficult to get important documents. (They still haven’t reopened.) Many other relevant archives either could not be found or no longer exist. There was a dearth of information available about Smirnov’s early years as a serf. Conflicting accounts of specific events could sometimes not be verified one way or another.

And then there were Smirnov’s descendants, some of whom had already written books in Russia about their legacy. They were extremely reluctant to participate in my book. From the start, they questioned my motives and journalistic independence, assuming I was somehow tied to the company that now owns the Smirnoff brand. "

Read the essay here.

Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman were invited to the White House to participate in its first-ever poetry jam. And this was just as Waldman's new book, Bad Mother, was coming out. She appeared on the Today Show, Fresh Air, and many other places. A busy woman.

Bookstores around the Bay Area will be celebrating Kids Otter Read Day Around the Bay. It's a regional celebration organized by the Northern California Children's Bookseller Association.

Here's a list of where the 55 authors will be reading. Bring your child to one of these independents:

LAUREL BOOKSTORE
4100 Macarthur Blvd., Oakland
Christina Meldrum
Elizabeth Partridge
Lea Lyon
Debra Sartell
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HICKLEBEE'S
1378 Lincoln Ave., San Jose
Lisa Brown
Karen Beaumont
Christy Hale
Ashley Wolff
Tim Myers
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BOOKS INC, PALO ALTO
Town and Country Village
Jim LaMarche
Dorina Lazo Gilmore
Betsy Franco
Cynthia Chin-Lee
Susan Taylor Brown
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BOOKS INC, ALAMEDA
1344 Park St.
David Schwartz
Daniel San Souci
Matt Faulkner
Ginger Wadsworth
Leah Waarvik
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BOOKS INC In the MARINA
2251 Chestnut St., SF
Elissa Haden Guest
Lynn Hazen
Pam Turner
Scott Michelson
Lisa Shulman
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THE STORYTELLER
30 Lafayette Circle, Lafayette
Marissa Moss
Elisa Kleven
Vivian Walsh
Wendy Lichtman
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CLAYTON BOOKS
5433-D Clayton Rd.
Deborah Lee Rose
Kathryn Otoshi
Deborah Davis
Elizabeth Koehler-Pentacoff
Ben Esch
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COVER TO COVER
1307 Castro St., SF
Julie Downing
Robert San Souci
Pat Murphy
Dashka Slater
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TOWNE CENTER BOOKS
555 Main St., Pleasanton
Caren McCormack
Ying Chang Compestine
Clarissa Yu Shen
Erin Dealey
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COPPERFIELD'S
3900A Bel Aire Plaza, Napa
Patricia Newman
Katherine Tillotson
Hillary Homzie
Marsha Diane Arnold
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LINDEN TREE
170 State St., Los Altos
Jim Averbeck
Karen Ehrhardt
Kimberly Zarins
Jill Wolfson
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BOOK PASSAGE
51 Tamal Vista Blvd., Corte Madera
Alexandra Boiger
Lissa Rovetch
Susan Meyers
Ann Manheimer
Bob Barner