Friday Recap

• Hoping to someday write a book myself, I always find it exciting when authors step into the Savas Beatie office. Ted went out to lunch today with local writer (Roseville) Richard Botkin. Sarah told me an interesting story about how he and Ted met:

Ted enjoys listening to Hugh Hewitt’s radio show, and began conversing with him via e-mail a few years ago about ancient history titles. Mr. Hewitt was in town a couple months ago, and invited Ted to have dinner with him and Richard. All three hit it off right away. Rich and Ted set up a time to meet again, since both live in the Sacramento area.

It turns out Rich is also an author of nonfiction. He wrote Ride the Thunder: A Vietnam War Story of Honor and Triumph, a history about the American and Vietnamese Marines who worked together throwing back the North Vietnamese invasion in the little-known Easter invasion.

I had the honor of meeting Rich and asking him about his book.

“Why did you write this?” I asked.

“I wanted to honor the Vietnam warrior and I also wanted to set the record straight on the story of South Vietnam. The valor and suffering of the South Vietnamese has not been chronicled very well,” he said.

Richard was also a former Marine Corps infantry officer, but he is not a Vietnam veteran.

The book looks interesting (Ted says it is a great read—the publisher sent him a copy in galley.)

• On a different note, the other evening I saw Flying Drunk author Joe Balzer on CNN. Visit http://campbellbrown.blogs.cnn.com/2009/08/05/confessions-of-a-drunken-pilot/ to see Campbell Brown’s interview with Joe.

The other week I got to watch one of our authors being interviewed on TV. Today I got to sit in on my first author radio interview. Sarah turned up her computer speakers at 11:35 a.m. and at 11:40, the Don Shelby Show (Minneapolis radio station WCCO) had Joe on as a guest. The host seemed to really like the book Flying Drunk. He recommended that everyone read it.

"I'd fly on a plane you were flying any day, Joe. That's how much I trust you. I recommend that everyone read Flying Drunk"

It still took me by surprise to hear Ted, Sarah, and Veronica dissect the interview (they were discussing feedback and tips to give to Joe, how he could incite interest in his book, etc.). It was interesting to be more than just a viewer or listener, and instead have a behind-the-scenes glimpse at another interview. I am surprised at how much time everyone here spends on marketing and publicity. They really have outside-the-box ways of looking at things. I don’t know too much about publishing, but from what it looks like, not too many publishers are very proactive on their authors’ behalf.

It sounds like there are more to come next week too so I’ll keep you posted in that front.

I think that’s enough for this week. I’ll fill you in on Monday on what I’ve been working on the past couple of days.