Yesterday, thanks to Open Road Media and BookMovement, I and two other Seattle writers, Jennie Shortridge and Garth “Racing in the Rain” Stein, participated in an hour-long chat with readers about a novel that we and numerous other writers wrote last year in six days, while on stage before a live and occasionally inebriated audience. The event–“The Novel Live,” . . .
Read MoreTom Hanks I’ve always been a big fan of Tom Hanks, and I’m not just sucking up. Two of my favorite Hanks films are “Sleepless in Seattle,” which, I hasten to note, I saw long before I moved to Seattle, and “You’ve Got Mail.” I also loved “Cast Away,” for the sheer bravado Hanks demonstrated in taking on a . . .
Read MoreMay I just say that e-books are a wonder. Roughly half the sales of my newest book, In the Garden of Beasts, arose from the e-book edition. Half. I do worry about how e-book sales are affecting the many lovely independent bookstores that continue to sell the paper variety and to dispense smart recommendations on what to . . .
Read MoreMy good friend, and very competitive fellow tennis player, Rabbi Jim Mirel, passed on to me a copy of the August/September issue of Hadassah Magazine, the magazine for Jewish women, in which In the Garden of Beasts is ranked the Number 1 nonfiction book in a list of “Ten Jewish Best Sellers.” Which is lovely news. Thank you Hadassah! Meanwhile, . . .
Read MoreErik’s publisher has alerted him to the happy fact that more than 400,000 copies of In the Garden of Beasts are now in print. This doesn’t mean that 400,000 copies have been sold already, but it is an excellent indicator of sales volume, and of his publisher’s confidence in the book. This pleases Erik no end. Erik is also . . .
Read MoreErik Larson is very pleased to report that his Devil in the White City, first published in 2003, is back on the New York Times bestseller list, in the nonfiction paperback category. It appeared at a gratifyingly robust no. 8 (out of 20). Erik reports that this is like suddenly seeing a long-lost friend turn . . .
Read MoreErik is delighted to say that the number of publishers abroad who have acquired rights to publish In the Garden of Beastshas risen now to twelve, with additional sales in negotiation. The list includes Sweden, France, Korea, the Slovak Republic, and Russia. Erik wonders if they’ll all send him on book tours through their countries, . . .
Read MoreHappily, In the Garden of Beasts has risen to the top, and nearly the top, of best-seller lists around the country, including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today. The book also made the best summer reads list of Oprah’s O Magazine. Meanwhile, Erik has again become lost in what his publicist . . .
Read MoreITGOB debuted at No. 4 on the Times‘ list on Sunday, May 29, 2011, but then popped into the No. 1 slot for Sunday, June 3, 2011. Agents and editors learn this in advance so they can fetch their authors to New York in private jets loaded with champagne and lobster, and have Rolls Royce Silver Ghosts waiting at . . .
Read MoreThe book came out May 10, which, by sheer accident, was the anniversary of the infamous book-burning that took place on that date in 1933, during Adolf Hitler’s first year as chancellor of Germany. A very strange confluence indeed! In just that short time, a lot of great things have happened: –The book has already . . .
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