November 16th, 2009. Newsletter: Doing Friday on Mondays!

It’s been a fun last few week!

I’ll make this short and sweet. First thing: NEUROTICA, by Elva Maxine Beach, the second book published by New Belleville Press, is now available on Amazon.com.

This was a difficult decision for me. It probably seems like a no-brainer to most people. However, it wasn’t for me. After a meeting with a local publicist from Phenix & Phenix Literary Publicist – I’m not giving you his name because I didn’t ask him if I could mention him here … however, it’s a great local company that works nationally – he convinced me that I needed to make all my books available on Amazon. And now, THEY ARE!

Not only that, I should seriously start thinking about making my two titles, NEUROTICA & BEER SONGS FOR THE LONELY available on kindle and every other electronic publishing device out there, and I should also start publishing books electronically before going to press. There’s several manuscripts out there that I would love to publish, and maybe that’s the key??? The financial key??? Electronic publishing before paper publishing??? Sounds like the future. In any case, it would allow me to publish more titles than I can at the moment. When and if we sale enough electronic copies to make the paper route plausible, then we go that way. I like the idea, and I need to look into it a bit more.

Second big news, I am now officially a host on Writing on the Air [site currently under construction] a radio show broadcasting every Wednesday afternoon from 6pm till 7pm Central Time on 91.7 KOOP.org. My first show as the main host took place on November 4th, and my first guest was Gary Kent. The show should be available to you online very soon.

It was a fun! And quite stressful. Lee K. Davis wasn’t in town. He was visiting his family. Dillon McKinsey showed up 20 minutes before the show to tell me his wife was being taken to the emergency room in Round Rock, and he needed to go to the hospital – she’s fine, thank goodness – and I was left alone. Or so I thought. I had run the board only once, and most definitely never ran the board and interviewed the guest all at once. Dr. Dora Robinson showed up right before 6pm, and saved my ass! Thank you, Dora! Rick from Excavation Nation stuck around and helped me get going as well. Thanks you, Rick! And Gary Kent happened to be a great guest. Thank you, Gary! Anyway, I survived the experience, and I am now one of the host on “Writing on the Air,” where I will be interviewing a writer ever few weeks.

This brings me to the Wednesday 25th of November show. On that evening, Robert Stikmanz and me will be having a conversation – I like the word “conversation” better than “interviewing” to describe what I’m going for with WOTA – between 6 & 7pm on 91.7 KOOP.org, Austin, Texas. You can catch it locally on your FM dial, or anywhere in the world LIVE on our live-stream on koop.org. If you miss the show, it will eventually be available on my website … though I am not sure when nor how. Robert will talk about his books and his universe, which among other things involve The Hidden Lands of Nod!

I’m really excited about talking with Robert. Not only is he a really nice man, he also happens to be an exceedingly talented writer!

Have you read his books? Do you have questions for Robert Stikmanz? LET ME KNOW!!! Send me your questions, and I will pick some out, and ask them to Rob live on the radio. It could be your question I ask! So let me know.

That’s my big news for the time being!

Currently reading: HIPPIE HOLLOW, by Denniger Bolton. Denny is a friend of mine, and I bought his book at the Texas Book Festival. I’ll let you know more when I finish the book … and that should be VERY soon.

Lots of hugs and kisses to everybody!

Let your hair down, pop a can of beer, sit outside and enjoy this amazingly awesome weather, and love life!

François Pointeau

PS: Don’t forget about New Belleville Press books: Beer Songs for the Lonely, by F.K. Needles, and Neurotica by Elva Maxine Beach. You can purchase them at one or more of these wonderful retailers: Alibris.com & Authorsbookshop.com & Book People & Oat Willies & Sonny’s Vintage, those last three in Austin, TX & Left Bank Books, in St. Louis, MO.

Gary Kent is the guest on WRITING ON THE AIR with Francois Pointeau from 6-7pm Koop.org 91.7

Tomorrow evening is an exciting time for me. Kind of crazy. I’ve been so busy I’ve had no time to get ready for it, nor any to think about it too much if at all. Tomorrow night from 6 till 7pm I will be hosting Writing on the Air on KOOP.org radio 91.7.

After several months being an intern, a couple weeks ago I became an official programmer, which means that I can now propose my own radio show to the station, or take full part in an already existing show. I chose the later. Dillon McKinsey, Lee K. Davis, and Dr. Dora Robinson have asked me to be part of their radio show family on “Writing on the Air” and I accepted! Since I’ve been interning on WOTA I’ve been wanting to be a full member. Now I am!

There are several people who I would like to interview, and I hope to have many more opportunities to do just that. For my first show, I chose to ask Gary Kent to be my first guest … and … he accepted!

I’ve met Gary several times, listened to him read his stuff, and enjoyed his company very much. Gary wrote a book called: Shadows & Light, Journey with Outlaws in Revolutionary Hollywood (PDF file). He will be talking about his book tomorrow evening on “Writing on the Air” from 6 till 7pm on KOOP.org 91.7.

Tune in! Turn your radios on! Go online!

I’m a little nervous, now that I’m thinking about it.

Should be fun!

Francois Pointeau