1,000 sold in two months

Well, I'm going to make my final deliveries to bookstores of Oakland's Neighborhoods tomorrow. This print run is through!

I'm happy at the way the anthology has been received. People like the creative writing that residents wrote and how it makes them look at their own neighborhood differently. And for others, my neighborhood histories have been informative.

I've also really enjoyed getting to know booksellers as I make the deliveries. These are great people who love reading or they wouldn't be doing what they're doing.

To be honest, the post title is a little hyperbolic. My print run of 1,000 was an "unders" run, unfortunately, so I actually only got 975. And I gave away about 100 to the book contributors and as samples to booksellers. So I've really sold about 875. The book came out Nov. 19 and today is Feb. 3 , so to be quite honest the post should read "875 books in two and a half months!"

Ah well... that's still pretty good for a self-published book.

I'm gearing up for the second print run. This time I'm trying to get a distributor to take it on because having 1,000 (uh, 975, James Frey urges me to disclaim) books in my basement during rainy season has been very nail-biting. It's just not natural for a writer to have to worry about "inventory!" Tarps and constant monitoring have been requisite.