Saturday, October 28, 2006

Lewis and Clark Road Trips Debuts at Book Expo in Washington DC

I returned to the city of my birth to launch Lewis and Clark Road Trips: Exploring the Trail Across America at the Book Expo of America in Washington, DC in May, 2006. It was my first trip by air in many years; I really do prefer road trips. It was a challenge to pack everything into two carry-on bags. Car travel  is a luxury by comparison! I walked a lot, took city buses, and taxis driven by men from exotic countries like Eritrea. The book was exhibited at the Travel Publishers Association booth.  The director, Joan Peterson, writes the Eat Smart series of culinary guide books to dining, cooking, and food shopping in foreign countries.  I went to dinner at an Indian restaurant with Joan, her daughter, and the others in this photo. Left to right: Susan Peterson Chwae, Joan Peterson, Loretta Alspach, Jeannette Belliveau and myself.  Loretta has written a travel guide to the Swiss Bernese Oberland.  Jeannette is the author of Romance on the Road: Traveling Women Who Love Foreign Men and An Amateur’s Guide to the Planet.

 At the BEA I visited my distributor Independent Publishers Group and arranged to have Lewis and Clark Road Trips distributed in the United Kingdom by Gazelle Books. I gave a copy to Google Books  to include in its Search Inside the Book program. The Google program is somewhat controversial among publishers. Books may either be searched on a limited basis or be fully searchable. I chose fully, as I wanted to see for myself what’s inside the book by using its search function. I think this is a spectacular feature!  See Lewis and Clark Road Trips Google SITB. Plus I believe in giving full access to viewers.  I figure if you like it, you’ll buy it. You can buy it through my Amazon Associate bookstore.

Wandering around Book Expo I saw a notice that Herman Viola would be signing books at the National Geographic booth  with Joseph Medicine Crow, author of Counting Coup: Becoming a Crow Chief on the Reservation and Beyond. Little did I know then that only two months later I would be visiting the land of the Crow Indians and signing books at the Pompey’s Pillar Lewis and Clark Signature Event near Billings, Montana. I have wanted to meet Herman Viola for years. Among his many books are Diplomats in Buckskins: A History of Indian Delegations in Washington DC and The Indian Legacy of Charles Bird King. These two beautiful books feature the early days of DC when Charles Bird King painted his famous Indian portraits. Both of these books are out of print, but may be found at very reasonable prices at www.abebooks.com.  Dr. Viola is a retired curator of the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.

Posted by Kira Gale on 10/28/2006 at 09:38 AM

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