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The Santa Fe Reporter readers pick The Way of the Bear as the best book by Anne Hillerman!8/22/2024  From the Santa Fe Reporter:
I am thrilled that The Santa Fe Reporter readers picked The Way of the Bear as the best book by a Santa Fe author. I love that book, too! Santa Fe has long been a nurturing place for writers, and has become even more so in the decades in which I’ve lived here. The creative writing programs at the Institute of American Indian Arts, the classes in poetry, fiction and more at Santa Fe Community College, the encouragement and support high school writers receive at the New Mexico School for the Arts, the stimulation provided by the Santa Fe International Literary Festival and the camaraderie offered by NMWriters.org and the long-established New Mexico Book Association—what a wealth of acknowledgement that stories matter! On top of that, our wonderful bookstores and public libraries give writers and readers more encouragement. I am enormously grateful to have my book acknowledged and even happier to be part of such a supportive and generous community. Anne Hillerman Santa Fe
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 At the 2024 Western Writers of America Convention in June, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Don Willerton's latest book, Death In The Tallgrass, A Young Man's Journey Through The American Frontier, received the SPUR award for the Best Western Historical Fiction Novel for 2024. Craig Johnson, with his 19th installment of his Walt Longmire mysteries, The Longmire Defense, received the Best Contemporary Fiction Novel, while Dayton Duncan won the Best Western Documentary Script for Ken Burn's The American Buffalo.
Western Writers of America Inc. (WWA) was founded in 1953 to promote the literature of the American West and to recognize the best in Western writing with the prestigious Spur Award and the Western Writers Hall of Fame. Like the Western landscape itself, WWA and the books, songs, and stories produced by its members have evolved immensely. WWA boasts historians, nonfiction authors, young adult, romance writers, songwriters, poets, and screenwriters for film and television. Their work in every medium is set in the ever-changing American West. Today there are more than 700 members nationwide and around the world, including C.J. Box, Anne Hillerman, Craig Johnson, Tom Clavin, Nancy Plain, Mark Hall-Patton, Thomas Cobb, Candy Moulton, Kat Martin, Kirk Ellis, Lucia St. Clair Robson, David Heska Wanbli Weiden, Loren D. Estleman, Johnny D. Boggs, Paul Andrew Hutton, and Kathleen O’Neal Gear.  May 2024 “Meet the Authors” at Garcia Street Books: Gary Paul Hermus, Margaret Lubalin, Paula Lozar (rooting section), and LaNysha Adams. The successful “Meet the Authors” collaboration between the New Mexico Book Association and Garcia Street Books continues. On the first Saturday of the month, the bookstore sets up a table for up to 3 authors in the portal in front of the store. Authors bring their own books to the table; when a customer buys a book, Garcia Street Books rings up the sale. Authors get 60% of the cover price for each book sold, paid in cash after the event, and may consign a book to be displayed in the bookstore. Spaces are limited, and authors are chosen in the order that we receive their applications. The May table featured authors Gary Paul Hermus, Margaret Lubalin, and LaNysha Adams. The June table showcased authors Larada Horner-Miller, Susan Weeks, and Elizabeth Rose. At the moment, all the tables are booked for the rest of the season, concluding in October, and we have a waiting list in case a scheduled author needs to cancel. Authors still on the waiting list at the end of the season have priority for the next season, which is planned to start in March 2025. Note: This event is for authors new to the store. Authors whose books are already on sale at Garcia Street Books are not eligible – including authors who appeared on a previous “Meet the Authors” table. All authors must be current members of NMBA to participate.
For the June 2024 “Meet the Authors” table, Elizabeth Rose brought a “show and tell”: An iron cow shoe to illustrate her book, When Cows Wore Shoes, an account of her family’s summers in rural Spain during the Franco era. Similar hoof protectors were used for cattle in New Mexico during the colonial period.
 The NMBA display table at the New Mexico Writers Dinner. NMBA showcased 45 of our members’ books at the New Mexico Writers Dinner at La Fonda in Santa Fe, April 24, 2024. Thanks to James McGrath Morris, Executive Director of New Mexico Writers, for helping to make this happen, and thanks to the committee (Shirley Melis, Anna Sochocky, Jordan Jones, and Paula Lozar) who collected the books and assembled the supporting materials. This was not a sales event, but we handed out flyers with the QR code and web address of our online catalog for anyone interested in purchasing a book. We also distributed brochures for the Southwest Book Design and Production Awards. The display made a second appearance on May 18 at the opening breakfast reception for the Santa Fe International Literary Festival in the Santa Fe Convention Center, and remained on display in the “Bibliotheque Lounge” in the Coronado Room throughout the Festival. An unexpected breakfast treat at the Convention Center was the appearance of David Grann, author of Killers of the Flower Moon and The Wager (his latest book), minutes before he appeared on the Big Stage in conversation with author Hampton Sides. After the event, New Mexico Writers donated the books to local libraries. Thanks to everyone who participated!
 Featuring best-selling author Hampton Sides in Conversation with Shirley Melis, NMBA Co-President, who is serving her second year in this role. She is the author of an award-winning memoir, Banged-Up Heart: Dancing with Love and Loss
A native of Memphis, Hampton Sides is known for his gripping non-fiction adventure stories set in war or depicting epic expeditions of exploration. Breaking that mold was Hellhound On His Trail, an electrifying account of one of the largest manhunts in American history. His other best-selling narrative histories: Ghost Soldiers, Blood and Thunder, In the Kingdom of Ice, and On Desperate Ground. His latest work, The Wide Wide Sea, will be published this month (April) by Doubleday. In addition, we'll be announcing winners of the Southwest Book Design and Production Awards, an annual one-of-a-kind book competition. What: 2024 NMBA Summer Gala When: Tuesday, August 27th, 5:30 - 8:30 p.m. Where: The Club at Las Campanas  The New Mexico Writers annual dinner, where NMBA will have its display, brings established and aspiring writers together to celebrate and inspire each other and serves to celebrate each year’s NMW grant recipients. April 25th, 2024 5:00 p.m. - 10:30 p.m. La Fonda on the Plaza, 100 E San Francisco St., Santa Fe, NM, 87501  Our NMBA display at the Santa Fe International Literary Festival, will be set up for the New Mexico Writers "catered" breakfast at the Convention Center on Saturday, May 18th and may remain for the duration of the Festival. Any NMBA author whose work is displayed may attend the breakfast by joining the NMW ($30/year). Display books will be donated to New Mexico libraries by NMW after the Festival.
May 18th-May 19th, 2024 8:00 a.m.-7:30 p.m. Santa Fe Community Convention Center, 201 W Marcy st., Santa Fe, NM 87501  The successful “Meet the Authors” collaboration between the New Mexico Book Association and Garcia Street Books has resumed for the 2024 season. On the first Saturday of the month, the bookstore sets up a table for up to 3 authors in the portal in front of the store. Authors bring their own books to the table; when a customer buys a book, Garcia Street Books rings up the sale. Authors get 60% of the cover price for each book sold, paid in cash after the event, and may consign a book to be displayed in the bookstore.
Our first table on March 2 featured authors Nancy de Young and Vijali Hamilton. The April 6 table will showcase authors Claude Phipps, Mike Kimmel, and collaborators Melanie Faithful and Sally Kruse. The bookstore plans to continue the tables through October, and we will soon look for participants for future dates. If you’re interested in being a part of “Meet the Authors,” watch for an email and respond promptly: Spaces are limited, and authors are usually chosen in the order that we receive their applications. Note: This event is for authors new to the store. Authors whose books are already on sale at Garcia Street Books are not eligible – including authors who appeared on a previous “Meet the Authors” table. All authors must be current members of NMBA to participate.
 Early Sunday afternoon I left NMBA Booth #150, pulling a wagonload of books and display signs to the Indie Pavilion for Fiction and Nonfiction Authors. (Indie authors are those who have been published by a publisher who is not one of the Big Five: Simon & Schuster, Penguin Random House, Harper Collins, Hachette Book Group, and Macmillan.) Notified in December that my memoir, Banged-Up Heart, had been selected for the Pavilion, I arrived with books in hand and registered off-site on Friday, selecting my table in the Pavilion based only on the fact that the sun wouldn’t be in my eyes. Hours later, when I found the Indie Pavilion, I discovered two huge barrels of water adjacent to my table, anchoring the Pavilion tent. Thinking they might block me from the view of walkers passing by, I wished I’d selected another table. Fortunately, they weren’t a deterrent. Much to my surprise and delight, Ursula whom I’d met the day before while waiting in line to hear three authors discuss “The GOP’s Evolving Base,” brought a clutch of friends to meet me. Turned out it was her Tucson book club. When one of them asked if I would return to Tucson to discuss my book with them, I told her about the Sedona book club that had visited me in Santa Fe. “Let’s take a trip to Santa Fe to see Shirley and discuss her book,” she crowed. “That would be great!” I said.
“You should feel good about being in the Indie Pavilion,” Hillary, the Indie honcho said when I introduced myself. “We had 220 submissions for 100 spots. And most of them were memoir and poetry. Of course, we couldn’t have just memoir and poetry because we wanted a diverse representation of Indie authors. So, we had to make tough decisions.” “I was surprised my book was selected because it’s seven years old,” I said. “There was a SNAFU on our part. Every submission was supposed to have been published in the last two years but that copy got inexplicably dropped. So, Shirley, you should feel really good.” I did, and I do. Being selected for the Indie Pavilion was an honor, not to mention an opportunity to sell a few books. I would encourage authors to keep an eye on the Tucson Festival of Books website and submit their books when submissions for 2025 open up. The NM Book Association recently participated in the Tucson Festival of Books, held on the University of Arizona campus on March 9-10, 2024. The festival is a major annual event in Tucson and draws over 100,000 attendees. This is our third year in a row of exhibiting at the festival. Our total sales this year were a little better than last year’s, but, as usual, they varied greatly, and many authors sold only one book or none at all. However, this isn’t conclusive: We handed out dozens of flyers with the QR Code and website address for our online catalog, as well as NMBA business cards and SWBDA contest brochures. Authors and publishers may hear from potential customers in the future, and NMBA may gain contest entries and new members.
Some general observations: It’s impossible to predict which books will sell and which won’t. Last year we were asked for books in a couple of genres that we didn’t have. This year we had them, but they didn’t sell! Authors who volunteer at the show have an advantage because they can bring extra copies of their books to sell. Our best-selling authors were volunteers who sold out their original 5 copies, and a few more. But all our volunteers did their best to sell everyone’s books, not just their own. Participating in the Indie Author Pavilion is a good way to boost sales. This requires a separate application through the Festival website, and costs a small fee, but NMBA shared the information in advance of the deadline. In general, customers like to interact with authors who are enthusiastic about their books and willing to talk about them, so going to a show is always a good idea. Emails have gone out to everyone who participated. Authors who sold books at the show received a summary of their sales, and they can choose to be paid through PayPal or to receive a check in the mail. As for books that didn’t sell, we can store them for our next sales event, or, if notified in advance, we can bring them to our next in-person luncheon.  Eric Paul Shaffer, Shirley Melis, and Susan Weeks with customers. Photo by Jordan Jones. Many thanks to the volunteers who worked at the show. A special shout-out to Roxanne Howe-Murphy and Jack Meyer, who helped to load into the booth on a rainy morning (luckily, we had beautiful weather for the rest of the weekend!), and to Jack, Shirley Melis, Jordan Jones, and Leslie Stalhut, who packed up the booth while the Booth Chair was stuck in a long line of cars trying to get in. And thanks again to Anna Sochocky for collecting books before the show, Jordan for designing the booth banner and tracking entries and payments (and just about everything else), and Frank Hirsch for moral support.
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