Bett Fitzpatrick: a writer with buoyancy
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April 1, 2023

Bett Dorion Fitzpatrick grew up in Newfoundland when there wasn’t a child alive who didn’t know the story about the tragic shipwrecks of the USS Truxton and USS Pollux. In this small mining town along Canada’s craggy shores, local villagers mounted a rescue operation and carried up the cliffs the 186 U.S. servicemen who survived the shipwrecks in the midst of a blizzard in February… [Read More]

Reading in Duluth
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October 25, 2022

Award-winning author Jeannine Ouellette will be in Duluth at the end of October for two literary events — live and in-person, both free and open to the public. On Wednesday, October 26, Jeannine Ouellette will read from her memoir, The Part That Burns, at 6 pm in the Kathryn A. Martin Library Rotunda on the campus of the University of Minnesota-Duluth. Ouellette will share the… [Read More]

Fall Forecast
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September 13, 2022

Labor Day starts a new season for most people. This is true in publishing, too. Fall releases of new books ramp up until the holiday season. Acquisition editors begin in earnest this time of year to put together their next catalog and plan for the one after that. Writers like to turn over a new leaf and recommit to their writing goals for the long… [Read More]

August is for Reading
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August 9, 2022

Judith Rossner’s 70s novel, August, is about a psychoanalyst and the young adult client she sees during the month when all therapists take vacation. Someone needs to write the novel about an agent and the young adult novelist who pitches in August and hears crickets. Is everyone on vacation in August? Yup. August is about beach books and cabin reads. Swinging in a hammock with a… [Read More]

To Blog, or Not to Blog
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June 7, 2022

Six or seven years ago my advice to aspiring authors of nonfiction books was to build an audience platform by blogging. An example of how critical blogging could be to securing a publishing contract can be found in the case of Ann Marie Ackermann, author of Death of an Assassin: The True Story of the German Murderer Who Died Defending Robert E. Lee. After an… [Read More]

An Evening of Spiritual Wisdom with Alice McDowell
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March 15, 2022

Buffalo Street Books in Ithaca is very excited to host local author Alice McDowell for an evening of readings and conversation about her newest book, Dance of Life: Christian, Sufi, and Zen Wisdom for Today’s Spiritual Seeker. Q&A to follow, led by Maureen O’Brien. Event date:  Sunday, March 27, 2022 – 7:00pm to 8:00pm McDowell writes about the spiritual journey as a captivating dance. In a clear and… [Read More]

For the Love of Labor
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March 1, 2022
Cathryn J. Prince

Author of Queen of the Mountaineers and American Daredevil, Cathryn J. Prince has signed a publishing contract for her next book, For the Love of Labor: The Pioneering Life of Pauline Newman, with University Press of Kentucky for a 2024 release. Before Greta Thunberg, Emma Gonzalez, or Malala Yousafzai, there was Pauline Newman. She had been union organizing since the age of 16 before the… [Read More]

The Long Surrender
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January 25, 2022

Brian McDonald has accepted an offer of publication for his new memoir, THE LONG SURRENDER (Working Title), from Wisdom Editions, an imprint of Calumet Editions for April 15, 2022. After 30 years of preaching, Brian Rush McDonald walked away from the pulpit. He had become a Jesus freak during the tumult of high school desegregation in the 70s in Mobile, Alabama, and then immersed himself… [Read More]

Tax Prep Time
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January 17, 2022

The calendar has flipped over to another year, yet the more things change, the more they stay the same. The change in tax forms isn’t much of a change, unless you don’t know there’s been a change. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. January 31 is the due date for you to mail your 1099-NEC forms to any independent contractors or freelancers you… [Read More]

Classes, Workshops & Retreats for Winter 2022
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December 21, 2021

In an effort to create more opportunities to work with writers, Swenson Book Development LLC will begin to offer virtual classes, workshop, and retreats in January 2022. All sessions will be held via Zoom and documents will be shared using Google Drive. If you are interested in registering for a class, workshop or retreat, please email Jill at Swenbooks dot com by January 3, 2022…. [Read More]