Come to our Palm Springs Readers' Festival later this month!
The line-up of authors is WILD.
Yes, I know. At some point I’ll need to rename this newsletter from “Citizen Bookseller” to “Sorry For The Lack Of Updates”.
In my meager defense, we opened a second bookstore - The Best Bookstore in Union Square - on Black Friday, a little over a month after we signed our lease.
At some point I promise to write an entire post about how we managed to pull it off, starting with San Francisco’s incredible “Vacant To Vibrant” program, a small army of friends assembling shelves, plus stellar work by our publisher sales reps and of course our employees in SF and Palm Springs without whom none of this would be possible.
But that post will have to wait because suddenly it’s January and my next book is due to my editor in a little over two months. I really need to be writing every day, with zero distractions, to make my deadline.
So, heads down and…
Ah, right, I almost forgot. WE’RE ORGANIZING A BOOK FESTIVAL THIS MONTH.
That’s right, from Friday January 30th - Sunday February 1st we’re hosting our third annual PALM SPRINGS READERS’ FESTIVAL.
Long-time readers will know that the festival began as a response to the unsettlingly right wing (Karl Rove four times in a row!) Rancho Mirage Writer’s Festival, whose tickets cost upwards of $500 and which shuts down the public library for days.
Our event is hosted at the Palm Springs Leisure Center and brings together an array of superstar authors, writing across all genres. And not a single warmonger! An all-access pass for the whole three-day event costs $125.
This year I’m thrilled to say that Andrea Bartz is headlining the first night. Thriller fans will likely be familiar with her bestsellers like We Were Never Here (a Reese’s Book Club pick) and The Last Ferry Out. But her name might also be familiar as the lead plaintiff in Bartz vs Anthropic, the landmark class action suit that just won a $1.5bn settlement for authors ripped off by the AI giant.
As you can imagine, Andi and I have a lot to talk about on stage, especially the dangers of AI and the thrilling world of, well, thrillers.
We also just confirmed that Annalee Newitz, author of the smash hit Automatic Noodle, will be appearing on Saturday, interviewed on stage by Sarah. Newitz’ book is sold out everywhere but we pulled a bunch of strings to make sure we have a secret stash of copies for them to sign on the day. You won’t want to miss getting your hands on one of the most delightful books of the year.
Andi and Annalee join our already stellar line-up including (in alphabetical order)…
GRETCHEN ANTHONY, Author of TIRED LADIES TAKE A STAND
ABRAHAM CHANG, Author of 888 LOVE AND THE DIVINE BURDEN OF NUMBERS
ANDY CORREN, Author of DIRTBAG QUEEN
JASON FELTS, Author of HOLLYWOOD VIRGIN
AJA GABEL, Author of LIGHTBREAKERS
RACHEL KHONG, Author of MY DEAR YOU
SUSANNA KWAN, Author of AWAKE IN THE FLOATING CITY
BYRON LANE, Author of BIG GAY WEDDING
BRIAN MCAULEY, Author of BREATHE IN, BLEED OUT
ANDREW MEYER, Producer of The Breakfast Club and Author of WALKING IN THE FAST LANE
JOSHUA MOEHLING, Author of A LONG TIME GONE
AISHA MUHARRAR, Author of LOVED ONE
EUREKA O’HARA, Star of Ru Paul’s Drag Race and Author of JACKSON BRIGHT IN THE SPOTLIGHT
ROB OSLER, Author of THE CASE OF THE MURDERED MUCKRAKER
KAIRA ROUDA, Author of WE WERE NEVER FRIENDS
STEVEN ROWLEY, Author of TAKE ME WITH YOU
BRIAN SCHAEFER, Author of TOWN & COUNTRY
KATHY WANG, Author of THE SATISFACTION CAFE
JENNIFER WRIGHT, Author of GLITZ, GLAM, AND A DAMN GOOD TIME
If you came to either of the previous festivals you’ll know that the event is a ridiculous amount of fun. Most of the authors hang out in the audience for the whole event and there’s something magical about the PS vibe that makes their interviews more candid and hilarious than you’ll typically hear at a book festival (Sarah’s probing questions also help - who can forget last year’s on-stage debate about a particular book cover she hated?) Oh, and Sarah and I buy everyone pizza from Bill’s for the final lunch of the event. Who doesn’t love free Bill’s pizza?
As I write this, we are just 30 tickets away from selling out. This despite the fact that we have done very little promotion for this years’ event, due to the whole “opening another bookstore in a month” thing.
I’d LOVE to see the room packed every day for these fantastic authors so if you haven’t already bought your ticket, please, please click here and register.
Again, an all-access pass for the entire three day event costs just $125. There are no special VIP rates - everyone gets access to everything. We fund the entire event out of ticket sales - including the cost of bringing all these amazing authors to Palm Springs, venue rental, staffing etc etc. So we REALLY appreciate your support.
Here’s the sign up link again…
We can’t wait to see you in Palm Springs at the end of the month.
And more from Citizen Bookseller soon, I promise!
Paul
PS I was flattered, shocked and delighted that The Confessions was chosen as a Guardian Best Thriller of The Year over the holidays. Thank you to everyone who bought a copy — and if you haven’t already, the paperback is out in April in the US (pre-order now) and is already out in the UK.
PPS It was Sarah’s birthday last month and, for one of her gifts, I managed to track down all of her famous Pando Monthly interviews with the great and good of Silicon Valley, recorded between 2011-2016. The entire archive was (we thought) lost after we sold the company but I FOUND THEM and so now she’s reposting one each week on her new YouTube Channel, with additional commentary. If you want to remember what tech moguls like Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and Marc Andreessen were like before they were super evil famous or you just want hours of valuable advice from the likes of Reid Hoffman, Sophia Amuruso, Daniel Ek, Tony Hsieh, etc etc then subscribe to the channel now.