SEATTLE HUMORIST AND DAYTON DAILY NEWS REPORTER

WRITE WINNING BOOK PROPOSALS, HONORED AT ERMA BOMBECK WORKSHOP

DAYTON, Ohio -- Ken McCall, a journalist with the Dayton Daily News, and Dave Fox, an award-winning humor and travel writer in Seattle, have won the opportunity to publish their books using one of the largest print-on-demand companies in the country.

AuthorHouse, formerly 1stBooks Library of  Bloomington,  Ind., is providing more than $4,000 in publishing and marketing services ($2,000 each) to the two writers, whose book proposals were deemed the best by judges in a contest that attracted 75 proposals.  The contest was open to the more than 300 writers in the University of Dayton’s 2004 Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop as part of AuthorHouse’s co-sponsorship of the event.

Fox, a freelance writer and public speaker who spends his summers working as a tour guide in Europe for Rick Steves’ Europe Through the Back Door, won the opportunity to publish Getting Lost: Mishaps of an Accidental Nomad, described as a collection of true stories about misadventures in foreign places.

“I’ve been coping with travel catastrophes since an early age,” said Fox, a 35-year-old former news anchor for Wisconsin Public Radio. “When I was 8, I nearly started a riot in Tunisia. At 17, I got caught smuggling illegal radio equipment into Finland and talked the customs agent into letting me go because we shared the same taste in alternative rock. On a playground in Greece, I found myself surrounded by six cops with machine guns who mistook me for an illegal alien rather than a tourist. On the streets of Dingle, Ireland, I helped tackle a runaway sheep, in spite of my suburban upbringing.”  Fox added, “The common thread through all of these stories is the fine line between catastrophe and comedy.  When you travel, things go wrong, and it’s these minor disasters that often make for the best stories later.”

This will be Fox’s first book, though he released just this week an audiobook CD called “The Fox That Quacked!” of a dozen of his most popular essays.  See www.davethefox.com.

“This actually feels better than a book deal with a traditional publisher,” Fox said.  “The

marketing that comes with this prize could be a huge boost for my career.  I’m thrilled.”

McCall, a 54-year-old investigative and projects reporter for the Dayton Daily News who specializes in computer-assisted reporting, submitted a proposal for Chain of Events.  The Centerville, Ohio, resident is 118,000 words into a suspenseful murder mystery involving the death of an investigative reporter in Dayton, Ohio. 

“It’s totally fiction,” he said with a laugh.  “I’ve been pecking away at it for a year and a half.  I squeeze an hour and a half in most mornings before I go to work.  I was thrilled to learn that I won.  It’s nice to see that interest in the concept,” said McCall, whose 20-year journalism career includes reporting stints at newspapers and magazines in Nevada and California.  In his spare time, he plays saxophone in a local band, Soul Express, and shares his work with a fiction-writing group of seven other Dayton Daily News reporters.

POD allows books to be produced in small quantities -- even one at a time -- almost instantly.  The books can be ordered through most major book retailers.  Each book is stored digitally until a customer orders it.  Then, a printing and binding machine creates a high-quality paperback or hardcover book ready for shipping.  Books are priced competitively with authors receiving royalties of 30 percent or more -- significantly higher than most traditional publishers offer. 

In addition to preparing the book for distribution, AuthorHouse will provide expanded marketing support to the winners, including preparing and distributing press releases for media outlets and book editors.  AuthorHouse will also create bookmarks, postcards and business cards for the winners as well as a book-signing kit.

Authors who have published through AuthorHouse include Preston Pearson (former NFL player for the Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers), Richard Lugar (U.S. senator who was nominated for the Nobel prize) and Buddy Ebsen (best known as Jed Clampett on “The Beverly Hillbillies”).  More than 18,000 titles are available in the AuthorHouse library, with 400 new titles coming out each month.

“We’re thrilled to have AuthorHouse as one of our workshop sponsors,” said Tim Bete, director of the Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop.  “This is a great opportunity for two writers to have their work published.”

“One of the best things about print-on-demand publishing is its speed,” noted Bete, whose first book, Five loaves, two fish — what, no tartar sauce! (Minor miracles in the life of a faith-filled father) will be published in spring 2005 by Ave Maria Press, a traditional publisher. “The traditional publishing process takes more than a year.  AuthorHouse condenses it to four to six months. POD publishers, like AuthorHouse, are radically changing how authors get into print.”

-30-

For media interviews, contact Ken McCall at (937) 225-2393, Dave Fox at (206) 706-9809 and Tim Bete at (937) 229-4960.