Putting local books in local shops

Slone gets a barrage of e-mails each month from new authors. She meets with them, then decides whether to distribute their books or not. She turns away authors from Marin and Napa as well as certain genres.

“I have started saying no to memoirs, and I shy away from poetry, too,” she said. “Both are a hard sell.”

She tracks how well each book sells, then posts the top two best-sellers on her Facebook page, Local Authors’ Distributor.

In November, “Lipstick and the Leash” by Camilla Gray-Nelson hit No. 1, followed in December by Ken Weaver’s “The Northern California Craft Beer Guide.”

Before that, Arlene Miller’s “The Best Little Grammar Book Ever,” a concise and funny primer, held the top spot for more than a year.

Like the other authors, Miller appreciates all the legwork Slone does to help market and sell her books.

“It gets the books in places that ordinarily they won’t go, to a good audience of people that might not otherwise see it,” Miller said. “And it’s less competitive than the bookstore.”

Slone, who ran a daycare center in Sebastopol, started to write her own historical fiction after retiring three years ago.

Her first book, “She Flew Bombers,” was based on interviews with a handful of Women’s Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) from World War II. Her second book, “She Built Ships,” was based on stories from the female welders and riveters of the same era.

“The world has changed, and in order to market your book, you have to do it yourself,” she said. “The talent in this county is astounding.”

You can reach Staff Writer Diane Peterson at 521-5287 or diane.peterson@pressdemocrat.com.