Wellstone Books, the publishing arm of the Wellstone Center in the Redwoods near Santa Cruz, California, focuses on personal writing that is not afraid to inspire. We love good writing that does not labor to show how good it is, and believe each book is like a small treasure to be unpacked. We believe that small, passionate publishers like us are the future. At the same time, we look to publish books that fit neatly with our concept and which we can expect to find an audience. Writers need to be able to talk about their books and reach out to people through diverse channels to spread the word. We also love book parties and book events – all the better to bring people together to talk in person about a book and about their love of books in general.

WRITE TO US

We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts. We’re unlikely to publish a book that was not written especially for us. We only publish four to eight titles per year and each is lavished with care and attention to detail. We also want to be able to focus our energies on creating and executing a distinct promotion and marketing plan for each title. Advice for writers interested in publishing with us: Read at least one of our titles to get an idea of what we’re about. If you’re in Northern California, consider visiting us at the Wellstone Center in the Redwoods for a residency or workshop or an Author Talk event or our regular Tuesday Night OpenMic. Write to Publisher Steve Kettmann with questions or merely to open a dialogue. Steve@wellstoneredwoods.org

INTERN WITH US

We are now accepting applications for our Fall 2015 Wellstone Books Internship. Deadline: August 15. This is a great opportunity for anyone with writing, editing and social media skills to get an up-close look at the future of publishing.  With fewer and fewer jobs in newspapers and magazines, young people looking to make a career in writing need to explore new options. We look for energetic, talented, hard-working people interested in learning about writing and publishing through a variety of tasks in support of Wellstone Books. To apply, email us at Steve@wellstoneredwoods.org and explain in 400 to 500 words why you think you would be an asset to us, what you would like to get out of an internship and what relevant experience you have. Also, send in two or three samples of published writing, if you have it, a CV – and two references.

A Book That Can Change Your Life

Giants manager Bruce Bochy loves to go for walks – and passes that love on in his fun little A Book of Walks, a pocket-sized paperback featuring eight chapters, each describing a walk Bochy likes to take in California or elsewhere around the country. The little chapters, each with its own map showing the walk in question, are meant to be read either at home – or out on a walk. Follow Bochy on walks through San Francisco, Southern California, New York, Chicago, Milwaukee, Cincinnati and Scottsdale, Arizona. The book has been high on the Northern California Independent Bookstore Bestseller List ever since it came out in May and has been earning rave reviews. Bestselling baseball author Rob Neyer and KNBR broadcaster Marty Lurie are among those recommending it for its intimate and revealing glimpse of Bochy. As a reader named KellyG wrote in a review at Amazon, “Feels as though I am sitting with Bochy in a coffee shop, acquainting ourselves with each other as he pours over his passion for walking in some familiar places. Giant fans and walkers will love this book and couch potatoes will be inspired.“

The Story of a True Renaissance Man

For anyone who grew up listening to sports on the radio  in the Bay Area in recent decades, the phrase “Holy Toledo!” will always bring a smile. That was the trademark call of the great Bill King, who could paint a picture with words of the real-time action on the basketball court or football field or baseball diamond as well as anyone who ever lived. Bill was great because he worked at being great, as beloved A’s broadcaster Ken Korach emphasizes in his personal portrait of Bill, Holy Toledo. Bill was also great because he was completely himself, an utter original all the way, a gourmand who loved fine dining but also ate butter pats off room-service trays left out in the hallways of hotels, a man who loved opera and looked right at home at the White House but drove junky cars with floorboards missing.

Delve Deep Into the Power of Touch

If poetry is in a way just writing, slowed down and given more feeling, massage is just touch, slowed down and given more feeling. We tend to think of “massage” as something only trained professionals can do well, but really, every time we touch those we love we have an opportunity to make them feel better – and deepen our communication. It all starts with a willingness to explore and learn, a willingness that depends on refreshing our perspective on what massage is and what it can do for you. These are the themes of Grace Ku’s delightful One Body Massage, part memoir, part practical guide to massage, illustrated with Grace’s own powerful artwork. She was another desktop drone, hunched over a monitor all day with the sore neck and shoulders to prove it, and then decided to change her life – she would become a massage therapist, and she would be calmer and happier and more in harmony. Follow her on her journey – you’ll be glad you did!

Break On Through, Find New Possibilities

We are big fans of Haruki Murakami here at the Wellstone Center. We love his novels and we also find wisdom in his belief that running makes him a better writer. “People sometimes sneer at those who run every day, claiming they’ll go to any length to live longer,” he writes in What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. “But don’t think that’s the reason most people run. Most runners run not because they want to live longer, but because they want to live life to the fullest. If you’re going to while away the years, it’s far better to live them with clear goals and fully alive then in a fog, and I believe running helps you to do that. Exerting yourself to the fullest within your individual limits: that’s the essence of running, and a metaphor for life — and for me, for writing as whole. I believe many runners would agree.” That is the inspiration for this volume of essays looking at running in the dark, pushing the limits, tackling fear or putting it on hold to plunge into the darkness. Our collection Night Running – to be published in April 2016 – takes readers on a journey around the world, with contributors relaying their intense experiences running at night in Bulgaria and Thailand, Berlin and Tokyo, the New Jersey Palisades and the Pacific Northwest. Our lineup of award-winning writers includes novelist Emily Mitchell, Joy Russo-Schoenfield, Bonnie Ford  and T.J. Quinn of ESPN, Kelsey Eiland, Anne Milligan and Vanessa Runs.

A Novel About Food and Family

We are pleased to announce the publication of our first novel from Wellstone Books, VietnamEazy, by Trami Nguyen Cron, which delves into the experience of being both Vietnamese and American, a story about mothers and daughters and sometimes hurting the ones we love most. Kieu decides on a lark to try out for a TV cooking show, wanting to showcase the Vietnamese cooking she loves so much, and is stunned when she’s actually chosen as a contestant. But she’s in her element. “Without a real name for the dish, my friends called it Cua Rang Me (Sauteed Crab in Tamarind Sauce),” Cron writes. “I never corrected them, but actually the dish didn’t even contain any tamarind. I chuckled to myself each time they said Cua Rang Me. A few attempts were made to duplicate my recipe. They failed. They would always fail. I was well trained to keep bigger secrets, so keeping a recipe under wraps was second nature.” The show will take Kieu on a journey of discovery – and lead her to see both the country of her birth and her tangled relationship with her domineering mother in a new light. “There are four feminine virtues a Vietnamese woman must possess: Công, Dung, Ngôn, Hạnh,” she writes. “Be skillful, be beautiful, be eloquent, be virtuous. A Vietnamese woman has no choice but to accept the fate she is given by God. She can complain about that fate and get sympathy for it, but nothing more. She definitely cannot change it.” Or can she?

ABOUT US

PUBLISHER

Steve Kettmann has worked as an editor at San Francisco Magazine and the San Francisco Chronicle. He’s been a columnist for the Berliner Zeitung, a roving European correspondent for Wired.com, a news reporter for New York Newsday and a sports reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle. He’s the author or co-author of ten books, including six national best-sellers. He’s the co-director of the Wellstone Center in the Redwoods.

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER

Pete Danko has been editing and writing since the early 1980s when he got his start as Sports Editor of the Daily Californian and Senior Editor of the Berkeley Journal. He loves clear, descriptive writing that moves along and is powerful without having to be showy. As an editor, he’s brave enough to read thousands of words at a time without making a single change – but as good as anyone in the business at undertaking a complete overhaul of a chapter. A writer himself, Danko believes an editor should above all be a friend to the writer. His own work has been published in The New York Times, the Riverside Press-Enterprise, Wired.com and in the Wellstone Books collection Night Running. He’s an avid runner, father of a word-crazy teenage son, and an expert on sustainable energy and wine.