May 8, 2007 7:19 am US/Central Star Tribune To Cut 145 Positions, 50 In Newsroom(WCCO)Minneapolis Facing revenue and circulation declines, the Star Tribune said Monday it would eliminate 145 positions, or about 7 percent of its work force.

The cuts will include about 50 positions in the newsroom, the paper said, and a voluntary buyout program has been proposed to the Newspaper Guild, which represents newsroom workers.

For the rest of the article, go to http://wcco.com/local/local_story_127174341.html

 

And now, to skip ahead to popular author Janet Elaine Smith's newest novel, Bank Roll: A Max Stryker Mystery, which was released just yesterday, May 7, from Star Publish LLC. Smith's author copies were shipped May 7.

 

Janet was just finishing the final edit a little over a year ago, the day before the news broke that Knight Ridder was selling many of their newspapers, including the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Poor Max Stryker! She could have gone to the Minneapolis Tribune, but they were already overloaded with applications from her fellow writers at the Pioneer Press who were hoping to snatch a job without having to relocate.

 

The following is the back cover blurb from Bank Roll: A Max Stryker Mystery.

 "It started out like any other day for Max (Maxine, but only to her mother) Stryker, a crime reporter for the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Then the news broke. She was listening to the morning news on WCCO-TV as she rushed to get to work when they announced that the Knight Ridder chain of newspapers had been sold. When she arrived at the office, the buzz was that their newspaper was going to go on the auction block, and a lot of the workers would be getting pink slips within days, maybe even hours. With her notice in front of her, Max called her mother and told her that she was going to be forced to do what she had vowed would never happen: she was going home! Home to Willow Creek, Minnesota, where nothing exciting ever happened--until Max hit town again, just in time to hear that the bank president had been kidnapped!" 

Now, the opposing ne wspaper--in real life--has announced they are cutting 145 jobs. It's sure a lucky break for Max that she headed back to Willow Creek. If she hadn't, she might well be waiting for that second pink slip. Lucky for Max, too, that she is just a creation of author Janet Elaine Smith's mind. Nobody should have to go through this, certainly not twice.

 

So truth is indeed stranger than fiction! Max Stryker is living proof, even though she is a fictional character. But what are the odds of the timing on this one--not once, but twice? Does Max Stryker know something more than most sleuths? To find out, check it out at Amazon.com in a couple of days. The ISBN is 1932993789. Meanwhile, if you want to read an excerpt of Max Stryker, please go here.

Popular author Janet Elaine Smith marks the release of her 23rd book, St. Peter by the Bay, the 4th Patrick and Grace Mystery, by Star Publish. She has also been appointed Marketing Director by Star Publish and she and Star's founder, Kristie Leigh Maguire, have introduced an innovative new program, called "Shooting Star Books" for the Star authors. The premise of the program is primarily to get Star's books into bookstores all across the United States to offer readers a glimpse into exciting new authors and the very best storylines around.

Smith has been the most successful (perhaps the only) author to successfully get her own Print-on-demand books into bookstores nationwide. She is taking that experience to Star Publish. She has already been granted distribution and shelf placement in major chain bookstores in the country—Barnes & Noble, and Hastings Entertainment Centers, as well as in many independent bookstores. This is, according to the chain distribution representatives, a first for across-the-board placement in their stores by a Print-on-demand publisher. Much of this credit also goes to Star Publish for making all of their books returnable and for offering a full discount (the same as the large NY traditional publishers) to the stores.

While Smith has become a very successful marketer, "by necessity, not by choice," she admits, her true love is writing her fun, somewhat get-into-trouble books. Smith writes in various genres, because, as she says, "I like to read a lot of different things, so it just seems natural to write different types of books, too." Along with the re-release of her first 14 books by her new publisher, Star Publish, plus several new book in over a year, she has "many more books in my head" which will one day find the light of being published. Two of Smith's time travels, House Call to the Past and Par for the Course, have won RIO (Reviewer International Organization) Awards of Excellence. Par for the Course was also chosen by Affaire de Coeur Magazine as "best time-travel of the year."  Her new time travel, Port Call to the Future, is the sequel to House Call to the Past. Both have just been placed on the shelves at the Whydah Museum in Portsmouth MA, where the treasure of the pirate Black Sam Bellamy, featured in both books, is on display.

 

 

 

In addition, Smith read her entire book, A Christmas Dream, on Internet Voices Radio and it can be heard on the podcast link. She claims it is the favorite of her books, and it has been compared by many readers to Miracle on 34th Street, and many claim it has already become a classic with their family and will be re-read every year.

You can find all of Smith's books on her book website: http://janetesmithstarbooks.tripod.com  or at www.amazon.com or many other online bookstores. If your local bookstore doesn't have them in stock, they can easily be ordered.