Dot Frank, aka Dorothea Benton Frank, is back from flogging her bestselling novel, "Shem Creek," during a four-week Southern book tour. During that time, she weathered three hurricanes, Charley, Gaston and Frances, and was holed up for two days during Gaston at the Fripp Island house of novelist Pat Conroy. Despite making the New York Times Bestseller List for three straight weeks, Frank says the storm really cut into sales; half the book's inventory is in the Southeast, and retailers there were closed for three weeks running due to the storms. It's hard to find readers, she points out, when "everybody is glued to the Weather Channel."

September 8, 2004 in Where For Art Thou? | Permalink