Basque culture is focus of second Californian e-book

The Bakersfield Californian has released its second e-book, Louis Amestoy's "Being Basque in Bakersfield." 

The book shares a newcomer's observations about connecting with Bakersfield's large and vibrant Basque community. Amestoy, The Californian's digital convergence manager, is of Basque heritage but had little contact with the culture until moving to Bakersfield in January.

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Good news, bad news about our March Meet e-book

Check out a sample chapter from the Kindle version.I've written previously about The Californian's cool e-book documenting the world-famous March Meet held just north of Bakersfield. 

And here's some good news regarding "March Meet: Bakersfield's Love Affair with Speed, Nitro & Good Times": Amazon and Barnes & Noble are selling versions for $9.99. The Amazon Kindle version is here and the Nook version is here. Buyers of the book will get a link and password to a special web page containing 21 videos and hundreds of photos covering a wide variety of people, events and happenings at the March Meet. 

The bad news: Our enhanced iPad edition of the e-book, featuring hundreds of embedded photos and a dozen videos, remains in queue in the iBookstore. It's been sitting there for more than one month, and Apple has told us several times it's simply backed up reviewing iBookstore submissions. Hmmm, you'd think a company with $100 billion in cash could hire a few extra people to help unclog the pipeline. 

Mad props to BookBrewer, an e-book publishing tool we used to upload the book to Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Simple, easy and cost-effective. And less than a two-day turnaround to hit the Kindle and Nook stores. 

Coming soon: a multimedia book chronicling the March Meet

A full-page print ad promoting The Bakersfield Californian's upcoming history of the March Meet.

A small team in The Californian newsroom is working on an iPad-only book chronicling the world-famous March Meet, held annually at Famoso Raceway just north of Bakersfield.

"March Meet: Bakersfield's Love Affair with Speed, Nitro & Good Times" will take fans deep into one of Bakersfield's biggest events. This will be our first iPad-only book and will feature lots of stories, photos and videos on the racing legends and characters who have brought this event to life over the last 54 years. 

We're excited about the prospects an interactive multimedia book will bring to an event that's a sensory overload: the blast of dragsters hitting more than 250 mph, hundreds of classic cars, colorful people from all walks of life and the rich history of an event that draws fans from around the world.

The four-day March Meet runs through Sunday, and we'll begin production first thing Monday. Our goal -- and it's a huge challenge -- is to submit a finished product to the Apple Store by Friday. 

At this point, we're focusing on an iPad version, but there may be versions for other e-readers coming soon. 

For details and to sign up for an alert when the book his available for sale, visit books.bakersfield.com.

Update on Saturday, March 17, 2012 at 8:48 PM by Logan Molen

Here's our second trailer for the "March Meet" e-book. Turn up the speakers!