Minstrel’s Alley Releases Beautiful Bad Girl on Apple's iPad

Los Angeles, CA, December 13, 2010 --(PR.com)-- Minstrel’s Alley has released “Beautiful Bad Girl, The Vicki Morgan Story on the new Apple iPad.” The book documents the tempestuous affair during the Ronald Regan Presidential Administration between department store scion, Alfred Bloomingdale, and his long time mistress, Vicki Morgan. The non-fiction novel is told as a first person narrative through the eyes of author, Gordon Basichis, who worked on the book with Morgan, until she was murdered in 1983.

“We are delighted to be releasing “Beautiful Bad Girl,” on the iPad," said M.J. Hammond, president of independent publisher and media company, Minstrel’s Alley. The Apple iPad represents breakthrough technology for many applications but especially it adds yet another dynamic to the burgeoning EPublishing market.

“Beautiful Bad Girl has created a lot of controversy over the years, as it delves into the obsessive nature of this major love scandal that helped define social mores during the Reagan era and late twentieth century. The book sold well when it was first published in 1985 by Santa Barbara Press, but the political and social climate of the times did not fully allow for it to achieve its rightful place as a best seller."

Hammond noted the non-fiction novel was put back into print as a trade paperback in 2000, when Basichis and iUniverse published it as part of the Author’s Guild “Back in Print” program. It sold steadily all these years and for ten years was distributed by Books on Tape, where it was one of their featured books.

Hammond maintained that the steady flow of sales in trade paperback inspired Minstrel’s Alley to acquire the E-rights to the book and publish it through Kindle and, eventually, through other electronic books forms, including the Barnes and Noble’s Nook, Sony Reader, and Apple’s iBooks.

Minstrel’s Alley recently published “The Guys Who Spied for China,” its first publishing effort. “The Guys Who Spied for China,” also written by Gordon Basichis, is based on his real life experiences uncovering Chinese Espionage Networks operating in the United States in the eighties and nineties. Basichis is now the Co-Founder of Corra Group, which specializes in background checks and corporate research and investigation.

“We are encouraged by the sales as both a trade paperback and through Kindle on “The Guys Who Spied for China,” said Hammond. “The book is getting great reviews and the recent boost when CBS 60 Minutes produced a segment on Chinese Espionage."

M.J. Hammond is a former entertainment industry executive who founded Minstrel’s Alley to publish popular books not found in mainstream publishing.

“Mainstream publishing has its purpose,” said Hammond. “But the industry’s focus on celebrity and genre based books has left readers wanting. We hope to help bring a sense of adventure back to books and publishing.”

Background: Minstrel’s Alley is a Los Angeles based independent publisher that seeks to bring adventure back into the publishing industry by publishing books that have popular appeal but with more complexity than the standard mainstream fare. The new publishing group distributes its books through Amazon, Kindle, and assorted Internet outlets as well as through bookstores around the country.

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