The
following is an E-Panel of Publicists. They are frequently some of the busiest people in the business and
seemingly know everything that is going on within the industry, both inside and
outside the companies they work for. Many other publicists are currently in the process of responding to
these questions so this is just the first in a series.
Those
participating in this E-Panel are:
Kathy
Daneman – SoHo Press
Lauren
Cerand – Independent Publicist
(I’d
be happy to provide a contact address for those inquiring)
James
Meader – Picador
Dan:
Hello
there, thank you for agreeing to spend some time answering questions about
yourself and publicity in general.
Lauren
Cerand - Independent Publicist:
Hi, Dan. Thank you for thinking of me! It's always a
pleasure to join a discussion with other members of the Emerging Writers
Network.
James
Meader - Picador USA
Thanks for your interest, Dan.
Dan:
Let’s
start by asking how you ended up being a publicist, and specifically, how did
you become involved with the company you’re currently with?
Kathy
Daneman - SoHo Press
I went to work for Beacon Press right out of college, where
I began as director Helene Atwan's assistant. Helene has been a publicist at
FSG and Pocket Books, and I would say guided me to Beacon's publicity
department where I worked for Pam MacColl for five years. I just began working
as Soho Press's Publicity Director this month, and I don't think I would have
come here without Helene and Pam’s support and guidance.
Lauren
Cerand - Independent Publicist:
I became a publicist because of my initial interest in
public affairs/non-profit advocacy for various organizations at the national
level, and over the course of a few years, transitioned from primarily
political work to focus on mostly cultural and artistic endeavors. Currently, I
am an independent publicist, and work with a purposefully eclectic group of
clients on a freelance and project basis.
James
Meader - Picador USA
I've always had a tangential interest in a number of things, but the only one that everything else seemed to ceaselessly revolve around is great books. When I left college in 2002 I wasn't yet sure how I planned to combine that love of literature with "gainful employment" as one of my teachers had put it. I applied to both a graduate programs and publishing houses, the plan being to enroll in grad school and then lock myself in an ivory tower for the rest of my life or, if I wasn't accepted, to work in publishing for a year and then reapply. Before hearing from grad school I interviewed at one publishing house for a publicity assistant position. They went with someone else from within their corporate structure, but the director of publicity there was kind enough to call the director at Picador—who was looking for a new assistant—and suggest that she give me an interview.
At first I deferred my grad school acceptance a year. Then I wrote the dean explaining that—with the quality of books and authors that I was coming into contact with every day—I felt like I actually was in a graduate lit program already. I received a hand-written note from the dean saying that that if she were my age and working with the authors I was working with she wouldn't leave for grad school either.
I've been here since.
Dan:
Are
there a certain set of skills that you believe are needed to be a good
publicist? What about a certain level
of education?
Kathy
Daneman - SoHo Press
I think it goes without saying that publicists should be
good writers, pay extra attention to detail, and have thick skins. For me, it's
always been important to believe in the books I'm pitching--to believe in a
mission or the quality of the literature.
Lauren
Cerand - Independent Publicist:
You have to be willing to work very hard, regularly take
rejection with a smile, and understand that authors are often required to put a
great deal of faith (and money) into something they don't really
"get". It requires a great deal of empathy, both for clients who need
their books and projects to succeed to make future endeavors viable, and
overworked editors who can't possibly cover every story. I studied finance and
industrial & labor relations in college, and learned everything I know
about publicity on the job.
James
Meader - Picador USA
As far as a certain level of education goes, an advanced degree isn't necessary. There are graduate courses in publishing, and I'm sure that if I had taken one of these my knowledge going in to the job at the assistant level would have been much greater. But a few months of experience on the job makes all the difference, especially at a small house like Picador where a publicity assistant interacts with editors, production staff, and even the publisher on a daily basis.
As far as a certain set of skills, a book publicist of
course needs to have both communications/PR skills and a knowledge of books.
The ratio between these two skill sets varies, however, depending on the type
of books being promoted. A publicist working primarily on cookbooks, diet
books, or travel guides does not need to be conversant in Proust; I don’t mean
this pejoratively, just honestly: neither in talking with the media nor in
interacting with the books' authors will this depth of literary knowledge need
to be tapped. However, if you're sitting in the green room with a Pulitzer
winner in fiction and you get to talking about books (an exciting but dangerous
proposition, because how do you not come off as embarrassingly ill-read and
ill-informed by comparison?), then you really do need to have both a depth and
breadth of knowledge of the canon. Having the confidence of the author you're
working with is vitally important. He needs to know that you understand his
work, and in the context of the tradition he's working in and what he's trying
to do. Otherwise, how can you effectively talk about his novel when pitching it
to a critic and trying to convince that person to review it? This person has labored
over this book for years and if he or she doesn’t fully believe that you’re
going to represent it to the rest of the world in an intelligent manner then
you won’t have a good relationship.
Dan:
If
you replaced an individual, were there any specific changes that you made to
the methods of getting publicity for your writers?
Kathy
Daneman - SoHo Press
When I started, Soho Press hadn't had an in-house publicist
for seven or eight years. Unlike the out-of-house publicist that preceded me, I
can have input through all stages of a book. I can be involved at sales
conference and make sure I see what I want in the catalog
Lauren
Cerand - Independent Publicist:
This one isn't really applicable, as I work alone, but I do
feel incredibly blessed to be free to choose projects and employ strategies I
never could have pursued in the organizational settings I worked in previously.
I focus heavily on online media outreach and using new technology to reach
potential readers in innovative ways, which is not quite the status quo.
James
Meader - Picador USA
At their roots the methods are pretty standard, and I think it's because they are so standard that they are sound. It may sound like I oversimplify things a bit, but really what we do is what every reader does: talk about books we like and try to convince others to read those books. We just do it on a larger scale. Instead of telling my best friend about a book I think is great I tell the book reviews editor of a newspaper, and hopefully she will read it and then tell all of that paper's readers how good it is. I tell a radio producer how interesting an author is and try to convince her to have him on the show. The methods are pretty standard—use mailings, phone, and email to tell a lot of people about the book. The ways in which I can try to do that job better are to know which critics like which kind of books and to not waste their time by sending them things, or pitching them things, that I know they won't like; just like me, these are busy people, so I understand that it annoys them to have their email clogged up with pitches for books that they would never like.
Being adaptable is important, too. Before the 2004 election,
blogs were below the radar for most of the publishing industry; they existed,
but publicists were not pitching to them in a major way. Then everyone was
talking about blogs. Now there are litblogs with such good content and
readerships that they come up at publicity department meetings. So we're
constantly adapting who we're pitching to, how we're pitching them, Etc., but
the fundamentals of the job remain the same I think.
Dan:
How
close to being an 8 hour a day/40 hours per week job is it?
Kathy
Daneman - SoHo Press
I'd say pretty close. The summer is certainly a quieter time
of year, and days will get longer in the Fall.
Lauren
Cerand - Independent Publicist:
It's more than that, definitely. There's the significant
portion of my days (and nights) that I spend at my desk, as well as
professional engagements, events, and socially-focused drinks and lunches that
are marvelously fun and also essential to my work.
James
Meader - Picador USA
The job simply can't be 9-5 because much of what we do
involves event planning, readings, signings, parties, networking, that all
takes place after hours. If one of my authors has a reading at 7 PM on a Sunday
I try to attend it. And of course I'm always thinking of the office. At the
very least, on a Saturday I may be turning over in my mind how to word a press
release. If I have an author on tour I have his or her itinerary with flight
and interview and event information with me at all times, and they have my cell
phone number. What helps is that I don't think you get into this kind of a job
unless you want this to be a large part of your life. If someone complains that
he or she had to be at the office past 5:00 PM I think that person should find
a different type of job, shift work or something. This isn’t a job for a
paycheck, it’s a career that allows you to be a part of a larger literary world,
so while it is work it is also a lifestyle or sorts.
Dan:
Some
of your writers probably have established audiences – when you are trying to
garner publicity for a new work by them, how much of your efforts go towards
that established audience, and how much goes towards finding a new audience?
Kathy
Daneman - SoHo Press
You always want to reach out to
the established audience, let them know that they are appreciated. I like to
send a flyer, postcard, or an e-card to give them advance notice of the work.
However, my primary goal is always to broaden our audience.
Lauren
Cerand - Independent Publicist:
30/70, respectively.
James
Meader - Picador USA
I'm always trying to find a new audience for a book, especially with paperback reprints. Most of what Picador publishes are paperbacks of books that were hardcovers at other houses (usually our sister houses FSG, Holt, and St. Martin's; sometimes entirely separate houses that have sold off their paperback rights to us) and our first goal is to discern what was missed the first time around. If The New York Times Book Review ran a piece but the daily edition didn't, I'll pitch to an editor at the daily edition; if Morning Edition had the author on I'll pitch to All Things Considered; if a paper wrote a review I'll suggest an author profile. Or, say the author happens to be gay—even if the book has little or nothing to do with gay themes, per se—I'll look to see if Out, Genre, Instinct, Etc. covered the book. If not, that becomes an entire added audience to reach out to in paperback.
Picador also does paperback originals. Because we are an exclusively paperback house we treat our paperback originals as we would hardcovers, and writers make a conscious decision to be published exclusively in paperback when they sign with us over another publisher. Because of this, we put everything into our paperback originals, and I’ll pitch to everyone, work every angle: the top book review editors at newspapers and magazines, radio and TV producers, litbloggers, local, national… The marketplace is crowded so it takes working every possible angle to bring a single book the attention it deserves.
Dan:
We
keep hearing how much more responsibility is being put on the writers
themselves in terms of publicity. How
do see that this has changed in recent years?
Kathy
Daneman - SoHo Press
Writers should work with their
publicists. They should give mailing labels and email lists of friends and
families to their publicist. They should gather addresses at readings. They should
provide good author photos in an electronic format. They should make sure their
publicist knows their travel schedule and keep them posted on all appearances
well in advance. They should also know that there is a time to let go in the
life of book. I think often writers don't trust their publicist and inundate
them with email and calls in an effort to micromanage their campaign.
Lauren
Cerand - Independent Publicist:
It does seem almost comical that authors are expected to be
self-directed specialists in
high-stakes areas that they may no expertise in whatsoever, but I do try to
frame things in a positive light: technology can be an incredibly empowering
tool to level the playing field when publishers choose to spend their resources
on other projects instead of
yours.
James
Meader - Picador USA
The fact is that a greater number of books are being published each year. (Gabriel Zaid addresses these facts and figures in his book titled, aptly, SO MANY BOOKS, published by the exquisite small Philadelphia press Paul Dry Books). As I said, the market is simply flooded with titles, and the fight for market share (i.e. to bring notice to one title out of hundreds of thousands) is tough. As more books are published while newspapers devote less space to books coverage media attention for any given book or author becomes increasingly valuable. It’s important for writers to understand that if they want readers to even know that their books are available to be purchased and read they'll have to participate in some form of promotion. It's just a fact. Without publicity and marketing, very good books will simply remain unheard of. Laura Miller summed it up perfectly in a 2004 New York Times Book Review essay. She asked, “For authors, are better chances at being published eventually canceled out by the likelihood that their books will get lost in the crowd?” The point, of course is that many writers labor under the troubling thought that they may never be published and, hence, may die in obscurity. The facts today are that a good writer may indeed be published and still die in obscurity simply because a few hundred other books were published the same month that hers was and readers didn't find out about hers.
So it is increasingly important an author be willing to work
the publicist to promote the book. I still ask the authors with whom I work to
go through me, though. I spend time cultivating relationships with the media.
Most newspaper editors don't like it when a writer calls them up and says
"I just published a book. Will you review it?" They prefer that the
writers work through their publishers. And of course, having said that, there
are always writers I work with who come up with a great media "get"
like a profile in a magazine by having gone around me. So I end up eating my
words once in while. When I do, though, I don't mind, because who's going to
argue with that kind of press?
Dan:
What
percentage of the writers you have to work with balk at this notion, or are at
the very least reluctant to spend much time out there doing publicity?
Kathy
Daneman - SoHo Press
Largely, I think authors want to promote their books, but
they don't always trust their publicist's experience. Too often they believe
"a friend's" bad experience, and second guess their own publicist's
efforts.
Lauren
Cerand - Independent Publicist:
My clients are extremely motivated.
James
Meader - Picador USA
A very small percentage. Actually, the authors I work with
who do have a negative feeling about
publicity generally have very good reasons for it. The most common reason for
an antipathy toward publicity is a desire to spend time writing new work rather
than reading old work aloud, and honestly I have to respect that. The ones who
don't like going on tour or making time for interviews generally feel that way
because these things take time away from writing, which is of course the
bedrock of what we all do. Usually, they are willing to make some time for
worthwhile interviews and events. This is where, as I mentioned earlier, it’s
most important for them to have confidence in and trust their publicist, so
they know I’m not steering them wrong and if I say that a given interview is
actually worth taking the time away from the writing it really is.
Dan:
In
the past, I’ve received both full press packets, and just books with the press
release from most of you. How do you
determine when to send which?
Kathy
Daneman - SoHo Press
It really depends on the material at hand. I prefer sending
a book and release and following up, rather than smothering reporters with a
deluge of clippings that will only be recycled.
Lauren
Cerand - Independent Publicist:
We're operating today in a far less mediated environment, so
people usually want a brief
explanation of why I sincerely like a book and the reasons why I believe it's
right for them – rather than yet another pile of press clips and reviews. The
time and resources allocated for elaborate press kits by publishers could be
better spent on targeted online
advertising. In general, save trees and send email! I prefer to include a
simple, handwritten personal note when I send books, and email the press
release in advance so it's already available online and not more than a click
away.
James
Meader - Picador USA
All of my authors get a full press kit. Some have more
reviews to include, of course, and that's good, but I think that a full press
kit is important. It's my first and most basic opportunity to tell the
reviewer, producer, or whomever why this book deserves their attention. And
then when I follow up by phone I can refer them to that press kit—which
hopefully, but not likely, they’re already familiar with—and we save one
another a lot of valuable time.
Dan:
Looking
at various forms of media – how do you go about marketing the book via newspapers?
Kathy
Daneman - SoHo Press
For the past several years, I've found off-the-book-page
media to be more valuable. Features, columnists, op-eds are increasingly easier
to obtain at a time when the competition over review space is more heated than
the local real estate market.
Lauren
Cerand - Independent Publicist:
They're not really on my radar anymore. I focus on other
media channels (e.g. the internet, television) to reach potential readers. I am
looking for the cutting-edge in terms of how people obtain and process the
information they desire, and I don't see too much advancement on that front in
the print world.
James
Meader - Picador USA
The marketing department will decide whether to buy
advertising in newspapers, which is perhaps the most basic form of newspaper
marketing. On the publicity side, there are reviews, interviews (features on
the author), and event listings. All are forms of publicity that I'll try to
get by mailing the editor a book and press kit and then following up with an
email or phone call to discuss what I've sent them.
Dan:
How
about via the internet?
Kathy
Daneman - SoHo Press
We all know sites that are invaluable--Salon, Beliefnet,
Counterpunch, Identitytheory, Bookslut, all come to mind. On the other hand, it
is difficult to judge how valuable blogs are, and which ones are the ones to
pay attention to.
Lauren
Cerand - Independent Publicist:
That's where the larger cultural conversation about what
matters in our society takes
place now, so it's the central focus of my work. I use many of the same
strategies from when I worked in what I now consider "old-school" PR
offices, but have adapted them to a new environment. It's always been about
finding the right audience for the project, and
with books that means identifying the "ideal reader" and then
discerning and targeting whatever media sources I believe that he or she
regularly consults.
James
Meader - Picador USA
I go about it just as I would a magazine or a newspaper,
it’s just another medium, and as with newspapers and magazines there are some
websites that attract more readers than others, and there are some websites
that attract people who buy books more than others. One of the big parts of my
job—one that takes place not 9-5 but all of the time—is maintaining a general
knowledge of what is going on in the media and the culture, what's hot, what
has a high circulation, which magazines or websites are popular, and which
editors/writers at each media outlet are interested in what. On one level, publicity
is advertising that we don’t have to pay for, so whatever form the coverage
takes each time I can get the title of the book in writing in some form of
media is a free advertisement (assuming that a scathing review doesn’t
accompany the title, of course).
Dan:
What
about radio – is that a viable media for publicizing books?
Kathy
Daneman - SoHo Press
There's a program--I don't know if you know it--it's called
Fresh Air. It's pretty good. Yes, I think there is good radio and radio that
only four or five people hear. Wisconsin Public Radio, Oregon Public
Broadcasting, most of the radio in the Bay Area, and most of the shows on NPR
affiliates can move a book. Then there are programs on small stations, and the
programs and people are perfectly nice, but you don't know who is listening to
them.
Lauren
Cerand - Independent Publicist:
Yes, it's good for targeting markets, but you have to do
quite a lot of it to see results.
James
Meader - Picador USA
Radio is the best. This is a good point on knowing the
audience of the medium. Having an author on NPR is often better than having her
on national TV, because the audience listening to NPR are generally more likely
to buy the book. It's not a perfect rule—I watch TV far more than I listen to
the radio and I read a lot of books—but the conventional wisdom remains that
the person tuning in to NPR is very likely to buy the book of the author being
interviewed. So getting the author on the radio is a primary goal in every
publicity plan. Unless the author is bad on the air—a great writer who,
nevertheless, trades in vast quantities of awkward pauses—because that doesn't
help anything; it doesn't make listeners want to read the book, and it doesn't
make the producer or host of the show want to trust me the next time I come to
them with an unknown author who I say would be perfect for the show. Having the
confidence of your media contacts is important, too.
Dan:
Some
of the best reviews I’ve read have been in literary journals – I would see
those as good because you obviously have a reading audience seeing them, but
not that many people would see them. How often do you look at those as a means of getting the word out about
one of your books?
Kathy
Daneman - SoHo Press
It goes back to your earlier question about how much time
you want to devote to reaching a captured audience, and how much time do you
want to spend on building an audience or reaching a wider one. And are these
literary journals covering smaller books or are they covering Jonathan Safran Foer's
every move? Don't get me wrong, I loved Foer's books, but I couldn't help but
feel there were a few other books that could have been covered that week.
Lauren
Cerand - Independent Publicist:
I don't usually, unless their content is also available online.
I'm most concerned with access and reaching the broadest possible audience, and
a small print run for a limited audience is not the best use of my clients'
resources unless it's a specific title that they have identified as meaningful
to them.
James
Meader - Picador USA
When it's a very literary book I absolutely send to literary
or scholarly journals. The audience is small, yes, but as you've already
pointed out it's a concentrated, well-targeted audience who will be more
willing than others to buy, read, and discuss the book. And reviews aren't the
only form of coverage that a literary journal can offer. Some may excerpt the
first chapter of the book to coincide with the publication, or they might
publish a story by a relatively unknown author whose book is coming out,
generating buzz.
Dan:
For
those that this can apply to – do you attack getting publicity for a
non-fiction book any differently than for a work of fiction?
Kathy
Daneman - SoHo Press
Certainly. Authors of non-fiction books have something to
say on a certain topic, and are far more likely to be of interest to public
affairs shows or Book TV. There's also an opportunity to market to a niche
audience--promote a gardening book to garden societies in the South or send the
author of popular history to local historical associations.
Lauren
Cerand - Independent Publicist:
Non-fiction is much easier than fiction, because it can
usually hook into the broader news
cycle. Fiction relies on word-of-mouth buzz and organic exposure that can be
more difficult to generate but is easier to sustain. Non-fiction requires an
immediate impact, as it almost always will become less relevant.
James
Meader - Picador USA
The fundamentals are all exactly the same. The only way in
which I'll differ my approach is in to whom I’m pitching. If it's a book of war
reportage I may pitch to the nonfiction editor rather than the fiction editor,
or a political talk show rather than an entertainment show.
Dan:
How
about any differences between getting notice for a novel versus a short story
collection?
Kathy
Daneman - SoHo Press
I worked on the best intentioned short story collection
ever--The Beacon Best of 2001, edited by Junot Díaz. Junot and many of
the contributors--Chang-rae Lee, Edwidge Danticat, Danzy Senna--really got
behind the book. They did readings. Junot did interviews. But reviews were
almost impossible to come by. What we did receive were short notices in
round-ups, and the book (and subsequently the series) couldn’t make it.
Lauren
Cerand - Independent Publicist:
I like short stories quite a lot, and don't view them as
underdogs in the way some do - I'm part of the MTV generation with a
five-second attention span, and so I love telling people they only have to read
one story! That's usually enough to get them hooked.
James
Meader - Picador USA
Story collections are tough. For all the high-mindedness of
both the literary media and the literary reading public, reviewers are less
likely to give pages to a story collection, and readers are less likely to buy
them. Once in a while one will break through—recently, David Bezmozgis' NATASHA
did remarkably well for a story collection (let alone a debut collection of
fiction), sold better than many debut novels, and won a huge number of awards—but
for every NATASHA there are many more story collections that languish. Many see
them as precursors to longer, "more serious" work, like the preview
of the novel to come. It frustrates me, because anyone who has studied fiction
knows that short stories, like poetry, are a final art form of their own. I
don't understand how anyone can read Stuart Dybek or Raymond Carver (or
O'Connor or Carlson or Hemingway or Yates, or any of a multitude of other
masters of the short story) and only think that a novel by the author would be
better.
Dan:
Assuming
you got into this line of work because of a love of reading – do you still get
to read much material that does not come from your press or clients?
Kathy
Daneman - SoHo Press
Absolutely. Why else would anyone commute?
Lauren
Cerand - Independent Publicist:
I try to, definitely, but it's certainly a challenge unless
I'm traveling and have some downtime. Right now the very tip-top of my purely-for-pleasure TBR stack includes
THE HUMMINGBIRD'S DAUGHTER by Luis Alberto Urrea, LIKE A FIERY ELEPHANT: THE
STORY OF B.S. JOHNSON by Jonathan Coe, OUT by Natsuo Kirino, GREENE ON CAPRI by
Shirley Hazzard, and POEMS OF AKHMATOVA translated by Stanley Kunitz and Max
Hayward (which I have skipped around in, but not read straight-through).
James
Meader - Picador USA
I'm reading all the time, but it's still never as much as I
wish. Most of what I read is work-related, but certainly not all of it. There's
an inexhaustible amount of good writing to be read, that's for sure. So much of
the publicity job is talking about books once I’ve read them, but of course
that necessitates reading them first. It's tough to find the time, but it's
necessary; it's why I got into this is the first place.
Dan:
Do
you ever do any networking with other publicists – share media sources, or
anything like that?
Kathy
Daneman - SoHo Press
Sure. It’s good karma.
Lauren
Cerand - Independent Publicist:
I have a couple of friends in PR who I might occasionally
swap books and horror stories with, but on the whole, I spend a lot more time
hanging out with authors, agents, editors, journalists, and bloggers.
James
Meader - Picador USA
My own department is quite small (4 people) so we all work
very closely together and constantly help one another. Beyond them, I call on
more experienced publicists from our sister houses (FSG, Holt, SMP) from time
to time. Sometimes I'll call on a publicist from an entirely separate house,
but it's usually when I want a free book.
Dan:
Knowing
the publishers that you all work for, I’m assuming this is pretty rare, but how
often do you have to do publicity for a book that you really don’t care
for? Is it any harder for you to do so
than for books you really love?
Kathy
Daneman - SoHo Press
I suppose it must be. I’ve been very fortunate to work where
I love the books and I love the mission. At Beacon, I often had to work on a
book that was a little too academic for my tastes, but the principle behind it
was something I believed in. I’ve been fortunate.
Lauren
Cerand - Independent Publicist:
I only take on projects I am crazy about.
James
Meader - Picador USA
That's a good question, and one of which I think Picador's director of publicity is keenly aware. As each season comes up for assignment—generally 6-8 months before a given season begins—she asks us to email her our top choices for that season. She'll then make the assignments based at least in part on what we've requested, though workload and individual strengths will factor in. Most of the time we all end up with books that we are sincerely excited about, which makes the job easier and—more importantly—makes us better at the job. It's nice to be a publicist and to pitch something when you can be sincere.
Of course, sometimes I’m assigned to a book that I’m not overly excited about. That's when it's work, but then this is a job. The thing to remember is that every book has an audience—a group of people who would want to read it—even if you don't personally feel that way yourself. And there’s almost always something nice to say about a book. So with a book like that I just go to work, do everything I would normally do, and pitch it most enthusiastically to those who I know would really love it.
But then I'm also lucky to be at a publishing house where I
can honestly say we don't do many books that lack merit, which also makes it
easy.
Dan:
What
lessons learned do you think would be most important in passing along to
anybody who was thinking of becoming a publicist?
Kathy
Daneman - SoHo Press
Don’t do it unless you’re sure. Publicity can be a rude
awakening if what you really want to do is write or be in editorial. If you
want to be a journalist or an editor, go do that.
Lauren
Cerand - Independent Publicist:
Be willing to take risks all the time. Don't waste anyone's time with
poorly-targeted
pitches, ill-conceived events and the same old boring things we are all
inundated with most of the time. Be willing to approach each project from, at
the very least, a refreshing angle, or find a more suitable line of work.
James
Meader - Picador USA
I would only say that if someone is thinking of becoming a
literary publicist then a love of literature needs to be the driving impulse,
otherwise you'll be forever questioning why you're in this industry. Small
profit margins, constant debate concerning whether or not books matter in our
age, Etc… The bottom line is that if you’re not in this because you believe
that great books deserve to be known about, read and discussed, then you're
going to be frustrated a lot of the time. If you really love books, though,
then even on the bad days you’ll enjoy spending your time as a key part of
publishing them. At least that’s what does it for me.
Dan:
Thanks
again for sharing so much valuable information!
Lauren
Cerand - Independent Publicist:
Thank you, Dan! Again, it is always a pleasure. And if I
may, I'd like to note that I'm
excited to be working on some truly special books (both in terms of full
campaigns and smaller related promotional projects & events), now and
recently: DIANA LIVELY IS FALLING DOWN
by Sheila Curran, BULLETPROOF GIRL by Quinn Dalton, DRIVE LIKE HELL by Dallas
Hudgens, THE UNTELLING by Tayari Jones, THE HALO EFFECT by M.J. Rose, and Kevin
Smokler's BOOKMARK NOW are all excellent. There's something for booklovers of
all stripes on that list, and I am sure every one can find at least one
title therein that is worthy of a place on your summer reading list,
bookshelf, and in your heart.
James
Meader - Picador USA
Thank you Dan.
Good read, Thanks!
Steven Burda, MBA
www.linkedin.com/in/burda
connect to me:
steven.burda.mba @gmail.com
Posted by: Steven Burda, MBA | November 03, 2006 at 03:06 PM