ANNOUNCING: Winners of the Social Lives book giveaway!

And the big winners of our free giveaway for Wendy Walker's Social Lives is ......(drumroll please)....

Evidence of An Artistic Life! (At least, that is what her blog name is!)

AND

Melissa from Frugal Creativity!

Congratulations, ladies!

And to all those that didn't win: fear not, we're doing ANOTHER book giveaway next month for an amazing memoir, Halfway to Each Other. (Amazon says it pubs Sept. 1, but it actually pubs Sept. 25). It's received early raves here, here, here, and also here.

Back to Social Lives for a moment. As Glamour.com's Little Miss Fortune wrote about it the other day, "recession lit" - a.k.a books like Social Lives, The Penny Pinchers Club, et. al - represent a departure for women's fiction from the credit card-wielding, clackety-clack high heeled heroines of Chasing Harry Winston and Confessions of a Shopaholic. Little Miss Fortune described recession lit as "a new type of chick-friendly fiction packed with characters who are dealing with the reality of today’s economy." Her readers weighed in on this trend, and had lots of interesting thoughts. Like this one:

"This sounds right up my alley. I've given up reading the sort of rich-bitch-socialite-professional-arm-candy books because I keep wanting to slap those fluttery tweety birds. But a-hah! Recession Lit! Yes to that- gimme some realism!" -spikesnsilk (awesome commenter name)

So we want to know, P&P blog readers: What do you think about recession lit? Intrigued? Tell us in the comment section.

And while you think about it, have a gander at the new book trailer for Social Lives!

BOOK GIVEAWAY: Kick off your Manolos, dig into recession lit with "Social Lives"

Last week, Ruth La Ferla's eloquent piece in the Style section of The New York Times forecast a new trend for women's fiction: "recession lit." "Once unabashedly focused on the perks of wealth and fame, this spate of new fiction is tackling the recession and its attendant woes," wrote La Ferla. In the story, she quoted this section from Social Lives, a novel coming next month by our client Wendy Walker.

“There was little equity in the house after the loan for the new wing they’d put on last year, and the severe drop in the housing market,” she frets. “Nothing remained in the checking account beyond what was needed to pay the bills.”

Can you relate, dear Reader?

GalleyCat interviewed Wendy last Friday about the new economic reality facing women's fiction. Specifically, they asked her about the experience of publishing exactly two novels that focus on women in wealthy communities: one pre-recession (Four Wives), and one mid-recession (Social Lives). From Financial Times onward, everyone in the publishing industry - as well as those who make the the publishing industry possible, readers - are keeping an eye out for writers and books that grapple with the tightened purses of our times. Call it the Age of Recess.

Because we here at P&P are taking the recession lit trend as seriously as anyone, we thought we'd offer something to our plucky readers who could use a little freebie. A moment of escapism while you ignore your 401K, browse online sales, and brew coffee at home! See how the once very, very privileged ladies of Wilshire are navigating the recession waters, in particular Jacqueline Halstead's husband, whose hedge fund husband is being investigated for fraud. (Read Wendy's blog post - and a very moving reader comment - about her character Jacqueline here).

We'll select two winners for this book giveaway. To enter, just leave a comment below, and don't forget to include your email address so we can notify you. Contest closes next Wednesday!

Have a seat, Kindle: Barnes & Noble nabs #1 Books spot on "Top Free Apps"

We were excited to see on GalleyCat today that Barnes & Noble has taken top honors in the "Top Free Apps" category under App Store's "Books" category, just a little over a week from the release of their new B&N Bookstore App. We were also pleased to see that in addition to searching event calendars for author readings, the new app allows users to watch video interviews with authors (speaking of....we might know somebody who does author interviews......!).

But truth be told, like GalleyCat, we were downright shaking with geeky glee when we learned about the snap-and-search feature. As B&N explains, users can simply snap a picture of a book, and in seconds, gain product reviews, editorial reviews, and customer ratings - even locate it at the nearest B&N, and reserve it for pick-up.

I know book lovers - I know! Finally, we are getting as techy as the music crowd! Before you know it, Pandora will have swept in to generate reading lists based on our favorite books and/or authors! Oh wait, someone already has.

Quick hits: Friday, May 1st 2009

Happy May Day and good morning, ya'll.

I'm getting ready to speak about literary publicity this weekend at the Dallas/Fort Worth Writers Convention. I love speaking to writers groups and I’m certainly looking forward to this event.

Before we all sign off for the weekend, I thought it’d be fun to take a look at some of this week’s happenings in the industry and literary world. Here’s a round up of relevant headlines:

Congrats to this year's Edgar Award winners
The Mystery Writers of America announced this year’s Edgar Award winners. This prestigious annual prize is named after, appropriately, Edgar Allan Poe. Some highlights in the winner’s circle include “In Bruges” for Best Motion Picture Screenplay and The Killer’s Wife by Bill Floyd for The Simon & Schuster-Mary Higgins Clark award. Take a look at the full list here.

No more religion beat at the DMN
Sad news: The religion beat at the Dallas Morning News was laid to rest this week. According to Rod Dreher's post on BeliefNet, the last two religion reporters are being reassigned to cover schools. You can read Dreher's take on the decision here.

Kindle's popularity growing among the over 40 set
CNet had an interesting article in their "Crave" column yesterday: 70 percent of Kindle owners are over the age of 40. David Carnoy posed the question, "What's the average age of Kindle owners?" back in March and received 700 responses. The final tally yielded some interesting results.

The timeliness of the message
I don't know if you guys have heard, but apparently there is an illness called "Swine Flu" sweeping North America. (That was sarcasm.)

This latest epidemic has fueled book sales and deals for a couple of authors. John M. Barry released The Great Influenza over five years ago. As of Thursday, the book had reached the top 100 on Amazon's best seller list. The book covers the ins and outs of the 1918 influenza pandemic. On Thursday, Henry Holt announced they are publishing biologist Nathan Wolfe's The Viral Storm, a book about the ways in which viruses and humans evolve together. Sounds like a beach vacation read, eh? See the full story here.

I (heart) Geeks
Yahoo's "Book Talk" offered up a fun interview with "self-proclaimed geek" Garth Sundem on Wednesday. Sundem's latest book, The Geek's Guide to World Domination: Be Afraid, Beautiful People, offers a pi's worth of facts for the Geeks among us. I say "a pi's worth" because the book contains 314.15 tidbits for readers. Per the article: "314.15 facts -- which is a decimal computation for pi -- in a compendium of usable and totally useless bits of information that geeks would relish." Obviously, this book speaks to me. My favorite Q&A from the interview:

Q: Is it easier being a geek now?

A: "I think it is because geeks now can connect, they are online and have support groups and they find they are not alone. Culturally we've gotten geekier. It's an information age. Even the cool kids are on Facebook which should be geeky but it's not! Look at Hollywood: in movies back in the 1980s like National Lampoon we would laugh at the geeks. Now we laugh with them."

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

We have quite a few fans of Jane Austen’s works on the Phenix & Phenix team. In fact, when we had our media analysis meeting for Jane Austen Ruined My Life a few months ago, it was a resounding, “YES, we want this book.” Personally, I’ve never been able to get into to Austen’s works, although I certainly understand their redeeming qualities.

However, I do like a good Zombie story and/or flick. What do they have to do with each other?

This, dear reader, is what they have to do with each other:


Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance (Quirk Books) by Seth Grahame-Smith hit the shelves earlier this month to great success. As of this writing, the book is in the top 5 on The New York Times’ Paperback Trade Fiction Best Seller List. The “literary mash-up” opens with this take on the immortalized first line of Pride and Prejudice: “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains." Indeed. This week, Grahame-Smith granted The Toronto Star a fun interview about the book and how it came to be.

According to Slashfilm.com, studios are now clamoring for the movie rights to the Zombie-ized retelling of Pride and Prejudice. Also, last week Publisher’s Weekly reported that Grahame-Smith has inked a new, two book deal worth six figures with Grand Central Publishing. His first mash-up with Grand Central: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Per PW: “The proposal for Grahame-Smith's new book sold at auction Wednesday and the story is a loose sketch of Lincoln's life with one twist--honest Abe is the world's most skilled vampire hunter.”

What literary mash-ups would you like to see?

Kris Saknussemm coming to Austin update: BEERLAND!

Kris Saknussemm, author of Private Midnight, will be giving a reading next week at Beerland on Red River. He'll be speaking against a backdrop of live "broken word mutant jazz." Um, we can't wait??

See you there, Austin!

What book publicists can learn from band promotion. (Hint: social media!)

Lately, I have been a little bit obsessed with social media's affect on book publicity. I know, I know - it seems like we publicists will not shut up about blogs, Facebook, and Twitter (see Rusty's post from Jan. 23). But here in Austin, we at Phenix & Phenix have kind of a unique perspective on all this. See, we are home of the DIY Artist - be it a musician on a street corner, a scarf-knitter in Austin Craft Mafia, or a filmmaker with his Panisonic VariCam - and as such, these individuals must quickly learn the fine art of Self Promotion. How do they do it? Why, social media of course. It's part of the reason Austin made the Top Ten U.S. Cities for Social Media list.

Also - advance apologies for yet another Recession Soapbox moment - the internet is relatively cheap, and because of that, it's most consumers' media staple. As we all get a little more thrifty, we may think about canceling a print subscription, or not renewing our cable package - but how many of us are going to shut off the internet? Not a lot. (Especially when you can read the same print information, and watch most of those cable shows you just canceled, online). So, if it's not drilled into your mind already:

BAD ECONOMY + ALL MEDIA GOING DIGITAL = GLOBAL FLOCK TO THE INTERNET.

Publicists, I think we need to get as creative as possible in 2009 to promote our authors online. Being an Austinite, I'm taking some cues from local bands. Now, band promotion and book promotion are different, it's true; but here's what I see working really well for our musically-oriented counterparts.

POSTERS

Now, doesn't this look inviting? This is a particularly well-designed poster, but it doesn't need to be that involved. Here's a simpler poster I saw recently for an author reading here in town:


As we continue to interact with local bloggers to promote book events - and we're only going to do more of that as time goes on, publicists - I think these posters work very effectively. So much more exciting than a plain email that says, "Hi blogger, my author has a reading at this place on this day...mind posting something about it??" No. Let's rockstar it up a bit. Give the blogger some bling to post.

MP3's

Most of us are on-board with podcasts, which run anywhere from 5 minutes to a few hours, but what if you want to offer bloggers just a little vocal snippet of an author's work? Say, 30-60 seconds? Here's an awesome site where you can do just that, Muzicons. All you need? An MP3 file of your author reading.


See the cute "Result" widget on the right? You can then offer that to bloggers to post, so they can give their readers a taste of the book we're promoting.

FACEBOOK INVITES/GIVEAWAYS

A few weeks ago (Jan. 9), I posted about a genius idea Overlook Press had: to host an online, Facebook giveaway for one of their Elvis books on The King's birthday. They received calls from national radio shows for this clever stunt, and got books out to excited fans in the process.

Here's another Facebook buzz-building method that bands like to do: Create a Facebook event, and invite tons of people to it. Publicists, this needn't be an author signing, although that's a perfect application. I've seen bands invite friends to watch a YouTube trailer, or participate in a one-day CD giveaway hosted on their home website. Many of you may already be doing that, and if so, hats off. But what's great about the Facebook event is that, unlike plain old email, you can see how other people are reacting to it - they can attend or not attend, post comments on the event wall, etc.



These are just a smattering of the ways we book publicists can use social media to build our author's online presence. We've raided YouTube with our book trailers, we're now Twittering, but what else can we do? I'd love to hear other ideas in the comments.

Book publicity, Facebook, and ELVIS

Yesterday, our friends at Overlook Press had a genius idea for book publicity: hold a Facebook giveaway! While the contest has closed already - it fell, appropriately enough, on Elvis' 74th birthday yesterday - you can follow this link to see how they did it.

The innovative idea even caught the eye of the folks over at GalleyCat, who wrote up a nice post about it. Last I heard, the folks at West Coast Live contacted Overlook about the contest as well!

Book publicists, I think this is a pretty awesome idea for book buzz. Sometimes authors (and even we publicists) don't realize the value of social media when it comes to informing the masses about new books, but clearly, it can have quite an effect...even spilling over into traditional media opportunities.

What are your thoughts?

Prepping Authors for Talk Shows: Part 3 - Networking

Hi everyone! Welcome to Part 3 of a week-long series we're doing this week on prepping authors for nationally syndicated talk shows. Today we're talking about networking - and specifically, networking with the people who put together those talk shows.

As most of you know, our author Wendy Kays taped a segment this week on Dr. Phil in relation to her new book, Game Widow. Now after the first initial phone call a publicity firm receives about a talk show opportunity, many things can go wrong: the show can get canceled, the author can flub up a pre-interview, the producers can change their mind, etc. This is why its key for authors to exhibit some networking moxie after that first phone call comes in. Because while a publicist can handle the booking and soundbyte prep, it's really up to the author to make those relationships with a national talk show team awesome.

Here, I want to cover three networking tips - or rather, commandments - for authors when dealing with national talk shows. Why "commandments?" Because out of all the posts in this series, this one deals with how you treat people. And that, friends, is always the most crucial skill (professional or otherwise), non? So with that - let's talk about the pre-interview, the talk show worker crew, and why you should always carry a copy of your book.

1. How to do a pre-interview...The right way

We've blogged before about the art of the pre-interview, and the basic skills hold true: Know your material, practice, have an idea of what angle the show wants you to take, etc. All very key. In addition to those principles, I'd like to add on a few more thoughts:

-Ask them some questions. Just like a first date - no one likes a potential suitor who only talks about themselves. You absolutely want to answer the producer's questions of course, in a way that fully demonstrates your expertise, but turn it into a dialog, too. During their first phone call, Wendy Kays and one of Dr. Phil's producers spoke for two hours! A large chunk of that was talking shop for the show, but in the process, the two bonded and really got to know each other. The result? Wendy was not only much more relaxed about the show, but had a buddy there waiting for her to calm her nerves.

-Make yourself readily available. Example: "Producer, if you need me for anything while putting together this segment, feel free to call my cell." For harried producers who are juggling a million things at once, those words position you as a team-player and a resource.

-Be prompt. If a producer asks you to fax something, hang up the phone and go do it right then. Ditto for emailing information. This one should be obvious and most of you probably don't need to be told, but that kind of professional consideration distinguishes you as a guest who can be relied upon.

2. There are no "little people"

When it comes to national talk shows, authors sometimes think that the only person they need to impress is the host. "Oprah would love me if she just knew me!" I don't blame you authors for this line of thinking at all - after all, from our TV sets, we never get to see the people in the background who actually create these shows.

However, Oprah, Ellen, The View ladies (or in this case, Dr. Phil) are not the ones who will ultimately be shaping your segment. The hard-working camera crew, on the other hand, will be. One of the first things Wendy talked about after her Dr. Phil experience was the great time she had with the producers, the camera guys, etc. I can't stress enough how important it is to exhibit this kind of grace with everyone on the show's crew, from dolly grip to segment editor. (Not only because this is good karma and a basic principle of social decency anyway, but because these people have the power to make you look more or less insane based on the way your words are spliced).

3. Bring copies of your book!

You never know who you could run into - and it helps get the word-of-mouth buzz going. Here's a sweet dispatch from Wendy during her LA trip for the segment shoot:

"I pulled my stuff together and was down in the lobby a half hour before I was told I'd be picked up by the car to go to the studio. Enough time to meet up again with the driver I'd had the day before who drove me from the airport to the hotel (and to whom I gave a copy of my book). He was there to pick up a different guest, but ran over to say hi and tell me he'd had trouble putting my book down when he started reading it the night before because it was so good. Yay!"

And what do you bet that driver told someone else about Game Widow? That bit of kindness Wendy showed, handing out a copy of her book for free, turned a previously casual acquaintance into an overnight fan.

I'm sure there are many more networking tips we could add in as well, and authors and publicists, feel free to chime in with others if you have experience in the national talk show arena (or even if you don't).

Check back in during the first week of October, when we'll have live-blogging during commercial breaks of Wendy's Dr. Phil appearance to talk about segment follow-up.

Prepping Authors for Talk Shows: Part 2 - Soundbyte Prep

Welcome to Part 2 of a week-long series we're doing this week on prepping authors for nationally syndicated talk shows. This series was inspired by Wendy Kays, author of Game Widow, who is taping a segment this week with The Dr. Phil Show.



Today we're talking about soundbyte development for national talk shows: Why they're important for authors, when to start developing them, and how to choose what the author is going to say.

Soundbytes: Why can't I just go off-the-cuff?

When we bring authors down to our Austin offices for media training, most are grateful to have some professional assistance developing soundbytes: Short, sometimes quippy phrases that get across a book's message quickly. For example: When asked about her interior design philosophy, our author Debbie Wiener of Slob Proof! Real-Life Design Solutions likes to say, "Real-life design isn't art - it's smart!" That's a soundbyte.

However, some authors (understandably) resist the soundbyte a little, not wanting to sound canned or cliche. I totally get that - as a publicist, I don't want any of my authors to sound like broken records either. But here is why soundbytes are absolutely crucial for national talk shows:

Your words will be edited.

Talk shows have a lot of ground to cover, usually with multiple guests. They also have many advertisers who paid in advance for airtime. This is why it's key to have several neat chunks of facts and messaging points in your pocket: You won't have all the time in the world to explain your meaning. Believe it or not, you actually exert more control over your message if you give the segment editor what they want - short phrases - and if your message is particularly intriguing, it may also appear in promo spots for the segment.

This isn't to say that you have to be a robot who speaks only in 5-to-10 word statements, mind you. But having several go-to phrases at the ready never hurts - in fact, it usually guarantees you'll be understood more easily by the viewing audience.

So, when do I start working on these "soundbytes?"

The sooner the better! Let me illustrate with a story.

The week after we booked Wendy on Dr. Phil, she flew into Austin for media training. That morning, we asked her the questions we always ask our authors to help them start developing soundbytes: Can you tell us about your book? Why did you decide to write this book? Who do you think will enjoy this book? Etc. She was doing an excellent job, busily scribbling down notes every time we said, "THAT'S a good soundbyte!" (Such as: "Game Widow is designed to bridge the gap between those who game and those who don't.")

About an hour after lunch, guess who called? Dr. Phil's producer. She was already booked on the program, he just needed a little more information about her book....so could she tell him about it? Fortunately, she had just prepared some soundbytes!

So as you can see, those powerful little phrases that help busy people quickly understand your book don't just come in handy on-camera - but off, too. Moral of the story? It's never too early to start developing soundbytes - you never know who could be calling.

Wait - my book is huge! How do I pick and choose what to say in my soundbytes?

First - you want to assume that anyone asking you about your book knows little to nothing about it. Why? Because the grand majority of people watching national talk shows are being introduced to you and your book for the first time. Second - you want to, again, make the segment editor's life easier. And what that person needs is a few clips of you describing your book succinctly. So here are some ways to mentally get the soundbytes rolling:

-Always be prepared to answer the question, "Tell us about your book." Your response should be 2 brief sentences, max. If the host wants you to explain further, he/she will ask.

-Know how to credential yourself. "I researched game addiction for four years, interviewing mental health professionals, game widows, gamers - even sneaking into a few professional gaming conferences!" is perfection.

-Even if you think it's obvious, identify clearly who will benefit from your book. Parents? Kids? Males? Females? Those with a specific problem or condition? With a national talk show, you want to reach out to viewers at home with your book and expertise, but avoid using blanket statements like, "anyone will enjoy this book!" That may be the case, but you're much likely to make an impression in a viewer's mind if you name his or her demographic specifically.

This is the process we've used here at Phenix & Phenix to help our authors prepare soundbytes for national television spots. Hopefully they assist many of you out there, too! Wendy tapes her in-studio segment with Dr. Phil today, so when it airs during October, we'll get to see how she did (fabulously, I have no doubt).

Tomorrow's post: National talk shows and networking. How to make friends with the people who will be shaping your segment!

Prepping Authors for Talk Shows: Part 1 - Booking

This is the first of a series I'll be doing this week on prepping authors for nationally syndicated talk shows. One of our authors, Wendy Kays, author of Game Widow will be taping a segment this week on the Dr. Phil Show, and I thought I'd walk everyone through the process of booking, soundbyte prep, networking, and segment follow-up.

Booking a national talk show

Since so many authors rightly dream of being on shows like Oprah and Dr. Phil, the latter reaching 6.4 million viewers daily, it's important to clarify how these bookings come about. Many authors assume these shows are pitched just like other national TV spots, with their publicist calling or emailing the producer with a segment idea. In most cases, this actually couldn't be further from the truth. Since anyone can email or phone in a story idea to these programs if they have a producers' contact info, these producers are getting bombarded with completely original, wholly inspired, absolutely exclusive pitches every day - so pitching alone, you see, is not what seals the deal. A helpful step yes, but authors, don't get mad at your publicist if their pitches to Oprah go unanswered - this is the most difficult booking to get, period. Even for celebrities. Even for politicians.

Ok, so how do authors get on those shows? Here are some tips that worked for Wendy Kays.

1. Have a hot topic.
Wendy Kays wrote a book on video game addiction - a huge story right now, especially since games like Second Life, World of Warcraft, and soon Spore are slowly seducing whole legions of gamers out there. Moreover, the title of her book in itself is not only punny and clever, but comes up frequently on Google searches when other game widows are looking for a resource. Never underestimate the power of the buzzword.

2. Start small and work up.
If you follow talk shows like Oprah and Dr. Phil, you'll probably notice that these shows don't often break news stories, but follow popular trends. This is why it is vital for new authors to get a platform established by allowing their publicist to start small (i.e., local) and work their author's name and book up through the media outlet ranks. Our own publicity efforts for Game Widow had just gotten underway when this opportunity arose, and one of those publicity events was with a small college newspaper who wanted to interview Wendy - which she promptly and enthusiastically responded to.

3. Have your website up and running well before the pub date.
Wendy's website was a crucial part of securing this booking. After hearing about the book, a producer from Dr. Phil found Wendy's site, which directed her to Wendy's publicist. She then called our office to invite Wendy to the show.

4. Make your website as informative and credible as possible.
There are two things that Wendy did especially right on her website.

First, she had links to her press materials, which help producers find out more about a prospective guest. These press materials also provided her publicist's contact info, making it easy for the producer to track us down.

Secondly, Wendy had done plenty of work on the front end to secure key endorsements for her book, and listed them on her website. This boosted her credibility, and also connects her to a wider network of experts on this topic whose names will now come up on Google searches for video game addiction. (Remember - TV producers are just like us, putting on their pants one leg at a time, and using Google). So while your publisher or publicist may help you with the endorsement process, it's always a good idea to start contacting prominent authors or experts with a similar field / book genre early on, ideally 3-6 months before your book pubs.

5. Clarify the nature of the interview.
If you're a book publicist, it's important to know just what role your author will be playing in the segment when a talk show producer comes calling. As you can well imagine, getting counseled on Dr. Phil for poor decision-making is not exactly the same thing as offering an expert opinion. Fortunately, Wendy's expert thoughts were just what Dr. Phil's producer wanted, so we were able to quickly establish everything Wendy needed to know to prep for the segment.

Hopefully this clarifies some of the mystery behind those elusive talk show bookings. It's a lot more back-to-basics than you'd think, no?

Stop by tomorrow for the next in our Prepping Author for Talk Shows series: Soundbyte prep.

Quick hits: Vampire manuscript hijacked, Sarah Palin and paying for praise

Stephenie Meyer putting Twilight follow up on hold after web leak

Some of us love Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series. Others (apparently only me) have really missed out on the literary phenomenon (hey, let me get through the stack of books on my bedside table and then I'll jump on the Twilight fanwagon). Apparently, Meyer's rabid fans couldn't wait to read the final installment in the series, as someone illegally distributed the unfinished manuscript online. Consequently, Meyer is putting the book on hold to protest this act of piracy. On her website, Meyer states, "The manuscript that was illegally distributed on the Internet was given to trusted individuals for a good purpose. I have no comment beyond that, as I believe that there was no malicious intent with the initial distribution." Now, fans of the series will have to wait an undisclosed amount of time to read the final installment. Way to ruin it for everyone, manuscript hijackers. (Although, now I might have some time to find out what all the buzz is about.)

Getting to know Sarah Palin

When presumptive Republican presidential candidate John McCain chose Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate last week, many people outside the state of Alaska were somewhat unfamiliar with the politician. So, when you're unfamiliar with a candidate, what better way to learn more about them than by reading their biography!? Kayelene Johnson's April 2008 biography, Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned Alaska's Political Establishment on it's Ear, has taken off since Friday when McCain chose Palin as his vice presidential nominee. The book is currently at number 22 on Amazon's list of best sellers.

Monday's edition of GalleyCat has a great look at how Epicenter Press is handling the demand. No doubt publishers large and small are rushing to throw together their own biographies and political studies on Palin while the timing is still good.

Interesting side note: In 2000 we promoted a Continuum book titled Cardinal Ratzinger: The Vatican's Enforcer of the Faith, by John L. Allen Jr. Unfortunately for us, he was not named Pope during the launch. I'm sure Johnson's publicist (surely she has hired one) is having a field day with this book.

The tricky world of literary endorsements

A couple of weeks ago the New York Times Sunday Book Review featured this excellent essay by Rachel Donadio on the delicate and at times dramatic world of book endorsements. The essay was in response to a new company, Blurbings, LLC, that's offering endorsements for purchase. The service is geared toward self-published authors and has garnered both positive and negative attention. Apparently, Blurbings offers several different packages of book blurbs that authors can use. You don't necessarily pay directly for the blurbs (like ordering something from a catalog,) you write a blurb for a book you like and then allow the author to put your blurb on their book cover. The idea is that if your name is attached to the endorsement, it will motivate the reader to check out your work because your blurb was so great.

From a PR standpoint, endorsements can certainly lend a great deal to a publicist's ability to go out and garner quality media. However, when people know that the blurbs were paid for, it gets a little dicey (think Kirkus Discoveries). As an author, your biggest goal should be establishing your credibility. If you're looking for endorsements for the cover of your book, reach out to the credentialed people in your own network. Send them a copy directly with a personal note. It shows you value their opinion and their seal of approval on your work. Don't ever pay someone to write reviews for your book.

Nancy Pelosi's book competition

Speaker of the house Nancy Pelosi is running a pretty killer book tour right now. In a single morning, she's appeared on "The Today Show," "The View," and NPR, with an evening spot tonight on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart."



While many are familiar with Pelosi's historically significant stature as the first female speaker of the house, this book explores a side of Pelosi we aren't as familiar with - a 47-year-old stay-at-home mom with five kids, who despite her devoutly Democratic upbringing, had no idea she would one day enter politics.

At press time of this blog post (i.e., quittin' time on a Monday afternoon), "Know Your Power" is currently ranked at #308 on Amazon.com. It's #3 in the "Government" category. So, who's her competition?

#2 is no surprise - Scott McClellan's tell-all memoir, "What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception." Shocker. But #1, you ask?

Why, that would be "Government Pirates: The Assault on Private Property Rights--and How We Can Fight It," by Don Corace. It's an insiders look at eminent domain abuse. It's ranked #126 overall right now!

Is it because Don Corace is a bigger rockstar than Nancy Pelosi? Well I guess that's a matter of opinion - but it's safe to say Pelosi is more of a household name, I mean, right? For these conditions, we undoubtedly have another hardworking book publicist out there to thank: a publicist who booked Don Corace on Fox News' "Hannity & Colmes" last week.

So, to Don Corace's publicist, wherever you are - hats off. That's a prominent booking, and your author has some impressive book sales to show for it.

Sex in Another City

Like the lonely girl who didn’t get to go to the prom, I sat home this weekend watching a chick flick. No, I did not attend BEA. No, I did not see the bright lights and big city of Los Angeles. I shunned all books in protest, wiping my tears on a bone-and-ivory vintage Yves St. Lauren drape blouse. Didn’t sleep. Didn’t eat. (Unless you count reading this month’s Vogue, which fed me more than food itself).

Meanwhile, while I was wringing my hands – hands ensconced in Zac Posen distressed leather gloves - Samantha was relishing BEA's past. The place? BEA Manhattan. The crowd? Literati. My heart? Breaking. I mean, wasn't I the writer here? Why did she get to go mingle with all the hot literati? And, she went back in 2005! I never went! I was just about to go affix a nasty Post-It note to her high-rise loft door, when I remembered: I had a movie to see.

So that night, with the girls on-hand and Manolos on-foot, I was off. The theater was packed. Perhaps not quite the crowd at BEA, but then, this crowd was holding Cosmos, not galley books. (Take that, Samantha). True, there was nary a Y chromosome in sight - but then, who wants those eye-rolling, buzz-killing, one-thing-wanting men to ruin a perfectly good Ladies Night, anyway?

With the lights low and music cuing, I was happy as a Derek Lam. Here we were, out on the town! Four girls as fearless - and fierce! - as they come. And yet - as I looked around at the sea of pink, glitter, and Vera Wang clutches, a sea that was still just a drop in the bucket for BEA's crowds, I couldn't help but wonder: when it comes to sex, are books the new black?

Barbara Walters recently revealed her steamy affair with Senator Edward Brooke in her memoir Audition - not on TV. Prince just released 21 Nights - a book, not an album - and I don't think I have to tell you what he did on each of those nights. It seems that sex is between all the covers these days - and I don't mean just chick lit.

So during two of the biggest events of the year - BEA and Sex and the City film release, both held on a single, fateful weekend - it's clear that sex sells. But when the pink book is closed, the martini is put down, and this monologue finally comes to an end - the real question will be, "will sex continue to sell?"

Judging from the impressive Amazon rankings of this hardcover, movie tie-in book, it would appear so.

Talking Shop: Q&A with your favorite insiders

Jessa Crispin, Bookslut.com founder
and editor-in-chief

Jessa Crispin is the founder and editor-in-chief of arguably the most popular literary blog out there: Bookslut. We wanted to discuss how book publicists and authors can more effectively work with bloggers - so naturally, we turned to Miss Crispin. Read on for Jessa's thoughts on the online literary community, her favorite books, and how she once threatened to kill a writer.

Tell us a little bit about you, and a little bit about your blog.
Probably all you need to know about me is that I am a giant dork. I get really excited trying to figure out how things work, and "things" can be anything. Physics, baking, neurochemistry, history, farming, religion, whatever. I also like figuring out how one thing connects to another, so sitting around following trains of thought with the help of the Internet is a great little job to have. The blog is whatever I dig up while drinking my morning tea plus the first thing that comes into my head while reading it. I know I should pretend like it's really hard work, and that I spend hours agonizing over my commentary, but that would be lying. I think Bookslut's usually referred to as a book news blog, but that's sort of misleading -- that gives the impression that I'm blogging about what Sloane Crosley is having for breakfast. It's more like book news filtered through my very specific interests. I could probably have a bigger audience if I blogged about the books everyone else is talking about.

How did your blog get started?
The blog started when I was 23, living in Austin and working at Planned Parenthood. It started as a diversion from a job that took me approximately two hours to complete, and I had to fill the other six hours somehow. Why not troll the web looking for the latest interviews with Neil Gaiman or whomever? Now it's six years later, and Bookslut has grown to about half of my day job -- the other half being freelance writing.

What is a "typical day" like as a book blogger? (Knowing there are likely very few "typical days"...)
It's mostly a lot of reading. Between Bookslut and my books column at the Smart Set, I have to read an awful lot. I try to get all the actual blogging done by 10 am or so, so that I have the day to run errands, proofread/format/edit the new issue, read, and sit and wonder if I can bother my editor into letting me change one more thing about my column before it goes up without him just firing me. There's also a lot of obsessive e-mail checking.

How has the internet changed the way we view literary communities?
I think it's closed the gap between author and audience. Or shortened it. Now that everyone can see each other, it's a little awkward. No one knows what to do with each other. It's still early to tell how it'll change writing and publishing, but it'll be interesting.

Why do you think some books take off, and others crash and burn - even if those crashing, burning books are outstanding?
I think there are a billion reasons. The publicist not hitting the right notes, the author not knowing how to find his or her potential audience, the publisher just not making an effort and dumping the book, the press isn't able to find an angle to write about the book, another blockbuster comes out at a similar time and eclipses it... Star alignment at the release date might have something to do with it, because sometimes even savviness can't overcome bad luck.

What are you reading right now?
That's always a complicated question. I'm reading Bonk by Mary Roach, We Are Now Beginning Our Descent by James Meek, an old issue of London Review Books that had fallen behind a bookcase and I just found, and the Kitchen Sink by Albert Goldbarth. I also keep meaning to finish up Roanoke by Lee Miller -- I forgot to pack it for my trip to London, so I have about 60 pages left.

Rank your top three books of all time?
Just so you know, this will change tomorrow:
Dubliners by James Joyce
Varieties of Religious Experience by William James
Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson

Who is an author we should keep an eye on?
Last year, there were three women writers who just eclipsed everything else I read: Scarlett Thomas, Joanna Kavenna, and Mia Gallagher. The Gallagher ("Hellfire") was not released in the States I don't think; I picked it up in Dublin. But with Thomas and Kavenna, they wrote quirky books that didn't find the massive audiences they deserved, but I have faith they will. All three of them are too good to be ignored for long.

What would surprise Bookslut readers about Jessa Crispin?
Probably a lot. I don't talk about my personal life too much on the blog. I'm almost pathologically reluctant to share any personal details at all. I don't know why that is. But I think I actually threatened to kill a writer I was dating about a year ago if he ever blogged about me. (We broke up over the blog.) It might be a bit surprising that I was a cheerleader back in school in Kansas. I told someone that recently, and he was flummoxed. So yes, I was a cheerleader, but I was a cheerleader who read Thomas Hardy books on the bus on the way to games and painted her fingernails white and magenta in honor of Molly from Neuromancer.

Craziest email you have ever gotten from an:
a) Book publicist, and/or
b) Author?
The e-mails I get from publicists that I don't understand are the ones talking about how attractive the author is. "She's beautiful! He's handsome!" I always wonder what I'm supposed to do with this information. I want to write back, "Is he coming over to my house? If not, what the hell do I care who attractive the author is?" As far as authors go, I get the occasional 3 am e-mail from an author who is obviously drunk and self-Googling -- "Who the hell do you think you are?" etc. -- but I never make them public, because I also have a drunk e-mail habit. I need to keep the good karma so that the universe will not retaliate with an ex suddenly putting my drunk e-mails online.

"I getz book deel? KThanxBai!" When Web sites become books

Sometimes, all it takes is a quick flash of inspiration to end your spell of writers block and get your book picked up by the ever powerful traditional publisher. Other times, all it takes is maintaining a Web site with pictures of cats and other small critters speaking broken English in block letters to land you a deal (bear with me, this is post is a legitimate one-I promise).

A few posts ago, Stephanie Mayabb talked about the recent rash of movie studios pulling inspiration from literature to fill the seats at the local cinema. Though blogs have been the source of book deals for years, I’ve noticed several, um, unique blogs being tapped by top publishers recently. Take a look:

LOLCats:

The LOLCats Web site presents several photos everyday of cats and other animals speaking “Kitty Pidgin”. I won’t get in to the linguistics of it all, but the sentences surprisingly make sense and animals are just so darn cute. The owners of the photos take pictures of their pets and then superimpose little sayings in block letters on them. It sounds insane, because it is, but the Web site has taken off and garners thousands of unique visitors each day. The site has even been featured in Business Week, TIME and the Wall Street Journal. Early this year, the proprietors of the LOLCats juggernaut secured a book deal with Gotham Books. The book will feature pictures from the Web site and will be narrated by Professor Happycat. You just have to check out the site to see what I’m talking about.

Postcards from Yo Mama:

Yesterday, GalleyCat and the site owners made the announcement that this blog will be the next to become a book. Another favorite of mine, Postcards From Yo Mama features reader submitted e-mails from mothers. My favorites are the IM transcripts. The blog definitely reminds me of the short-lived period during which my mother and I tried to communicate via IM.

Extreme Pumpkins:

For those of you who take pumpkin carving seriously, this is the Web site and book for you. The guide to jack-o’latern carving has been wildly successful. Released by Penguin in September 2007, it’s currently on its third printing and has sold over 10,000 copies. Author Tom Nardone made a bevy of high profile media appearances and you can track the book’s success here. I’m not precisely sure what order the Web site and book deal came in, but I can say I know that I’ll never carve a lame pumpkin for Halloween again.

And in an alternative to goofy coffee table pieces, books with more serious topics that were borne from blogs and Web sites have made waves as of late. The best example I can think of is the PostSecret project. The project began as an art exhibit in 2004 in Washington, DC. Creator Frank Warren launched the blog on January 1^st, 2005 at Blogspot and presently uploads 20 new postcards with secrets to the blog every Sunday. Since the project launched, Warren has published several books packed with secrets from people around the world and the blog won Weblog of the Year for 2007.

Paging Sloane Crosley

If you are at all involved in book publicity, chances are you've heard of Ms. Crosley, and her recently-released book, "I Was Told There'd Be Cake."

By all accounts, it is a delightful collection of essays surrounding the mid-20's experience. It is published by Penguin. She herself is a book publicist in New York, is buddies with Candace Bushnell, and has dated Moby. Oh, and she sometimes moonlights for The Village Voice.

God I hate her.

Kidding! In fact, Sloane Crosley seems not only nice, but worth modeling ourselves after, if you're a publicist. Here is what Lockhart Steele (what a name!), former managing editor of Gawker, had to say about Sloane:


“[Sloane is unique] among media people. You deal with so much b******t from people and so much b******t from publicists trying to tell you this is great or this is the next great American novelist.”

And Leon Neyfakh in the New York Observer:

"Ms. Crosley, by comparison, cuts to the chase with editors and writers, and conscientiously tailors her pitches to suit their tastes. In other words, where publicists of all kinds—for movies, books, socialites and dentists—have created a giant wall of noise, Ms. Crosley manages to be heard above the racket, recommending her writers and titles to others with a gentle caress instead of a swift kick."

First of all - dentists have publicists?

Second - Sloane sounds like a fine example of the publicist who has transcended all publicist stereotypes. You know the ones I'm talking about. Loud. Chirpy. Substance-less. Hooray for Sloane for giving book publicists a good - nay, aspiration-worthy! - name.

But here is the number one thing I want to point out about Sloane. And it isn't the fact that her parents apparently named her after Ferris' girlfriend in Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

When Sloane is not a publicist, she is an accomplished writer.

Leon again:
"Like a lot of book publicists, [Sloane] has wanted to be a writer all along. She majored in creative writing and did summer internships at Mirabella and The New Yorker. When she graduated and moved to New York in 2000, she did so with the intention of finding a job at a magazine."

Oh Sloane! I see myself in you!

Publicists, how many of us out there secretly yearn to see our name in bylines? On books? Just like our authors!

I think it's worth it for all of us to have a side writing project, outside of book publicity - even if it's a private diary that no one else sees, or a LiveJournal account you maintain under a teenage pseudonym (imagine everyone's surprise when GrrlSuperstar1992 publishes her first novel!). Perhaps the reason everyone, from media to authors, looooove Sloane Crosley is very simple: she is also a writer. She knows what writers want - authors want to be understood, media wants good stories.

So book publicists, can you hear me? It's time to join ranks with our author clients. Sloane Crosleys or not - it never hurts us to be better writers.

From bookstore to box office

Good news for authors hoping to see their works come to life on the big screen - according to news today from Variety, a post-writers strike surge of studios are on the prowl for ideas and manuscripts for upcoming features.

"Feature development execs were bracing for a deluge of feature spec scripts to flood the market after the 100-day writers strike wrapped in mid-February. But the storm, if it's brewing at all, has yet to hit, so the majors are chasing after books and magazine articles harder than they have in years." - Michael Flemming, Variety

Over the years, we've seen a several authors go Hollywood. Philip Carlo's bestselling The ICE MAN: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer was recently optioned and is being directed by Allen and Albert Hughes with Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Jason Blum producing and Terry Winter scripting.

Novelist Janice Woods Windle's True Women was later developed into a CBS mini-series with Angelina Jolie, which might have been the catalyst to her blockbuster career (or so we like to think).

Seeing some after-strike action, one of our current clients just inked a deal on film rights to her book in fact. Not yet at liberty to reveal details, we'll post the news following the studio's official announcement.

I-report, You-report, We all scream for I-report

I just used CNN's new iReport function for publicity purposes this week, to promote our young star Isamu Fukui, author of Truancy. I stumbled upon it accidentally, while nominating him for CNN's "Young People Who Rock" - and, lo and behold, my pitch showed up on iReport's website. Check it out here:

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-5837

The site doesn't format your pitch, doing away with well-organized paragraphs and stand-alone sentences - take that, rhetoricians - but it does give you the ability to rate stories and add comments. The Isamu pitch already got one comment and a couple of ratings, so after you check it out, I encourage you to add your 2 cents in. Because after writing a novel in a single summer at the age of 15, Isamu Fukui is definitely a young person who rocks, no?

Here's more about iReport:
"Welcome to a brand new beta site for uncensored, user-powered news. CNN built the tools, you take it from there. All the stories here are user-generated and instant: CNN does not vet or verify their authenticity or accuracy before they post. The ones with the "On CNN" stamp have been vetted and used in CNN news coverage."

Sounds like a good tool for those of us interested in generating more word-of-mouth publicity for our authors and books.

Phenix & Phenix interviews Raz Godelnik, Co-founder and CEO of Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris is a great green business dedicated to making the publishing industry more environmentally friendly. They are proponents of "sustainable reading" and their mission is perhaps best summed up by their tag line: "Every book you read was once a tree. Now you can plant a tree for every book you read". Raz was kind enough to let us grill him about green efforts in the publishing industry:

Q: So, what is Eco-Libris? What do you mean by “sustainable reading”?
A: Eco-Libris is a green business that works with book readers, publishers, writers, bookstores, and others in the book industry to balance out the paper used for books by planting trees. About 20 million trees are cut down annually for virgin paper to be used for the production of books sold in the U.S. alone. Eco-Libris raises awareness to the environmental impacts of using paper for the production of books and provides book lovers with a simple way to do something about it: plant a tree for every book they read.

Sustainable reading, as we see it, is when books won’t have environmental impacts and that the process of their production will be done in a manner that can be maintained indefinitely without endangering our natural resources base. This is definitely far from the state we have today, when so many trees - one of the most precious natural resources, are being cut to sustain the growth of the book industry, not to mention the energy consumed in the process and the pollution it produces. In Eco-Libris, we offer the first step to make reading more sustainable. We believe it is of the outmost importance to emphasize the direct connection between the paper consumed in the industry to the trees that are being cut down, and we offer a direct action.

Q: What was the inspiration behind the organization?
A: For me it all started when I was thinking about paper and the environmental impacts of its production. I realized that it might take a while to get to the point where eco-friendly alternatives (such as the use of recycled paper) will replace virgin paper. Then, I talked with some friends about the idea of giving people the opportunity to balance out their paper consumption by planting trees and received good feedbacks about the idea.

The decision to focus on books was made after learning that only less than 10% of the paper used for printing books is made of recycled paper and because most books don’t have yet an online eco-friendly alternative, like magazines and newspapers. So, if you want a book, you usually can’t avoid purchasing the paper-made version. You also can’t tell people to stop reading books, because books are such a wonderful thing and an important part of our life, so it seemed to me only natural to offer book lovers a new alternative to make their reading greener--planting trees for the books they read.

Q: Just how much paper is used annually to print books?
A: According to the Environmental Trends and Climate Impacts Report that was published this week by The Book Industry Study Group (BISG) and Green Press Initiative (GPI) more than 1.5 million metric tons of paper are used annually for producing books in the U.S. In terms of trees, we talk about 20 million trees, if not more, that are cut down to produce the paper.

Q: Is it enough to print books on recycled paper? What is a “certified forest” with reference to “virgin paper”?
A: Shifting to using of recycled paper is not the only step that should be taken, but it’s probably the most important one. Not only that you contribute by taking this step to cutting down less trees, you also support the fight against global warming – let’s not forget that deforestation, because of the release to the atmosphere of the carbon that is stored in trees, now accounts for about 20 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.

If any virgin paper content is still used for printing, using paper that is coming from certified forests is very much recommended. There are few certification programs and the best one is considered to be the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Using paper with FSC certification ensures that paper does not originate from trees in endangered forests, that the forests it is derived from were not converted to single-species tree farms after harvest, that the biodiversity and the resilience of ecosystems is maintained, that concerns of indigenous and local communities are integrated into the forest plans, etc.

Q: Would you say that the publishing industry has been an “un-environmentally friendly” organization in years past?
A: Let’s start with the good news - you can see a change in the publishing industry in the last couple of years, especially ever since Random House announced in May 2006 that it will raise the proportion of recycled paper it uses to at least 30% by 2010 from under 3% at the time of the announcement. We see more publishers involved in green initiatives and there are around 150 publishers that signed a treatise initiated by the Green Press Initiative, which supports more use of recycled paper and FSC-certified paper.

Yet, there is still a lot more to be done since the starting point of the industry is very far from being sustainable. The book industry (and it is the same with many other industries) didn’t deal with its environmental impacts for many years. Now it starts this process, but I really would like to see it moving faster and greener. We know many eco-conscious readers are looking forward to that.

Q: Where are the purchased trees planted?
A: Eco-Libris partnered with three highly respected U.S. and U.K. registered non-profit organizations (http://www.ecolibris.net/partners.asp) that work in collaboration with local communities in developing countries to plant these trees. These trees are planted in high ecological and sustainable standards in Latin America (Nicaragua, Guatemala, Panama, Belize, and Honduras) and Africa (Malawi) where deforestation is a crucial problem. Planting trees in these places not only helps to fight climate change and conserve soil and water, but also benefits many local people, for whom these trees offer many benefits, such as improvement of crops and additional food and income, and an opportunity for a better future.

Q: What can publishers, authors and literary publicists do to participate in the cause?
A: There are many ways to collaborate with us. Here are few examples - Kedzie Press, an independent publisher out of Seattle are using the Eco-Libris logo on their new books' cover design and pledged to plant a million trees with us by the end of 2009, Process Media from LA plant a tree with us for every book they sell on their website, Authors like Mira Tweti and Mary Kearns offered our stickers at launch and signing events of their books, planting a tree for every book sold. We will be happy to speak with anyone in the industry that want to go green – to receive further information just send us an email to bd[at]ecolibris[dot]net.

Q: What results have you seen from participation in this program?
A: Within only 8 months of operations we have balanced out more than 24,000 books which results in more than 31,500 new trees being planted! This is really great and we’re very proud in that, but it’s only the beginning and we intend to keep working hard to meet our goal: balancing out 500,000 books by the end of the year.

Besides that, we managed to raise awareness to these issues within authors, bookstores, online communities of readers and many others that collaborate with us. We feel that we help to increase the understanding to the need to go green both on the demand and supply sides of the industry and even more important – drive them into action.

Q: What advancements in environmentally friendly technology are you most excited about right now in the publishing industry?
A: I am very excited from the work on producing synthetic paper in a cradle to cradle manner, just like the book ‘Cradle to Cradle’ itself. As the authors William McDonough and Michael Braungart explain in the book, it is made from plastic resins and inorganic fillers – it’s waterproof, extremely durable and recyclable by conventional means. Above all – it can be broken down and circulated infinitely in industrial cycles made and remade as paper and other products. In other words: sustainable.

Q: What other environmentally friendly suggestions do you have for readers? Do you have any tips for industry professionals like P&P?
A: For eco-conscious readers there are many steps that can be taken to go green such as:

• Joining the local library.
• Frequent more used book stores. It's cheaper and much more sustainable.
• Support book publishers who print on recycled paper.
• Check out bookmooch.com for worldwide book swapping.
  
• And support book publishers and writers who partner with Eco-Libris (you can see a list on this page: http://www.ecolibris.net/business_opp.asp)
  

Industry professionals can also take many steps to green their operations and business–starting from reducing the energy consumption and paper use in the office to greening their purchases and buying locally. When you buy recycled paper or envelopes made of recycled paper–look for local businesses that sell it and support them. From my experience, as members of the Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia that buy our office supplies from a local green business, not only that it’s better for the environment and supports the local economy, it’s even cheaper.

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For more information on Eco-Libris, please visit their website. To check out our thoughts on going green, please visit the Eco-Libris blog. Many thanks to Raz Godelnik and the folks at Eco-Libris!