BOOK BASH: Philip Carlo's 'Gaspipe' launched in Tribeca

Rusty, Tolly and I had the pleasure of surprising long-time P&P client, Philip Carlo last night at the launch party for his new book, Gaspipe: Confessions of a Mafia Boss (July,William Morrow). Tribeca's Ago Restaurant (owned by the venerable Robert De Niro) teemed with editors, agents, media and 100 of Carlo's closest friends and family - not to mention a few stars of mafia pop culture - Sopranos' John "Cha Cha" Ciarcia, Danny Aiello, Tony Danza and Chuck Zito.

L to R: Rusty Shelton, Carlo's agent Matt Bialer (Sanford J. Greenburger), Tolly Moseley, Stephanie Mayabb and Philip Carlo

Shelton poses with Carlo and Tony Danza.

John "Cha Cha"Ciarcia, former castmember of "The Sopranos" and "Goodfellas"

Bialer and Carlo's editor at William Morrow, Sara Durand

A veteran to the true-crime genre, Carlo reveals the most intimate, personal look into the world of La Cosa Nostra to date, in Gaspipe. Kirkus Reviews says "Carlo has the real goods. …the inside information about the lifestyle, rituals, killings and betrayals is priceless. An authoritative look at a once-rampant predator now at bay." And in a starred review from Publishers Weekly, Gaspipe was called "... required reading for anyone with a yen for the Mafia, the criminal underworld and a law enforcement system struggling to keep up."

Props to one of our favorite NY publicists, William Morrow's Sarah Burningham, who brought out A-list media to capture the event including HBO who started rolling tape on their upcoming documentary about Casso. Thanks to some lovely friends who hosted us about town Tuesday and Wednesday - Dot Lin over at Tor/Forge and the Picador team, Yen Cheong at Penguin, Matt Bialer of Sanford Greenburger & Associates, William Morrow's Sarah Burningham, Robert Guinsler at Sterling Lord, Ami Greko at Folio Literary Management and the John Kaminski and Clair Israel from NetGalley.

Warmest wishes to Phil and Laura!

Retire the catalog mailout.

HarperCollins just announced an eco-friendly industry move - online catalogs! According to the AP, Penguin (USA) and Random House are moving in a similar direction. Mike Merschel over at the Dallas Morning News just blogged his thoughts on the possible industry shift, confirming a little inkling I had.

Formerly a publicist at a division of Random House, I logged many hours (and subsequent papercuts) stuffing the shiny new catalogs into envelopes addressed to our list of coveted media contacts and over the years. I wondered how many trash cans they might have graced. I was in the literary pr biz at the crux of a ditigal turning point, yet the old school catalogs kept coming. As it turns out, things like blindly-mailed catalogs only tend to multiply in said contacts' mailboxes and then migrate to the garbage bin.

Recent initiatives in green publishing are also good news for book publicists. Online galleys + digital catalogs = more time for targeted pitching.