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!

Your local news...on YouTube

First it happened to your local newspaper when bloggers began taking over the traditional roles of reporters and editors. Now your local news station may also going the way of the digital dinosaur. The New York Times reported today that YouTube is branching out from its usual fare of laughing babies and random people getting tazed to offer “News Near You":

"YouTube, which already boasts of being 'the biggest news platform in the world,' has created a News Near You feature that senses a user’s location and serves up a list of relevant videos. In time, it could essentially engineer a local newscast on the fly. It is already distributing hometown video from dozens of sources, and it wants to add thousands more." Read more here.

Will this mean no more local nightly news programs or author-friendly morning shows? Probably not. But it does mean that even more everyday folks (in other words, broadcasters without broadcasting licenses) may become a significant and viable form of local media like never before.

NYT on SXSW and the WWW

The New York Times reported yesterday on the pulse of South by Southwest in a down economy (consensus: people apparently do still have funds for a festival blowout such as SXSW). Joining the field of literary PR long before the age of the blogosphere and Twitter, I can't help but reflect at times on how the daily functions of a publicist truly are evolving on a daily basis.

Case in point: "The declining audience for mainstream media has all sorts of antecedents. But it was obvious after a few days here that the people formerly known as the audience were too busy making content to consume much of it, unless it came from their friends. The medium is not the message; the messages are the media." [David Carr for NYT, "Messages are the media"]

Best of the Blogosphere

I polled a few publicists here for hightlights topping various blogrolls this week. A smattering of results includes:

All the book industry people you should be following on Twitter has been compiled onto one tidy little list, which came to us via Yen's always in-the-know Book Publicity Blog, originating here.

By way of "The 26th Story," The New York Times revealed a totally interactive and very cool billboard campaign by BBDO for HBO’s “Big Love” (of which I am a big fan). It brings the concept of PostSecret to the streets.

L.A. Times "Jacket Copy" finally revealed “How to read 462 books in one year." Thank goodness!When trying to explain how she's able to read so many books, Sarah Weinman (who also writes the LA Times' "Dark Passages" column,) had this to say: "It's like I'm reading from a whole-language standpoint instead of phonics -- that's the only way I can figure out how to explain it.”

Heather Armstrong of Dooce.com is headed to Austin‘s BookPeople in April to promote her upcoming memoir about postpartum, It Sucked and Then I Cried. (Simon Spotlight Entertainment). We love the cover. Ahem, shameless plug: Heather Armstrong is also a contributor in a book we’re currently promoting, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Power Moms.

Peter Shankman reported on a tweet gone awry – a heed to all who engage in social networking: “Be careful what you post.”

It's all about the 'Battlestar' this week – the final season begins tonight, and everyone on the blogosphere is guessing who the final cylon is. Wired’s “Underwired” reports on the various parties being organized in its honor. Word on the street says there’s a few of these so-called “frak parties” going down in Austin tonight.

Toxic showers & media buzz words

They may not respond to every pitch, but take heart publicists, apparently The New York Times is paying attention to our press release headers. In a story that ran earlier this summer (hey, it's been a busy summer), titled NeedPress? Repeat: 'Green,' 'Sex,' 'Cancer,' 'Secret,' 'Fat', Joanne Kaufman explores the power of buzz words in press release headlines.

The backdrop of the article is a case study on the "toxic shower curtain" story. You remember that one, right?

To the horror of soccer moms around the country, various media outlets, including U.S. News & World Report, New York Daily News, MSNBC.com and The Los Angeles Times, reported that the thin plastic sheet dangling from shower rods around the country was actually a curtain of death.

From Kaufman's story:

"There was a news conference, this release said, at New York University Medical Center. It was led by a doctor representing an obscure if official-sounding group that few people have heard of, the Center for Health, Environment and Justice. There were revelations about how shower curtains that are 'routinely sold at multiple retail outlets' and can 'release as many as 108 volatile chemicals into the
air.'

Thus, the Toxic Shower Curtain Story was born."

Kaufman's question--"How do stories of this ilk get such bounce from major news organizations?" She continues:

"Those who make their living composing news releases say there is an art to this easily dismissed craft. Strategic word selection can catapult an announcement about a study, a product or a "breakthrough" onto the evening news instead of to its usual destination — the spam folder or circular file.

"P.R. people want to invest time in things that are going to get picked up, so they try to put something to the 'who cares?' and 'so what?' test," said Kate Robins, a longtime public relations consultant. "If you say something is first, most, fastest, tallest — that's likely to get attention. If you can use words like 'money,' 'fat,' 'cancer' or 'sex,' you're likely to get some ink in the general
audience media."

I'm a big proponent of the 'so what' test, but publicists that are email pitching know that words like 'money' and 'sex' are more likely to land you in the spam filter than anything else.

So, what buzz words do work for publicists? Like everything else in PR, it depends on who you're targeting. It can be argued that, these days, "economy" should be next to each category below and indeed that's the topic that is dominating coverage from just about every angle right now. That said, buzz words are always relevant, even if issues like the economy/hurricane ike/presidential election temporarily dominate
the headlines. If anything, buzz words are what HELP authors stand out above all the "economy" chatter.

Here are some buzz words--besides the economy--that are turning heads:

National media: politics, green-living/eco-friendly, foreclosure, gas prices(ie: "at the pump"), Obama, McCain, Palin

Pop culture media: mommy bloggers, facebook, any current celebrity: Madonna, Miley Cyrus, etc.

Business media: entreprenuers, four-day work week, desk rage, foreclosure

Literary media: Twilight series, Stephanie Meyer, vampires

(Side note--we're eagerly looking for credentialed economists with
good books. If you have one, send me a note. We're also looking to work with Stephanie Meyer.)

On the flipside, what doesn't work?

Kaufman correctly points out that the best publicists are often former journalists because they know what "grates on the Fourth Estate." She mentions that Tom Gable, who runs a PR firm in San Diego and was once the business editor of The San Diego Union Tribune, "has compiled a list of words that will do a news release no good whatsoever, like "solutions," "leading edge," "cutting edge," "state of the art," "mission critical," and "turnkey."

So, let's review what we've learned:

The worst headline imaginable would read something like this: "Cutting edge company offers state of the art turnkey solutions for mission critical tasks" According to the article, this is something Mr. Gable would say is "empty, unsubstantiated and had no news value."

The best headline? "World's fastest, tallest cancer survivor is the first to trash toxic shower curtain en route to slimmer waistline." I'm off to pitch that one before the weekend.

Publicists: We'd love to hear what buzz words you're noticing lately. Chime in with comments, and add to our list!