Partay!

Thanks to a dearth of invitations, once again Darling Husband and I will be spending New Year's Eve at home alone. I was feeling a bit forlorn, but no longer. Because now I have the ultimate rockin' good-time video, forwarded to me by YA author Sally Nemeth.

Move over Alvin & the Chipmunks! Here comes Hamster on a Piano (Eating Popcorn):



This is the perfect setup for the Netflix DVD that arrived today, "The Velvet Underground: Under Review."

Happy New Year!

Quote of the Year...or,Mr. Galbraith Gets the Last Laugh

Over lunch, I read the Quote of the Day to the Boy Wonder. He said, "I have something better. You gotta hear this one!"

He whipped out THE GREAT CRASH: 1929, by John Kenneth Galbraith, which the Ex sent him for Christmas. (BW is starting college on Jan. 20 as an economics major.)

From Galbraith's new introduction, written in 1997:

Always when markets are in trouble, the phrases are the same: "The economic situation is fundamentally sound" or simply "The fundamentals are good." All who hear these words should know that something is wrong.

Last night, BW, Darling Husband and I had dinner with Chris Matthews. (OK, we ate off trays while watching "Hardball," on DVR.) Yesterday's show listed the best and worst political moments of 2008. Guess what was #1 in "Biggest general election moments"?

Give up?

"The fundamentals of our economy are strong."
--John McCain

BONUS QUOTES:

"We all didn’t quite see what was happening.”
--Margaret Hedberg, director of the International Debutante Ball, per the NY Times.

She brushed off the $14,000 cost of a table — “Watches cost more.”
--Marie Antoinette. Oops! I mean Margaret Hedberg.

Quote of the Day

"I spend my days inside stomachs, and believe me, you could get lost in some of them."
--gastroenterologist Nicholas Belitsos

From Whether True or False, A Real Stretch, in which NY Times writer David Kamp deconstructs Diamond Jim Brady's legendary appetite.

The Author Business...or, Why I'm in Business

The other day, I received a thought-provoking comment to a May post, "You have to sell books":

The problem with authors having to sell books is not having to do it, but their lack of skill at thinking on those terms. The skills required to write a page-turner are not the same as scheduling events, mailing postcards, being interviewed, and keeping copious notes on who was helpful for the second time around.

I love speaking as an author or even motivational talks using my novels as material, but the work that goes into requesting a spot is endless and takes me away from what I do best, working through dilemmas with my characters, using words as paint. It's not all bad, just hard and time-consuming. And the establishment (newspapers, TV, reviewers) don't give small press authors nearly their due, so it's frustrating to spend the time and not be deemed 'worthy' of recognition based on not having a large NY house behind you or not having received a newsworthy advance.

The first paragraph lays out why I started Book Promotion 101 six years ago: because of authors' lack of promotional (read: business) skills. I say and write this till I'm blue in the face & fingers:

If you sell your writing, you're not just a writer.
YOU'RE IN THE WRITING BUSINESS.

Which means you have to manage your business. Which means that, just like every other businessperson--whether artist, contractor, doctor, shopkeeper or lil ol' me--you have to do:

• promotion & marketing
• sales
• collections

Regarding the second paragraph quoted above:
Yes, the promotional work is endless. As I wrote in the previous post, it's a marathon, not a sprint.

Small press authors aren't the only ones who "don't get their due"--which is what, exactly?--from the "establishment" media. I could tell many stories about clients who couldn't get no respect from their large NY houses; though after working with me they usually clawed out some. And very few authors (especially children's & YA) have been receiving "newsworthy" advances; even fewer will in the current dismal economic climate.

Speaking of the economy, if you look at Publishers Marketplace, you'll see that book deals are still being made. And though newspaper book review sections have been decimated, authors and books are still being covered in print, broadcast and online media. Bookstores are still hosting signings; organizations across the country are still hosting author talks; book clubs still want to have authors visit or phone in; there are still book festivals all over; schools are still paying to have authors do programs for students.

In short: It's time to get down to business for 2009.

"But I Can't Do It All!"

In my workshops and consulting sessions with authors, I stress that publicity is a marathon, not a sprint, and that no one person can do it all. Then I spin out a gazillion suggestions and publicity ideas. By the end, my clients tell me that they feel like their heads are about to explode. "Then I've done my job," I cheerfully reply.

As anyone who's done them knows, "simple" things--putting together a mailing list, producing promotional materials, searching out community & online interest groups--can take vast amounts of time.

What to do? Hire a Virtual Assistant. Here are a couple of places to find one:

• Virtual Assistants Forum
• Elance - great for all sorts of freelancers

Yes, this means spending money, but it's a tax-deductible business expense. And you'll be freed up to do the things that only you can do, such as write your next book.

A 100-Year-Old Grand Entrance...and A Grand Passion

We're reviving a tradition, established when we lived in Virginia, of throwing a Twelfth Night Party, complete with a community reading of Mr. Shakespeare's play (abridged by yours truly). As is also my tradition, I've been doing research on Twelfth Night, and found some fascinating nuggets in the NY Times online archives.

One article, dated 108 years ago today, details a gala reception held by the Twelfth Night Club (the women's answer to The Players) in honor of actress Sarah Bernhardt, scheduled for 3 till 6pm the previous day:

...elaborate preparations were made...There were many decorations, flowers, and a prettily set tea table...[but] for a long time the divine Sarah did not appear....It was after 5 o'clock and only the very hungriest of the guests had ventured to take a cup of tea, when a genuine message came: 'Tell the ladies to wait. I am on the way.'

...and suddenly there was a flutter of black and white, a whisk like the passing of a breeze...It was Sarah herself, picturesque in her big black hat, her black chinchilla-edged coat thrown back, from a beautiful gown of white, with roses and orchids on her breast, looking young [ha! she was 63 with a bum knee], animated, and altogether charming. The club gave her an ovation....while Bernhardt beamed ecstatically. "I zank you wis all my heart," she said.

The article immediately below it was just as interesting. Under the headline, "Divorce for Robert Graves: Court Order Gives Wall Paper Manufacturer Custody of His Child," we learn:

The domestic troubles which led to the divorce began when Mrs. [Charlotte De Grasse] Graves met J. Hamilton Jaffray, Jr., of Yonkers. He called frequently on the Graves home, at Irvington, until warned to keep away.

Mr. Graves sold the Irvington property and came to New York City to live. His wife still met Mr. Jaffray, and the divorce proceedings followed....Mr. Jaffray proclaimed his willingness to marry Mrs. Graves should the Court set her free from her husband; declaring that she was a woman of whom any man might feel proud.

Here's the odd thing: I went to high school in Irvington, and had a friend there who lived in Jaffray Park. I wonder whether J. Hamilton moved there with the ex-Mrs. Graves; or maybe he was a frequent caller in Irvington because he had family close by.

Take this Test!

Wild times in Schuyler, VA.

From my friend Stefanie, artistic, social & culinary doyenne of greater Schuyler (pop. 1,286):

One of these large amorphous shapes is a carbon-based life-form. The other is an inanimate object. Can you tell which is which?

Its constant presence notwithstanding, the object on the left (aka "Snickers") officially belongs to Stefanie's neighbors down the road.

For Your New Year's To-Be-Read Pile

Wondering what to read in the coming months? Take a gander at my clients' books:

• UNDONE, by Brooke Taylor (July '08)
  
• WILL I EVER BE GOOD ENOUGH? Healing the Daughters of Narcissistic Mothers, by Karyl McBride (Sept. '08)
• CANCER IS A BITCH: Or, I’d Rather be Having a Mid-Life Crisis, by Gail Konop Baker (Oct. '08)
• VIDALIA IN PARIS, by Sasha Watson (Oct. '08)
  
• THE ENTIRE EARTH AND SKY: Views on Antarctica, Leslie Carol Roberts (Oct. '08)
• LAST KNOWN POSITION: Stories, by James Mathews (Nov. '08)
• THE BLACK GIRL NEXT DOOR: A Memoir, by Jennifer Baszile (Jan.)
• ACCORDIAN DREAMS: A Journey into Cajun & Creole Music, by Blair Kilpatrick (Jan.)
• HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER & SWEET, by Jamie Ford (Jan.)
• GLOBAL WARMING IS GOOD FOR BUSINESS: How Savvy Entrepreneurs, Large Corporations, and Others are Making Money While Saving the Planet, by K.B. Keilbach (Mar.)
  
• VAMPED, by Lucienne Diver (May)
• THE KING OF VODKA: The Story of Pyotr Smirnov & the Upheaval of an Empire, by Linda Himelstein (May)
• REAL LIFE & LIARS, by Kristina Riggle (June)
  

Shalom! Christmas Sing-Along

New:


An instant classic from last year:

And yes, Darling Husband, the Boy Wonder and I will be going out for Chinese food and a movie today. Too bad we can't be in NYC for the Chinese buffet and Monty Python double feature at the 92nd St. Y. ("Holy Grail" and "Life of Brian" on Christmas--how perfect!)

Update 11:30 pm:
We were in despair of finding a movie that would suit all three of us, but then discovered that today was the last day for "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" at Starz Film Center. Woody Allen! The perfect Jewish Christmas! Which we capped off after the movie by lighting the menorah and tucking into traditional English roast beef and Yorkshire pudding with horseradish mousse (we're very Reform), followed by the best chocolate chip cookies EVER. (Besides the ingredients, the secret's in refrigerating the dough for at least 24 hours.)

It's a Wrap!

Response to Dog Rest Ye Merry, direct from Schuyler, VA:

You know, sometimes during a photo shoot with the boys, nerves get frayed (you can see that in the images, can't you?), words get barked that can't be unbarked, somebody eats a biscuit that was meant for somebody else. It's all part of the wear and tear of the creative process.

Yet seeing our finished work in print on your blog, knowing that our take (or should I say "fetch"?) on the world is reaching millions...well, it makes it all worthwhile.

Thank you thank you thank you,
--Stefanie & troupe

Happy holidays to all!

Dog Rest Ye Merry

Onslow & Snickers get into the Christmas spirit.

I know what you've been thinking:
"Enough about book publicity, and your self-absorbed musings! What's been going on with the dogs in Schuyler, VA?"

Well, my friend Stefanie, social and culinary doyenne of Schuyler, just sent me the above photo. As you can see, Onslow and regular visitor Snickers (aka "the canine Kramer") are working on a holiday-themed synchronized napping routine. I like how Onslow's hind foot is tucked into his armpit. Note the supine penguin at rear (for scale); and in the basket at upper right, part of the banner of Charlottesville's own newspaper, The Daily Progress (aka "the Regress").

For more awwww-some photos, check out GalleyCat and the Rocky Mountain News Holiday Pets Slideshow (my favorites: #4, 13, 19, 43, 57, 58, 60).

The Last Round-up

Carleen Brice's Black Book Welcome Lady video led to an opinion piece in Sunday's Washington Post: Reading Too Much Into Race. NB: Books by African-American authors make great gifts!

My favorite webmaster (and all-around nice guy), Steve Bennett of Authorbytes, gets top billing; and Carol Fitzgerald, founder of the Bookreporter.com empire, gets the best quote in a Publishers Weekly piece: Finding Value in Author Web Sites. (In my day at PW, we wouldn't have mislabeled bestselling novelist Chris Bohjalian as a "journalist." Hmpf!)

Author Marianne Mancusi shares excellent book party tips at Agent Kristin's Pub Rants. Be sure to read the comments for even more pointers.

Client Alison Larkin's debut novel, THE ENGLISH AMERICAN (which makes a great gift!), has been optioned by ABC TV for a half-hour series, with the Mark Gordon Company ("Grey’s Anatomy") attached to produce. Woo hoo!

Book Promotion 101 alums Jennifer Kaufman & Karen Mack just got a deal with Bantam Dell, who published their first two novels (which make great gifts!), for their third. FREUD'S MISTRESS is described as a "what-if" novel exploring the potential affair between Sigmund Freud and his sister-in-law, and looks at his complicated (ya think???) personal life and family relationships. I wonder if there'll be any cigar jokes...

The Pit Bulls of New Orleans calendar, a pet project of author Ken Foster, is on sale. (Hint: It makes a great gift!)

The Best Gift Imaginable

The front-page section of today's New York Times had at least 5 full-page ads for men's watches. "No present like the time," I quipped to Darling Husband.

But when he looked at page 3 of the National section, his chuckles abruptly turned to tears. As did mine.

There was another full-page ad, with "Imagine peace" in large type, in many different languages. Much smaller, centered on the bottom line: "love, yoko."

The Gift that Keeps on Hurting

Baby Bro sent me a link to The Doghouse, a video from JC Penney that cracked me up, though I disagree with the sell line kicker. Guys who've given their female partners dumb gifts (a vacuum cleaner, a tummy-cizer) or said dumb things ("Your mom looks hot in a bikini") have to do time folding a mountain of socks and towels.

The video reminded me of a not-so-funny incident on my 30th birthday. The Ex "didn't have time" to buy me a gift, though he passed any number of stores between home, work and his favorite bar(s). My parents had thrown me a little celebration the day before, so the no-time argument was particularly lame.

After a storm of sobs and tears directed at him and another on the phone to Mom, the Ex went out shopping next day. Upon return, he magnanimously presented me with these gifts:

1. a bottle of Moët & Chandon champagne (cheap, because the franc was way down);
2. a brand-new hammer in a paper bag (on weekends we were renovating an old building out in the sticks).
   

The Ex took a photo of me with bottle in one hand and hammer in another, a manic smile plastered on my face. The champagne is long gone, but the hammer is with me still. As was the case back then, it hurts my wrist to use it. I prefer the lighter, slimmer antique hammer I bought at a yard sale for $1.

Cross-Cultural Cuisine

Seen at a Denver Asian supermarket. Also comes in Mild and Med. Hot.

The "touch of apple and honey" must wow 'em at Rosh Hashanah celebrations all over the Green Mountain State. I sure know what I'll be serving next year!

Poor Old "Pal"

Lionel Stander as Ludlow Lowell in the 1952-53 revival of "Pal Joey." The photo is unmarked and I didn't identify it conclusively till recently. But I knew from the Sagittarius on his tie that Dad was acting (he was a Capricorn and dressed soberly--at least till the late 1960s). He met my mom while playing the show on the road after it closed on Broadway.

Last March I borrowed an old copy of the book Pal Joey from a friend in New York. I quoted some choice passages in Pal Joey: Still Wise After All These Years. Little did I know that a revival of the musical was in the works.

Well, the reviews are coming in and let's just say they're...unflattering. Ben Brantley's assessment in today's NY Times begins: "How did a racy little ditty about girl-chasing turn into a dirge?" Worse, he uses the T-word to describe the production:

The vultures of Broadway — those kindly creatures who perk up at the first scent of a turkey carcass — have been circling “Pal Joey”...

Ouch! Unless there's some major retooling, the vultures probably won't be circling more than a month or so.

Out of curiosity, I checked the Internet Broadway Database to see how long the revival ran in which my father appeared: 540 performances, from January 1952 till April 1953. Wow! And he got 4th billing. (Elaine Stritch, then in her 20s, is near the bottom.) Now Daniel Marcus, the guy playing Ludlow Lowell, is #11 in the cast list. Obviously the character has been downgraded; Brantley noted that the book had been rewritten. In marked contrast to Brantley, in 1952 the NYT's Brooks Atkinson pronounced the show a "brilliant production." (He lauded Stritch's "caricature of a tough columnist" and Dad's "unctuously ferocious gangster.") Another NYT reviewer termed it a "happy restoration." I'll bet the current company is wishing for praise like that.

Signs of the Times

Poor Mr. Ed! What the locals didn't mention on my trip last week.

Bumper stickers on the rear of a white sedan in Simi Valley, CA:

On left: McCain.
On right: Obama.
In center: Can this marriage be saved?

California Dreamin'

I've had enough of winter already, and it doesn't officially begin until Sunday--also the beginning of Hanukkah. How I wish I was spending the holiday in Santa Monica with Tom Lehrer (or even without).

The Animals Sing for Christmas--with British Accents

Today has been another trial. My jaw hurts from yesterday's dentist visit; the MRIs show that 6 months after having the steel plate removed I still have screw-holes in my humerus, and after 2-1/2 years the bone hasn't grown back properly; the carpenter mis-installed one of the rolling trays in my kitchen cabinet and won't be back to fix it for another week or so.

But at least it was sunny and above freezing, and I got a good laugh from this Breathing Places video, courtesy of the Beeb:

Gesundheit!

I have a friend who sneezes when she's eaten her fill, a sign that it's time to bring out the coffee--or to call for the check.

The UK Guardian explains how her condition could be so much worse:

Sneezing uncontrollably after sex
may be more common than realised

Angry Thursday

I so did not have a fun day today. At 10:00 a.m., I showed up at the dentist's office to get knocked out for a crown and a couple of replacement fillings. (My theme song: "I Wanna Be Sedated.")

I hadn't had anything to eat or drink since midnight and for the first time ever, the dentist was running late. So I sat in the waiting room for 20 minutes with a parched mouth and rumbling stomach. Grr.

However, I read a very interesting article in Vogue magazine, after leafing through scores of advertisements for expensive ugly stuff. (A cobalt blue fur hat? What is Ralph Lauren thinking?)

Once I was finally ushered inside, the dentist informed me that today's procedure would have to be done in two sessions. He'd finish up in mid-January, when I'd be knocked out again--for an additional non-reimbursable $500 because my dental insurer considers IV anesthesia "optional." Grrr.

The session went well enough; then with the left side of my mouth numb and rubbery, I slid into a taxi and went to Presbyterian-St. Luke's medical center, for yet another MRI of my right arm and shoulder (still giving me trouble after 2-1/2 years and 3 surgeries). They had me fill out the exact same 3-page form as I did yesterday, when I had an MRI of the right brachial plexus (upper chest by armpit) at P-SL hospital directly across the driveway. Why couldn't they just have that form faxed over? "Oh, we can't. It's been sent to Records." Grrrr.

After spending 2+ hours in a narrow, banging tube (thankfully, still drowsy from the morning's anesthesia), I took another taxi home. There I found that the Boy Wonder hadn't:

1. brought my bag of holiday gifts to the post office;
2. walked Jenny;
3. left to take care of business at Metro State Denver (he's starting there next month) until 3:30, rather than in the morning as I'd requested. So I was left alone--hurting and nauseous--to contend with the guys who were installing additional cabinets in the kitchen.
   
4. checked to see whether the microwave was empty when he moved it to make way for the cabinets Wednesday afternoon. I'd forgotten a large open jar of honey in it, and BW didn't bother to look inside when he heard it fall over. "It's just the tray banging around." You would not believe the sticky mess all over. (You would believe how I blasted him when he got home.) ARGH!!!

In a futile effort to get my mind off my woes, I checked my email. There was a message from a writer with whom I've been (very) slightly acquainted over the past few years. Though her current editor--at a major house--is interested in her new manuscript, "Jane" is considering self-publishing because she thinks she'd make more money reaching her audience on her own. [HAHAHAHA!!!!]

Jane wanted to know:

1. whether I'd be giving a Book Promotion 101 workshop any time in her area, as she is "also working with a few writers who are thinking along these lines (self publishing) and I think they would be interested";
2. "I'm especially interested in creating and developing a website (related to my book and my consulting work) that is itself a revenue stream. Is that something you cover in your workshops -- or can cover?"
3. "I am on a brutal budget, so if there's an opportunity to help you publicize it and/or help you with it logistically in exchange for a discount, that would be great."

ARRRRRRRRGH!!!!!

After turning the air blue, I wrote Jane that she's crazy to ditch her editor for self-publishing in the current economic climate. More to the point, if her "brutal budget" won't cover my workshop, how can she afford a book designer, editor, website designer, publicity materials, postage, etc? And that it's critical to have not only a marketing plan, but a distribution system to get her book into people's hands [which is where most self-published authors fall face flat]. And that unless the workshop is sponsored by an organization, I take care of all the logistics myself. Finally, as prominently stated on my website: I only work with authors of commercially published trade books.

The crux of the matter, which I didn't put in my response, is this:
Why should I give away my hard-earned expertise (not to mention my time) to help someone, whom I barely know, to make more money?

I'm not the only one who was pissed off today. See:

• Absolute, unquantifiable heartbreak
• The Poster Child For Everything Wrong With PR

Creepy Statistic and Quote of the Day

From Looking Under the Hood and Seeing an Incubator, in today's New York Times:

...96 percent of foreign-donated medical equipment fails within five years of donation...

...no matter how remote the locale, there always seemed to be a Toyota 4Runner in working order.

Hence the nonprofit firm, Design That Matters, was contracted to design a neonatal incubator made of used or new car parts. (How brilliant is that?)

“The idea was to start with a 4Runner,” said Timothy Prestero, the firm’s founder and chief executive, “and take away all the parts that weren’t an incubator.”

Worst Headline of the Day

The front page of today's New York Times was bad enough. Then there was this from Denver's 9News.com:

On Monday morning the official low temperature plummeted to -18 degrees at DIA.* The coldest temperature on record for Dec. 15 was -6 degrees, last set in 1951.

*Denver Int'l Airport

Author To-Do List

At the end of the workshop for children's authors I gave in Southern California on Saturday, I had each attendee state what was the most important thing they'd learned that day. An author who couldn't attend had met me for a private consultation two days earlier. This morning she emailed me, unprompted, with a list of the most helpful things she'd learned in our session. By an interesting coincidence it echoes what Saturday's attendees said. (I must be getting my message across!)

With her permission I'm posting it here. From what I've seen lately, this should be EVERY author's to-do list.

1. Do a major remodel of my website.
2. When I go to NY, include my agent in the meetings with the publicity people and my editor.
3. Have a marketing plan on paper that I’ve sent to everyone ahead of time.
4. Come bearing gifts for everyone in the publishing house—cookies or something on the theme of the book, or something from my hometown.
5. Come with the attitude, “What can I do to make your job easier? How can we work together?”
6. Send the folks in my publishing house holiday cards thanking them.
7. Get my illustrator’s snail mail and email addresses.

A Good Laugh for the Trip

On Wednesday morning, when I flew to LA, the airport shuttle van came five minutes early, so it sat while I finished tearing around the house. My street is narrow, with parking on both sides, so there was very little room for other cars to maneuver around the van. When I got in, a woman at the wheel of an SUV was reaming my driver out for blocking the way and making her late to school.

All she had to do was back up a few feet and pull into a space by the curb so we could pass, and everyone would have been on their merry way. But NOOOO..... she wasn't about to give way to anyone. So there we sat while she ranted and railed.

"Use your head," she yelled at the van driver.

"Use your car," he retorted, though with none of her venom. I and the two other passengers roared with laughter.

More ranting, then she grudgingly backed into the space. We drove north; she drove south. I pity her students.

On the Road Again

The most beautiful place I've given a workshop: the courtyard outside our meeting room at St. Maximilian Kolbe Church, Westlake Village.

I've been in (mostly) sunny Southern California since Wednesday. The official reason for the trip was to give a Book Promotion 101 workshop yesterday, sponsored by the Tri-Regions of Southern California chapter of SCBWI. I decided to take a couple of extra days, which I crammed with visits to friends old and new in Santa Monica, LA and Venice.

When I left Denver, it was about 30 with a couple inches of snow on the ground, forecast to shoot into the 50s. When I arrived in LA at noon, it was 72, with bougainvillea and roses blooming everywhere. Bliss!

The weather here was balmy thru Friday, when I spent a couple of supremely happy hours at El Matador Beach, just north of Malibu. I enjoyed the clime even more when Baby Brother filled me in on the wretched time he was having with the ice storm in Maine. (Schadenfreude is a great sweetener. And Baby Bro's power is back on now.)

Baby Bro's icy front yard in Topsham, Maine.
(Current temp: 28F. Denver: 1.)

The last laugh's on me though: It dropped to 40 last night in Simi Valley (home of the Reagan Library--guess where I won't be going) and there's no heat in my hotel room. (Yeah, there's a thermostat, but it doesn't do anything.) I slept in a sweater zipped up over my nightgown and the covers over my head.

Better/worse still: It was ZERO and snowing in Denver a couple of hours ago; it'll be maybe 5F when I touch down tonight. I am soooo glad I'm taking a shuttle van home, so I won't have to shlep through the frigid, snowy parking lot in my lightweight LA clothes. And I am soooo going to drink in all the greenery and flowers in my remaining few hours here. (Next stop: Topanga Canyon.)

Update, Dec 15:
It was -14F (FOURTEEN DEGREES BELOW ZERO!!!) when my plane touched down last night. You should have heard the shrieks and groans when the pilot announced the local weather. As of noon, it's warmed up to all of +1F. I mean, seriously, WTF?

Yet Another Client Noted!

Proof that good things happen in threes:

Among the five nominees for the American Library Association's new YA debut award for books that "illuminate the teen experience and enrich the lives of its readers through its excellence" is MADAPPLE, by Christina Meldrum. The winner will be announced January 29.

WOOT!!!

Another Noted Client!

This just in from Book Promotion 101 workshop alum Frances Dinkelspiel, author of TOWERS OF GOLD: How One Jewish Immigrant Named Isaias Hellman Created California, published last month by St. Martin's. As you can see below, she has her great-great-grandfather Isaias's energy when it comes to promoting her book.

I followed lots of your advice and with great success. TOWERS OF GOLD was favorably reviewed in the LA Times, was the lead review in the Nov. 30 SF Chronicle and it made the Chronicle's bestseller list!

What I did:

• Collected email addresses over the years and mailed out an e-mail newsletter about TOWERS OF GOLD.
• Joined Facebook, set up a book fan site, and reached out to many long-time friends.
• Got op-ed pieces in both the LA Times and SF Chronicle on the financial meltdown. [Way to go!!!]
  
• Sent out postcards to many people.
• Set up more than 30 speaking engagements. While bookstores are good, co-sponsorships are best. I spoke at the California Historical Society, the Huntington Library, Temple Emanuel in San Francisco, the Mechanics Institute, etc.

I've been blogging for three years, so had an online community I could talk to. I still have a long way to go, but I'm happy with the sales of TOWERS OF GOLD so far. Of course, the fabulous Meryl Moss helped me, but I also did a lot of stuff myself. She has gotten me on numerous radio shows.

Fabu pull quotes:

"Impressively researched and engagingly told." -- Los Angeles Times

"A marvelous resource, a dramatic slice of Western history and a splendid read." --
San Francisco Chronicle

As noted in the Chron review, Isaias Hellman was "a model of fiscal sobriety":

"I am not a speculator," he once told a reporter for the Los Angeles Times. "I am strictly an investor, and I have all my life paid for things as I go along. I never borrow money. It is against my principles."

The LAT's review opines:

Greed and folly are constants of human nature and, therefore, of market economies, but it's hard not to wish Hellman wasn't still around to take a seat on President-elect Barack Obama's council of economic advisors. He'd feel right at home with the problems the new administration has inherited.

Doreen Orion, Noted & Quoted

Consulting client Doreen Orion, currently doing...I mean, marking...time in Crescent City, CA, made it into TWO (2!) newspapers this week.

First was The Rocky Mountain News holiday book gift guide: Nonfiction (scroll down to Travel), for her memoir, QUEEN OF THE ROAD. Which would indeed make a fabu gift.

Today, Doreen was quoted--as Dr. Orion, psychotherapist (but not author)--in a New York Times article about book groups, Fought Over Any Good Books Lately?

Swallow Before Reading!

If not, don't blame me if you spray your drink all over your keyboard. From a piece in today's NYT: Trump Sees Act of God in Recession:

By Mr. Trump’s account, sales [of condos in the Trump International Hotel and Tower] were going great until “the real estate market in Chicago suffered a severe downturn” and the bankers made it worse by “creating the current financial crisis.”

Those assertions are made in what The New York Times’s Floyd Norris calls a fascinating lawsuit filed by Mr. Trump, the real estate developer, television personality and best-selling author, in an effort to avoid paying $40 million that he personally guaranteed on a construction loan that Deutsche Bank says is due and payable.

Rather than have to pay the $40 million, Mr. Trump thinks the bank should pay him $3 billion for undermining the project and damaging his reputation....

Mr. Trump is vigilant in protecting his reputation... after Mr. Norris interviewed him and two associates, his general counsel sent Mr. Norris a note saying “it was a pleasure” talking to him, and adding: “Please be assured that if your article is not factually correct, we will have no choice but to sue you and The New York Times.”

Read the whole thing; it only gets better. The penultimate graf--and Deutsche Bank's legal filing--has a quote from Trump's 2007 bestseller, Think Big and Kick Ass in Business and Life:

“I figured it was the bank’s problem, not mine. What the hell did I care? I actually told one bank, ‘I told you you shouldn’t have loaned me that money. I told you the goddamn deal was no good.’ ”

Haven't I Seen You Somewhere Before?

John Hodgman and Professor Bunsen Honeydew of The Muppets. (See how great minds think alike.)











The Donald and The Medusa, by Caravaggio. She has better hair.

And if you think Frank Langella as Richard Nixon in "Frost/Nixon" sounds familiar, it's because his voice is identical to the original Sam the Eagle, by Muppeteer Frank Oz.

The Black Book Lady Welcomes You!

The Welcome White Folks video is out in the world. Creator Carleen Brice, aka the Black Book Welcome Lady, states that no non-black people were harmed in the making of it. In fact, she treated us to lunch afterward. (As previously noted, my cameo was cut, but I'm in the rousing and heartwarming finale.)

New York Approves!

Carleen Brice made it into the BRILLIANT HIGHBROW section in The Approval Matrix for her National Buy a Book By a Black Author & Give It to Somebody Not Black Month. I wrote about NBBBAGISNBM here and here (with demented pix of yours truly).

Carleen's video is coming soon, though my cameo ended up on the cutting-room floor. (I have calls in to my agent and manager.)

Be sure to read the Top 10 reasons white people should read books by black people:

8. Seriously, haven't you read enough Philip Roth? Jewish guy obsessed with sex and death. Oy! Enough already.