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.